What exactly is digital asset management, and why are these tools required in marketing technology stacks?

Digital asset management can help your marketing organization by unifying online and offline marketing channels and more efficient marketing resource allocation.

Fremont, CA: DAMs, or digital asset management software, are marketing platforms that store, organize, and make an organization's entire library of digital assets. A DAM is the "single source of truth" where marketers can find every relevant version of the brand's media assets (aka marketing asset management) — images, PDFs, photographs, audio, video, and even virtual reality or other cutting-edge formats.

Platform Capabilities for Digital Asset Management

What should a DAM platform do, and how do vendors differ from one another? When deciding on a partner, you should consider the following factors.

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

A few years ago, many DAMs' AI-tagging capabilities were nothing more than a gimmick, often resulting in more work rather than efficiencies. However, these systems have become more sophisticated because machine learning, by definition, improves as it is fed more data. Furthermore, vendors investigate how to use these technologies to surface insights and automate content transformations based on usage patterns.

File Formats and their Management

One point of differentiation is managing a variety of file formats. Though most players claim to support the most popular video, image, and audio formats, if your workflow necessitates the use of a specialized format, you should ensure that the vendors you're considering can fully support that format.

Management of User Permissions

The supply chain for content creation can be lengthy and complicated, involving numerous departments, agencies, freelancers, and others. The ability to grant flexible permissions so that only the right people have access to the right assets –– and only those assets –– can be extremely valuable.

Metadata and Search

A DAM provider's metadata and search capabilities are critical to one of the most important benefits of a digital asset management system– the ability to find assets after they've been created and filed away. Most providers now use artificial intelligence for image and video recognition and tagging, either proprietary or through a partnership.

Marketing Workflow Administration

The extent to which DAM systems support workflow management varies. Some allow collaboration through @ tagging, while others provide more comprehensive project management tools. This feature can assist marketing teams and outside creative resources in communicating about changes while an asset is in development or being updated.

Analytics and Business Intelligence

Analytics capabilities enable marketing leaders to track the return on investment in digital media development.

Platforms for Digital Asset Management

Most DAMs are available as SaaS and can be accessed through modern browsers on various platforms, but some have native mobile or other media apps.

Storage and Security of Data

The majority of DAM providers have partnered with Amazon Web Services or Google to host their software and their client's assets and thus rely on the geographical distribution, regular backups, and adherence to the security protocols of their partners. However, some players provide clients with various data hosting options, which are likely to be appreciated by enterprises operating in data-restricted markets.

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Digital Asset Management Companies