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5 Signs You’re Living in the DAM Stone Age

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11 B2B Content Ideas to Fuel your Marketing (with Examples)

You’d laugh out loud if a colleague asked for a floppy disk with the latest creative files.

You might even chuckle if they requested a USB storage device.

But what if they asked for a link to the Google Drive or Dropbox folder?

Those living in the DAM Stone Age might not skip a beat, but enlightened marketers (who know a better way) would likely shake their heads in disappointment.

Digital asset management (DAM) is an evolving solution to help teams store, organize, and share content (images, PDFs, illustrations, articles, video files, and audio clips) in a single centralized location.

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Basic solutions (like Google or Dropbox) let you stow content in folders and share it via links, but that’s just a tiny step up from storing your work in a file cabinet and giving your teammate the key. However, that’s how most organizations currently store their digital assets.

DAM platforms are a game-changer for businesses, but close to half of organizations haven’t tapped into the full power of DAM yet despite 55% of digital asset managers citing “organizing digital assets” as a top challenge.

Let us help.

Below, we’ll break down 5 different signs you’re living in the DAM Stone Age. If you recognize any of these issues (even a single one), there’s a good chance you need to ditch your current storage solution and upgrade to a modern-day integrated DAM platform.

Signs You Needed DAM Yesterday

1. The question “Can you send me the latest X?” gives you nightmares.

Stopping your work to find and share a file kills productivity. The American Psychological Association says that even a brief mental distraction (caused by shifting between tasks) can waste up to 40% of someone’s creative time.

Imagine how much that’d cost if you attached a 40% value sign to your team’s work. And that doesn’t even take into account the time you’re spending scouring your folders for the right file. 

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Scattered storage locations, varied asset-sharing methods, inconsistent naming and saving conventions, and lack of advanced search functionality can all lead to this massive time suck. Fortunately, a DAM solution solves it pretty quickly.

DAM platforms provide you with a single source of truth with all the most up-to-date assets across teams, markets, and/or LOBs. Anyone with the right credentials can browse, download, and use what they need without distracting you or your team.

Plus, with the right system in place, it’ll be just as easy to find what they need as it is for you, empowering everyone involved to self-serve.

Pro-Tip 

Choose a DAM with support for a wide variety of file types, and simple ‘drag-and-drop’ and ‘multi-selection’ tools that allow users to add and categorize up to 200 assets in bulk, simultaneously improving organization while saving time. Use Labels (e.g. file names, format type, and other descriptive categories) and nested Folders to group similar content and accelerate content discovery when searching and filtering across single or shared global/local instances.

2. You’d rather buy or produce new content than repurpose existing assets.

Have you ever opened a content repository to find tons of duplicate assets and seemingly illogical naming conventions? That’s what happens when your living organization system turns into an over-bloated archive.

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Tracking down the right person to answer your questions or help you find an asset can sometimes take longer than creating a brand-new piece of content. If you’d rather spend hours buying or producing a new piece of content rather than chasing down an existing asset, your asset management system needs an upgrade.

A DAM solution has advanced search functions and centralized asset archives that make it quick and easy to find what you need—saving you time and money.

Pro-Tip 

Choose a DAM powered by AI & OCR (Optical Character Recognition) search. Machine-learning algorithms automatically apply tags to uploaded images, making it easy to filter, discover and ultimately reuse assets within the Library. Cutting-edge DAM platforms even enable duplicate asset recognition, an AI-powered feature that scans your assets to discover if any duplicates exist (and this goes beyond just the file name).

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3. Your current DAM solution is totally isolated from your other MarTech systems.

You have enough usernames and passwords to manage already, right?

Even LastPass can’t prevent you from having to use multiple logins to access your assets, content management system (CMS), and creative software.

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Archaic digital storage systems don’t play well with other applications. There are little-to-no integrations, and if an integration does exist, it’s far from out-of-the-box. This leads to many disconnected systems and time-wasting (and mistake-ridden) copy/paste processes.

Integrated DAM systems do much more than organize your assets—they empower you to use your assets without leaving the application. Whether you’re adding an illustration to a blog post, changing a logo on your website, publishing a video to YouTube, or adding a hero image to your email, a DAM solution lets you do it all from a single tab—not 17.

You want a DAM platform that’ll integrate with all your favorite applications, like Adobe Creative Cloud, WordPress, Highspot, Office 365, Marketo, Salesforce, and more. If it doesn’t, you’ll be back to creating complicated IFTTT (If This Then That) recipes to piece together your puzzle of applications.

Pro-Tip

Choose a DAM that enables bi-directional synchronization of assets and metadata with other systems of your choice. This is made possible by pre-built connectors that allow you to access DAM assets in real-time within tools that you use daily. Maximize utilization and improve productivity by downloading, editing, or initiating a new task/workflow directly from the Library.

5 Signs Youre Living in the DAM Stone

4. You are never entirely sure who has access to your assets.

Digital security has never been more important. If you don’t know who can (and can’t) access your assets, security will always be compromised.

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Some assets aren’t ready for the public’s eyes and others require signed NDAs for viewing. Any publicly-traded company knows the sensitivity of digital assets. The right document in the wrong hands (even accidentally) can lead to illegal insider trading—and that’s just the beginning of civil and criminal fines and charges.

On a more toned-down note (although still important), imagine your content team accessing and using a new brand design that hasn’t been reviewed and approved yet. Access to digital assets should be limited and controlled for the sake of all involved.

DAM systems’ governance lets you define user permissions and rights, ensuring the wrong people don’t stumble upon assets. These platforms also perform regular security checks and data backups. You can even see who viewed and downloaded an asset, when they accessed it, and how they used it—ensuring assets get used timely and appropriately. 

Pro-Tip 

Choose a DAM that enables you to monitor the use of content across all teams, lines of business, and markets. By tracking the lineage and history of marketing assets, you can see a clear picture of who is repurposing what content and when. Additionally, look for functionality to designate an expiration date for individual assets using a simple “date picker”. Consequently, you can filter for assets that are about to expire and/or receive email and in-app notifications so you can take the appropriate action.

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5. You struggle with brand consistency.

Do you have multiple logos from the past few years floating around the digital world? Have you seen inconsistent product descriptions or taglines used across your website?

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Sounds like you have a problem with brand consistency.

While these might sound like minor nuisances and easy fixes, they can take a real toll on your company’s brand reputation. However, getting everyone on the same page isn’t quite as simple as sending a @here Slack message or all-company email—getting 100% message consumption is nearly impossible. 

Instead of communicating every brand change with your entire company, a DAM system lets you update your accessible brand assets (logos, fonts, colors, b-roll, etc.) in a centralized location, so everyone gets the update. Archive the old branding options and voilà—your teams should only have access to the most up-to-date assets now.

Because DAM platforms let you edit and publish straight from the application (see sign #3), you don’t have to worry about people downloading and using outdated assets onto their hard drives that could damage your brand reputation.

Pro-Tip

Choose a DAM that lets you upload and maintain multiple versions with history to see all previous iterations of an uploaded asset for cross-market sharing, translation, and localization. Curate a collection of assets to share and distribute (internally or externally) through a public link, and/or embed your Collection as an iFrame in the places your stakeholders need to access content (e.g. SFDC, partner portal, intranet, etc.).

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5 Signs Youre Living in the DAM Stone

Conclusion

Do you recognize any of the signs resonating with your or your company? Don’t worry—you’re not alone. While DAM isn’t necessarily a new tool, it still lacks global adoption.

Fortunately, replacing your primitive storage systems with a DAM solution isn’t as daunting as it sounds—and the sooner you make the change, the easier the transition will be. 

Give Welcome a try. We provide a state-of-the-art DAM system that’s comprehensive, flexible, and downright powerful. It also includes content marketing, project management, calendaring, creative services, performance analytics, and more.

 

5 Signs Youre Living in the DAM Stone Age


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How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

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Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

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Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

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“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

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Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

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Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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