Five reasons to secure your brand assets with a DAM solution

Five reasons to secure your brand assets with a DAM solution

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Rejuvenating your images and videos Getty Images/iStockphoto

Your digital asset collection isn’t stale. It needs to be seen through the prism of a Lookatme™ Digital Asset Management solution to be revitalised.

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Whether it’s the website, online ads, social media, video or downloadable PDFs, brands are becoming increasingly dependent on the digital assets that make up their online presence. Whether it’s the website, online ads, social media, video or downloadable PDFs, brands are becoming increasingly dependent on the digital assets that make up their online presence. So why is it they pay such little attention to how those assets are managed? Most brand managers have assets spread across countless computers and digital devices, most of which have little or no control. The belief is that photographers, ad and PR agencies, designers, videographers, and countless other digital content creators correctly store and protect the digital assets they generate for their clients. The cold hard truth is that many are not, and those aren’t always doing it correctly.

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Tech can get away from you Getty Images/iStockphoto

Whether it is hardware failure, hacking of internal systems, or simply poor management practices by your people, your valuable digital asset collection remains at risk until you deploy a solution like Lookatme™.

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Reason #1. Hard disks fail

When CDs were first released, producers believed they had a lifespan of over 100 years. Today they believe that figure is more like ten years, and most of us know even that is an optimistic view. The same can be said of hard disks. They have a reputation for failing when you least expect it, and the consequences can be dire.

The digital assets that reside on individual desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones are even more concerning. These devices are even more prone to failure.

Even the servers you have within your data centre will fail - eventually. The only way you can ensure that your digital assets remain secure is to engage with a solution such as Lookatme™, which uses multiple levels of security and numerous backups of your digital assets. Lookatme™ even has an innovative app that allows digital assets to be uploaded directly through mobile devices.

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‘Where’s Marie gone?’ Getty Images/iStockphoto

It’s a fact of life that business and creative relationships change and even fail. Ensure that you have complete control over your digital assets with Lookatme™.

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Reason #2. Relationships have a limited shelf life

Today you may have a great relationship with your ad agency. Tomorrow may be another story. The same is true of your favourite photographer, the designer who pulls you out of the fire or your marketing assistant who you trust implicitly. 

The reality is that almost every professional relationship you have has a limited shelf life, and once that relationship expires, so may the goodwill. Anyone who has transitioned from one supplier to the next will understand how much more difficult that process becomes if you’re chasing them for every single piece of brand collateral and digital asset they have ever produced. It’s better if you had controlled where those assets were stored when they were created. This is the benefit of a professional Digital Asset Management solution such as Lookatme™. Lookatme™ allows you to manage approval processes, keep hi-resolution and multiple derivatives and the individual components that your digital assets are composed of in the one secure solution, over which you have absolute control.

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$300 X 2,000 Getty Images/iStockphoto

On average commercial images cost $300 each to create. Factor in all the digital assets your organisation has funded, and your collection is worth a small fortune. Protect your investment with a Lookatme™ Digital Asset Management solution.

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Reason #3. Digital assets are expensive and time-consuming to produce

If you took the time to create a spreadsheet that included all the costs of developing your digital assets, you would be astounded at the investment you have made. Any other purchase of such value in your organisation is secure and insured. So why are you so complacent about your digital assets? A Digital Asset Management solution such as Lookatme™ has multiple layers of security, and backup ensures your assets are always secure and accessible when and where you need them.

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‘That’s not our image!’ Getty Images/iStockphoto

Without a solution like Lookatme™, your people are reduced to trawling through file management systems, computers, devices and online. The only way to know they are using the right images and assets correctly is with Lookatme™.

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Reason #4. Leaked digital assets can undermine my communication strategy

The average brand manager places an awful lot of faith in their suppliers. They assume that everyone in the organisations they work with will do the right thing for them and their brand. The reality is that people can make mistakes, and some people will deliberately set out to do damage. Your brand may be the unwitting victim of a disgruntled ex-employee of your advertising or PR agency. Whatever the reason, if your digital assets are leaked before a campaign begins, there is no way to ‘put the toothpaste back in the tube.’ The best way to prevent such incidents is to control who has access to assets through a solution such as Lookatme™.

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Rinse, wash, repeat Getty Images/iStockphoto

The frequency organisations spend money recreating the digital assets they own is alarming. Create a single source of truth for all your digital assets to improve the ROI of your marketing and communication assets.

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Reason #5. It’s essential to maintain a ‘single source of truth’ for all your digital assets

Like many brand managers, you may have the final digital assets used in your communication and marketing campaign. However, you may not have the original images, graphics, video, and artwork based on them. More often than not, they reside with the original creator. What if you need to make changes but need someone rather than the original author to make them? What if your position statement has changed, a product or even the brand itself? How do you maintain control over every application of digital assets? The answer is a solution such as Lookatme™, which provides centralised approvals and access to your digital assets.

With Lookatme™, you can approve a photographer to upload their original hi-resolution images directly into your Digital Asset Management solution. After you’ve supported them for publication and provided your agency or designer with access to these images for use in other projects, you can also manage them through the same solution. You can also have derivatives of the same images created automatically while keeping the original high-resolution image. At the end of the project or campaign, you end up with the final digital assets and all the artwork, derivatives, and original hi-res images. Equally as necessary, the workflows, metadata and approval records along the way allow you (and anyone else you approve) to access what is now a treasure chest of professionally catalogued digital assets for any future approved use. What’s more, Lookatme™ even allows you to send automatic alerts for digital assets where usage rights are about to expire.

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Command centre Getty Images/iStockphoto

Control what your people discover and how they use your images and videos. Create approval processes that work the way you want.

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Reason #6. The buck stops with you

We said we would show five of the many reasons you need to secure your digital assets with a current-generation Digital Asset Management solution. However, there is another that shouldn’t be overlooked. No matter who is involved with the development and usage of your digital assets, the ultimate responsibility for their integrity lies with you. Digital assets are your purview, and as such, they are ultimately your responsibility.

With a solution such as Lookatme™, you can finally gain control over a digital asset base, which is expanding exponentially. What’s more, once you have control over this library, you can extend the use of the assets, making them available to any stakeholders who can help you amplify your messages. You may even find the efficiencies of such a solution help you redirect your finite marketing communications dollars into areas where they can do the most good. Why don’t you pick up the phone or email now and find out more?

 

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