Explore how Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions enhance customer experiences, streamline marketing strategies, and optimize the entire customer lifecycle.
May 4, 2018
Not so long ago marketing, marketing ops and IT professionals considered Digital Asset Management a repository: A place to store and manage marketing images and rich media.
Today, the reality has changed. It’s broader and far more strategic. Now when DAM solutions come to mind we think of core technology that supports the customer experience—from the first impression to the first-time site visit; from target to qualified lead; from the on-boarder to the evangelist.
We’ve also come to realize that DAM’s influence goes even further, supporting the enterprise’s very foundation.
At every stage of the customer lifecycle, a company’s digital assets—marketing’s heart and soul, certainly, but the company’s as well—need to be at the ready: Filed, tagged, accessible, with rules about their use clearly associated, and compliance measures in place.
Relationships between and among the assets, their subjects, their creators and their context also need to be clearly defined and understood. In addition, assets generated by adjacent areas (product development, product management, corporate, etc.) need to be included in the mix.
DAM’s increasingly larger role in an organization’s ability to advance the pipeline, as well as support the operations of the company, is coupled with growing availability of solution options. That means it’s more important than ever to understand the steps that need to be taken to create a smart DAM strategy, and to select the system(s) that gets the job done.
Developing a DAM Strategy
Understanding your asset ecosystem is essential to developing a DAM strategy that accomplishes the goals of your organization. When MERGE works with clients we focus on key elements that comprise the DAM ecosystem, including: Source; Granular Assets; Composed Assets; and Channels. Each are building blocks to this entity that DAM must support.
DAM Ecosystem
Once your ecosystem is mapped—and clearly understood, leaders are able to get the big picture view they need to develop a digital asset strategy. The ecosystem allows you to answer the questions that are the basis of the strategy, and subsequently select the tools needed to manage the environment.
Questions that need to be answered as part of strategy development include:
An agreed-upon DAM strategy that meets current and future needs is the foundation upon which technology decisions are made. Only with articulated vision and a detailed grasp of the ecosystem can marketing leaders move from current state … to competitive advantage.
