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Digital Transformation Digital Asset Management DAM

Put creativity at the core of digital transformation in 2021

Acquia DAM (Widen)

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February 16, 2021 | 5 min read

Your digital transformation strategy needs the right blend of creativity and technology to thrive in 2021

Even though the marketing landscape has changed forever, the central goal is still the same. You need to deliver the right content to the right customer at the right moment in their experience.

That’s easier said than done. There are more touchpoints, devices, channels, and platforms that make up the customer journey than ever before. And, in order to have personalised content at that scale, you have to put the right marketing technology (martech) in place. To meet this need, most companies place a digital asset management (DAM) system at the foundation of their martech stack.

To be specific, 52% of enterprise companies have fully deployed and are using a DAM system, and another 27% are currently deploying one (according to Gartner).

We wrote a white paper to explain how you can center digital transformation around your DAM system. You can download it here: Creative Transformation Drives Customer Experience. Or, keep reading to get a quick look at how a DAM solution gives you more room to be creative and download your free white paper at the end.

Add empathy to your customer journey

Customers aren’t just having digital experiences, they’re looking for emotional outcomes.

Right now, a lot of their emotional needs revolve around safety, security, and consistency. It’s vital that your content communicates care and presence in a consistent manner, like you would in a conversation with friends or family.

You might have artificial intelligence (AI)-driven predictive analytics to decide on the next step in the journey. But, you need humans to empathise at each step and create the right content and relevant message. Speak to the customer directly in the moment they’re having, no matter what device, channel, or platform.

Luckily, once you’ve implemented a DAM system, you have a whole team of creatives who finally have time to craft the right message at every step.

Free your creative team to do their best work

Last year, 71% of creative leaders told The BOSS Group and Cella Consulting that their greatest challenge was having too many revisions and not enough time to complete creative work in a quality manner.

Most of these creative teams are stuck in endless cycles of revisions, unnecessary systems admin, and loops of trying to track down the right assets. With a DAM solution in place, you free up your creative team to work on the right messages for each moment.

When they have time to produce quality work and a central point of storage, your brand is applied consistently throughout all your communications and across all touchpoints. This builds your brand consistency and creates trust in your brand.

Protect your brand

Your DAM solution also helps mitigate risk for your brand. It keeps your business-critical assets in one place. And, it gives you control over licensed material. For example, when a license expires for copyrighted material, you can remove it from circulation. That removes the risk of unnecessary fines or lawsuits.

When you’re working with marketing teams across different regions, it’s vital you have this level of control. It even makes it more efficient and less risky to work with freelancers. Give them secure access to the DAM platform and then you don’t have to worry about outdated or unapproved assets getting out into the wild.

These are important benefits of having a DAM system, but don’t depend solely on these explanations to sell the software to your C-Suite. You have to speak their language to get buy-in.

Build a business case for DAM

Econsultancy research found that 80% of the companies interviewed felt that a lack of board-level understanding and sponsorship of digital marketing was either a “very” or “quite” significant challenge when setting the proper level of digital investment.

Don’t make the common mistake of trying to sell features of your DAM system to decision makers. You might want to free up your creative team to increase production and quality. The C-suite wants to hear about “personalisation at scale.”

Start with an internal campaign to get your CTO on board. If they back your choice of technology, the rest of your leadership is likely to follow. The CTO can speak to how it’ll work with the rest of your martech stack and broader IT infrastructure.

Your board, CEO, and CFO already trust the judgement of your CTO and that goes a long way toward securing budget and resources for implementing your DAM system.

Now, you just have to get the implementation right

Once you’ve built your case and got your CTO on board, you can celebrate, but the real work is ahead of you. Now you’ve got to plan your implementation and execute. Getting this part right ensures your DAM system has a positive impact on your overall customer experience.

There are four common steps to a successful implementation and we outline them at the end of our white paper. If you want to find out what they are and learn more how to put creativity at the core of your digital transformation, download your free white paper and keep reading: Creative Transformation Drives Customer Experience

By Nate Holmes, Product Marketing Manager, Widen

Digital Transformation Digital Asset Management DAM

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