I am sure, if you have been in business for any length of time, you have plenty of digital assets. Most of which you probably do not know what to do with it after you use it. It can be overwhelming and frustrating at times. Today I wanted to share ways to help you with storing and maximizing your digital assets in marketing today. So, let’s talk about digital assets.
What Is A Digital Asset?
Definition of a digital asset – is a media, photo, video, or article that you (or your company) have produced and stored online.
Another Definition:
“A digital asset is anything that is stored digitally and is uniquely identifiable that organizations can use to realize value. Examples of digital assets include documents, audio, videos, logos, slide presentations, spreadsheets and websites.”
-Gartner
Companies spend a lot of money creating their digital assets. After all, it is what brands are built upon. Even personal branding is made up of many digital assets.
Why Are Digital Assets Important?
Digital assets have become very important to brands today. With online marketing and the ability to store items online, they have truly become the lifeblood of most companies, especially for marketing and planning.
Storing Digital Assets
Storing your digital assets in a safe and organized way is crucial. The ability to retrieve your assets quickly and efficiently can become a big problem for many solopreneurs and small businesses. A new service has come to the forefront lately called DAM (Digital Asset Management) and is in demand.
“Digital Asset Management (DAM) is the process of storing, finding, retrieving, sharing and organizing digital assets (i.e. images, videos, audio, documents). DAM solutions are software-based systems that help organizations manage their digital assets, through a central and controlled platform.”
-StorMagic
Why Is DAM Important
DAM is important for many reasons. One of the reasons I think this is important is that it could become another way for online services to add another service for clients. This could be a key role for any virtual assistant or online business manager.
For those who are not online service providers keep in mind that you could have a team member dedicating time to keep up with all of your digital assets. Perhaps, however, you will find someone who has those skills and can use one of the DAM platforms as well. That person would be irreplaceable in your business. Someone who can easily grab any document, photo, or media quickly and efficiently would have a critical role in any business.
Let’s Talk DAM Platforms
There are a number of platforms today that offer the ability to store your digital assets in an effective manner. Most will claim their platform helps you organize and quickly retrieve your assets better than anywhere else. You can decide for yourself. Some of the options are listed below.
- Air – has a free option if you want to try it out.
- Brandfolder – offers two options, premium and enterprise however you must book a demo to get their prices for either.
- Canto – you have to complete a form to submit or you can “chat with a human” to find out.
- Filestage – starts at $19/month for up to 25 projects
- IMatch – No Subscription Models here – Download to your Windows PC for managing your files and assets, one price = $129.99
- Pics.io – starts at only $12/month per website and $18/month per user
- Widen – has three plans without pricing and you must submit a form to get pricing (oh they do have a chat icon also).
[Warning: Side Rant – don’t you wish software programs would learn to just provide pricing? As small businesses usually will not complete a form. We don’t have time and when we are simply looking for pricing, whether to compare and purchase, or simply research for a blog <wink> it would be much better. Ok, rant over.]
I will only add to this section by saying I have tried Air and it is a nice platform. I’m just not sure I’m sold on any yet because I use Google Drive and One Drive by Microsoft. As long as you create a flow you can follow with folders and subfolders you should be able to locate your digital assets quickly and efficiently. I admit <hand raised high> that yes, at times I cannot find an asset I am looking for and know it is in there. That is usually not the norm, however.
Ways To Maximize Your Assets
With all of the number of items we must store today, it is important that we make the most of them in order to maximize our digital assets. This means using them, once created, in all areas or platforms we have available to us.
Maximize Digital Assets:
- Share all media (video, photos, recordings, graphics, etc.) with your social media audiences – be proud of it!
- Share your assets with your email audience – keep them up to date on what you have been doing.
- Share them on your website (if appropriate) – share your digital assets on your website. We often forget to do this. That is why I share any interviews, guest podcasts, or videos with you via my blog.
- Many of you appear as guests on podcasts, videos, conferences, etc. so remember to share this also with your blog, social media, and email marketing.
- Refresh your digital assets – go back and reuse them with just one part refreshed. And try to use them in a new way.
- Try to Connect with another business owner to do an interview and if they create digital assets ask for a copy so you can promote the event as well.
- Enter Contests that offer opportunities – Use their graphics/media to share. I entered a TV contest one time for business owners to win a commercial spot! I didn’t win but I was a semi-finalist which was pretty cool.
- Share Your Awards – if you earn an award or certification in something new share it everywhere! As they say, “say it loud”. That’s what marketing is all about.
A Few Last But Important Things
Lastly, remember to set up a system the way you would look to find an item. A simple one would be setting up a “Clients” folder with subfolders like “Client Name1”, “Client Name2”, etc. Then within each client folder, you may create subfolders for brand items, contracts, and more.
The way you set up your system will determine whether you can find it easily again. Consider if that asset were already in your files, where would you begin to look for it? Start there and keep going.
One last but very important thing I need to mention is that you should go through these digital assets on a regular basis. Get rid of any that no longer serve you or your brand. Cleaning the house, as it were, is a healthy thing even in the digital world.
Thanks for reading and let me know how you store, utilize and reuse your digital assets.
To Your Continued Success!
How Can I Help You Today?
I love helping other online service providers. In case you did not know, I am a Business and Marketing Coach with over 15 years of experience. I offer 3 to 6-month programs with follow-up for those who wish to continue. You can easily reach out to me through the contact page or simply set up a FREE Mini-Session with Tammy Coaching you!
