Why agencies should consider investing in an intuitive DAM

Today’s media and marketing agencies must produce more content than ever before to meet their clients’ increasing demands for richer, higher-quality assets.

Although brands still leverage the power of written content (blog posts, eBooks, whitepapers, etc.) and graphics, video is emerging as the most popular asset requested from creative teams, with 92% of marketers claiming that video is crucial for their brand strategy, marketing campaigns and social media presence.

It is clear to see why as research shows that 54% of consumers want to see more video content from brands they support, as they are more engaging and easy to consume.

Video helps companies enhance their brands and connect more easily with consumers. As a result, brands are continuously finding new ways to share information through video including vlogs, interviews, presentations, tutorials, product demos and the list goes on.

The rising demand for video content creates an increase in volume that agencies need to handle, but due to its complexity, most do not have the necessary tools to operate video efficiently.

Managing the storage and delivery of video can reveal unique challenges.

The traditional solutions that work for safeguarding Microsoft Word documents, images and other simpler creative works, such as email, company servers and Dropbox, aren’t ideal for storing, managing or distributing high-quality video content, and certainly not in large volumes.

Agencies might turn to online platforms like YouTube to help alleviate the problem of storing videos but would soon realize the security and brand reputation risks it could provoke.

To help ensure that assets are being managed and delivered in the most efficient way possible, agencies should instead consider an intuitive digital asset management (DAM).

DAM 101

A DAM system is designed to store any type of digital files. DAMs are all-purpose and cover various types of files. As more clients demand higher-quality media assets, agencies are realizing that there is an urgency to catalog more video and media files in a system that has the capacity and processing power to handle their needs.

Certain DAM solutions are equipped to handle more complex video files, which helps alleviate the storage and distribution challenges agencies face when it comes to handling content.

Benefits of a DAM

Leveraging the power of a DAM system helps agencies stay organized in how they store and retrieve files.

Agencies and their clients alike without a doubt have experienced the scramble to find a specific video only to realize it has ended up stored on a different computer or storage device for which only certain people have access.

A DAM is a centralized, cloud-based solution making it simple for colleagues to easily find assets when they need them. And, when juggling multiple clients and projects, using one platform to store, manage and share content helps agencies to be more efficient and responsive to client needs, helping them do what they do best: create killer content for their clients.

Agencies can also use a DAM to build a media delivery system for clients that is secure and speedy – with user permissions in place, of course. In the past, file transfer systems were the only options to send large video files, which could result in missed emails, manual file requests or download links expiring before the client could review the project.

A DAM solution offers quick delivery of content which is available at the client’s convenience and ensures all around efficiency.

For example, agencies create various videos for clients that have a global presence to appeal to different regional audiences. As one can imagine, trying to access or share the content with clients can be challenging due to user restrictions across regions or individual teams having their own storage systems.

If agencies don’t have easy access to video that has already been produced, it can slow down the creative process, and cost more money if an asset needs to be recreated. By switching to a DAM system, agency employees have every single piece of content at their fingertips, making the video retrieval process much simpler.

As the demand for content grows, agencies need to think bigger in terms of how they provide world-class client experiences without sacrificing the quality of the work they produce. A DAM solution allows agencies to streamline workflows and work more resourcefully with clients.

Helen Aboagye is CMO at specialist video management company, Imagen. With over twenty years of marketing experience, Helen is responsible for developing the brand, corporate communications and demand generation programmes, as well as the company’s global go-to-market strategy.