Choosing a DAM

At first glance, there are a lot of file storage and digital asset management systems in the market for you to choose from.

So how do you tell the difference?

DAMs allow you to create, store, manage, and distribute content all from a single place. Many of them come with a range of content management features, like web content management and cross channel campaign management, that make collaboration across teams and content control much simpler and much less time intensive. But that’s just the beginning!

Before you dive into selecting a DAM for your organization, make sure you’re clear on a few things.

What problems will your DAM solve?

It may sound a little basic, but there’s nothing more essential before you start looking for a DAM than knowing what problems you’re trying to solve.

Start by answering these five questions:

1. Is your content siloed in multiple solutions?
   Storing your content in different solutions can be incredibly hard to manage and even harder for your users to find what they need! Consolidating all that content into a single DAM makes finding it all and managing it a lot easier.
2. Do you want to do more than just store content?
   From ideation and planning to analysis and regulatory review, content needs nurturing at every phase of its lifecycle. A DAM can help your teams initiate work, collaborate on in-progress assets, track version updates, and give you the analysis tools you need to understand how every piece of content performs.
3. Do you need to support multiple asset types?
   What assets is your team working with? Do you work with text-based content (disclaimers, material lists), images, video, or even 3D? Are you breaking down content so it’s easy to reuse to create new content? A DAM standardizes every piece of content so you can be sure any piece of content that someone grabs from the DAM is on brand and approved.
4. What content enrichment are you planning to do?
   The more an asset is enriched (i.e. tagged with descriptions), the more it’s used. Leading DAM solutions can automatically enrich content pieces with metadata and put it in the right place to be found, making it easy to get the right piece of content to the right customer at the right time. Do you have a thought-through content enrichment plan?
5. How many teams need access to content?
   Content isn’t just for marketing teams anymore. DAM allows you to control who gets access to content so you can better identify who’s using what and when.

Capabilities you need in a DAM

With the problems you need to tackle clearly outlined, you can dig into comparing the capabilities of the DAMs you’re exploring. Not all DAMs are created equal, so be sure to keep your needs in mind while you investigate the full array of DAM offerings.

If you want your DAM to serve you as well as possible now and into the future, we think it should provide support in the following areas:

• Asset Support
  Does the DAM support all content types? From InDesign files and video optimized for social channels to text snippets, the DAM you choose should be able to create, store, and preview the full range of asset types.
• User Support
  Your DAM should make collaboration between users a breeze—and it should offer the ability to automate review and approval processes to ensure that your content is compliant.
• Integrations
  This is key: Your DAM needs to fit into the constellation of apps your team uses most so you don’t need to redefine the user workflow. Make sure that you can reuse and optimize your content to deliver omnichannel customer experiences.
• Vendor Background
  The DAM vendor you work with should have an excellent track record. They should have top-tier activation, support, and product roadmap strategies that give your company a proven advantage.
• Content Usage
  Your DAM should support all of your content needs, regardless of how many assets you plan to store, how many permissions you need to grant, etc.
• Content Classification
  Finding content is often one of the hardest parts of delivering content. Make sure it’s never a problem again with a DAM that has customizable taxonomy and that that allows you to manage categories of all your assets.
• Digital Rights
  For companies in heavily regulated industries, one of DAM’s biggest jobs is ensuring that every piece of content complies with contractual agreements or regulations specific to your industry or business. Be sure your DAM facilitates rights management.

Making the Choice

Choosing a DAM from among the wide range of options can be overwhelming. But once you’ve clarified the problems you’re looking to solve with a DAM, and now that you have a general understanding of the kind of capabilities a DAM should be offering your team, making the choice should be slightly easier.

Admittedly, we have skin in this game: we’re big fans of our Digital Asset Management solution—and we’re not the only ones. If you have any questions about Aprimo DAM, email us, chat with us on social media, or give us an old-fashioned phone call.

Best of luck on your DAM journey!