1. Make sure your DAM system is up to the job

Having a central repository to store your digital content is essential for brands today in order to help you gain more control and higher productivity.

A modern Digital Asset Management solution (DAM) should be a cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) system, accessible to everyone without any plug-ins or desktop installations. Its search functionality should go beyond file names and it should be capable of handling all file types so that all media assets are both shareable and adaptable. 

If the answer to any of the following questions is “NO”, there is room for improvement: 

• Does your current system allow you to add any file type? 
• Does it offer file format transcoding?
• Does it provide previews of any file type?
• Does your current system provide expiration and version control?
• Can files be adjusted within your DAM system?
• Can you create automated work-flows for easy use? 
• Can you connect your DAM to a brand management platform or templates? 
• Is it possible to integrate your system with Adobe, PowerPoint, CMS? 
• Does everyone in your company have access to your DAM, or is the distribution of files done by email?
• Do you have the option of Single-Sign-On (SSO) to ensure easy access to your assets?

For more insight into whether the capabilities of your current DAM system are fit for purpose, read our article “Is your DAM letting you down?”

2. Your brand deserves a modern digital asset management system

Fortunately, switching up to modern digital asset management functionality is easier than you might think. There are several DAM providers in the market that can help you with this, but you need to think bigger than an easy-to-access image library. 

An effective DAM solution is more than an image bank or file location. To meet today’s marketing challenges and tomorrow’s trends, you need a system that makes your life easier, while protecting your brand and its assets. 

It’s crucial that you understand the value and importance of a modern, global DAM system in order to evaluate whether or not the system you currently use is good enough. A high-quality DAM solution will provide a “YES” to all the questions above and in addition, incorporate many key features: 

• Powerful search functionality makes assets easy to find.
• Simple back-end administration that enables seamless maintenance.
• Two-way management that creates intuitive work-flows between marketing teams and other stakeholders such as photographers, creative agencies etc.
• Truly transparent asset control so you can have complete control over usage and asset performance. 
• SSO enables trouble-free access control.
• File transcoding makes file maintenance simple. Upload the approved file and let the system do the rest. Your users will automatically have access to pre-set file types without having to upload all types separately.
• Pre-set crop settings that make file management a breeze. One single file can generate multiple formats based on pre-set crop settings. Flexibility for your users, easy maintenance for you.
• Assign administrators and control settings so only certain users can access, upload or delete particular files, or can only do so when permission is granted.

Your assets are the core of your brand identity and separates you from your competitors. Digital assets are valuable intellectual property that you have spent substantial resources on designing them. They deserve a solution that will effectively store and share them in order to boost efficiencies and keep brand consistency under control.

When assets are out of control, you lose brand identity momentum, resulting in brand dilution which will harm your business growth. It also gets harder to keep up with the fast-evolving Martech space which demands highly responsive and efficient coordination. 

You need an effective digital asset management implementation solution that fulfills all your brand marketing requirements, streamlines your asset management processes, and increases overall business efficiency.

3. How to switch to a modern DAM

If you have identified that your DAM system is behind the times or not fulfilling your requirements as you would hope, making the switch to a better, more sophisticated alternative does not have to be difficult. But, there are some important considerations to take care of beforehand.

First, while you can drop all your files into a new DAM immediately, we always recommend an audit and clean-up first to make sure your digital assets are valid and usable. 

Secondly, you need to know if you have all the assets your company needs to execute and grow your brand as intended. In other words, you want to make sure your DAM delivers the quality that everyone can rely on. When they do, this can secure long-term buy-in from your teams across the globe.

Here’s a handy checklist to help you with the migration process:

• Get a complete overview of all assets you want to have available in the new DAM. We always recommend an analysis and clean-up. First of all, you want to make sure your digital assets are valid and usable. Secondly, you need to know if you have all the assets your company needs to execute and grow your brand as intended.
• Group and categorise your assets using logic that suits your company’s requirements. Categorisation should be multi-leveled to deliver proper “search & find” abilities. Make sure you have the flexibility to tailor this and filter results based on numerous criteria, including:
  – Media type
  – Language and location
  – Product or service
  – Marketing channels
  – Templates
• Revise your assets and clean up. Exclude outdated and old assets and define what formats and crop/size dimensions you need your assets to be available in. You want to make sure your DAM delivers the quality that everyone in your company can rely on. When they do, you also secure long-term usage across your team, so it delivers a return on your investment.
• Drag and drop your files into your new DAM or upload in bulk. The right system should make this process straightforward to do yourself, or you can work with the provider to check whether they can fulfill this step on your behalf.

4. Gain even more control with Brand Activation Management

As the demands on digital assets continue to grow and organisations increase efforts to streamline brand strategy processes, a single-purpose DAM system may not be enough for modern marketers and you may want to think about evolving to a BAM solution.

There is no question that DAM systems carry several strong benefits to businesses, particularly those who have identified their struggles with managing and distributing their assets. However, if digital asset creation is as great or greater an issue for you than asset management, you may need to consider a more comprehensive solution.

Brands need to connect with their audiences over an increasing number of channels and mediums. The demands on content creation and brand activations are escalating. Meanwhile, more and more marketing teams are feeling the strain of budget cuts, staffing shortages, or reduced access to freelance support. This increases the pressure on not just asset management, but also asset creation.

• Large brands should be aiming to produce 4-5 blog posts every week for optimal brand awareness (Hubspot).

BAM solution has the capacity to centralise all digital assets into an easy-to-use, globally accessible repository. But unlike a conventional DAM system, BAM’s capabilities do not end there.

BAM provides complete control over how content assets are used and applied to campaigns, giving you the ultimate tools for brand governance.

BAM provides marketing teams with a more agile and cost-effective way to produce content. Intelligent templates lockdown brand consistency, and provide users with a simple, straightforward environment where they can produce high-quality assets quickly and easily.

This system keeps all variables within a predefined format, so that anyone can create, edit, and update assets without the risk of ruining your brand identity. This applies to digital and print formats – social media posts, HTML emails, posters, digital signage, videos, etc. All of this can be exported in the correct size and style quickly and easily.

5. Ready to unlock the potential of BAM?

If your company currently has fairly simple digital asset management requirements like getting to grips with the sheer volume of digital assets scattered across your various folders and files, a DAM solution will do the job perfectly well. 

But, if you want to take your brand marketing to the next level and make the move from DAM to BAM, then you’re enabling your team with the tools, information and motivation to drive your brand performance forward across every market your business touches. 

Discover more about BAM by Papirfly™ and give your team the power to create, educate, manage, store & share your brand like never before.

You can have the best display ad media strategy in the world but if the creative around it is underwhelming, you’re not going to see the results you hoped for. The best ideas stand out from the barrage of other ads individuals see each day. They use humour, emotional appeal, and functional messaging to leave a lasting impression on those who see them while browsing online.

How to make your display ad stand out from the crowd

One part of brand building is to separate your brand from your competitors. To do that you need to know who you are up against. Who are your competitors, what are their u

Creating ads that generate results requires a combination of powerful copy and visuals. Eye-catching ads are essential for keeping up and being noticed in a sea of online ads. In this article, we’ll explore how to make your promotions stand out.

Before you start creating copy, you must have a clear goal in mind for your display ad campaign. You might use your display ads to meet a variety of goals:

• Generate more leads
• Increase subscriptions
• Highlight special offers for your products or services
• Build brand awareness
• Share updates and new offerings

Consider the action you wish readers to take, and use this to help select the words and visuals of your ads to connect with the relevant audience demographics.

It’s also important to consider the platform your ads will appear on. Since you can create display ads on several platforms, place them where they have the highest potential of engaging your target audience to get the highest return on your investment.

For example, in social media advertising you will find that younger customers are often found on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, while more mature audiences can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

5 useful creative tips to boost your ad performance and ROI

1. Use compelling visuals

Each display ad example in this article uses interesting visuals. The images are simple and tell the story with minimal complexity, making it easy for the viewer to understand what’s going on instantly, which is important when they might be scrolling through feeds or pages in a hurry.

Colour is a critical factor to convey mood and personality, so choose carefully. Warm colours like red, orange, and yellow generally convey a sense of energy and enthusiasm. Blues and purples more often connote poise, wisdom, and stability. Green, of course, makes people think of action and growth. Select your colours based on the immediate impression you want to give a potential customer.

2. Write copy engaging copy

Before you start shaping your brand’s identity, investigate market trends that will

Once you’ve chosen your display ad campaign’s goals and visuals, you’ll need to consider the copy itself. When you create ad copy, it’s crucial that you understand your audience. How they speak is especially important – tone and style matter – the copy must resonate with your audience.

People won’t read lengthy ad texts online. Long paragraphs will turn them off. Keep it short and punchy so viewers can take in everything straight away. You might find it helpful to write a few versions and A/B test them to see which works best.

3. Use humour where appropriate

People love laughing, and humour is one of the best ways to connect with your target audience. Don’t be afraid to go a little left-field with your visuals and copy. The payoff can be huge if you get it right. Just ensure that it feels authentic to your brand, respectful, and acknowledges a common experience they’ll recognise.

4. Solve the audience’s problem

Most consumers have learned to zone out ads that don’t help them solve a problem. If your ad provides something of value and tells the reader useful information, they are more likely to actually see it.

The key to a great ad is to remember that everyone has problems – your message has to instantly address and solve it. A creative brief should always have a clear problem that the consumer has, and a clear solution that the product/service provides. You have a problem. We have thea solution.

5. Include a clear call-to-action

Be direct in telling your audience what you want them to do next, and do it in such a way that grabs their attention. Whether it’s “Buy Now” or “Claim Your Offer,” using a strong action verb directs your audience to the next step.

A good way to make this desired action distinct is to use a contrasting colour that grabs your audience’s attention and stands out from the rest of the ad visually. As long as it still aligns with your overall visual identity, this can be useful in securing clicks, shares or other types of engagement.

3 examples of great display ads

The North Face

The North Face doesn’t just produce everyday winter coats, and this piece of collateral has done an excellent job of conveying this fact by creating an effective brand awareness campaign using a visually captivating story coupled with strong ad copy.

Why it’s effective:

• Strong colours and relevant images.
• The pictures and text tell a captivating story that’s hard to ignore.
• This ad sends a memorable message about The North Face brand.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s Azure platform competes in one of the most competitive IT markets – enterprise cloud app development. This ad takes the typical “free trial” offer to a new level by giving their readers full control over the length of the trial period. The call-to-action delivers real value and solves a problem, instantly making this ad more click-worthy.

Why it’s effective:

• Bright blue and contrasting white colours demand attention.
• A unique and compelling free trial offer that stands out.
• The clear and simple call-to-action button tells you exactly what you get.

Semrush

Semrush’s attractive promise to solve your biggest business problem in seconds is hard to resist. Even if their audience scrolls by, that enticing offer will echo in their heads and help further collateral stand out when they encounter another piece of Semrush collateral down the road.

Why it’s effective:

• Bright contrasting colours and rich media helps this ad stand out on the page.
• The ad promises very specific and attractive results.
• “Competitors’ top products and offers” is a captivating result for business owners.

Create dynamic display ads efficiently with smart templates

Whatever your marketing message, you need to get it out in the world quickly in order to retain relevance and context. The ability to change graphics, layouts, frames, text, transitions and more, all without compromising on style or quality, can be a huge asset for brand consistency in the fast-paced world of marketing.

What’s more, building, previewing and publishing visuals from one central place can also help accelerate the efficiency and speed of content creation.

BAM by Papirfly™ allows all of this and more, enabling marketing teams to produce digital ads faster so you can take advantage of opportunities when they emerge, rather than lose precious hours, days and weeks on designs, proofs and revisions.

Give your teams worldwide the ability to maintain consistency across your digital display assets, customising offers and incentives whenever demand arises. Produce marketing materials in a simpler, more cost-effective way, and increase the volume and frequency of collateral to gain a competitive edge in the increasingly crowded landscape of digital advertising.

Everything your team needs in a single online portal. BAM provides the freedom to create consistent print and digital display ads without agency support – and a lot more:

• A single brand portal for all the latest documents, information, fonts and guides.
• Adjust permission levels to restrict who can use which assets.
• Keep your brand consistent and accessible for everyone – wherever they are in the world.
• Build on your asset collection as new creations are made.

Discover the power of our smart templates and the wider possibilities of BAM by booking your free personalised demo.

Innovation in brand automation solutions such as template technology, is streamlining previously time-consuming, manually-driven, repetitive tasks that cost marketing teams time, money and energy.

1. Reduce repetitive, manual tasks and save money

According to Smartsheet’s report Automation in the Workplace, workers said they look forward to spending less time on repetitive manual tasks and spending more time on the rewarding aspects of their work. One of the ways workers believe they could benefit from automation in their daily work is by reducing the number of productivity-killing tasks they execute every day to keep the business running.

The goal of brand automation above all else is to eliminate the extra effort associated with creating and updating brand assets. Brand management teams worldwide all have to produce a range of content to tight deadlines for their consumers, but outdated, manual processes often prevent them from achieving the efficiency they’re after.

Professionals in all industries, but particularly in marketing, waste an excessive amount of time digging through files to find the resources they need. In the event that they don’t, they often start from scratch and create every new asset they need for their upcoming campaigns.

By providing intelligent templates and access to a wealth of on-brand resources, brand automation platforms reduce the time it takes to produce assets, gain approval and distribute it to your various audiences. In essence, you produce more while putting in less, allowing your brand marketers to achieve a much greater return on investment.

2. Are custom templates right for you?

If any of the following factors apply to your company, custom-designed templates may be beneficial to your business:

• You have a team of people who create branded materials for proposals, brochures, presentations, ads and marketing campaigns. 
• You have standard assets that are used across multiple channels. 
• You want to achieve brand consistency across all materials. 
• You want to look professional.
• You feel efficiency can be improved by streamlining your processes.

Here are some of the ways that bespoke marketing templates could increase efficiency for your business.

1. Time

Working with a template can help you save time and meet tight deadlines. Templates should include colours, fonts, logo designs, and anything that needs to be in place to stay within brand guidelines. When the template does most of the work for you, a lot of time is freed up for other brand efforts.

2. Consistency

All outgoing materials should be standardised to ensure your brand is consistent and reinforced across all materials and channels. Templates will help guide the process when multiple employees and contributors are involved in content creation, and ensure that all content produced follows your brand guidelines.

3. Space for strategic thinking

With the time you save, you get more room for strategic thinking. When you have more space to think, analyse data and get creative with ways to meet their needs, you help your employees unlock their potential to improve their return on investment.

3. What to look for in a template solution

Template technology is a solution that provides employees with flexibility. By having the solution available online and removing the need to involve designers and other resources in repetitive tasks, your employees get increased flexibility that makes it easier to work more efficiently.

However, in order to maximise your marketing team’s output, it’s important to look for a system that provides templates for a complete range of print and digital assets:

Ads

To gain optimal conversion frequency, ads must be recognisable to potential customers. This is best achieved by using a combination of pre-designed templates and automated working processes that guarantee consistency across all digital channels and platforms.

Social media

More than any other digital marketing channel, social media allows companies to target their market segments with tailored content, but these platforms also come with many challenges for brands, especially with tone of voice. 

Timing and consistency are everything, and it creates a major challenge for marketers when resources are stretched and there are deadlines to meet. With pre-defined templates designing assets is easy, regardless of who makes it, and your brand remains intact.

Printed materials

Most marketing efforts have moved to digital channels these days, but your company will still benefit from having templates for print as well. With self-serviced business cards, posters, roll-ups and more, your employees can easily create the assets they need on-demand without having to contact a design agency every time a new update is required.

Dynamic content

Standing out from your competitors demands even more creativity from marketing teams. Static content is nice, but sometimes you need to go further and this usually requires the skills and expertise from an external marketing agency.

But not anymore. With a modern automation system, templates for creating, adapting, changing, and publishing dynamic content to the channels of your preference is quick and easy.

Video templates

ideo creation used to be out of reach for most companies. It was perceived as expensive with professional production costs. Now it is unthinkable to exclude video marketing. In fact, 81% of businesses now use video as a marketing tool.

It is important to be able to create videos fast and on-brand in order to engage with your audience effectively. So, look for template technology that lets you create and adapt your videos with only a few keystrokes so you can share high-quality content with your customers and prospects on a frequent basis.

4. Automate and simplify your workday

A digital solution with adjustable templates will reflect positively on your team in terms of efficiency. Create fresh brand assets like social media posts, video content, ad banners, posters and brochures by utilising predefined or custom templates to deliver new localised content on time, on brand and on budget.

Look for a solution that is available and intuitive and which supports all activities associated with your brand. With the template studio available as part of BAM by Papirfly™, anyone can rapidly produce on-brand, quality collateral for a wide range of digital and print channels – no specialist design skills required:

• Social media assets
• Videos
• Posters
• Brochures
• Digital signage
• Branded emails

Discover the efficiencies you can gain with our easy-to-use design software, and unlock the power BAM offers in helping you own, control and create your brand like never before. Get in touch to find out more, or book your free personalised demo.

Innovation in brand automation solutions such as template technology, is streamlining previously time-consuming, manually-driven, repetitive tasks that cost marketing teams time, money and energy.

Reduce repetitive, manual tasks and save money

According to Smartsheet’s report Automation in the Workplace, workers said they look forward to spending less time on repetitive manual tasks and spending more time on the rewarding aspects of their work. One of the ways workers believe they could benefit from automation in their daily work is by reducing the number of productivity-killing tasks they execute every day to keep the business running.

The goal of brand automation above all else is to eliminate the extra effort associated with creating and updating brand assets. Brand management teams worldwide all have to produce a range of content to tight deadlines for their consumers, but outdated, manual processes often prevent them from achieving the efficiency they’re after.

Professionals in all industries, but particularly in marketing, waste an excessive amount of time digging through files to find the resources they need. In the event that they don’t, they often start from scratch and create every new asset they need for their upcoming campaigns.

By providing intelligent templates and access to a wealth of on-brand resources, brand automation platforms reduce the time it takes to produce assets, gain approval and distribute it to your various audiences. In essence, you produce more while putting in less, allowing your brand marketers to achieve a much greater return on investment.

Are custom templates right for you?

If any of the following factors apply to your company, custom-designed templates may be beneficial to your business:

• You have a team of people who create branded materials for proposals, brochures, presentations, ads and marketing campaigns. 
• You have standard assets that are used across multiple channels. 
• You want to achieve brand consistency across all materials. 
• You want to look professional.
• You feel efficiency can be improved by streamlining your processes.

Here are some of the ways that bespoke marketing templates could increase efficiency for your business.

1. Time

Working with a template can help you save time and meet tight deadlines. Templates should include colours, fonts, logo designs, and anything that needs to be in place to stay within brand guidelines. When the template does most of the work for you, a lot of time is freed up for other brand efforts.

2. Consistency

All outgoing materials should be standardised to ensure your brand is consistent and reinforced across all materials and channels. Templates will help guide the process when multiple employees and contributors are involved in content creation, and ensure that all content produced follows your brand guidelines.

3. Space for strategic thinking

With the time you save, you get more room for strategic thinking. When you have more space to think, analyse data and get creative with ways to meet their needs, you help your employees unlock their potential to improve their return on investment.

What to look for in a template solution

Template technology is a solution that provides employees with flexibility. By having the solution available online and removing the need to involve designers and other resources in repetitive tasks, your employees get increased flexibility that makes it easier to work more efficiently.

However, in order to maximise your marketing team’s output, it’s important to look for a system that provides templates for a complete range of print and digital assets:

Ads

To gain optimal conversion frequency, ads must be recognisable to potential customers. This is best achieved by using a combination of pre-designed templates and automated working processes that guarantee consistency across all digital channels and platforms.

Social media

More than any other digital marketing channel, social media allows companies to target their market segments with tailored content, but these platforms also come with many challenges for brands, especially with tone of voice. 

Timing and consistency are everything, and it creates a major challenge for marketers when resources are stretched and there are deadlines to meet. With pre-defined templates designing assets is easy, regardless of who makes it, and your brand remains intact.

Printed materials

Most marketing efforts have moved to digital channels these days, but your company will still benefit from having templates for print as well. With self-serviced business cards, posters, roll-ups and more, your employees can easily create the assets they need on-demand without having to contact a design agency every time a new update is required.

Dynamic content

Standing out from your competitors demands even more creativity from marketing teams. Static content is nice, but sometimes you need to go further and this usually requires the skills and expertise from an external marketing agency.

But not anymore. With a modern automation system, templates for creating, adapting, changing, and publishing dynamic content to the channels of your preference is quick and easy.

Video templates

ideo creation used to be out of reach for most companies. It was perceived as expensive with professional production costs. Now it is unthinkable to exclude video marketing. In fact, 81% of businesses now use video as a marketing tool.

It is important to be able to create videos fast and on-brand in order to engage with your audience effectively. So, look for template technology that lets you create and adapt your videos with only a few keystrokes so you can share high-quality content with your customers and prospects on a frequent basis.

Automate and simplify your workday

A digital solution with adjustable templates will reflect positively on your team in terms of efficiency. Create fresh brand assets like social media posts, video content, ad banners, posters and brochures by utilising predefined or custom templates to deliver new localised content on time, on brand and on budget.

Look for a solution that is available and intuitive and which supports all activities associated with your brand. With the template studio available as part of BAM by Papirfly™, anyone can rapidly produce on-brand, quality collateral for a wide range of digital and print channels – no specialist design skills required:

• Social media assets
• Videos
• Posters
• Brochures
• Digital signage
• Branded emails

Discover the efficiencies you can gain with our easy-to-use design software, and unlock the power BAM offers in helping you own, control and create your brand like never before. Get in touch to find out more, or book your free personalised demo.