DEAR DR. DAM: My name is Brad and I'm into marketing at a large manufacturer. We have loads of products and thousands of images and materials that our sales network needs to sell our products. We have our own regional sales reps in addition to distributors and dealers who request materials several times a week for use in sales presentations and promotions. I'm feeling tremendously bogged down with the time it takes to search for the digital files, burn them to a disc and ship them overnight.
My problem is I feel like I'm not getting any of my real projects done because I'm too busy getting materials out to sales. I don't know how much longer this can last before I go crazy from feeling too far behind. How can I focus on the real projects that I was hired to do, while fulfilling the needs of my sales network?
DEAR BUSY BURNING BRAD: I fully understand your situation. Growing libraries of marketing materials and expansive sales networks make it extremely time-consuming to fulfill requests for digital media. It is not worth your time to spend hours a week carrying out monotonous tasks when there are more efficient ways to distribute materials to your sales network. You can eliminate the stress of feeling behind in your work by implementing a digital asset management system.
I recommend working with Widen because they have developed a DAM system allowing you to grant your sales reps and external users self-service access to your digital media. Widen created their DAM system over several years of feedback from clients with expansive sales networks. Leveraging common web principles in designing a powerful, easy-to-use system, Widen requires very little training for users to get the materials they need. More importantly, because you (or your staff) no longer have to fulfill tedious requests, you have more time to focus on your core competencies and have peace of mind.
