What are digital assets?
The definition of digital media asset is quite crude. In general, any information or content that can be stored digitally is considered a digital asset. Physical content such as books, DVDs, and magazines are therefore not digital assets. Any file that contains rich media such as videos, photos, documents or other digital media, on the other hand, is a digital asset.
There are probably an infinite number of types or forms of digital media assets. However, the most popular formats include:
– Video clips,
– audio files,
– photos
– simple text documents,
– PDFs,
– graphics,
– PowerPoint presentation and other slide formats as well as
– HTML files.
Some digital storage professionals have also determined that all digital assets share the following three characteristics:
1. the assets are stored digitally on a hard drive or server.
2. you can identify the type of asset by the file format name attached to it.
3. they contain data or information that has some value to individuals, groups, or organizations.
What is Digital Asset Management?
Digital Asset Management or DAM is the process of organizing, managing and distributing digital assets. This management usually takes place at a content location or hub.
Digital Assets Management is used by organizations to facilitate the creation and management of digital content in the context of the entire content lifecycle. In addition, there is
special software for managing digital assets (digital asset management software). With such software, digital assets can be created, archived, managed, reused and edited. The software uses so-called metadata for this purpose. Each asset is given a unique description so that searching, filtering and managing assets within the digital ecosystem is as quick and easy as possible.
For whom is digital asset management useful?
Digital asset management can in principle be used by any department within an organization. However, there are certain departments for which the management and evaluation of digital assets is particularly worthwhile:
– PR and marketing departments use digital asset management to manage the multitude of assets needed for different campaigns and initiatives.
– Sales reps benefit from digital asset management when creating slide sets, proposals, presentation and other sales materials.
– DAM facilitates brand compliance and the management and use of marketing content.
– IT teams use DAM to ensure that new files are compliant with the organization’s devices and technology stack.
