“Work smarter, not harder.” For brand managers caught between the time constraints and budgetary challenges of the present economic climate, this is sound advice. Another smart piece of advice is to revisit your marketing asset management (MAM) strategy. Increasingly, marketing organizations of all sizes are looking to digital asset management (DAM) for added efficiency and cost-savings.

So, what is digital asset management? The short answer is an online repository of your marketing materials hosted on a dedicated or shared server and made available to your business partners via a password-protected portal. There are many different companies offering DAM solutions, some more functionally robust than others.

Why should you get your assets moving?

1. Protect your brand by offering a single point of access for all branded materials. Digital asset management minimizes the risk of an outdated logo or identity element being used, as vendors will be drawing from a bank of approved files. Brand managers also have a greater level of control over vendors, as marketing materials, such as ads and collateral, are created and hosted within the system.
   
   
2. Centralize your assets for greater efficiency. By making marketing materials available online, you significantly reduce your amount of “swivel-chair” time in fulfilling requests from the field for items such as press releases, brochures and images.
   
   
3. Cut overhead and eliminate waste by allowing distribution to download and print what they want, when they want it, and in the quantity they need. Sophisticated asset management systems allow for integration with third-party fulfillment vendors to handle print orders and mailing lists, minimizing the amount of stockpiling and warehousing. And as your marketing materials require an update, you won’t be in the position of destroying outdated inventory down the road.
   
   
4. Allow distribution to tell their sales story locally with customizable marketing materials. As digital asset management systems have grown up, so have their capabilities in allowing users a greater extent of customization, such as adding a logo and contact information to selecting a design or choosing which products to feature.
   
   
5. Gain greater insight with dashboard analytical tools that let you view and report fulfillment statistics, which materials are requested from distribution and how they are being customized.

These are but a few of the benefits of digital marketing asset management. It’s worth noting that the process of setting up an established system is somewhat of a planned and staged journey. But it’s an investment you can make now that will pay dividends in the long run.