The digital age has been beneficial to marketers in many ways, especially when it comes to asset management. According to Venngage, 74% of marketers use visuals in more than 70% of their content, so it’s vital that marketers have access to their assets whenever they need them.

What is Digital Asset Management? 

Digital assets are media materials or visuals that are available exclusively online, whereas digital asset management (DAM) is the process of storing and organizing these assets. DAM is a centralized and secure resource hub used for collecting, storing, and managing content.

When businesses use DAM systems, they can perform operations on files in a structured way because everything is in one place. DAM can help with brand consistency, increase worker productivity, and campaign efficiency, which gives you more time to make the best content.

CMS vs. DAM: What’s the Difference? 

Keep in mind that content management isn’t the same as digital asset management, as a content management system (CMS) has limited media capabilities. You can search and store media files on a CMS, but its sharing, searching, and permission settings are very limited.

A CMS can be an essential part of a digital asset management strategy, but a content management system is more equipt at managing content on your website. A DAM system is meant to manage content across your organization, so it’s perfect for storing brand assets.

What Digital Asset Management Solutions are Available? 

DAM solutions have changed over the decades thanks to advancements in digital asset management technology. Marketers should choose one of the following DAM tools.

Metadata Catalogs

Although metadata catalogs are primitive by today’s standards, they are still a great way to organize a small asset library. These catalogs come with limited options and are best for short-term media management. WordPress’s media library is an example of a metadata catalog.

Ad-Hoc MarTech

MarTech (marketing technology) evolved to meet the needs of marketers that required a more sophisticated answer to metadata catalogs. Ad-hoc tools, like WordPress Media Library Folders, were introduced to help marketers store photos into folders, create categories, and set tags.

Centralized DAM Solutions

A centralized DAM solution combined metadata catalogs and ad-hoc MarTech on one tool, allowing for a user-friendly experience. Many centralized DAM systems can integrate with CMS software and include artificial intelligence capabilities that automate the DAM process.

What Digital Asset Management Features are Important?

Digital asset management solutions can come pre-packaged with a wide variety of features, but some are more important than others. Look for these features for your marketing platform.

Organize Content

Marketers collect content in various forms and file types. For example, some stock photos can be modified, while others need to be credited. If you want to be able to tell them apart, you need a good organizational system in place. A DAM solution allows you to create custom catalogs.

Search for Content

Everyone’s familiar with basic keyword searches, but you can do that without a DAM system. While a DAM is capable of simple searches, it can also narrow down your files based on usage rights, file type, project, client, tags, colors, file size, date, security type, and much more. 

Backup Content

Losing all of your assets isn’t just inconvenient; it could ruin your reputation with your clients. Not only that but there’s a possibility you’ll never get that asset back. Thankfully, a DAM system can backup your content, whether you want to place it on your desktop, cloud, or hard drive. 

Secure Content

Marketing teams need to discuss their next moves with clients and other departments, but they may not want to give them complete access to their files. DAM solutions can lock out content with passwords and other permissions to prevent unauthorized access to certain assets.