The popularity of Digital Asset Management systems (DAM) continues to be on the rise. Analysts predict the DAM market will grow by $6.6 billion by the end of 2024 - a CAGR of 23 percent. So, what’s behind its popularity? And what developments might we see in 2021 and beyond?
By streamlining the management of digital assets, DAM enables brands to enrich their product content to appeal to specific audiences and meet different channel requirements. This is especially significant when you consider the current demand for personalization. To illustrate, half the respondents to Adobe’s 2019 Consumer Content Survey said they’d be more likely to make a purchase or be loyal to a brand if that brand’s content was personalized to their tastes.
Perhaps inevitably, the Coronavirus pandemic has also had an impact. With most people forced to work from home during 2020, cloud-based DAM solutions have proved invaluable in allowing DAM users, such as designers and marketers, to work collaboratively, regardless of their location.
As the popularity of DAM grows, so too will its range of capabilities and the value it offers. However, with brands required to be more agile and responsive than ever, and in an uncertain economic climate, much of this value will be found in greater efficiencies, cost-effectiveness, and ease of use. Here, then, are a few developments we can expect to see over the coming months.
- Embedded analytics: Today’s businesses are driven by data. Incorporating data analytics into a DAM solution will provide brands with invaluable insight into how their digital assets are used. With the ability to see which assets are used most, for example, which are most frequently used together, and in which regions, brands will be better able to create content more relevant to a particular audience and derive greater value from each of its assets.
- AI predictions: The addition of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to a DAM solution will provide even greater insights into the performance of a brand’s own digital assets - and deliver substantial cost-savings in the process. Using historical data, AI can predict how audiences will respond to certain assets without the need for brands to create and test the assets themselves.
- Automatic tagging: The integration of AI will also help streamline the indexing and auditing of new and existing digital assets. Automatically tagging every asset stored within a brand’s library will save precious time and resources, allowing brands to quickly and efficiently search for particular assets and assess their relevancy for a specific execution.
- Improved user experience: With the adoption of DAM solutions continuing to rise, there is an argument to be made for a simpler, more intuitive user experience. The widespread move to remote working under COVID-19 restrictions, for example, means DAM users are increasingly using DAM solutions as collaborative resources for accessing, creating, and editing digital assets. It’s likely, therefore, that we’ll see the design of these solutions increasingly reflecting this.
- Integrated brand management: Consumers are exposed to more brands - and brand messaging - than ever before. By leveraging a DAM system as a central brand management platform, marketers can optimize content usage and specify which assets get published to which channel. Furthermore, a DAM can improve a brand’s exposure by using the best assets to present a more consistent and, therefore, more compelling messaging to their customers.
- Integration with PIM: The growing demand for personalization, coupled with the worldwide shift toward digitalization, has seen increasing interconnectivity of images, videos, and documents and the products which they visualize. Integrating DAM and PIM solutions will allow brands to better ensure the right assets are quickly and easily selected and distributed for the right channels in the right format. This is especially important given the demand for online distribution and availability of assets embedded via URLs in HTML5, which have replaced PDFs and printed documents.
A vital asset
2020 has been a transformative year. Global lockdown measures have driven consumers online, broadening both the variety of brands and channels they’re exposed to. Given the need for brands to deliver fresh, engaging, and increasingly personalized content - delivered via the right channel and at the right time - it's little wonder DAM adoption is proving so popular. This popularity is set to continue, with technological developments, market conditions, and changes in working practices dictating the course.
DAM is about far more than simply tagging and sharing media assets. It’s a vital strategic asset for brands everywhere - now and for years to come.
