Digital asset management: understand its importance

Today, we live in an extremely connected world, and that means that digital assets are everywhere. From photos stored on their smartphones to movies streamed on Netflix or Amazon Prime, including documents stored in the cloud and more, most people interact with digital assets hundreds, if not thousands, of times throughout the day.

However, what exactly is a digital asset? And more importantly, why should you care? If you’re thinking of implementing a digital asset management solution for your organization and thereby improving your marketing strategies, it’s essential to have a solid understanding of digital assets and the role they play in making an informed decision.

Continue reading this article and understand a little more about it!

What are digital assets?#

First of all, it is important to define, here, what assets are. They are economic resources to which a value can be attached and that can be owned by a party. In addition, they are expected to generate value in the future.

Assets can be both tangible and intangible. Typical examples of tangible assets are properties, machines, stocks, precious metals, coins, etc. Intangible assets include copyrights, trademarks, patents, etc.

With the growth of the internet, digital assets gained more importance. They are subject to the same definition as regular assets, that is, they can be owned and have an economic value. What sets them apart from traditional assets is that they are not in the physical world, but in the virtual space.

In other words, a digital asset is digitally stored content—images, photos, videos, text files, spreadsheets, slides, etc. New digital formats are constantly emerging — MP3s were unknown before the 90s, for example — so the definition of a digital asset is always expanding.

For companies, any content, in any format, stored digitally and that adds value to the business (or to the user or consumer) qualifies as digital assets.

For a company to be successful in today’s market, it is essential that it has a strong digital strategy that reaches the intended market. The way in which you manage your digital assets and the strategies you employ are an ideal way to directly reach certain markets and improve your online presence, thus generating new customers.

How do digital assets impact business?#

With technology constantly evolving, so is consumer behavior. As a result, we have seen how traditional forms of advertising continue to decline and we have witnessed the increasing growth of advertising and digital promotion.

Some reasons for this include an increase in the way in which we access information, news, and entertainment, greater activity on digital devices, and the accessibility of digital marketing, which allows companies of any size and with budgets of different sizes to effectively reach specific markets.

Companies need to be able to adapt quickly to new technologies and the way in which the target audience is receiving and digesting information. Just having a website is no longer enough to engage your audience and convert them into new customers. Now, it’s important to consider implementing a complete digital plan that works across multiple channels.

With that in mind, it’s important that you create an experience that connects seamlessly with your audience at every communication touchpoint. Greater integration between your digital assets, such as your website, social media, internal portals, and any offline activities, will help you deliver a more cohesive and engaging customer experience.

What is digital asset management?#

As your team and business expand and grow, so do your digital assets. If you’ve reached the point where it’s becoming a struggle to track what assets were created, find the correct version of an asset, or maintain control over who has access, it might be time to adopt a digital asset management system.

Digital Asset Management - or DAM, from English Digital Asset Management - is essentially a virtual library solution for all your digital assets — documentation, images, audio, video, presentations, podcasts, animations, and any other digital or multimedia content — in a centralized location, with easy access and quick search.

Digital asset management systems quickly proved to be essential to modern business. The ability to optimize operations and share your assets around the world from a central location creates significant business value. In fact, some would say that a company that doesn’t use a DAM system will soon be left behind by those that use one.

What are the benefits of DAM?#

With the staggering amount of information that we generate and that we have access to on a daily basis, it’s more important than ever to know how to find exactly what you’re looking for, when you want it, and not waste time with every search. Below, we cite three main benefits of digital asset management, especially when it comes to marketing management.

Improved efficiency#

In marketing, graphic designs and images are constantly used to elevate content by adding visual appeal. The DAM helps increase productivity and efficiency, eliminating the need to request assets whenever they are used.

By hosting all the illustrations and images in one place, the design team can dedicate their time to creating assets, without searching for them. This reduces design requests and avoids any rework on assets that have already been completed.

More brand integrity and consistency#

Company logos, color palettes, photos, and videos are all frequently shared in marketing materials. Constantly, old logos and outdated images are used because people couldn’t find or weren’t aware of the new versions.

Having a centralized repository for all assets ensures that teams, partners, affiliates, agencies, and clients always have access to the latest approved versions of the files.

Secure asset allocation#

With images and files flowing through emails and documents, it’s impossible to know who has access to what. The DAM helps to centralize and manage control over digital assets, configuring permissions and different levels of access to files. This security allows your marketing team to control who has access to the files and provide guidelines on where and how to use them.

More quality for your marketing#

The DAM can also be used to educate your team and partners on how to communicate your brand. You can ensure that they use assets and provide approved templates to create high-quality marketing materials and even set up workflows to approve the upload, download, and use of assets.

• How to choose a digital file organization tool?

Digital marketing is becoming more complex as we develop new ways to effectively reach customers and generate revenue online. Your digital assets and marketing strategies are essential to drive business success.

Ready to raise the level of digital asset management in your company? Count on Wikimee! A platform for the automation of projects and tasks, approval of parts and content, remote collaboration, and file management. Your operation solved in a single solution.

Contact us and find out how we can help you!