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Bringing in new software to a business is like throwing a pebble in a pond; the ripples will be felt throughout the organization! Of course, any good software tool should be able to help the specific team or problem it was brought on for. But beyond that, the impact of a great software tool can help improve processes company-wide.
Now that’s a sign of good software investment.
Looking to create a ripple effect in your organization? Start with introducing a creative asset management system for your creative and marketing teams. It solves some of the most prominent challenges marketers and creatives face daily that will ripple into the workflows of the business overall.
Take a few minutes to learn more about creative asset management, why marketers and creatives love it, and the possible ROI when implementing this technology.
Your creative and operations teams and bottom line will thank you. Let’s start with defining what creative asset management is and what it might look like in your org.
What Is Creative Asset Management?
Creative asset management software allows you to organize your digital assets in one platform. With creative asset management, marketers and creatives have a single source for all images, photos, video, audio, graphic design, files and documents they need to build campaigns with updated, approved assets.
This software also allows them to share assets with external stakeholders, simplifying collaboration. There are often many content creators for one brand that may extend beyond your internal creative teams. A smart creative asset management system gives you the ability to securely share assets outside of your organization while streamlining workflows and approval processes.
Additionally, creative asset management systems also allow your IT team to manage asset metadata to easily integrate with other systems, such as your content management system (CMS), graphic design platform, social media or e-commerce platform.
Are you already fantasizing about what creative asset management could do for your team and their time? We thought so. Let’s dive deeper into some of the benefits.
The Benefits of Creative Asset Management Systems for Marketers and Creatives
Analysts studying the digital asset management market predict impressive growth, from $5.05 billion in 2022 to $10.71 billion in 2027, a 16.3% CAGR. Cloud solutions put creative asset management systems within reach of more businesses and organizations.
However, creative asset management is about far more than just cloud storage. True creative asset management systems include features that empower all the content creators on your team to work more efficiently, effectively and creatively. Some of the advantages of using a creative asset management system include the following:
Easy Access to Assets
Marketers and creatives need easy ways to find the assets they need. Interestingly, research for Brandfolder’s 2022 State of Digital Asset Management found that more than half of marketers and creatives have resorted to Google to find their own company’s logo.
There has to be a better workaround than that! And there is: A creative asset management system makes finding assets as easy as using a search engine — but is far more efficient and reliable.
Querying your creative asset management system will provide the most current and approved version for campaign use.
Scalability
As marketers build a library of assets and add to the number of campaigns they’ve run, it gets harder to manually manage assets. Moreover, employees and partners may store assets in different folders, use other naming conventions and store different types of assets on various platforms.
The best software designed for digital asset management provides centralized organization that scales as your asset inventory increases.
Security
When sharing creative assets in Google Drive folders or via email, it’s difficult to control who can see or download them. And frankly, not everyone should.
Your creative asset management system will enable you to control who has access by giving users different permission levels. You can also set expirations on access, so people no longer involved in projects won’t have access to your assets.
Increased Productivity
Brandfolder’s research also found that nearly half of marketers and creatives admit that searching for and distributing marketing creative assets decreases their productivity.
That research also found that more than two-thirds say implementing a creative asset management system saves time. When creatives aren’t stuck digging for or recreating assets, they have more bandwidth to become inspired for the projects that truly matter.
Legal Compliance
Creative asset management systems also benefit people on your team responsible for permissions for licensed assets and tracking expiration dates. Information from your creative asset management system automatically ensures you use assets properly and avoid legal issues.
Easier Content Distribution
Leading creative asset management solutions will enable you to publish content directly from the platform. You can distribute the assets you create with public or private links and set timeframes for specific assets, such as ads for a flash sale or a holiday promotion.
Moreover, if you see a mistake in the banner ad or e-book, you can correct it in your software, and the content will update everywhere you use the asset. That means no more incorrect or outdated content in your database or on your site!
Fast Time to Market
The result is greater agility and time savings when you add up the other benefits: Easier access to assets, streamlined collaboration, iteration and compliance and simplified content distribution processes.
You can launch campaigns, publish assets, add new products to your online storefront and more – faster than you ever have before.
The Positive Impact on Your Entire Organization
Your marketing and creative teams will love how creative asset management helps them do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. Your leadership team will also see the benefits, including these three outcomes that can significantly impact your business:
1. A Clearer Brand Story
With an organized approach to digital asset management, you have more control over what people see about your business and brand. Your audience will see campaigns and digital marketing materials created with the same approved images, logo versions, colors, text and other key brand details.
You don’t have total control over your brand story, though. It doesn’t include what people say about your business on social media, in blogs, in reviews — or conversations on a tradeshow expo floor. However, you can make sure everyone has the impression that your company has a clear vision and strong values that you consistently portray to the world.
The good news is that brand consistency pays off and it shows. Consistent brands have shown to experience up to 20% higher revenues.
Deeper Insights into Your Business
A leading creative asset management system will provide insights into which assets your team used in campaigns and which are associated with the best performance. This is information that your marketers and creatives will appreciate as they plan future projects. It can also help other team members perform their jobs better too.
Creative asset management can integrate with your customer relationship management (CRM) tools so your sales team can personalize assets. With data based on asset performance, your sales team can create presentations with approved and final assets that are more likely to resonate with prospects – and convert them.
Additionally, leadership can leverage insights from your creative asset management system to understand your customers better and take that information into account when making decisions about the direction of your business.
Improvement to Your Bottom Line
Investments in digital assets can be significant. For example, you may purchase licenses for stock art, videos or music. Perhaps your organization has contracted designers or agencies to create logos, ads or other assets. Your internal team has also invested their time into creating and compiling assets. Make the most of those investments by not making unnecessary license purchases or duplicating work.
Creative asset management organizes assets so they’re readily accessible for marketers and creatives to use them best. A comprehensive platform will also provide information on underperforming assets, which can inform future purchases or investments.
Overall, your website, campaign, inbound marketing and other initiatives will generate better results with less waste in your marketing budget with a creative asset management solution in place, improving your bottom line because they save you time, boost collaboration and have advanced features to help you manage your brand image and make the most of creative collateral.
How You Can Get Started With Creative Asset Management
A creative asset management system offers an effective way to organize and manage your business’s digital assets. As a result, marketers and creatives will benefit from more effortless, quicker access to assets, secure collaboration, increased productivity and brand consistency – regardless of where your assets appear. Additionally, your organization can gain more profound insights into your customers' perception of your brand and a better bottom line.
To get the most value from your creative asset management system, however, you need to plan your strategy and manage change. You don’t need to transition your assets and design files at once. Instead, it may make the most sense to define your most significant areas of need, make those assets available to creative asset management system users and allow your marketers and creatives to adjust their workflows, build necessary integrations and get used to the idea of reusing assets.
Better asset management means your creative teams can spend more time creating and less time managing assets. So let them do what they do best! The effort you put into creative asset management can drive considerable ROI. See some of the results Brandfolder users report and explore what our solution can do for your business.