Marketing Resource Management

The digital era has led to an exponential growth in marketing content. As companies expand outbound marketing across multiple channels, content management becomes essential to maximizing marketing efficiency and effectiveness. Solution providers offer an eclectic mix of content management solutions that are designed to help marketers capture, store, and retrieve marketing content – both structured and unstructured.

Aberdeen recently surveyed over 130 companies to understand how organizations justify investments in digital asset management for marketing. This study highlights Best-in-Class practices for managing marketing assets and further validates 2008 Aberdeen research on marketing asset management, which revealed that digital asset management technology is vital to Best-in-Class performance in return on marketing investment, brand consistency, and time-to-market. Download Your Free Copy of the Aberdeen Report

Five Compelling Facts from the Research, Providing Actionable Benefits for Readers:

1. Best-in-Class companies are 7.1-times more likely than Laggards to improve annual revenue. On average, Best-in-Class companies improved annual revenue by 18%, compared to an average decrease of 28% amongst Laggards.
2. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Best-in-Class companies improved annual customer satisfaction levels, compared to 10% of all others. The average performance increase for Best-in-Class companies was 28%, compared to a 1% improvement for all others.
3. Best-in-Class companies are 11.8-times more likely than Laggards to improve year-over-year conversion rates. On average, Best-in-Class companies improved annual conversion rates by 12%, compared to a 15% decrease amongst Laggards.
4. Best-in-Class companies are 393% more likely than all others to shorten sales cycle times. On average, Best-in-Class reduced the length of sales cycles by 22%, compared to a 13% increase in sales cycle time amongst all others.
5. Best-in-Class companies are 5.9-times more likely than Laggards to reduce the cost of content creation. On average, Best-in-Class companies reduced content creation costs by 17%, compared to a 10% increase amongst Laggards.

 

Widen is continually working to build strong partnerships with third party vendors who provide technologies and services that are complementary to our own digital asset management programs.  By partnering with industry leading vendors we can expand into new markets and bring more features and functionality to our own Widen Media Collective customers.  It’s a win win for everyone.  Through strategic partnerships and the technologies that they bring to the table, Widen can help our customers build out entire media workflow environments that go far beyond digital asset solutions.  One of the central messages I have tried to focus on in some of my previous blogs was that DAM systems should be the backbone to our customer’s larger marketing operations, brand and creative software technology environments.  So I thought it would be helpful to start a series of blogs highlighting some of our partner relationships and how our customers are using these external services and technologies to streamline and improve their internal media workflows.  Level III Services is one of those partners who immediately came to mind as a great place to start.   

Level III Services offers print on-demand and product fulfillment services that are second to none.  Their online suite of products leverages Widen’s hosted DAM platform to give customers instant access to their marketing materials from anywhere in the world.  Need to manage a large inventory of marketing literature or products online?  Need to ship the latest brochure to the event for your biggest customer and need it there tomorrow?  Tired of drowning in extra materials and cost because your printer requires you to adhere to large print runs instead of paying for just what you use and need?  Yeah, they do all that.  Level III Services saves their customers thousands by embracing the simple idea that less is more.  You can save money and the environment by producing only what you need, when you need it.  That sounds good to Widen and is one reason we think Level III is such a good neighbor.  Customers of Widen’s hosted DAM service have been paying for only what they use, rather than what they can install, for over 12 years.  For more info on Level III Services, visit www.level-3.com. 

DEAR DR. DAM:  My name is Patrick, Director of Premedia at a mid-sized marketing agency.  I have an extreme problem providing and controlling access to our digital files.  I have a number of internal departments that require different levels of access and our current method of using an internal shared folder is driving me nuts with all the problems we encounter just trying to keep things organized.  We do a high amount of direct mail pieces and need an efficient way for my team and clients to review the prints.  How can something so basic be so difficult to handle?

DEAR PERPLEXED PATRICK:  You would think that everyone would be utilizing a web-based digital asset management system by now...  just kidding.  Your prescription calls for a central repository with role-based access controls, complete with on-the-fly file transformations and a project collaboration component.  With Widen marketing resource management features, you have the ability to upload proofs for internal and external review and approval tracking.  I caution you of the intense spike in productivity you may experience by cutting out much of the manual labor dealing with content management and structure.

This new economy forces marketing and creative operations to take a closer look at opportunities to squeeze more value from their digital assets.  Moreover, it is more important to lower the cost of bringing your products to market through digital production.

By helping clients create and manipulate images and streamline creative processes, Widen aims to help clients lower their production costs and shorten time to market while maintaining high quality and consistency of brand assets. 

Widen Premedia Services

Digital Photography - Experienced photographers capture your products at competitive prices in a state of the art digital photography studio.

Color Retouching - From photocomposition to color manipulation and image preparation - no job is too large or complex for us to handle.

Digital Sampling - Dramatically reduce time/cost of bring products to market by creating multiple color specific, detailed versions from one master generic image.

Catalog Production - Leverage automated processes to efficiently manage catalog and multi-channel marketing workflows.

From images, to audio and video, Widen DAM SaaS applications provide the tools to help clients successfully manage and distribute their digital assets.  For the majority of our clients, there are select individuals that become the champions of their digital asset management implementation.  These are the people that hold the most responsibility in administering the applications and are the key decision makers into what the system manages and how to manage the system.

One of the great capabilities with a DAM System is that Administrators have the ability to run reports on all activity.  These reports include determining who is logging in to the platform, which assets are ordered the most or even determining how many assets you have for a particular product. 

Reporting is key to gathering market insights, determining product popularity, and understanding how/where to allocate marketing resources.  Moreover, reporting is extremely important when it comes to managing rights and knowing exactly how, where and by whom your brand assets are being used.  Reporting and tracking tools are vital to leveraging digital asset management programs as a true resource to marketing operations driving brand consistency and revenues.
 

Here’s a brief overview of a few standard reporting options for Widen Administrators:

Site Overview – Dashboard showing number of users, number of assets, total size (GB/TB), top users by number of logins, top assets ordered, and top asset quick searches.

Trend Graphs – Standard list of out-of-the-box reports showing trend graphs and data tables over time for Assets Orders, Assets, Versions, Asset Groups and Users

User Reports – Custom reports on user demographic info, roles, and activity such as logins

Registration Reports – Custom reports to control / monitor system access

Asset Reports – Custom reports on all asset metadata and security / release dates

Asset Order Reports – Custom reports with sender and recipient data

Asset Upload Reports – Custom reports on all assets entering the DAM system

Other Reports – Photo Routing (for Backdrop), Projects (for Collaboration), Templates (for Media Building) and Catalog Production

DEAR DR. DAM:  My name is Stacey, the Sales Director at a pet food distribution company. My job is to make sure our sales reps are fully equipped to sell our product. Right now, we are seeing tremendous lag time in getting the latest materials out to them, and also making sure the corporate branding is consistent. We work with themed promotions and when we release the latest version we have to spend so much time customizing each contact portion for our sales reps all over the US and then get all the materials sent out. Shipping costs are outrageous!  In terms of representing our brand consistently, I have sales reps that get sick of waiting and try to manipulate the old piece themselves and quite frankly the end product doesn’t represent the company the way we would like.  Marketing and Sales teams are just on two completely different chapters… let alone pages.  It’s like working with cats and dogs!  What can I do?

DEAR SELF-EMPOWERED STACEY:  Simply put, you need to take a look at Widen’s Marketing Asset Management system for dynamic media building. This application will allow your sales reps to build promotional materials on-demand by selecting a pre-approved layout, group of images and text, and have the ability to customize each piece to their specific selling situation. Your reps can log on to your web-based library and build flyers, brochures, direct mail and all sorts of printable collateral – instantly.  What’s more, they can seamlessly send the files to a local printer to be professionally printed on-demand. This will reduce high shipping costs, high lag times and give you the ability to keep brand consistency at the forefront.  Best of all, you’re enabling your sales channels to get the latest and greatest materials in the hands of your customers. The best part is your sales team will feel self empowered and the person having to do these batch creations can actually get some rest.

Here at Widen, we welcome any prospective client, current customer or vendor to come meet us and tour our facility.  Ok, coming to Madison, Wisconsin in January may not sound too fun for you at -10 below zero, but we try to make it an exciting adventure for everyone. 

I have a very nice 42” LCD TV behind my desk that is our welcome sign, where we put up the guests names, company web pages, and logo.  We had the social media experts at Sway come share some insights with us today.  (There’s some really great stuff that they’re doing in the social media space to propel marketing into 2009 and beyond!)  So, getting back to my blog title, I must do my research on the company before I put the information up on the screen.  The reasoning behind that is I have several employees that walk by the front desk asking who is coming, when are they coming and what does that company do.  (Plus, I enjoy getting to know all the different companies and industries we have the pleasure of working with). 

We may be meeting with them for digital asset management demos, business branding initiatives, video management or premedia services.  Regardless, we have the opportunity to touch several top brands and make our mark the efforts for brand consistency and marketing distinction. 

So, I like to do a little research on the companies visiting us so I may answer the questions that are brought up to me when anyone walks by.  If you would like to stop by and take a tour, be our guest.  I’d like to put your name and company up on our welcome sign.

DEAR DR. DAM:  I’m Fred, the owner of an international paint supplier based in the Caribbean and considering how a digital media system can help us out with our marketing operations.  Here’s our situation… We have many digital assets - photos, logos, graphics, Illustrator type files and other promotional materials scattered across multiple locations.  My pain is that we have assets in multiple locations for six different brands and we’re losing control.  Let me re-phrase that… We’ve lost control.  Our brand managers can’t even keep track of what assets belong to what brand, let alone our thousands of channel partners trying to access and use our assets accordingly.  It’s my goal to pull everything into one central repository for our marketing teams and distribution channels to have self serve access to download approved assets.  I don’t need much, just the ability to centralize, access and share globally.  Global image distribution is all I want.  That’s not asking too much is it?

DEAR ONE DAM FRED:  Problem solved.  Check out Widen’s demos and you’re cured.  Just kidding, there’s a bit more to it, but it’s not that complex.  I understand that a small department dealing with a large number of assets can often be overwhelmed by change in workflow and tools.  No fear, however, as change is good.  Embrace the technology and look to Widen as a service provider to help you leverage that technology investment for real business results – starting with increased efficiency internally where your team can spend less time chasing and more time producing.  A DAM system will help you keep track of everything and empower your channel partners to use your assets consistently for all brands. 

"Global Access" video interview with Jim Magruder, Senior Marketing Communications Manager of InSinkErator, Division of Emerson Electric Co.

Being able to access brand assets 24/7 via web based DAM system is such an important benefit to sales.  I myself was a kitchen designer and worked at home all hours of the night to finish up a project and being able to find the details needed to complete the project are definitely very important.  InSinkErator products are sold in over 80 countries all over the world, so for any of their channel partners to be able to access images and marketing materials at anytime through a web based digital asset management platform is tremendous resource.

"Brand Control" video interview with Jim Magruder, Senior Marketing Communications Manager of InSinkErator, Division of Emerson Electric Co.

Selling any type of product, you want to make sure you are selling what people see and want.  If I was to look in a magazine or a brochure, I would want exactly what I see in the photo.  That is where Widen comes in to place.  If you want brand consistency on a global scale, Widen digital asset management solutions and services make that happen for top brands around the world.  You would be able to have everyone across the globe using the same high quality image for all of your brochures.  If not the same image, it would be a high quality one most representative of the market where it's used.  We make it easy to control market differences for more effective brand asset management.

Are you looking for ways to “Do More with Less?”

Are you working to make you marketing operation work smarter not harder?

Are you determined to be a champion for your organization to secure your job and differentiate yourself when review time comes around?

If you're in the process of determining if you need a more effective means of managing your digital assets, you have three standard questions to ask.  Although they are simple questions, the answers can be complex and vary tremendously when it comes to marketing resource management and business branding.  Nonetheless, the answers to these questions have substantial impacts to the effectiveness of marketing operations, brand recognition and digital content management. 

Take a moment to complete our self evaluation to determine your level of digital media management proficiency.  When it comes to facilitating the creation, management and distribution of brand assets including photos, logos, audio/video, presentations and marketing collateral, there are three primary questions:

1)   Where does all of this stuff exist?
2)   When you want something, what do you do?
3)   When others want something, what do they do?

POP QUIZ:
 
1.) Where does all this stuff exist?
a.  on the internal network
b.  in drawers of CDs and DVDs
c.  scattered across multiple locations
d.  any or all of the above
 
2.)  When you want something, what do you do?
a.  any or all of the following
b.  spend too much time searching for images
c.  lose valuable time instead of being productive
d.  pull my hair out in frustration
 
3.)  When others want something, what do they do?
j.  call me or a member of my team so we waste time searching
k. zip up files and pray they don't get clogged or lost in email
l.  sing holiday songs because you enjoy working with FTP sites
m.  any or all of the above
 
BONUS QUESTION:  What do your answers spell? 

Submit your answers as a comment for a chance to win a $25 Amazon.com gift card.

Here's the winning entry for the second week of Dr. DAM Madlibs. 

Be sure to stay on the lookout for the Week 3 Dr. DAM Madlibs to enter into the contest for the $50 Amazon.com gift card.   









WINNING CONTENT:

CLIENT:  I’m Bob, the Creative Director for an advertising agency.  I’m responsible for all of the creative work we do for our clients.  As for digital asset management, my role is to make sure our clients use the files we have created for them.  We have everything from small print advertisements to large outdoor ads and they’re used by both our clients and their distributors.

CLIENT:  However, I have issues with the overall brand control.  Some of the distributors do not have the current ads and see it as a hassle to locate the current file so they go off and make their own.  There is a reason we do the creative work and they don’t.  It makes me mad they are not using our work.  All I want is everyone to use the brand approved content we have created to help with the overall consistent branding for our clients.
 
Dr. DAM:  I know what you’re going through and I can help you solve your problem.  Here’s what I recommend you do, get a Widen on-demand digital media management system.  Since it’s a web based DAM solution, those distributors will have access to your creative files whenever they need through a simple interface.  Once you’ve implemented a more effective digital asset management solution, what are you going to do?
 
CLIENT:  Now I can focus on creating one-of-a-kind brands for our clients.  I feel priceless.  I’m going to brag to everyone on how I just made our agency more competitive and how we now have total brand control.

DEAR DR. DAM:  My team calls me Kramer and I’m with a marketing agency providing communications and branding services to B2B companies.  We’re in search of a digital media and brand asset management software solution to help manage clients’ photos, logos, videos, flash objects and other brand assets.  We prefer to have an on-demand/hosted DAM solution because it is not a core competency for us and would rather leave it up to the experts to manage all the hardware, implementation and support.  Also, I envision that we’ll pass most of the cost onto our clients for their asset downloads.  It’s something that will help us be more organized internally and automate a number of processes for fulfilling client requests.  I’m sure it will help us improve client communication and collaboration on projects.  We’re also interested in a collateral customization tool that would allow our clients to customize the marketing materials we create for them such as ads and brochures.  This would allow us to provide our client’s sales channels with the ability to personalize marketing pieces with simple modifications while we can control the messaging.  We work well with the marketing departments of our clients to get the master templates ready to go, but by the time they need to provide these branded materials to their sales channels, they almost always go off and create their own pieces that are more relevant and timely for their sales calls although the brand consistency element is usually NOT left in tact.  Our clients’ sales channels need to be able to upload their logos and add contact information to localize the promotional collateral for their market for simple co-branding controlled by our agency and client marketing administrators.  Please help us keep this simple and within reach.  With the difficult times and all, we got to do something to help our agency and clients save money.  Its the holiday shopping season and my daughters need new snow boots.

DEAR CREATIVE SOFTWARE KRAMER:  I can empathize with your situation.  You’re not alone; however I applaud you for wanting to be a hero for your agency and for your clients by trying to do something now.  You’ll be delighted to hear about Widen’s flexible agency billing options for digital asset management solutions.  Plus, with their rapid implementation schedule, you can still be up and running before the New Year.  The multiple branded user interface options will accommodate multiple clients with what looks like their own branded portal and “customer-ized” URL.  Plus, Widen will provide all the user and administrator training and ongoing help desk support.  No doubt, more efficient creative software technology will help you secure existing client relationships.  A smart DAM software implementation and internal automation will be a difference-maker for your agency in difficult economic times because your people will be able to concentrate on more creative and mission critical tasks.  As for the dynamic media building application, Widen's Communications team will provide you with training on how to create and administer the promotional templates.  Your staff won’t be bugged by repetitive, miniscule changes and you’ll still be able to empower your clients with brand approved marketing content.  The media builder allows for unlimited printable template options, so you have more opportunity for creative projects.  Hence, your team has more opportunity for larger billable projects.  The marketing software will help add value in addition to serving as an automated billing platform to giving clients the web-based access they’re already demanding of their assets.  The low total cost of ownership with a Widen DAM SaaS solution without any capital expenditures and an easy-to-budget for low monthly fee will keep you warm and cheery through the holiday season.  Cheers!

DEAR DR. DAM:  I’m Dee, the director of I.T. for an action sports / entertainment program broadcasting on cable TV.  We represent and promote about 60 entertainers in addition to our company’s brand on television, websites, YouTube and sports merchandise.  For starters, we need a web based digital asset management system to store and manage profile photos, action shots and radio spots.  We anticipate this digital media library to grow quickly as our organization continues to gain popularity.  We offer merchandise to a distribution network of 70 different retailers (both online and brick-and-mortar) who need access to our marketing materials.  Radio and print media groups will also have access to photos, bios, promotional copy and 30-second radio spots.  This on-demand digital asset library sounds like a perfect fit… is it too good to be true?
  
DEAR EASY FOR I.T. DEE:  This sounds like a problem for I.T.  You see, the problem is this is a completely “hands off” project for you.  Widen is going to make it so simple for you that all you need to do is appoint the administrators.  You don’t even have to touch a server, install or upgrade anything on your floor.  Good choice for pursuing an on-demand digital asset management system.  Widen will even help with the DAM system rollout with promotional materials geared up for rolling out a marketing software system to the sports and entertainment industry.  That’s only where the “service” in Widen Software as a Service begins.  You’ll receive individual training sessions for your administrators and end-users.  You can even provide users with a training video showing them the system basics that Widen’s team of videographers will do for you.  Also, whenever you have a question or a problem, you’re only a phone call, email or instant chat away from an answer by Widen’s help desk staffed in Madison, WI.  Not only will you get the answer, you’ll likely even learn a thing or two.  In a tough economy, an on-demand DAM system will help you create efficiencies to better utilize human and technical resources as well as save you money.  Expect an ROI within 4-7 months.  I’m sure you got plenty of other items on your plate, so check this one off your list.

The video from the 2008 IPA Premedia Leaders Luncheon held last month at Graph Expo in Chicago is now available for viewing online.  Listen to panelists Matthew Gonnering, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Widen Enterprises; Damien Gough, president and CEO of Platinum Imaging; Alex Sarkisian, executive vice president, Schawk, Inc.; and Michael Shannon, senior vice president of global operations for SGS (Southern Graphic Systems) International talk about how their focus has shifted from selling what their organizations do to understanding what clients need and developing solutions based on those needs.  Watch the video online now

In the company overviews section, Matthew discusses how Widen has evolved as a 60 year old company based on providing prepress services to a provider of software as a service technologies assisting with the creation, management and distribution of digital media, while leveraging a strong adherence to high service levels. 

In the section about selling propositions in a difficult economy, Matthew described how Widen helps companies manage and distribute digital media in line with marketing strategies for controlling brand consistency and creating process efficiencies without straining the internal IT infrastructures.  He discusses how the software as a service model impacts total cost of ownership when considering the staff, software technology and IT infrastructures necessary to support digital asset management processes and marketing operations.  Matthew introduces Widen’s outlook on digital asset management systems being an enabling technology and serving as the single source of maintaining images and videos for online publishing with the concept of “one internet, one file.”

In the last section of the video on value-added services, Matthew discusses how Widen has created a product roadmap of technologies and services by recognizing the unarticulated demand of the market by understanding customer needs and applying internal expertise to deliver value-added solutions of what the customer ultimately wants.

Learn more about The Association of Graphic Solutions Providers at www.ipa.org.

Guest blog post from Sean Banahan, Widen Area Sales Director

Coming back from the Henry Stewart Digital Asset Management Conference in LA I got to thinking about how complex a DAM implementation can become.  In many cases it just doesn’t need to be that big of a deal.  Really.  Most vendors make money off of the illusionary complexity of a DAM system.  I am not saying that managing and distributing your media files isn’t extremely important.  It is.  I just see a lot of vendors telling customers that they need to invest months and months in planning and preparation for a DAM solution.  You need to define very complex processes and then spend tens of thousands on RFP development, vendor shootouts and then risk analysis.  They partner with consultants who in turn make money on the preparation and afterwards, the implementation and integration.  If all that worked then why are so many companies looking to migrate to a second or even a third DAM system.
 
I believe there is a common theme within the industry of failed implementations and unhappy customers because people try to make DAM into something its not.  Your DAM system is not ever going to be a good Direct Mailing application or morph into the perfect tool to plan marketing budgets, no matter what the smiling guy in front of the PowerPoint says.  It should connect and feed the appropriate resources to those tools just like it should be sending images, graphics, videos, logos and marketing materials to your web portals.  Let vendors do what they do best and you will reap the benefits.  Don’t try to fit the square peg into the round hole. 

A hosted or on-demand model works well because it’s up and running relatively quickly and doesn’t support the waves of preparation and implementation happy consultants.  Up front costs tend to be much lower and monthly subscription fees give you room to grow as needed.  Best of all you can try it out without getting locked in.  Most hosted digital asset management software systems worth their weight should have some kind of mechanism for integrating into your existing or future application environments so fitting in at school shouldn’t be all that tough either.  Of course, the licensed software vendors and hosts of consultants are already hijacking the on-demand/ASP/SaaS model.  Software vendors that make killings off their professional services engagements and consultants that sell year long planning engagements see DAM SaaS offerings as an easy way in the door and a route to getting you on heavy licensed software products down the road.  Nowadays, with the economic turmoil you see on CNN each morning, everyone has to say they have a SaaS offering.  That’s great in that it helps justify the SaaS model but then they go and pitch you on excessively long term contracts and heavy customization again.  I have to wonder if those same consultants and software vendors would rent an economy car from Hertz and then take it down to the body shop to add a sunroof.  Are they selling you a service to fit your needs or are they building you a ladder into the monster truck of a software solution they are just dying to tie you to?

DEAR DR. DAM:  I’m Stella, the multimedia communications manager for a large health insurance enterprise.  I work with the e-solutions group; developing marketing materials and programs.  Many of my issues deal with sending large files (PDFs and videos) to our marketing affiliates and field agents. 

I’m really impressed by this concept Widen brings to the table with digital asset embed links.  YouTube’s been doing it for years, but it looks like a tremendous addition to a digital asset management solution.  Using cloud computing resources, it’s basically "bandwidth on demand.”  I’m impressed with the fact that when you upload something new, the most current version is then available to every online location it’s used—just a onetime change. 

With 19,000 field agents, how will a hosted DAM system handle all of these users downloading large PDF files, audio, video, etc.?  I want to roll this sort of system out to the smallest of our three brands first, to work out all the kinks before extending it to the enterprise.  Ideally, I’m able to keep this under my control, without IT involvement.  It looks like I don’t even need an extra server.
 
DEAR STELLAR DAM SYSTEM KNOWLEDGE STELLA:  It sounds like you’ve done your research and have some good experience with marketing software systems.  You’re right on with the concept of digital asset embed links offering "bandwidth on-demand."  The Widen digital asset embed links allow you to offer multiple embed links per asset supporting different file formats.  Using cloud computing resources,  Widen’s DAM SaaS solution will be able to meet the demand from thousands of field agents, while offering you pay-as-you-go budgeting.  You’re right… you don’t need that extra server.

DEAR DR. DAM:  I want a hosted digital asset management solution and I want it now.  Sorry, for my candid nature, but I’m Raymundo, the web marketing manager for a mid-size sporting goods manufacturer.  We don’t have an I.T. department that can support such a system, nor can they fully support our marketing efforts.  Our digital files are stored in multiple locations within a file folder structure with no associated metadata.  Our users will require something that is easy to use (i.e. functionally fit) as they will not put up with a system loaded with confusion.  My main focus needs to offer global access to our assets, while enforcing brand consistency.  With that said, varying roles and appropriate permissions are key.  For our retailers and print partners, we’re building an online digital asset management warehouse to download approved files for their advertising, and also to use as an FTP for printers doing outsourced work on our catalogs.  We’ve recognized that there are many types of DAM systems—ranging from light, medium, and heavy.  We do one catalog per year per brand and have a handful of brands under the chief brand.  We have a few dozen sales and marketing people on our staff serving a couple hundred dealers. 

The FTP site does not work well for dealers and we’re doing away with the dealer extranet.  Since we’re revamping our web site, we want to replace the dealer extranet with a hosted DAM solution that will also replace the FTP site.  Some dealers have their own catalogs so once a year they will do a complete download of the entire product line.  Therefore, we obviously have a decent amount of volume when it comes to usage.  We also have a few different printers and advertising agencies, so the DAM system would serve as hub for all levels.  Our file types include product and lifestyle photography, PDF fact sheets, word docs and spreadsheets.  We have some templates for dealer promotions so a web-to-print type of collateral customization tool would be helpful in streamlining the creation of branded materials.  We need our DAM system in place before we launch the new website. 

DEAR BAM HUB RAYMUNDO:  You are facing quite an endeavor.  Your situation sounds complicated, but it’s a pretty average situation for many marketers your size and a mid-sized brand asset management software solution that can scale to meet your needs is well within reach.  You’ll be able to condense your need for different internal resources by doing away with the hard drive storage and FTP usage.  Your DAM system will serve as the graphic communications hub for internal marketing and sales, advertising agencies, printers and your dealer network.  Establishing metadata taxonomies and adhering to those standards will be imperative to the success of the system.  Widen can help you with that by sharing best practices in what others have done from the Widen user community.  Your marketing people should like what the dynamic media building tool can do for your dealers by allowing them to customize ads, brochures and other promotional sales collateral within branding standards.  Hang in there… Widen will help you move along quickly, but in manageable chunks.