How To Manage Your Brand’s Digital Assets

The deadline is close, your presentation is right around the corner. But instead of preparing, you’re scrolling through endless documents in a panic, trying to find the right file. 

This isn’t an all too uncommon scenario, but it doesn’t have to be. 

These days digital assets are the bedrock of modern businesses, driving operations, marketing efforts and strategic decisions. Without a solid strategy in place, however, managing them can quickly turn into a chaotic ordeal, and what’s meant to be a powerful resource turns into a frustrating liability.

This is where we want to get familiar with digital asset management tools. These tools are designed to streamline the way you organize, store and access your digital content. By using these systems, you can transform a digital clutter into a well-structured library, ensuring you focus on what matters most; driving your business forward. Here’s the lowdown.

Different Types of Digital Assets in a Business

Saying digital assets sounds modern and flashy, but simply put its the content or data your business creates, stores and uses to achieve its goals, and they come in many different forms, serving different purposes. 

Think images, videos, documents and other digital files that make up your online presence. Getting familiar with them will help you stay on top of things, so let’s break down the most common types.

Documents and Contracts

The bread and butter of any business. From legal agreements to vendor contracts, from invoices to employee handbooks, these documents are vital for your day-to-day and big picture. They need to be stored securely, but remain accessible at a moment’s notice. 

Images, Logos and Graphics

These amount to your brand’s visual identity and are used pretty much everywhere to bolster reputation and recognizability – on websites, social media, in marketing materials, presentations, advertising and more. Having them on hand ensures your branding remains consistent and impactful across all platforms.

Video and Audio Files

Think product demos, podcasts, webinars, testimonials and training materials. For quick access you’ll want to make sure they’re labeled and stored properly. Keep in mind, they often take up significant space and can become difficult to organize. 

Marketing Collateral and Branding Materials

Flyers, brochures, email templates, social media posts, business cards, presentation decks, event materials… all vital and reusable materials for your business endeavors. Having them organized makes it easy to launch new campaigns and maintain a consistent brand image.

The Role of Digital Asset Management Systems (DAMS)

As your business grows, so will your digital library, and managing it by-hand could, at one point, prove to be overwhelming. That’s what DAMS are for – they help you manage any and all digital files efficiently, making them accessible from a single location.

These platforms and tools can store various file types, offer advanced search capabilities and file-sharing features, so that the right people have access to the right assets at the right time.

Best Practices for Organizing Your Digital Assets

Once you have a system in place for storing digital assets, the next step is organization. Much like cleaning out a closet, everyone has their own method, but the end-goal is the same: to find what you need, when you need it. Let’s take a look at tried-and-true tips to help keep things running smoothly.

Creating a Clear File Naming System

A file named 1Aproject – FINAL REAL helps no one. It’s vague, unsearchable and adds to the confusion if multiple versions exist.

A clear and standardized file naming system will save you time and headaches, so focus on relevant details (customer, project name, date and versions) when organizing. A good file name might look like this: Smith_Proposal_2024-09-10_v2.

Establishing Consistent Folder Structures

The same goes for folders. Clicking through Miscellaneous or Folder 1 ties you and your team up in guesswork, so structure them by project, department or asset type. Here, consistency is key, so double-check each folder follows a logical hierarchy, so accounting files don’t end up in marketing.

Using Metadata and Tags

You need to quickly look up a client presentation, but the folder is overflowing with files labeled Draft_Sept2024. Now what? First, rethink the file naming and then – add tags. Metadata like file types, project names, keywords or departments act like filters that help you zero in on the exact assets you need in a few clicks.

RepSpark’s Digital Asset Management Features

You’re likely already using digital asset tools in your business. 

Tools like Google Drive, OneDrive, and HubSpot are often used as digital asset management tools by many organizations due to their large market presence and ease of use. 

But using a handful of tools in conjunction, each for their specific goals and purpose, can help you keep your digital assets even better organized. 

While RepSpark isn’t a dedicated digital asset management tool like Canto or Brandfolder, it does have features and functions that let you treat it as a DAM for your wholesale operations. 

• For your wholesale marketing: RepSpark’s B2B Marketplace offers brands with a digital storefront that tens of thousands of retailers can browse through to place wholesale orders. Brands can share marketing material to buyers, and RepSpark offers the capability to store and organize all marketing materials in a central location for simple access. 
• Brands can share digital catalogs and videos of virtual showrooms, and similarly, these brands can store and organize these digital assets on RepSpark to keep all files related to wholesale in a consolidated location. 
• Integrations with ERPs also consolidate key documents such as invoices onto RepSpark, so you always know that you can access and store these documents on RepSpark. 
• Storing your content on RepSpark also gives you an easily accessible library you can pull from to promote your brand on social to drive in-store or website traffic. Many reps use social media to connect with retailers to sell new products lines and they can quickly reference images to share. 

For a deeper dive into RepSpark’s digital asset management capabilities, reach out to our team for a demo of how you can better organize your digital assets using RepSpark.