The term brand building is not unfamiliar to marketers, however many struggles to have control and keep up with their brand and also lack a seamless system that ensures brand consistency. The result is a messy brand that lacks structure and control.
There are many initiatives that will lead you on the right path towards brand control, but let’s start with the basics. You need to get control of your assets, let’s take a look at why and how you need to organize your digital assets.
This is what happens when your brand is ignored
It is more important than ever to have complete control of your brand, particularly considering how new technology continuously influences marketers’ daily operations. Nonetheless, as a marketer, you probably recognize that the challenges of keeping up with new technology, executing on activities, producing material and content, keeping your company updated, and analyzing your performance – are all extremely time consuming.
Sometimes it might even feel like an insoluble task to find the time to execute proper brand management. However, brand management demands asset structure and a proper system.
Establish an adaptable and available brand
Consumer behaviour has changed significantly and research is now conducted before making a purchase. According to a study, 81% of us operate like this, if we are to believe the research.
This contributes to brand building is extremely important, as well as staying ahead of time. With that in mind, you must have a brand that is not only adaptable but be present in multiple channels, accustomed to changing customer behaviour, and one that ensures brand consistency.
This is why you need to have a proper digital asset structure that allows you to be agile and respond to market behaviour.
Also read: Are you digital enough for the future of marketing?
From chaos to a digital asset structure
Meeting today’s challenges requires complete control of your brand and digital assets. A system that slips through the cracks will not be of any value. With a solid digital asset management system, you will always have control of your brand and digital assets, and you will no longer have to face untidiness and unnecessary lost time.
Just think about how much time you’ve spent replying to emails or phone requests, or how much time is lost looking for files and assets. A marketer spends an average of 16 times a day looking for assets with 35% of them not being able to find what they looking for.
Time and resources spent is one thing, but without a solid DAM system, your organization is putting the brand at risk and being outstretched over time. Marketers are creative people, if they can’t access assets it won’t take long before they start to recreate them, which in-turn could harm your brand.
Also read: What is digital asset management
This is how you organize digital assets
First of all, digital assets are any file that your company owns. This can be contracts, sales tenders, presentations, images, illustrations, icons, logos.. Anything. So you need to make sure you have digital asset management system that allows any file and format. Next, you have to think about your entire company when you are going to organize your digital assets. It is not only a system for marketing, it needs to suit every department and employee.
Here are some tips on getting started with organizing assets;
- Map up how many assets your company has.
- Map up what type of asset types and file formats your company uses and is in need of.
- Categorize your assets and find the common denominators for your assets across your company.
- Define categories based on number 3, look at what needs to be a department category and what can be a company category.
- Pre-define the type of file types and formats your assets need to be accessible based on number 2 to make sure everyone can download what they need directly from your system.
- Map up who needs access and what type of access. Some are pure users of assets, others also need to upload.
- Structure access level according to number 6. Avoid overloading everyone with everything, is it noisy and disturbing
Here are some tips on how your digital asset management system should work:
- All digital assets and marketing material must be available for adaption and download. The system should also be prepared for pre-defined file types, formats and content adjustments.
- The system must be structured for everyone, allowing assets to be available, be-up-to-date and optimised at all times.
- Make your files searchable: Enabling searchable files demands a system that allows you to add more than a file name. Make sure your files can be located using different search capabilities; tags, categories, file types, format, colours ++
- The system should be automated, and provide you with the control you need, avoiding last-minute changes. Your system should also minimise time consumption so that your organisation can go on autopilot and you can rest assured that your brand is always aligned with your guidelines.
- Make sure your digital assets can be connected to your brand guidelines to secure proper brand management.
Are you ready to clean up your mess and take full control of your brand?