Every organization would love to be able to communicate and connect with the exact people who are going to buy their products and services. This would eliminate the time and resource waste implicit in attempting to reach segments of the population that aren't going to become customers. They can still help with marketing if they talk about a product with friends and family members that do belong to the right segment but every marketer would much rather directly "speak" to such people themselves.

They attempt to accomplish this with campaigns specifically designed to talk to and connect with particular segments of the population and focus on platforms most likely to be frequented by those potential customers. DAM systems can be a huge help when marketing to any segment of your audience.

Digital asset management tools that help to organize and categorize assets might be the most important thing in any marketer's segmented campaign toolbox. The very nature of segmented marketing requires assets that are geared towards particular demographics of the population. There has to be a means of recognizing images and videos that are engineered for affluent males (big online spenders according to this article) teens, or other segments. A good DAM system is perfectly designed for this because assets are categorized with tags and other metadata used for their descriptions. Include metadata fields for various and appropriate marketing segments to make it easier to narrow your asset searches demographically.

Effective, segmented marketing done on a consistent basis is the goal of every marketing department. To experience how brand asset management software can be used for segmented marketing, take a free trial of a Widen software-as-a-service DAM system today.

The marketing technologist position was born out of a need to bridge the divide between marketing and IT. Marketing technologists need to know how to make the most out of a DAM system and should have certain skills geared for this purpose. Such skills include:

Expertise in marketing software — A marketing technologist needs to know how to configure, integrate, and administrate marketing software. Digital asset management is just one of the tools a marketing technologist should be able to run point on. DAM software facilitates the management of assets needed for marketing and other communications. Without one, the process can become so slow, unproductive, and inefficient that it can seriously reduce the marketing effectiveness of any company.

Social media — Social has become an important part of any organization’s communications; every good marketing technologist should know the ins and outs of social platforms. They should also know how to effectively leverage social platforms for marketing purposes and how to incorporate digital asset management tools into those processes.

Programming — Marketing technologists need to have a good understanding of software programming. Even without development responsibilities, these skills can come in very handy in troubleshooting. They will also be more likely to engineer solutions on their own or work in conjunction with DAM software providers to come up with the right answers to programming-related problems.

Content marketing — They of course need to have a solid understanding of how to carry out effective content marketing. This includes knowing the ins and outs of SEO and how to improve the odds that clients will find digital assets such as videos, images, and white papers. They also need to know how to best leverage a DAM system for this purpose.

IT department operations — Marketing technologists need to know just as much about leveraging technology as they do about marketing. Their understanding of IT operations makes for a smooth transition between marketing and IT and helps each department work in conjunction for higher productivity. With solid footing on both sides of the fence, they are more capable of using a DAM system to manage digital assets in a way that helps both departments.

To learn more about what should be expected from marketing technologists and how they use DAM systems as their primary tool, read this white paper by industry expert and DAM Foundation founder Mark Davey titled "Digital Asset Management and the Marketing Technologist."

Pictured: Chocolate Chunk Cookie with alt text, but no embedded metadata for title, subject or tags.

Pictured: Chocolate Chunk Cookie with alt text and embedded metadata for title, subject and tags.

SEO + Digital Asset Optimization Test 3

Pictured: Chocolate Chunk Cookie with alt text and embedded metadata for title, description and keywords.

Additional text here for SEO for Chocolate Chunk Cookie. We’re testing how embedded metadata affects SEO for image assets. Stay tuned for updates and analysis.

Following our all-company meeting on Tuesday, we had Qdoba catered in for all employees. You probably know that Qdoba has great burritos and a fantastic burrito bar, but you likely didn’t know about their totally tasty chocolate chunk cookie.

What’s the difference between a chocolate chip cookie and a chocolate chunk cookie, you ask? Quite simply, it’s the big, gooey, chocolate chunk you get with every bite! Whether you like milk chocolate or dark chocolate, the big chunks are certain to cure your chocolate fix.

How do you like your chocolate chunk cookie? Some like it plain and some like it dunked in milk. Thrill seekers will even dunk their chocolate chunk cookie in chocolate milk. On the weekends (because I earned it), I might even take two chocolate chunk cookies and make an ice cream sandwich. Any way you like your chocolate chunk cookie, there’s no denying the fact that it’s a great simple dessert fit for any occasion.

Got an original recipe for “to die for” chocolate chunk cookies? Share it here in our comments.

Some of the Widen team recently headed to New York City for Henry Stewart Events' DAM NY, a gathering of vendors, industry experts, marketers and others looking to share and learn about digital asset management software, best practices and more.

Turns out that some attendees were busy doing some thumb workouts, tweeting intensely to keep the Interwebs updated on the most valuable insights that were coming out of discussions at DAM NY. Here is a collection of some of our favorites:

@TheresaRegli

Biggest crowd here ever, indeed: RT @damfoundation: #DAMNY big crowd at the event, about time :)

@cmswire

Theresa Regli -technology alone will not be the solution, you need DAM expertise to drive the solution #DAMNY #henrystewartdam

@DrDAM

Products vs. Platforms - Platforms are customizable, Products are configurable http://ow.ly/aPh2W - New to DAM? #DAMNY

@AYakkundi

Technology isn't the silver bullet RT @DrDAM DAM is only 20% tech. People make it a success for your organization #DAMNY

@jhorodyski

90% of the information in the world is unstructured #dam #damny

@pammylalala

Mediafication of business positions DAM as central to growth of companies. Is your company investing? #DAMNY

@WidenEnterprise

How to go about training your DAM users? Check out "Tips for Promoting Your Digital Asset Management System" http://ow.ly/aPCCA #DAMNY

@joebachana

IMHO, integration of DAM with other technologies is pretty much the whole point of getting a DAM #DAMNY

@jhorodyski

DAM is a business transformation opportunity #DAMNY #DAM

@dsalons

#InfoSec meet the #DAM industry-> #BYOD (bring your own device) security and ownership issues recognized at #DAMNY.

@DrDAM

Implementing DAM? Start present day and move forward, not backward. Go back in time as you need / have time. #DAMNY

@DrDAM

As always, thank you for bringing clarity & perspective to the much fragmented vendor landscape at #DAMNY

@davidriecks

RT @DrDAM "You shouldn't plant it if you don't want to eat it" -- good gardening analogy for metadata #DAMNY

@jhorodyski

As DAM vendors, we need to stay with your needs! #damny #dam

@dsalons

"more content is uploaded to YouTube in one month, than the amount of programming created the first 60 years of television" #DAMNY

@DrDAM

Do you rely on the analytics or users (for metadata development)? It's really a combination of both, but developed for the customer #DAMNY

Are you on Twitter? Do you tweet about DAM, marketing, metadata or other related things? Follow us at @WidenEnterprise and share your DAM thoughts with us!

We've also got some great white papers in our reseource center. If you're really ready for a deep dive, request a demo of our Software-as-a-Service DAM system here.

Internet marketing is an essential part of marketing campaigns. Businesses of all stripes have rushed to figure out which strategies are most effective at helping them thrive and expand in a competitive marketplace. Tools like email marketing, newsletters, and social media have all become important parts of online marketing strategies.

An eMarketer article goes so far as to categorize such strategies as “mainstream marketing tactics.” Hosting original video content is also mentioned as having become mainstream. Even the use of secondary tactics such as social apps, webinars, and branded games has increased. All of these strategies are deployed to boost engagement of branded websites. The idea is that the more branded games a potential customer plays and the more branded social apps a prospect uses, the more likely it is they will with the brands that created those experiences. The same goes for branded emails, emails newsletters, social media interaction, and video content.

Your content’s audiences aren’t going to be convinced to buy from you regardless of the content’s quality. You need good stuff in your digital asset library. People expect online content that provides them with something of value — for instance, online videos that inform and entertain rather than content blatantly trying to sell a product or service. The fickle nature of online consumers also translates to a need for more assets. This is especially the case when working with social media platforms where interaction is fast and furious. To keep up with the increased need for assets, digital asset management programs have become a necessary tool for successful online marketing campaigns.

DAM software is essential for fast-paced, online marketing because:

• It makes it easier to reformat branded content: Quick and easy use of assets on different platforms requires a DAM system that can immediately reformat assets. This adds the type of efficiency needed for quick distribution of valuable assets on social media sites, via emails, and other avenues.
• Cloud-based DAM eliminates bandwidth concerns: More assets and online video viewing translate to heavy bandwidth needs. Going with a cloud-based DAM solution puts that burden on servers that are more powerful than anything your organization is likely able to support. That means you never ned to be afraid of your message being too effective.

To see how a cloud-based digital media asset management system can improve your online marketing campaigns, sign up for a free trial of a Widen software-as-a-service DAM system today.

There have been a lot of changes in marketing in the past few years. Just as radio and television had huge impacts on marketing practices, social media and other accessible forms of communication between employees and clients have added new dimensions to the fabric of modern marketing.

The speed of social media

Before social media, people visited websites and didn’t have any say in what the experience was like. Their experience was more or less pre-determined by marketing teams and web designers. Like watching a television show or looking into the front window of a department store, they could see what was available but there was no interaction.

Every employee is a marketer

Marketing has ceased to be monopolized by marketing departments. They still play crucial roles and bring valued experience to the table, but a lot of other people also become involved in marketing whether they want to or not. This has happened due to the increased communication between employees and customers via email and social media.

Essentially, having more channels of communication means more people in the company become brand advocates. This has a lot of potential benefits for marketing, but also comes with risks if employees send out the wrong types of marketing assets.

How digital asset management programs help

A cloud-based DAM system adapts perfectly to these changing marketing dynamics by:

• Facilitating fresh content - A good DAM system makes it easy to repurpose content through the use of a fast search engine and digital asset management tools for immediate formatting. Files and images that were used for campaigns in the past can be found in a matter of seconds.


• Global access to the DAM system - All employees can have quick and easy access to assets in a DAM system. However, branding is still maintained by only providing access to certain assets.


• Easy delivery - The best brand asset management software makes it easy to share video content and quickly distribute assets in a wide variety of formats.

To experience a DAM system designed, interactive marketing, sign up for a demo of a Widen software-as-a-service DAM system.

Social media presents a challenge for marketing and business in general. These platforms not only allow people to engage directly with brands, but also encourage users to share your content with their networks. These marketing channels come with their own unique difficulties. They require near immediate reaction to customer and prospect engagement, along with a large digital asset library to help keep conversations fresh.

This is why digital asset management tools are a necessary part of social media marketing. In providing a platform that facilitates more efficient management and use of digital assets, a good DAM system that can automatically transcode videos and images becomes a critically valuable tool for social media marketing. However, put digital asset management programs in the able hands of a marketing technologist and the DAM system can become a powerful game changer for any organization or company.

Marketing technologists help you get more or a return on your investment in any DAM system, including use in social media marketing workflows. They know how to leverage the system to make it a tool for feeding assets into your social content. How?

• The right version for the right channel — DAM systems can help you ensure that people are not wasting time and resources waiting for unnecessarily long uploads or performing manual file conversions to make assets compatible with social platforms.
• Making metadata relevant — A marketing technologist can help you ensure that your metadata schemes are actually useful for your social media communications. It should help you move at the speed of social networks, and a technologist can help you get there.
• Direct publishing — Perhaps most importantly, a technologist can help you understand what is possible and how bet to leverage a DAM system that lets you publish assets directly from the DAM software to your social networking sites.

To learn more about the role that marketing technologists can play with social media platforms, please see this white paper titled, "Digital Asset Management and the Marketing Technologist" by the DAM Foundation's Mark Davey.

We’re only 70 days away from the Widen User Summit, our first-ever digital asset management conference hosted right here in beautiful downtown Madison, Wisconsin. Seventy days out, we have about 70 DAM customer representatives registered. We’re expecting 100 attendees for the free, 2-day event September 18-19, 2012.

If you have yet to register, be sure to do so before August 10 at WidenUserSummit.com/register

Themed “A Collective Purpose”, the user summit will bring together administrators of Widen DAM systems, stakeholders, thought-leaders, marketing and creative pros and other DAM practitioners from all over the globe (yes, even 1 international attendee) to share and partake in some fun in the Widen world of DAM.

Here’s a look at some attendee demographics

Functional Breakout

Industries

States

Get more information

• For a quick preview of who’s speaking, check out: WidenUserSummit.com/speakers
• For a look at the planned learnings, visit: WidenUserSummit.com/agenda
• For a sneak peak at the fabulous entertainment, see: WidenUserSummit.com/entertainment

The rise of mobile device use and social media has boosted the importance of incorporating a DAM system into every business’ marketing processes. More digital media calls for a better means of managing your library. However, complications associated with DAM systems on in-house servers are an indication that cloud-based systems provide the best solutions to management of digital assets.

The following factors demonstrate why a cloud-based DAM system is the best option for almost any business:

Storage - This is always a primary function of a DAM system. Remember that storing media on your own drives means you incur more costs since you have to worry about mitigating the risk of loss and funding the maintenance of your hardware.

Protection of digital assets - The Widen Media Collective brings your organization all the security of a trusted DAM software provider and the Amazon Web Services cloud. This makes Widen DAM an excellent means of keeping them safe from system failures and being stolen.

Mobile devices - With mobile device use growing, every company needs to formulate strategies for incorporating them into marketing campaigns. This makes it all the more important to have a cloud-based system with HTML5-friendly embed codes, for example. With Widen DAM, you know your assets can reach your audience... no matter where they are.

Disasters - You should think about protecting your assets against human error as much as you do about protecting them from natural disasters and other physical damage. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters can all end up reaching servers and destroying precious data.That risk is greatly reduced when your assets are hosted in the cloud — especially when the data is replicated across multiple geographic server locations.

To experience the benefits of cloud-based digital asset management programs, sign up for a free trial of a Widen software-as-a-service DAM.

The Widen User Summit is shaping up to be the biggest FREE digital asset management conference of the year and registration is about to close!

For all the Widen Digital Asset Management customers who have not registered, if that’s not enough reason to REGISTER NOW, then here are 10 more:

I had the opportunity to speak to fellow marketers, creatives, business leaders and social media geeks the week before last at the Social Media Breakfast Madison’s seminar all about digital content creation, sharing and management. 

I’m telling you, Digital Asset Management is the next big thing to come to the world of social media. At Widen, everything we do goes to help marketing organizations, brand owners, and professional communicators create, manage and distribute digital media and brand assets – in large part to help them be more profitable organizations. And, social media is a big part of that.

DAM is what gives you some control over the explosion of digital content! From creation, to management and distribution, DAM is a relevant concept for organizations of ALL shapes and sizes. It helps you manage, “who” can access “what content”, “when”, “where” and “how”.

DAM goes beyond just that of software and technology, but like most business functions, DAM embraces (1) platforms, (2) processes, and (3) people. It’s not just for entertainment companies and libraries anymore, but it’s for ALL companies. All the content your teams create has value or at least the potential to have value. That’s why they’re called “Digital ASSETS”! 

In a tech sense, DAM systems are the evolution to what many migrate to after their desktops, shared file servers, CD libraries, or cheap cloud utilities fail them.

View the slideshow from the presentation. 

Digital Asset Management, Creation and Implementation. from Social Media Breakfast Madison

During the presentation, we honed in on five key takeaways for DAM solutions:

1. Assets are “repurposeaceous”. Yes, we made that term up! But the root word being “repurpose”.

Digital assets are everywhere – print, web, social, mobile – and for those with bigger budgets or in cases where it makes sense – broadcast and outdoor.

Now, DAM systems help you control and “be in the know” on where assets are to be used. Some content is created for a specific purpose – a specific channel. However, most assets at most organizations should be used in many places for many purposes. That’s why we call it “repurposing”.

Take “logos” for example, those are perhaps the most downloaded brand assets for any organization. Most of us go to Google images and hope the logo we grab is the most current... DAM software helps there too because it’s the place where you can get the file you need and trust that it’s the right one.

The value of repurposing has huge efficiency benefits too. It helps solve the problem of having someone manually fulfill requests for images, brochures, PowerPoints and other content. 

Take this quote from a Graphic Designer at 5.11 Tactical, one of Widen’s users:

“75,000+ plus assets sent out from the DAM in the last 4 years. If each one took me 1 minute to process in the old way, then Widen has saved me on the order of 31 weeks worth of time.”

Another problem solved is the need to manage multiple files of the same bit of content... Digital asset management systems are cool because you can upload and maintain one master file and download that file in any format with on-the-fly file conversions! So, you might upload a hi-res EPS photo and download a lo-res JPEG without the need for Photoshop. Even start with a hi-def movie file and download a 640 pixel wide version for your website without any special software like Final Cut.

2. Metadata gives assets meaning. It’s the data about data. It’s what enables “findability” among other things. It includes things like keywords, description or caption. It includes file properties like format, size and dimensions. It also includes security and rights info. It might specify how it should be used.

Metadata helps you answer questions on:

• How to find
• How to safeguard
• How to manage liability around your digital assets

3. Roles & permissions manage the “who” and the “how”. 

That is, not everyone should have access to every media asset all the time... Again, DAM supports the asset lifecycle, so when assets are being created or retouched or prepped for an upcoming campaign, event, product launch or promotion – the salespeople at the end of the chain should not have access to those files until launch. Also, it helps to make sure your content does NOT end up in the wrong hands.

4. Tracking & auditing gives you control.

It gives you the intel to know who downloaded what assets, when, and why – for what reason. It can also tell you anytime the metadata was changed, when new versions were added, and anything else you need to know about your “assets” – and your content contributors, managers and consumers.

5. Analytics makes content creators and owners smarter and more efficient.

Just as today's marketing technologies should, DAM helps you make better decisions about what types of assets are in high demand, plus the same level of intel about the products they’re representing. It can tell you who’s using your stuff, when and in what form.

It can also help you spend more time being creative – not searching for creative files you might want to repurpose. It gives you a point of reference on what to create and how to create it based on previous activity. Basically, you have the power to know all sorts of things about “who” is downloading “what” that you may not otherwise know.

Then there’s the business benefits of DAM… Reasons why your boss will care:

• DAM enhances marketing productivity because it helps to streamline processes from concept to execution on through to distribution and connecting with your customers. And it improves accuracy.
• DAM improves brand consistency across all customer touch points, and – in turn – improves brand awareness and in time greater brand advocacy.
• DAM strengthens customer relationships with the right content in the right places, more places, and in turn creates stronger revenue streams.
• Do all that right and DAM helps you secure and capture more market share, which is what it’s all about.

And if that’s not enough, check out this clip from InSinkErator.

To learn more, check out our white papers with some more goodies including DAM tips, social media, repurposing and metadata.

1. Learn all about what we do today – There’s a lot of history built into our last 60 years, but there’s a lot of future too! The new Widen.com provides a glimpse into how we’ve evolved from the age of prepress and color separations to our modern day services of cloud-based digital asset management solutions and premedia services. All of which helps organizations be more profitable by optimizing workflows with the digital asset life cycle and squeezing more value from brand assets. 

I’m Jake Athey and I’ve been with Widen since May 2004. I work with a variety of marketing people, marketing technologies and marketing practices every day. That might sound a bit mundane, but if you’re reading my blog you know better! We are in the most exciting time to be in marketing.

I’m privileged to be the user and administrator of several popular marketing technologies including customer relationship management, campaign management, digital asset management, email marketing, blogging, and social media management platforms. (If you’ve landed on my blog on purpose, I’m sure you can relate to some the same challenges and experiences...)
 
While the abundance of marketing channels and globalization continue to be key challenges for every organization, the amount and types of digital content is rising exponentially as new marketing channels emerge. This makes effective management and efficient use of content critical to maximizing return on marketing investments. My blog focuses on the technologies that allow marketing departments to capture, store, retrieve, manage and apply digital content. Here, you’ll find commentary and resources about digital asset management, marketing trends, news and events with Widen and the world around us.

Widen will hold its inaugural Digital Asset Management User Summit Tuesday and Wednesday, September 18 &19 in Madison. Over 100 customer representatives across 67 companies in 28 vertical markets will be joining the Widen team for two days of learning, sharing and collaborating.

• The eight attributes to the Widen Service Model from CEO Matthew Gonnering
• Best practices and learnings from top experts - many who’ve spoken at Henry Stewart and/or Createasphere DAM conferences
• A metadata & taxonomy in depth tutorial with John Horodyski
• User adoption and expansion programs customer panel
• Personnel and positioning viewpoints from client executives
• Site optimization and continuous improvement processes customer panel

• Feedback & ideas on our major product themes involving video, social, mobile, API extensions, analytics and collaboration.
• Training and best practices in user role structures and metadata and taxonomy development and management.
• Creating action plans on metadata development, premedia workflows, user engagement and site audits & optimization.

Last year, Facebook released image upload statistics. An incredible 300 million photos were uploaded and shared on Facebook every single day.

It’s also a reminder of the many learning and marketing opportunities to be found on Facebook and the ways in which image use on this social platform is related to digital asset management programs.

The need for an efficient, user-friendly DAM system - The fact that so many images are uploaded to Facebook tells us that people love sharing photos. Digital asset management software is an essential part of making your brand a part of that exchange by greatly reducing the amount of time it takes to find appropriate, brand-consistent images, video content, and other media. A good DAM system will also minimize time spent on formatting by including tools that automatically reformat assets according to parameters you define (like posting on Facebook or YouTube).

Cloud-based digital asset hosting - The large numbers of videos and images required for effective marketing on Facebook also require an equally large amount of space. Since storing a huge digital asset library on in-house servers is a disaster just waiting to happen, and takes the IT department away from more productive tasks, some form of cloud-based hosting seems to be the best option. A Web-based DAM system makes it possible to manage thousands of assets for marketing on Facebook while removing concerns about system slowdowns and IT expenses.

How customers use Facebook and how they manage their assets - In addition to marketing on this massive social site, it can also be studied to see how customers are using it and their images. Results of such studies can provide insight into more effective Facebook marketing strategies and the development of DAM system tools.

Take a free trial of a cloud-based, Widen DAM system to experience DAM developed for effective social media marketing.

Using digital assets has become inescapable in modern marketing. Online video content and high-resolution images are used in everything from websites and social media to broadcast ads. We see them every time we shop online, watch viral videos or “poke” our friends (do people still poke?). Because we’re so used to digital being the first option, many believe new media are pushing print to extinction. Especially given the popularity of e-reader devices (like the Amazon Kindle), it’s easy to jump to that conclusion.

Still, print is far from going the way of the Dodo and a company that relies exclusively on digital marketing campaigns could be shooting itself in the foot. While it’s true that digital channels are critically important, print has its advantages and can sometimes go where other media can’t.

Thing is, your print media a collateral is built digitally. So why wouldn’t you think of DAM software as being useful in supporting those workflows as well? In fact, with a digital asset management system that can perform on-the-fly file conversions, it shouldn’t make a difference where your assets are destined to end up.

One aspect of the publishing world gives us an interesting look at how print and digital communications can feed off one another.

Some printed publications are even increasing in popularity despite digital versions also being available. One such example is the comic book. According to an article by Seth Rosenblatt on CNET, orders for printed comics by Direct Market comic shops are up 18 percent in 2012 and there have been more than 300,000 preorders for issue 100 of the popular Walking Dead series. In the same article, Todd Martinez, the sales and licensing coordinator for Image Comics, explains that some of the higher sales in printed comics stems from their promotion as collector’s items in online versions. A lot of readers buy the digital version first but then also end up purchasing printed copies. Martinez also indicates that they are attracting more readers by offering a wider variety of high quality comics.

Companies hoping to connect with customers in comics and other print media platforms need to make sure that their digital asset management programs can be used for creating high quality print ads in addition to digital asset advertising.

To experience digital asset management tools that facilitate marketing in both print and digital platforms, sign up for a free trial of a Widen DAM system today.

At the inaugural Widen User Summit in Madison a few weeks back, Lisa Gauvin - an associate marketing manager at the Yankee Candle company - talked about the time savings the Widen digital asset management solution has provided to their marketing operations. 

The digital asset management ROI model for Yankee Candle is summarized with a before and after illustration showing an average of 10 days saved per request for images. Before Widen DAM, Yankee Candle’s process for fulfilling requests for image assets took anywhere from eight days on average to 15 days on the other extreme depending on the complexity of the project.

After the Widen digital asset management solution was put in place, Yankee Candle had this process down to less than 10 minutes. The key value the Widen DAM solution has brought to Yankee Candle company is that it allows for simple, self-serve access to the exact files that Yankee Candle dealers need to carry out marketing campaigns, advertising and promotions. Nevermore is it resting on the shoulders of a single traffic coordinator to fulfill manual requests via CD shipments. As you can imagine, the reduction in labor and consumables (CDs, DVDs and shipping materials) provides for a significant hard-dollar cost savings as well.

What’s your favorite method for showing digital asset management ROI? Leave a comment or contact us to talk further.