DAM Best Practices: Operationalize Your Digital Model

In my last blog on opening your digital stores, I proposed an analogy whereby opening a supermarket is comparable to getting your DAM ready for the business. This blog is the second in the series and uses this analogy to consider the operational model that our digital stores require to keep the stores stocked with product and your digital customers shopping.

Getting your DAM and content distribution ready for business is like opening a digital supermarket. I’m sharing four best practices for setting up your digital operational model for success, including actionable tips on creating your content structure and aligning your brand teams and agencies.

The first phase is planning the layout for your new store. The shelves are structured to meet the shopping habits of the customers, the seasonal promotions are ready to drive them to the right products, and the next thing needed is the products themselves. Your store needs to ensure that they have arrangements with distributors to get the right amount of stock ready for opening and the ongoing logistics in place to keep the shelves stocked and the supermarket interesting, so shoppers return.

Aside from the delivery and logistics with the distributors, you have to hire staff to take stock of the materials and check they match the orders and, in turn, place them into the shelves neatly for customers to find.

Likewise, a digital store should not open with empty shelves. Traditionally, the most arduous part of preparing your digital storefront is the content migration. Here are some steps you can take to streamline the process:

1. Define the scope. You probably don’t need to import everything. Keeping the scope of the migration relevant to what your customers actually need allows you to focus and not get overburdened or overwhelmed with content. Perhaps the content associated with one or two campaign cycles for your core brands for key markets is enough to get started.

2. Don’t create a dumping ground. Ensure that your assets and content align with your data model. Don’t cut corners on ensuring your historical content is properly tagged and discoverable.

3. Create a migration kit to send to your brand teams or agencies. It should include a template to support the gathering of materials you need to import (normally an Excel document or a CSV export from your DAM) which has the taxonomies you have defined. The kit can also include instructions, scope, objectives, and expected benefits. Make the instructions clear to avoid mistakes.

4. Define content managers. How will you resource this initiative? You can look to specialized third parties focused on supporting content migration. This critical role acts as a digital shelf stacker that helps organize and prepare content for distribution. The content manager is a key enabler supporting your digital store. Content managers ensure delivery of the right stock – or in this case that your agency has provided the right materials in the correct format. Is the content in a PDF or an InDesign File, for instance? Is the video content in PAL or NTSC format? Content managers are the guardians of your DAM, ensuring that it doesn’t become a dumping ground for your content. They’ll structure materials neatly and analyze the digital usage rights to reduce the risk of sharing or reusing content inappropriately.

Missed the first blog in the series? Learn best practices for opening your digital stores.

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