You should utilize cloud storage instruments like Google Drive and DropBox to prepare digital belongings for a time, however as your asset library and digital exercise develop, you’ll ultimately:

• Find yourself with belongings saved in other places
• Discover duplicate and outdated belongings cluttering your library
• Spend approach an excessive amount of time trying to find belongings (when you ever discover them)
• Have hassle protecting observe of how/the place belongings are getting used

You’ll be able to attempt to cobble collectively a course of to maintain your asset library higher organized, however realistically, that solely works for a short while earlier than your library is a large number once more and groups are going rogue.

When you’ve accrued so many belongings that you must search Google for recommendations on manage them, your finest guess is to maneuver your belongings to a extra superior storage resolution with options that robotically maintain your asset library organized, up-to-date, and accessible to your groups — a.ok.a. digital asset administration system.

True digital asset administration (DAM) softwares home your whole model belongings no matter what number of belongings it’s a must to handle. On high of group, DAMs make updating, sharing, and publishing your digital content material simpler and assist your groups work extra effectively.

Regardless of the numerous advantages of DAMs, some groups can have reservations about abandoning their previous storage resolution and updating to one thing new. We get it: When you will have 30 years of digital information saved away, shifting all the things to a complete new system can really feel like an inconceivable activity.

So we constructed Brandfolder and our digital asset administration resolution that will help you with all the course of: Our workforce walks you thru mapping out asset group, cleansing up your present library, and getting ready to make the transition, then Brandfolder retains your asset library up to date and clear because it continues to develop. Brandfolder accepts all file varieties, together with video and audio information, so you possibly can home your whole model’s content material in a single place and don’t have to make use of a number of storage options.

Since there’s no commonplace or “one dimension matches all” method to asset group and digital asset administration, we put collectively this publish explaining the method of organizing digital belongings in Brandfolder and the way we provide help to tailor your DAM to your (and your workforce members’) distinctive wants.

Particularly, we’ll speak about:

1. Prioritizing the belongings you wish to migrate over
2. Mapping out your new asset library and cleansing up your previous one
3. Kicking off the onboarding and ingestion course of
4. Protecting your asset library organized and up to date as you purchase extra digital belongings
5. Sharing belongings and ensuring your whole customers can entry the belongings they want

Digital asset administration methods have options to maintain belongings organized so your whole groups and stakeholders can discover and use the information they want. Plus, Brandfolder takes group a step additional by robotically updating your asset library so it’s at all times present. To get a complete tour of our DAM system, contact our workforce for a free demo!

1. Prioritize the Belongings Your Groups Want within the DAM

Earlier than you can begin the transition to digital asset administration software program and regain some group inside your asset library, you first must assess its situation. This might be a easy activity, or it might sound overwhelming.

You probably have the time, then answering the questions under is a useful train (and when you don’t, we’ve got a shortcut we’ll speak about in a second):

• What number of belongings do you will have?
• Are your belongings unfold throughout a number of storage drives/places?
• What number of of your belongings do your groups truly use and wish?
• What belongings are shared in your website and throughout the online?
• Do you see lots of duplicate or outdated belongings cluttering your library?

You’ll additionally wish to take into consideration the content material lifecycle: Who creates, approves, distributes, and makes use of your belongings?

You probably have an amazing quantity of content material that wants moved over into your DAM, prioritize the belongings which can be most related to what you are promoting for clear up and add. We advocate beginning along with your present:

• Gross sales decks
• Advertising and marketing supplies
• Social media belongings
• Product photographs
• Product documentation like spec sheets and brochures
• Web site photographs and different web site content material
• Enterprise playing cards
• Electronic mail and publication headers

Alter the checklist above based mostly by yourself groups and the supplies they use most regularly. Don’t use enterprise playing cards? Don’t embody them in your checklist.
Then, put collectively a plan to work by the remainder of your library over time. Most groups break their asset library into small, workable batches in order that they solely must give attention to tackling one batch of belongings at a time.

There’s no set time-frame for a way rapidly you must get belongings moved over, so you possibly can work at your personal tempo. That stated, we purpose for a median migration interval of two months and supply steerage alongside the way in which to get your belongings moved effectively.

2. Map Out How You Need to Arrange Belongings & Clear Up Your Asset Library

After figuring out your precedence belongings — or which belongings you wish to transfer to Brandfolder through the first spherical of importing — it’s time to begin the clear up course of.

This step has three elements:

1. Put collectively an asset taxonomy define, or a high-level construction of the way you wish to manage your belongings. This step comes first as a result of the remainder of the clear up efforts ought to align with the define you full at this stage.
2. Comb by your belongings and delete all the things you not want and are OK parting with (i.e., previous or outdated belongings, duplicate belongings)
3. Add file names to folders and belongings since these get pushed into Brandfolder as metadata tags and enhance searchability

Be aware: When you don’t wish to essentially delete previous belongings throughout this step, you possibly can depart them in your library and merge them with the present variations of these belongings throughout ingestion. This makes it so these “additional” belongings are nonetheless in your library and accessible (within the occasion that you just ever want them), however they’re not inflicting litter or confusion.

Since steps two and three on this checklist are largely self explanatory, we’ll focus right here on the first step: Mapping your asset library in a DAM platform.

Despite the fact that this activity might sound actually daunting — particularly in case your library is a large number — do not forget that your library didn’t begin cluttered: Most groups begin with some type of group to their asset library. So in some instances, a lot of the pre-ingestion work is simply organizing belongings to mirror the folder construction that was mapped out previously.

Nonetheless, when you’re aiming for a whole overhaul and wish to utterly reorganize your digital belongings, consider your present model/enterprise and check out recategorizing your belongings in just a few buckets (i.e., varieties of campaigns, merchandise, groups, asset sort, funnel stage, and so on.) that make sense to your groups/finish customers shifting ahead.

For instance, many retail or ecommerce manufacturers will manage their asset library by product class: A kitchenware model could create one foremost folder for “Dishware” and subfolders for “Glassware,” “Plates,” “Bowls,” “Cutlery,” “Serving Platters,” so on and so forth. Service companies usually manage belongings by the providers they provide or the locations they service.

Don’t stress over this step: It’s a part of our course of to fulfill with shoppers forward of ingestion and strategize mapping their content material. That approach, they aren’t left to sort out this on their very own, clear up goes easily, and belongings are moved into Brandfolder in probably the most organized approach potential. Throughout this pre-ingestion assembly, we:

• Cowl finest practices for organizing belongings
• Present suggestions based mostly in your particular use case
• Help with translating your mapped out construction in Brandfolder
• Arrange automation guidelines so Brandfolder can kind your belongings as they’re pushed into the DAM platform
• Map out your metadata taxonomy so Brandfolder can add metadata and tags to your belongings for you

The clear up course of can take somewhat as one week or so long as a few weeks, relying on how a lot content material you’re working with and what number of teammates you will have out there to help. Doing this clear up proper pays off in the long term as a result of it shaves weeks off the onboarding course of and permits our platform to prepare belongings robotically as soon as they’re uploaded into Brandfolder.

3. Transfer All of Your Digital Content material to Brandfolder

As soon as belongings are mapped and your library is trying somewhat bit extra put collectively, we’re prepared to begin shifting belongings into Brandfolder.

At this level, we’ll provide help to join your previous storage drive with our DAM resolution so Brandfolder can pull your whole belongings over. (When you’re not already utilizing a storage drive, you possibly can import belongings out of your pc or use one among our different importing choices.)

As Brandfolder pulls your belongings, it auto-sorts them and assigns metadata and tags based mostly on the asset construction and metadata taxonomy you set through the pre-ingestion assembly. No additional group wanted.

After belongings are moved to Brandfolder, they’re organized in Brandfolders and Collections.

• Brandfolders maintain all the belongings associated to a specific model. They act as your model’s foremost folder of belongings. When you handle belongings for multiple model, you’ll make multiple Brandfolder.
• Collections dwell inside Brandfolders and permit customers to prepare teams of associated belongings collectively. These could be the folders inside folders, or subfolders.

Be aware: One of many largest advantages of utilizing a DAM is quicker search. So no matter the way you manage belongings, the search performance can discover what you want rapidly and simply. As an alternative of requiring you to go digging by Collections — like the everyday folder/subfolder search expertise — our search scans by your total asset library, analyzing the content material of your belongings, to drag all the things related to your search.

Transferring your precedence belongings over to Brandfolder shouldn’t take any longer than per week or so. Our workforce is hands-on not solely through the preliminary add, but in addition whilst you transfer the remainder of your belongings (in any other case often known as “bulk migration”) and all through adoption.

We even allow you to construct your personal implementation plan with our buyer expertise workforce, so you possibly can select precisely how a lot provide help to want from us all through adoption (and you’ll alter this plan at any time).

Check out this breakdown of our onboarding and assist packages.

Our assist packages and buyer expertise are designed with long-term retention in thoughts — we all know transitioning to a DAM is not any easy feat. Challenges with each asset group and widespread adoption are why many groups fail to totally transition to a DAM, however we’ve got a 98% retention charge as a result of we double-down on our assist through the onboarding course of and by no means depart our clients hanging.

4. Keep an Organized Asset Library as You Purchase New Belongings

After you progress your whole information into your digital asset administration system, Brandfolder has a number of options to maintain your asset library organized as time passes, similar to:

Evaluate and approval processes for brand spanking new asset uploads

You’ll be able to management who has the flexibility to add new belongings and require approvals for brand spanking new belongings earlier than they are often downloaded or used. We allow you to resolve whenever you wish to put these assessment processes in place (i.e., for brand spanking new asset uploads, for template evaluations, for asset updates).

Duplicate asset detection

To stop duplicate belongings from creeping again into your asset library, Brandfolder is constructed with duplicate asset detection, that means it scans all new belongings to see in the event that they match any asset that presently lives in Brandfolder. If a dupe is detected, Brandfolder will immediate the uploader to both delete the dupe or merge it with the present file.

Branded templates

Facilitate new content material creation with pre-approved branded templates. Create the templates in Adobe’s InDesign, push them on to Brandfolder, and management precisely how they’re custom-made. Then, your customers can use and reuse these templates to make recent collateral that’s on-brand and prepared for publishing. (You’ll be able to select to assessment or not assessment these based mostly in your desire.)

Visitor add hyperlinks

Obtain belongings from freelancers and exterior inventive groups by way of share hyperlink. Select precisely the place in Brandfolder you need the asset(s) saved, and the asset will robotically add to the fitting Brandfolder or Assortment when that hyperlink is used to share.

Be aware: These options additionally enhance model consistency and model management since they guarantee your customers are at all times accessing and utilizing the fitting variations of your belongings.

5. Make Positive All of Your Groups Can Discover and Use the Belongings They Want

DAMs enhance the accessibility of your belongings (with whom you share your belongings), and Brandfolder streamlines asset sharing (with each inner groups and exterior collaborators).

You’ll be able to share digital belongings with different co-workers or workforce members (a.ok.a. Different Brandfolder customers) with user-based permissions. Simply add them to the Brandfolder, Assortment, or particular belongings you wish to share, they usually’ll have the ability to entry them every time they want.

One other handy solution to share belongings in Brandfolder? Model Portals.

Model Portals are teams of belongings for particular finish customers. They act as a subset of your asset library and let your totally different groups view solely the belongings which can be most related to their roles/duties.

When creating Model Portals, we’ve seen companies make portals for:

• Inside groups — Gross sales groups, entrepreneurs, HR
• Regional teams — World manufacturers who’ve groups in numerous elements of the world
• Each inner and exterior groups — Manufacturers who work with exterior collaborators like distributors and retailers and wish separate portals for visitors
• Totally different collateral varieties similar to logos and colours, product photographs, social media and advertising belongings, video belongings, and so on.

Nonetheless, you possibly can design Model Portals for whoever you need since they’re utterly customizable.

We also needs to point out: Though Portals can help you group related belongings for finish customers in a single spot, your customers may select to “view all belongings they’ve entry to” whereas searching their Portal. With a click on, they’re directed again to the principle asset library the place they’ll view all the information you’ve shared with them.

If you wish to share belongings with different stakeholders or non-Brandfolder customers, you possibly can ship a customized share hyperlink. When distributing belongings by way of share hyperlink, you 1) have higher management over how belongings are shared, and a pair of) can monitor asset sharing.

For instance, with share hyperlinks you will have a lot of choices:

• See which belongings are presently being shared (and with whom)
• Obtain a notification when shared belongings are considered or downloaded
• Add watermarks to belongings or disable asset downloading, so finish customers can view your belongings however not use them
• Give the hyperlink an expiration date so belongings are solely accessible to visitor customers for a particular time
• Require an electronic mail deal with to open the share hyperlink and look at belongings (this allows you to observe who’s truly receiving your belongings)

You can even give share hyperlinks a customized identify and add or take away belongings to share hyperlinks as soon as they’ve been despatched.

Be aware: We offer free limitless visitor seats, so you possibly can ship (and obtain) belongings with visitor customers with out share limits or additional charges. That is particularly useful for groups who regularly work with exterior collaborators or companies who want an enterprise digital asset administration system.

Strive Brandfolder to Arrange Your Asset Library and Handle All of Your Crew’s Digital Content material

Transitioning to a digital asset administration software that’s tailor-made to your groups is one of the best ways to take care of long-term asset group and regulate asset utilization since they’ve options to regulate how belongings are organized, shared, considered, downloaded, up to date, and extra. DAMs additionally join with the opposite instruments your groups use to allow them to assist all people who’s accessing your belongings.

To be taught extra about digital asset administration and see whether or not or not a DAM is best for you, get in contact with our workforce for a free demo of Brandfolder.