Digital asset management system: What it is, why your team needs one, and tips for setting it up

When a client asks you to “quickly create some content” for an upcoming campaign, there are likely a million questions flooding through your brain. What type of content? How will it be distributed? Will we need to create all content from scratch? Will it need client approval? And—most importantly—what exactly do they mean by “quickly”??

One thing that will surely slow down any digital content creation process is the dreaded hunt for digital marketing assets. Whether you’re an enterprise, an agency, or a small business, storing digital assets in multiple locations is a recipe for inefficiency and wasted time and money.

An effective digital asset management (DAM) system can help organize and streamline the creative and collaborative processes of your marketing team. But, according to a study of more than 3,400 marketers, only 34% use a digital asset management system⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

In some cases, marketing leaders may be unaware of the immense benefits of a digital asset management system both to their own marketing team and to their company at large. In other cases, small teams might not have the budget or time to invest in implementing and organizing a DAM platform. Nevertheless, if you want to improve your marketing workflow, enhance the customer experience, prolong the customer lifecycle, and increase sales revenue, prioritizing a DAM system is key.

A digital asset management system is a centralized location to organize, store, and efficiently access a library of digital assets. In many cases, DAM platforms enable users to edit and manipulate assets, share digital files with other users and stakeholders, and keep track of usage.

Marketing professionals can rely on the content stored in their DAMs to be accurate and relevant for distribution. For example, through metadata and strategic organization, your team can easily decipher which assets are approved by your legal team and meet design standards.

This efficient system provides your team with the asset control necessary to speed up your workflow while reducing silos when other teams and stakeholders are involved in the creation process.

A DAM system has many marketing use cases that can improve your team’s brand content and project management. When you can centralize your assets, you foster the asset version control necessary to flourish.

Clear organization and processes for your branding elements will reduce the risk of misrepresentation and increase brand awareness. In turn, that consistent brand identity⁠(opens in a new tab or window) will resonate with your target audience and help you build loyal customers.

When your brand assets are streamlined in a DAM system, your brand can maintain a consistent presence across channels, whether owned channels or via collaborators and other external entities.

An effective DAM strategy will help your marketing and design team meet brand guidelines⁠(opens in a new tab or window). Your team will be able to easily access and repurpose pre-approved assets and design elements. A DAM system also allows your team to compare the most updated versions of your assets to make sure that the logos, colors, and fonts they use in new work are all formatted correctly and in line with your guidelines.

Digital asset management also helps maintain consistency by designating specific folders for the external entities your marketing team works with. You can ensure brand compliance with collaborators when you are the one in control of the assets to begin with.

According to Asana’s Anatomy of Work study, teams spend an average of 129 hours on duplicated work⁠(opens in a new tab or window). Over half of respondents also feel that they are doing work that is low value and unnecessary. And 90% of marketing professionals believe that they could be more effective if they had the right processes⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and systems to manage their work. With a DAM system in place, your team can work more efficiently and reduce wasted hours on duplicate work.

When you don’t waste time looking for resources and assets, you free up time for creativity and productivity. Collaboration across teams also becomes much more efficient. If your marketing team updates an asset for your sales team, a sales team member can easily access the updated asset in real time and on-demand from the DAM platform. There is no need for back-and-forth email communication to make sure they have the most updated file.

Many digital asset management software also offers the ability to adjust the size and convert file types within the platform. Canva allows you to easily resize designs⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and download them as varying file types. Additionally, you are free to use all stock images on Canva without concern for usage rights.

If the images and design assets your team uses have limited licensing terms or strict usage rights, you can use a DAM system that allows you to set expiration dates. For example, if you recently collaborated with a celebrity or another brand, you may have signed a contract negotiating the length of the licensing terms. Unless the contract or the campaign is renewed after that one-year mark, the asset expires and is no longer available for distributors.

The metadata capabilities of a digital asset management system describe key elements of the assets. One unexpected but significant benefit of metadata is the alt-text description used to increase accessibility for all customers.

According to Caroline Desrosiers, founder and CEO of Scribely, “Most images⁠(opens in a new tab or window) on the web today have alt text that is inaccurate, incomplete, or missing altogether, creating access barriers that block people from engaging with our digital world.” With a DAM system, you can “hard-wire” alt-text to a photo’s metadata, which will make your images consistently accessible to everyone.

Strategic metadata categorization is also essential to support archiving assets and automating your team’s workflows. Without the proper metadata assigned to each asset, your team will not be able to automate workflows or accurately archive assets. You can map your team process with Canva's workflow diagram⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

Metadata can be categorized according to structural, administrative, or descriptive needs. Structural metadata refers to how the asset is organized, such as page numbers and sections. Administrative metadata is the technical information about the file, such as file type, size, or licensing data. Descriptive metadata includes data such as the asset’s creator or content category.

Metadata can also help your marketing team streamline SEO and marketing best practices by creating metadata taxonomies. You can organize and segment your assets based on:

• Content: Metadata includes keywords and keyword phrases, industries, verticals, tags, and social media channels.
• Changes over time: Metadata describes when the asset was originally created and what tweaks have been made since.
• Directions: Metadata provides instructions on how to use assets internally versus externally.
• Timeliness: Metadata depicts which assets are most current or relevant to your brand’s needs.

By examining all your existing assets, you can use digital asset management solutions to brainstorm ideas, develop a content marketing strategy, and inspire your marketing team. Some DAM platforms track the usage of assets, which helps you determine which high-quality assets have been used frequently. Since high-quality imagery and videos⁠(opens in a new tab or window) are important to consumers, you can flag the creative files that are used often and perform well to reuse or emulate.

This tracking data can also ensure you avoid overusing the same digital assets and risk your audience getting bored with your content. However, this doesn’t mean you always have to start from scratch. New ideas can be born out of successful archived content. Moreover, if your team does not have the bandwidth or budget for Adobe Photoshop, you can use a tool like Canva, where the platform itself offers easy ways to repurpose your current assets and create novel content.

At one point or another, your company may undergo a rebrand⁠(opens in a new tab or window). A rebrand can be a very overwhelming and confusing time for a business. But having a central system for all your assets can ease the burden of this transformation.

With a DAM system, your marketing team can access and update both archived and current assets all at once. It also reduces confusion for other departments or stakeholders who are not as involved in the creative process.

There’s nothing more awkward than launching a flashy rebranding campaign and then having a key stakeholder or collaborator accidentally use an old logo or digital asset. Not only is it embarrassing for your brand, but it also confuses your audience, who appreciates a consistent and reliable brand or user experience. Whether you’re working on an entire rebrand or simply refreshing a few assets in your library, invest in a strategic digital asset management system.

With the right practices in place, you can use a DAM system to improve your marketing team’s needs and effectively manage your brand⁠(opens in a new tab or window). As you navigate a new DAM solution, develop a strategy that allows you to increase the security of your assets, collaborate transparently, use integrations, and—if necessary—hire a designated asset manager.

• Prioritize access control and security: Enable privacy restrictions on all assets to protect your brand image. When you have a lot of people working with your assets, privacy restrictions can help maintain order and control over your assets. Set up controls so that external entities have to request permission to use or manipulate an asset. Some DAM software also offers “portals” or customized views in which you can control which assets have which user access.
• Use transparent, collaborative processes: As you collaborate on your asset creation, use a system that allows you to easily and transparently organize your assets into relevant folders. For example, during an approval process, you can move files to an “approved,” “rejected, or “waiting for approval” folder. A tool like Canva also offers the option to leave comments⁠(opens in a new tab or window) on designs in order to track changes and updates.
  

• Take advantage of integrations: Many DAM systems offer integrations with other platforms to easily export your assets and use them on another platform. From email marketing software and social media scheduling platforms to other marketing automation software, a quick and easy extension⁠(opens in a new tab or window) can help save time and automate workflows. Canva also has a content planner⁠(opens in a new tab or window) functionality to schedule your social media posts from right within the platform.
  

• Hire or designate a digital librarian⁠(opens in a new tab or window): A digital librarian organizes, updates, and streamlines the DAM system. The digital librarian can be your CMO, a marketing manager, or a new hire dedicated to the role. It should be someone with product information management (PIM) experience. This role develops a strategic method to use the DAM system and discover ways it can improve customer experience and increase brand revenue.
  

If your brand is growing and looking to continue growing, you’re likely ready for a DAM system. As your revenue streams grow, your marketing team needs to proactively manage evolving digital assets⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and adapt them for future use.

Your team is ready for digital asset management technology if:

• You often struggle to locate specific images, templates, videos, or other media assets.
• You don’t have an asset production and distribution process.
• Your brand assets are only searchable in your content management system.
• You find yourself doing duplicate work.
• You don’t have an easy system to share media files with other team members and stakeholders.
• You need a way to collaborate and track revisions and approvals on assets.
• Your assets often don’t meet brand and design standards (incorrect logos, colors, or fonts are often found in your digital marketing materials).
• You want to track asset usage.
• You want to be able to quickly adjust or convert asset file formats such as WebP to PNG⁠(opens in a new tab or window) or JPG⁠(opens in a new tab or window), HEIC to PNG⁠(opens in a new tab or window) or JPG⁠(opens in a new tab or window), SVG to PNG⁠(opens in a new tab or window), and even files like JPEG to JPG⁠(opens in a new tab or window).
• Your team is often unsure about usage rights and licensing terms for images and other assets.

If any or all of these common struggles and desired solutions sound familiar, you and your team are sure to benefit from implementing a digital asset management system.