It is not very common for small business owners to use Digital Asset Management or DAM software. Honestly, DAM softwares are so unpopular; they make choosing between them feel like picking your favorite vegetable at a dessert buffet. It’s a tough sell!

But fear not!

We’ll help you navigate this buffet and ensure you get your money’s worth. Therefore in this article, we have listed down the crème de la crème of DAM software.

If you don’t know what digital asset management is, then read our comprehensive guide on DAM.

Now let’s see what digital asset management & DAM software are all about!

What Is Digital Asset Management?

Imagine having a digital Swiss Army knife that keeps your digital assets organized, secure, and easily accessible.

That’s precisely what digital asset management (DAM) brings to the table for professionals like yourself. It’s like having a supercharged personal assistant that takes care of all your valuable files, whether they’re images, videos, audio clips, or documents.

But DAM doesn’t stop there.

It’s also a collaboration powerhouse, streamlining teamwork and workflows. You can easily share files with colleagues, clients, or collaborators, granting them controlled access to specific assets.

On top of its organizational and collaborative superpowers, DAM is a fortress for your digital treasures.

It ensures the security and integrity of your assets, protecting them from unauthorized access, accidental deletions, or file corruption. You can rest easy knowing that your valuable files are shielded from harm’s way.

So, whether you’re a creative genius, a marketing maestro, or a savvy entrepreneur, digital asset management is your trusted sidekick in the digital realm.

What Is A DAM Software?

When your marketing collateral production starts booming, keeping track of everything can become a total circus. Misplaced files, confusing versions, accidental asset mix-ups with clients—oh, the horror!

Thankfully, marketing teams have a secret weapon: digital asset management software. It swoops in to save the day, organizing, managing, storing, and effortlessly retrieving all your precious digital assets.

Say goodbye to the chaos and hello to sanity!

This is what Digital Asset Management software does

                                                                                                 Benefits of using a DAM software

From organizing files to streamlining collaboration, DAM software offers a wide range of capabilities that enhance efficiency and boost productivity.

In this section, we will explore the specific tasks that DAM software can achieve, empowering you to take control of your digital assets like never before.

Now this is what they can do specifically:

• Organize and categorize digital assets efficiently
• Enable easy search and retrieval of specific files or assets
• Maintain version control to track changes in the latest assets
• Track asset usage and analytics to gain insights into asset performance and audience engagement

So, Digital Asset Management software has become an indispensable tool for modern businesses. By harnessing its power, you can effectively conquer digital asset challenges.

5 Best DAM Software

In today’s fast-paced digital world, managing your digital assets efficiently is more important than ever. Whether you’re a photographer, marketer, or business owner, having the right tools to organize and optimize your digital files can make a difference.

That’s why we’ve put together this article to introduce you to the top 5 digital asset management software options out there. From robust features to user-friendly interfaces, these platforms have got you covered when it comes to organizing, searching, and sharing your valuable digital assets.

So, let’s dive in and discover the perfect solution to streamline your digital asset management workflow!

Brandfolder

Brandfolder is a leading DAM platform that empowers businesses to centralize, organize, and distribute their digital assets with ease.

Whether you’re aiming to maintain brand integrity or want to streamline assets. Brandfolder has got you covered.

Major features of Brandfolder

Brandfolder offers a powerful platform with a range of features to enhance your digital asset management experience. Firstly, you can easily store, organize, and categorize all your digital assets in one secure location.

Moreover, find the right assets quickly using advanced search capabilities and metadata tagging. With these features, there’s no more wasting time searching through countless files.

Furthermore, seamlessly collaborate with team members, clients, and partners by sharing assets and collecting feedback. Doing so makes collaborative workflows more efficient, speeding up your creative processes.

Therefore, ensure brand control and consistency by using customizable style guides, usage guidelines, and approval workflows. With these tools, you can maintain a unified brand identity across all your assets and communications.

In conclusion, Brandfolder empowers you to efficiently manage your digital assets, streamline collaboration, and maintain a strong and consistent brand presence.

Pricing & Features

Brandfolder offers flexible plans to cater to businesses of all sizes and needs. A free Demo is available & Custom pricing is on request.

👉 Basic plan:
✓ Centralized Content Repository
✓  Access and Permissions Control
✓  Custom Branding
✓  Flexible Asset Organization
✓  AI-Powered Search
✓  Version History
✓  Integration Ecosystem
✓  Developer Resources

👉 Premium Plan (All features of Basics Plus):

✓ Enhanced Self-Service
✓  Asset Analytics
✓  Document Intelligence
✓  Single Sign-On Integration
✓ Streamlined Workflows
✓ Asset Availability Controls

👉 Enterprise Plan (All features of Premium Plus):
Custom Automation
✓  Tighter Asset Permissions
✓  Easier Administration at Scale
✓  Finer Organizational Controls
✓  Enterprise Creative Tooling
✓  Digital Rights Management

With Brandfolder, you can revolutionize your asset management, enhance collaboration, and elevate your brand presence.

Bynder

Bynder is a comprehensive DAM platform designed to empower businesses of all sizes and industries to effectively manage their digital assets.

Whether you’re dealing with images, videos, documents, or any other media files, Bynder provides a centralized hub where you can easily store, search, and distribute your assets with just a few clicks.

Collaboration becomes a breeze with Bynder’s advanced sharing and approval workflows.

You can streamline the creative process by granting access to specific files or folders to your team members, clients, or external stakeholders. Real-time commenting and annotations facilitate seamless communication, ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Bynder’s powerful metadata capabilities enable you to add descriptive tags, keywords, and custom metadata to your assets. This makes them highly discoverable through advanced search functionality.

Pricing & Features

Just like Brandfolder, Bynder also offers flexible pricing plans.

👉 Starter Plan (DAM):

✓ Centralized content repository
✓ Easy search and filtering
✓ Access and permissions management
✓ Custom brand colors and logo

👉 DAM + Scaling your content operations:
✓  Digital Brand Guidelines
✓  Studio
✓  Creative Workflow
✓  Highly connectable DAM

👉 DAM + Integrated digital ecosystem:

✓ Everything in DAM + Scaling your content operations, plus:
✓ Full tech ecosystem connectivity
✓ Dynamic Asset Transformation
✓ Access to 50+ pre-build connectors
✓ Data-driven content insights
✓ Technical support at every stage

With Bynder, you can take control of your digital assets, streamline your workflows, and enhance collaboration like never before.

KURATE

Kurate is the go-to software for small and medium-sized businesses.

It’s like a super-cool clubhouse for all your digital stuff. With KURATE, lots of people can get in on the action and easily share all kinds of assets.

The best part? It’s super safe! KURATE uses all the fancy security features of the cloud to make sure your stuff stays protected. No worries about unauthorized access or data breaches here!

But that’s not all. KURATE is a real productivity booster. It’s got awesome features that automate all those boring workflows for approving digital content. Say goodbye to manual processes and hello to smooth sailing!

As the world goes digital-crazy, managing all those digital assets becomes more important than ever. And that’s where KURATE shines! It’s like a powerful platform that plays nice with other cool technologies and software. You can connect it with your CMS, content creation suites, and more. It’s like the ultimate content creation dream team!

So, if you’re ready to level up your digital asset management game, give KURATE a try. It’s fun, it’s secure, and it’s the perfect sidekick for all your content creation adventures.

Canto

Canto offers a comprehensive suite of features that empower you to store, organize, and distribute your digital files with ease and efficiency.

With Canto, gone are the days of spending valuable time searching for files or struggling to keep track of versions and permissions.

Collaboration is at the core of Canto’s design. Its advanced sharing capabilities enable seamless collaboration with internal teams, external partners, and clients.

You can easily share assets, set permissions, and maintain version control, ensuring everyone has access to the correct files at the right time.

Moreover, Canto’s powerful search functionality utilizes AI-powered metadata tagging, making it incredibly efficient to locate specific assets or explore your collection based on custom criteria. Say goodbye to manual keyword tagging and let Canto’s smart algorithms do the heavy lifting.

Pricing & Features

When it comes to pricing, Canto offers flexible options to suit your organization’s needs. Here are a few key features to consider:

✓ Customized Content Experience

✓ Improved Collaboration

✓ Unlimited Portals

✓ Intelligent Search

✓ Customizable Permissions

✓ Detailed Reporting

✓ User Training & Implementation

✓ Elevated Security

✓ Powerful Integrations

✓ Advanced Modules are also available to meet specific business needs

With Canto, managing your digital assets becomes a seamless, streamlined process, enabling you to focus on what matters most—creating and delivering exceptional content while maximizing productivity and efficiency.

Widen Collective

Widen Collective is a comprehensive DAM platform that empowers organizations of all sizes to centralize, organize, and distribute their digital assets with ease.

Whether you’re a marketing team looking to streamline content creation or an enterprise in need of a scalable solution, Widen Collective has got you covered.

With Widen Collective, you can enjoy:

1. Robust asset organization: Say goodbye to scattered files and folders. Widen Collective offers advanced metadata capabilities, enabling you to categorize and tag assets for effortless search and retrieval.

2. Seamless collaboration: Collaborate seamlessly with internal teams and external stakeholders. Widen Collective provides secure access controls, versioning, and commenting features, ensuring everyone is on the same page.

3. Efficient distribution: Share your assets with clients, partners, and vendors effortlessly. Widen Collective offers customizable portals and sharing options, making distribution a breeze.

4. Analytics and insights: Gain valuable insights into asset performance and usage. Widen Collective provides detailed analytics to help you make data-driven decisions and optimize your asset management strategy.

Pricing & Features

Widen Collective offers flexible plans tailored to suit different business needs.

✓ Workgroup DAM: Ideal for small businesses & departments with up to 50 users of any type.

✓ Workgroup DAM & PlM: Perfect for growing businesses with up to 50 users of any type.

✓ Enterprise DAM: Ideal for mid-market to large enterprises with unlimited users.

Remember, Widen Collective’s pricing may vary based on your specific requirements, so it’s best to contact their sales team for detailed pricing information. Get ready to transform your digital asset management game with Widen Collective!

Conclusion: Which DAM Software Is The Best For You?

In conclusion, when it comes to choosing the right DAM software for your business, it’s important to consider your specific needs and goals. Evaluate the features and capabilities offered by each platform, and prioritize those that align with your requirements.

Remember that Brandfolder offers centralized asset management and strong brand control, while Bynder focuses on comprehensive asset management and collaboration.

Kurate is a great option for small and medium-sized businesses, providing security and productivity-boosting automation.

Canto excels in collaboration and AI-powered metadata tagging, and Widen Collective offers a feature-rich solution for organizations of all sizes.

Take into account factors such as ease of use, customization options, scalability, pricing plans, and customer support. It may also be helpful to request demos or trials to get a hands-on experience with each platform.

Ultimately, the best DAM software for your business will be the one that seamlessly integrates with your workflow, enhances productivity, and provides the necessary tools for organizing, searching, and sharing your valuable digital assets.

So, make an informed decision and choose the DAM software that aligns with your unique business needs and sets you up for success in the digital world.

People Also Read:

Digital Asset Management Tool That Marketing Agencies Need

Digital Asset Management (DAM): The Ultimate Guide

The post 5 Best Digital Asset Management Software: Detailed Guide. appeared first on Fixbracket.

We are rapidly approaching the futuristic era of the Metaverse.

The Metaverse can be defined as an interconnected, permanent virtual reality where we live a digital life along with a physical life. Virtual real estate in the metaverse is the new hot topic these days.

Virtual real estate may not sound valuable, but when you know how many tech giants have invested in virtual real estate and the metaverse in general, you may start taking this more seriously. If not doing so already.

The Metaverse is the ‘digital twin’ of your physical world. In the Metaverse, you can invest and make money as in the real world. One of these investment opportunities is in real estate.

Virtual Real Estate In The Metaverse

(source: TIME Magazine)

The metaverse is a virtual world where people and establishments across the globe can interact with each other, and conduct business transactions similar to the real world but with digital platforms and digital assets.

The Metaverse is made up of real estate segments known as land parcels which act as plots of land in the virtual world. Individuals and corporates can buy these land parcels using cryptocurrency. This is basically what virtual real estate is.

For e.g., on Decentraland, a metaverse website, land can be bought using the cryptocurrency token ‘MANA’.

                                                                                                                                Decentraland for Metaverse

Over the last few months, investors have spent millions of dollars purchasing land in the Metaverse. There is no denying that technology has changed the way real estate operates. A whole new ecosystem has emerged – there are even mortgage providers and lenders who cater to customers purchasing virtual real estate.

The Metaverse adds a different perspective to the value of land with factors that are different from the real word. Land is valued in the real world based on factors namely size, location, and actual utility.

However, in the Metaverse the use of land is less significant as people will not actually live there.

The primary purpose of purchasing land in the Metaverse is to either develop it or rent it to someone else in order to earn what is called passive income. In the years ahead, passive income will extrapolate to active income.

In the Metaverse, unlike in the real world, anyone can invest. Anyone can buy land parcels as they are available at various prices, shapes, sizes etc.

Buyers around the world can activate a cryptocurrency wallet of their choice and start investing immediately. There are no barriers and limitations to buying micro lots- as they are accessible and affordable.

The Metaverse will inevitably expand.

It has gained momentum, and its growing popularity is a big plus. It may seem like a high-risk investment today, but it does not stop the early adopter from taking the leap of faith. Companies such Atari, Samsung, Adidas, and PwC have invested in digital real estate to prepare for the future.

As more land becomes available, there is strong pressure to rethink the actual activity of digital real estate. For example, trade fairs and exhibitions are held in the Metaverse with major venues, sponsorships, and booths driving monetization.

It will be an immersive experience with hands-on interaction that does not require travel or commuting. Similarly, social gatherings, weddings and collaborations can be transferred to the Metaverse using digital real estate.

Significant Land Purchase Trends In The Metaverse

The following are some of the top digital real estate trends for this year:

• Metaverse land sales are reported to reach a record $ 500 million in 2021. By 2022, sales could more than double to at least $ 1billion.

• Markets continue to be volatile and fluctuate in response to socio and economic factors.

• Events are a sure bet. Metaverse platforms have their own event calendars, and Meta’s (parent company of Facebook) Horizon Venues are now widely available. As a result, we will witness more real estate events in the near future.

• Brand categories can accentuate immersive experiences. Categories such as real-estate work well in the metaverse as they can bring alive an experience like no other. These experiences can trigger the sale of virtual experience.

Why Is Real Estate Hot In The Metaverse?

It is human tendency to be able to own something. Just like people want to own real estate in the real world they want to do it in the virtual world as it gives them a sense of ownership.

Many people believe that in the future humans will spend most of their time in a virtual world. When you are spending so much time you want your digital avatar to have a space to call home right?

The easiest explanation is FOMO or fear of missing out. Just because someone else is buying this new cool piece on land in a virtual space, others get influenced to buy the same as they fear they will miss out on a generational opportunity.

People think buying early and buying smart will give them an upper have over late comers or late adopters.

Owning real estate next to a well-known celebrity such as Snoop Dogg also influences people to buy virtual land. Here, location is key and if you nail the location you can earn much more rent on your land and also be able to resell it at a huge premium.

It is human tendency to have a sense of ownership. Just like people want to own real estate in the real world, they want to do so in the virtual world as it gives them a sense of ownership.

Futurists believe that in the future, humans will spend most of their time in a virtual world. When you are spending so much time in the Metaverse, you want your digital avatar to have a space to call home, right?

People think buying early is buying smart, and will give them a social advantage over late adopters.

Owning real estate next to a well-known celebrity such as Snoop Dogg also influences people to buy virtual land. Here, location is key, and if you nail the location, you can earn much more rent on your land and also be able to resell it at a premium.

How Can One Purchase Land In The Metaverse?

You need to identify where you want to buy the land – is it in Decentreland, Axie infinity or VulcanVerse or somewhere else?

(www.decentraland.com)

Accordingly, you need the selected Metaverse’s token to be able to buy land. Suppose you want to buy land in Decentreland then you need to have MANA, the currency in Decentreland. You can buy these currencies off exchanges such as Binance or decentralized exchanges such as SushiSwap.

To store the currency you need a wallet- which can be a Metamask or a Binance wallet.

(www.binance.com)

Using the currency that you now have, you can visit the website of the Metaverse and check for land sale dates for lower prices.

Land is allotted to you in the form of an NFT. The Metaverse also has a primary and secondary real estate market. You can further use websites such as opensea.io or nonfungible.com to buy land from the secondary market. These websites act as real estate agents. Prices here will be bit higher than the original land sales.

After you have bought a piece of land you can do anything you want with it – build a house, build a theme park, host other people, rent the land out, sell it for a profit etc.

While buying land, you need to check certain things such as footfall in nearby areas, location of the land, the terrain, accessibility etc.

Notable Vitual Real Estate Transactions

Republic Realm paid a record $4.3 million for properties in Sandbox, the largest Metaverse real estate platform. The company has developed 100 Fantasy islands, which have their own villas. 90 islands sold for $15,000 each on the first day, and some are currently resold for over $100,000.

Toronto-based Tokens.com CEO, Andrew Kiguel, has raised $16 million to invest in Metaverse real estate. Almost all of it was used to buy land. The company alsospent $2.4 million on land in Decentraland’s fashion district, a hotspot for fashion events and stores.

In December 2021, a fan of the musician Snoop Dogg paid $450,000 to purchase land in the Metaverse next to Dogg’s virtual property.

The Future Of Virtual Real Estate In The Metaverse

At first glance, the concept of owning virtual land may seem unbelievable. But even though it now appears overwhelming and unbelievable, it’s important to remember that many people used to question the potential importance of the Internet and then social media. According to experts, in the next few years Metaverse will evolve into a fully functional economy, providing a synchronised digital experience that is as integrated into everyday life as today’s email and social media. Many futurists are betting on this new immersive world.

The post Why Is Virtual Real Estate Hot In The Metaverse? appeared first on Fixbracket.

In this article, we’ll explore the powerful fusion of marketing and technology (MarTech), and how it’s revolutionizing the way businesses connect with their customers. From AI-powered analytics to automation tools, get ready to discover the future of marketing!

The Business Of MarTech

The global business of Marketing Technologies a.k.a. MarTech, is over $344 billion (as per the Martech Report 2021/22 by MarTech Alliance and Moore Kingston Smith).

We’ve already begun to see acquisitions and mergers in this space. If you’re new to the world of MarTech, you’d ask why is MarTech so important to companies. What value does the CMO get from spending on, implementing, and managing MarTech?

I can list down several advantages.

Improves Marketing Velocity

‘Go to market’ on time, agility to deliver effectively, swift, and relevant conversions from a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) to a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL), measuring ROI of marketing campaigns to determine the next step, A/B testing of campaigns are critical expectations from marketing teams. Technology is the answer.

Progressive Profiling Of Customers

Capturing relevant and marketing-ready information is an ongoing process. Customer information can be captured from various sources namely email and social media interactions bit by bit. Progressive profiling is the Goldilocks zone of customer data mining. It’s important to improve the productivity of campaigns, increase conversion rates and personalization of content.

Governance Of Digital Assets

With the amount of content that is produced daily, companies need to curate them centrally. This allows the custodians to manage these assets effectively. With platforms such as Digital Asset Management companies have saved millions of dollars that would otherwise be spent on searching, preserving, replacing, and repurposing digital assets.

To know more on Digital Asset Management, read our article on the subject.

Collection And Use Of MarTech Data, Ethically!

The introduction of the General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) has led to measures that concern data storage, processing, security, and retention. It is essential to seek consent from a user when it pertains to the use of the user’s private information. Technology brings transparency to the process of gathering and using information.

(hubspot.com)

Builds Accountability Of The Team

It takes more than a village to manage marketing operations.

Marketing teams can no longer operate in silos, they need to collaborate to thrive. And to measure the performance of individuals and teams, technology plays an integral part.

MarTech is Highly Fragmented

There is software that can replace or aid a marketing process. The hottest tech spaces attraction investments at various stages of funding are –

Adtech

Adtech consists of software and platforms that allow brands to target, publish, and measure their campaigns. Adtech enables brands and digital agencies to book advertising space and allow publishers to sell their advertising space. There are an array of tools and technologies involved – Programmatic Advertising, Demand Side Platforms (DSP), Supply Side Platforms (SSP), Agency Trading Desks (ATD), Ad Servers, and Ad Networks.

Content Marketing Platforms

Content is a currency in the marketing world and platforms that enable creators to create, test, curate, publish, and distribute content are ever so in demand. The planning, creation, and collaboration workflow modules, makes the creator’s job easier. Marketers can profile their customers based on usage and content consumption.

Customer Data Platforms

With multiple marketing touch-points to deal with, marketers find the necessity to aggregate, organize and manage data. The credence lies in the intelligence that can be generated from real-time data to build customer and segment profiles. Customer Data Platforms can be integrated with other marketing systems to receive and transfer data.

Video Production Platforms

The intent of using a video production platform is to produce quality videos within estimated budgets and timelines. These platforms are rid of the issues of storage of content. Powered with analytics, creators can understand viewer behaviour, and optimize the content they create.

Some Recent Investments And Acquisitions In MarTech

Source: crunchbase.com, contentgrip.com

For more on investments in MarTech, read funding news by ContentGrip.

MarTech: A Drop In The Ocean

While brands need to overcome optimization challenges in MarTech and consider investments wisely, the technologies are here to stay. The CIO/ CTO’s role in this is as critical as the CMO’s, the ownership lies with the latter. We will witness further investments, mergers, and acquisitions in this niche technology segment.

The post MarTech companies are Raking In The Money. appeared first on Fixbracket.

They’re all the buzz right now in the marketing world. Non-Fungible Tokens are changing the game, allowing marketers to create unique digital assets and engage with their audience like never before.

It’s a whole new agenda for us, and the possibilities are endless!

Ushering A New Era

Within just a year, the NFT buzz has taken the world by storm. Despite being surrounded by controversy here and there, NFTs are an undeniable sign that the future has come for the gaming and art communities and opening a world of millions of possibilities – and dollars – for artists, gamers, and even marketers globally. 

This explosive phenomenon, doubled by the coming of Facebook’s metaverse, has shaken off people’s doubts about the longevity of NFTs.

They are pretty much here for a long time, and not just for a good time, if you know what we mean – even top global brands have hopped on the NFT train to strengthen their image, tap into new audiences, and crack into new possible revenue streams. 

Before that, what exactly is an NFT? How are they made, and how did they begin to make waves in the crypto-verse? 

NFTs Are Non-Fungible

Here’s a little crash course on NFTs: NFTs stand for Non-Fungible Tokens – these digital assets exist on a blockchain or recorded transactions stored in networked computers. To assure the uniqueness of each token, these records allow the verification of each token’s authenticity. 

But, maybe that’s quite too complicated, so let’s backtrack a little further. 

What is a crypto token?

Tokens refer to virtual currencies or denominations that represent fungible or tradable assets that have blockchains. These can be used for transactions such as purchases, investments, or even raising funds for crowd sales. 

NFTs work pretty much that way, but – as it says in its name, non-fungible – you will not have the same kind of token once you trade it. In other words, Trading NFTs are quite like swapping trading cards from different franchise decks – you will get a completely different, unique card. It’s like trading your OG Blue Eyes White Dragon Yu-Gi-Oh! Card for a classic Pikachu card. 

These tokens can take any form: Art, Music, Photographs – if your brain can conceive it, you can turn it into an NFT, and can be sold by the millions if you play your cards right and if the market demands it, like Beeple’s “Every day – The First 5000 Days” digital artwork which sold for $69 million. And it’s not only artists making waves with NFTs, even celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Grimes, and Logan Paul have entered the market, too. 

With NFTs opening up new revenue streams for everyone, brands have jumped on the trend to usher in a new era of marketing possibilities. Read more on some of the NFTs that have made the news.

NFTs Are Worth Collecting

Since NFTs are like collector’s items (in a way), brands use them as a way to create scarcity and more value for the brand, driving people who are huge fans of a celebrity who minted them or regular patrons of a fast-food chain or even a sports brand to cop these digital collectibles. 

Take Under Armour for example, who released an NFT of Steph Curry’s Curry 9 Flow shoe model when he broke the NBA’s three-point shooting record. Not only was it “minted” (meaning created, in NFT lingo) for artistic purposes, the collection boasts 2,974 copies which is equal to how many three-pointers he has shot in his NBA career until he shattered the record. These NFT pairs of sneaks can then be used to customize the buyers’ characters in a metaverse or games that support NFTs like Fortnite.

Steph Curry’s 3 Pointer NFT, Under Armour

These then create value in the brands as a way to immortalize their history or achievements, or even just capture the emotional value these items bring to the consumers. 

This innovative, creator-centric way of unlocking monetization models for the digital space has created infinite possibilities for creators and brands to not just create value for their consumers, but also for the companies themselves – with many of them donating the proceeds of the NFTs sold to their chosen charities and advocacies. 

An example of this is Coca-Cola, whose digital collectibles revolve around the theme of “friendship” and moments shared in between and released at an auction on International Friendship Day last July 2021. These proceeds from the sold NFTs (which are a wearable delivery jacket (wearable in Central and), a “Friendship Box” which looks exactly like those iconic Coca-Cola vending machines, a sound visualizer, and a friendship card) went to the company’s long-term partner, Special Olympics International.  

Coca-Cola NFTs Collectibles, source: The Coca-Cola Company

From your favorite thirst quenchers to the childhood card game you grew up playing and probably losing a few friends over (yup, even UNO has joined in on the NFT market), it’s undeniable how NFTs are shattering what we already know and do about marketing, letting brands branch out to other revenue streams such as games and metacommunities, giving them additional entertainment value. 

Seeing as how NFTs are positively impacting your favorite global brands, how can you use them to build a stronger consumer community and improve your overall marketing strategies? 

While the answer may probably be a bit more complicated than what it initially seems, deciding whether or not to create NFTs is a no-brainer. You just really have to get started, know as much as you need to in the NFT and crypto-verse, begin making a solid, long-term strategy, and experiment. 

Be mindful that brand NFTs should not just be about aesthetics or making more revenues for your brand, they must engage the consumers and add value to their user experience. 

One good example of this is how McDonald’s hyped up the return of their legendary, saucy, and juicy McRib on their menus in the US by creating and raffling off 10 limited edition McRib NFT cards available to those who will retweet their call for an invitation to buy them. Within hours, their tweet had reached 21,000 retweets – now at more than 100,000 retweets to date. Not only did their NFT generate buzz in the Twittersphere, but it also generated user engagement and PR because the McRib is a much-anticipated return menu item that McDonald’s patrons wait for.

McRib NFT by McDonald’s, source: The Independent

As mentioned, you can mint any NFT that you choose, but it must be aligned with your brand’s values, products, and overall strategy. Without the strategy and values to guide your venture in the NFT world, your creations might become misguided and may confuse your target and current consumers. 

Brands are also not limited to merely making artwork of their products or themes that their brand is most associated with (like Coca-Cola and friendship). You can make songs, wearable game items, trading cards, photograph “prints”, and 3D collectible action figures – and the greatest part about this is that there are no limitations to the platforms they can promote it on. 

Where’s The Chatter On NFTs?

Currently, the biggest hub where NFT enthusiasts gather around in the common online space is Twitter. So if you’re considering adding NFTs to your brand marketing strategy, get ready to dive deep and engage with your consumers on Twitter. However, NFT promotion is not limited only to social media – you can also do this on online forums like Reddit and your brand’s website.

Read our article ‘NTF this and NFT that‘ to explore more on the subject.

Again, the possibilities for NFTs in marketing your brand are ENDLESS, so before you get left behind, take that leap of faith now and see your brand grow. All it takes is to start now. 

The post NFTs – Marketer’s New Agenda To Leverage On. appeared first on Fixbracket.

With over two decades of addressing the marketing services challenges of local and global brands, I’ve come across the famous antinome that CMOs have always been consumed with – what can be outsourced and what to keep in-house?

Large enterprises with their army of resources have a clear demarcation of what their agencies can do for them and the role of marketing teams in the scheme of things, and a few have a prescribed rule – stay away from creating, instead be a cognitive part of the creative process.

Agencies holding the prowess to create, have exhibited fortitude and waded off any blows by corporate teams attempting to take charge of the creative process. Creativity is in the DNA of agencies.

However, this is the least of the challenges for the CMO. The function has evolved, and marketing operations have a new orientation.

Marketing As A Service (MaaS)

This a prudent question for every CMO.

How much can a team handle without specialists?

The simple answer to the question can be deduced by defining your marketing services priorities.

Do you want your marketing team to do the heavy lifting with marketing services or would you want the team to focus on the strategy and the management of the delivery of KPIs through agency resources?

Fine, you got some specialists on board, but the evolving demand for smart automation, content marketing, and analytics has led to the expansion of marketing technologies. Today, there is software that addresses every critical marketing process.

Marketing Technology (Martech) is evolving at a fast pace. This will impact the delivery of marketing services.

                                                                                                                  Martech Marketing Services Industry Size

The size of the global martech industry is over $120 billion.

From 150 martech solution providers in 2011 to 8000+ software providers in 2020 – that’s surely a quantum leap.

The learning curve of agencies is shorter than that of marketing teams. With the ebb and flow of talent in agencies, there is a continuous momentum to onboard the new in the form of people and practices.

Marketing-as-a-service (MaaS) is the new way to go. And it is here to revolutionize marketing services as we know it.

Some might debate that the practice is very old, but it holds relevance today. We’re referring to outsourcing services that require a high intensity of acumen, precision, and continuous learning.

In the scheme of meritorious things, outsourced teams must function as your own and occupy a seat at the table.

And unless your team is geared to handle fast-paced change – Bring in the Specialists.

Inbound Marketing Services With Emails

According to SendGrid, email is a critical piece in your marketing arsenal as it offers the highest return of any marketing channel – at an average of $42 for every dollar invested.

Building on an email conversation thread can be a meticulous task. Most companies have not experienced the success of smelting results through applied inbound marketing. There is a science behind it.

The most important rule is – Information earned is better than information bought.

Can email marketing get you a qualified lead?

Tough but Doable. It’s the right resources, infrastructure, and practice that drive results.

Unless you’ve invested in all the above, you’re not likely to experience optimized results.

An industry-wide benchmark by Campaign Monitor is provided below. Are you hitting these numbers?

                                                                                Inbound Marketing Services With Emails

Email marketing is not a ‘Mail-it and wait-for-it activity’.

It’s a continuous undertaking.

Does your email automation trigger an instance or action in the manner it should?

Does it factor in various response scenarios and actions as a follow-up to a user’s response?

Do you have a sequence of events programmed in your marketing automation software?

Technology is important but it is a means to an end, you also need talent to harness technology. If you’re running an ecommerce business, imagine the importance of emails to your customers that provide information on purchases, refunds, shipping, loyalty points, cart abandonment, grievances, etc.

Your team must be able to plan these events and your automation software must be able to orchestrate the delivery of these events.

The moving parts of your email program – Creativity, compelling content, personalization, and email hygiene such as options to ‘unsubscribe’ define the deliverability of your email campaigns. Better deliverability results in a better ROI.

Marketers must have meaningful metrics to define the success of email campaigns. These are important to provide quality marketing services. HubSpot has listed the critical ones – Open Rate, Clickthrough Rate, Conversion Rate, Bounce Rate, List Growth Rate, Unsubscribe Rate, and Overall ROI.

To know more about these metrics, go through this piece by HubSpot.

Digital Asset Management (DAM)

Today content is produced at a phenomenal rate, and what I mean by content from a marketer’s view is all the digital assets that are created, edited, and ingested regularly.

Your organization has troves of images and graphic content used for social media, print, marketing material, press releases, and events. All necessary marketing services.

Imagine the content that is created and shared by your own internal teams, agencies, vendors, and channel partners. Digital Asset Management (DAM) is serious business.

Digital assets have a (monetary) value assigned to them and tagging them like a physical asset is now possible. DAM software at an enterprise level can sort, curate, search (through AI), distribute, control usage, and publish digital content.

Read more on DAM on our blog This Digital Tool is what Marketing and Agency teams need.

There are various stages to the adoption of DAM in an organization, and Gartner nicely sums it up.

                                                                                 DAM Marketing Services Use Cases

This is something that cannot be ignored by growing organizations.

According to statista.com – In 2020, we consumed over 64 zettabytes of data (1 zettabyte=1 trillion gigabytes), and by 2025, data creation is projected to be more than 180 zettabytes. The COVID pandemic is a growth factor.

The role of a MaaS partner here is to mine, curate, and at times publish these digital assets. It involves managing the lifecycle cycle of the asset. Adoption is a slow process and requires a commitment of resources and time from the marketing division.

We’ve witnessed that it ends up being a joint responsibility of marketing and technology in a company, with marketing being the primary stakeholder.

The MaaS partner can accelerate the implementation and utilization of DAM software within an organization allowing marketing teams to focus on their core responsibilities.

Importance Of Social Reputation Management For Marketing Services

You have the best digital agencies conceiving and executing your social media plans. There’s plenty of buzzes created for your brand – paid, owned, and earned media.

But the thing that companies don’t invest enough time in is monitoring and managing their reputation online – on social media, forums, blogs, review sites, etc.

An untoward tweet by an employee or senior leader in the company, or a review by a disgruntled customer unhappy with your service or product can snowball into a crisis. ‘No response’ is not the right way to deal with an issue. Your business and company valuation is at stake here.

The graph below indicates the impact of responding to customer complaints on business.

                                Importance Of Social Reputation Management For Marketing Services

Here’s an article from Harvard Business Review on how angry customers can turn into loyal ones.

A MaaS provider can set up a ‘listening room’ to capture every mention (neutral, good, bad, and ugly), gauge sentiment, and measure the share of voice for your brand – All of this is to build a long-term strategy to maintain consumer trust. A view by a third-party such as a MaaS provider can be objective.

Marketing Services – Brass Tacks

When appointing a MaaS provider, the KPIs must be explicit.

You may have defined the metrics for various activities but what matters is the value delivered to the business.

E.g., A good Click-to-Open-Rate (CTOR) for email campaign marketing services is a relevant metric, but what is important is whether the campaign has led to customer acquisition or new business from existing customers.

Agencies or marketing service providers will stop at a superficial level to ascertain the true impact of a campaign because they are not fully integrated into the marketing operations of a company – something that CMOs must ponder. This is a discussion for another time.

The post Marketing Services That Lose Efficacy When Insourced appeared first on Fixbracket.

You’ve got to be kidding me!

There’s something like this out there in the world, and it’s worth millions- my first reaction to a news release on television.

The object of my momentary disbelief was the ‘NFT’, short for Non-Fungible Token.

Months have passed, and I am curious about the fate of this new digital asset.

This blog is a (supposed) culmination of my research.

My views should therefore be interpreted with caution. However, there are abundant facts that I will share with you.

I am of an inquiry mind and I have an acute strain of the FOMO as I embark on this path to discovery and unveil enlightening issues – Hopefully refraining from anything captious.

There’s so much going around this stuff, you could set up a news channel for the NFT.

What I truly love about it is the unbound imagination that it presents. But first…

What is NFT? And Why Is NFT Non-Fungible?

Unlike bitcoins or cryptocurrencies, NFTs are non-fungible, meaning – they cannot be interchanged. It’s like a trading card that can’t be traded for another card.

An NFT can be described as a rendition of a digital certificate of ownership for a virtual asset. Built on blockchain technology, it contains a record of who owns what is stored on a shared ledger.

The NFT is also unique because the original creator (copyright owner) can create more NFTs of the work already sold. But each copy remains different. NFT ownership is easy for anyone to verify.

The first NFT goes back to 2014 when Kevin McCoy and Anil Dash.

They became popular with the game ‘CryptoKitties’ allowing players to buy and breed unique virtual cats. Their popularity has gained momentum in the past few years.

According to a report by nonfungible.com, over $2 billion was spent on NFTs, during the first quarter of 2021.

NFT This And NFT That

Baseball cards, unapologetic memes, artworks, animated characters from video games, pieces of cultural history, and collectibles can be tokenized.

And, if you notice older pieces have a better price than others.

                                                             Nyan Cat goes NFT

Instances of NFTs that have raked in dollars recently –

Digital art forms can be anything – Thinkism, Alter modern, Mass-surrealism, Neo-futurism, or any other. We will see many unique art forms down the road with NFTs.

Pricey OR Priceless NFTs?

The question that we all ask is whether NFTs are legit. This is a difficult one, but let’s look at factors that present a favorable case for NFTs.

The emergence of trading platforms or marketplaces in recent years is a hassle-free way of buying and selling NFTs. OpenSea offers a diverse range of NFTs – from art, collectibles to trading cards. The platform allows you to buy, sell and create digital assets.

Another NFT marketplace is Nifty Gateway which has three different auction mechanisms – Buy it now, timed auctions, and silent auctions.

It provides artists with royalties from secondary sales of their work. Other NFTs marketplaces include – SuperRare, Mintable, and Rarible. With buying and selling often, a unique identifier gets encrypted into an NFT, thus indicating ownership of the NFT.

On a platform, anyone with access can view this ownership information, however, no one can access the actual token without the owner’s cryptographic key.

Brands have joined the bandwagon. Mattel creations have put up for sale digital art versions as NFTs of the Hot Wheels classics – Twin Mill, Bone Shaker, and Deora II.

Nike introduced Cryptokicks – where a custom shoe can be created by breeding two NFTs. Sounds bizarre, but it’s like this. Combine the parts of sneakers that you love and produce a design that is exclusive to you.

Taco Bell, among the first, sold 25 pieces of crypto art on the NFT platform Rarible. Brands will invest in NFTs to harness their goodwill and produce some great memorabilia.

                             Taco Bell goes NFT

NFTs will take time to mainstream and there are questions hovering around critical issues. The important one is the carbon footprint they generate. Not all governments are on the same page on NFTs, and regulations around the buy, sell, and ownership are very nascent.

Conclusion: So What’s An NFT Good For?

Well, after diving into the world of NFTs, it’s clear that this digital phenomenon is no joke. From trading cards to artworks, memes to music, they have created a whole new realm for buying, selling, and owning unique digital assets.

It’s fascinating to see how blockchain technology has revolutionized the concept of ownership and authenticity in the digital space.

There’s an undeniable allure to NFTs, with some fetching mind-boggling prices.

The marketplaces and platforms dedicated to NFTs have made it easier than ever to participate in this growing trend. Artists can now monetize their digital creations like never before, and brands are also joining in, capitalizing on the craze to offer exclusive digital experiences and collectibles.

However, it’s worth noting that NFTs are still in their early stages, and there are important considerations to address.

Environmental concerns regarding the carbon footprint of NFTs raise valid questions, and regulations surrounding their trade and ownership are still evolving. It will take time for NFTs to become more mainstream and for governments to establish clear guidelines.

So, whether you’re a fervent supporter or a skeptical observer, one thing is for sure: NFTs have made a significant impact on the art and digital asset landscape. As technology continues to advance and the world adapts to this new form of ownership, it will be intriguing to witness how NFTs shape the future of creativity, commerce, and cultural expression in the digital era.

Also Read:

The Relationship Between Sports And NFTs

The post NFT This And NFT That! appeared first on Fixbracket.

Digital asset management tools must be leveraged by any marketing agency. Why? Let me break it down for you.

Firstly, digital asset management (DAM) tools provide centralized storage for all marketing assets. No more searching through scattered folders or drowning in an endless sea of files. With DAM, everything is organized in one place, making it a breeze to find and share assets with your team.

Digital asset management tools enhance productivity. By eliminating tedious tasks like searching for files or recreating assets, your team can focus on strategic marketing initiatives.

In conclusion, leveraging digital asset management tools is a no-brainer for any marketing agency.

So, why not equip your agency with the right tools and soar ahead in the digital marketing landscape?

To understand this better, read the story below.

Danny Peters, the new brand manager, walks out of the CEO’s cabin with a perplexed look.

‘Where am I to get this three-year-old artwork for a Press Ad from?’ he murmurs.

Danny, an ambitious, energetic young man had joined the organization four months ago.

He’d been working on a campaign, along with the Agency, that is to be released in the next ten days. The team had spent countless hours, late nights to produce a series of creatives that went through a rigorous ‘management approval’ process.

‘One last meeting and we’re done’ thought Danny.

The meeting with CEO was not entirely inconclusive. The final creatives were discussed. An option was frozen, but there was a technicality that popped up and the CEO wanted Danny to refer to a creative by the agency that was executed years ago. He asked Danny to share it with him.

Danny calls up his boss, Veer, the CMO, who is on leave due to a family exigency.

‘Check the FTP server, check Natasha’s laptop if you don’t find it on the server’ recommends the CMO.

Danny’s predecessor, Natasha had surrendered her laptop to the IT team on her last day at the company. It’d been over two months since then. The laptop would have been cleaned up, formatted,d and handed over to another employee by now.

Before he digs into the files on the server, Danny makes a quick call to the Agency. Sam, the client-serving executive who handles the account reverts with an ‘I don’t have it with me, I’m a year old in the system, I’ll have to check with other team members for an Ad this old. If I do find it, I’ll email it to you.”

Danny knows it’s a tall order and the chance of Sam coming back with an unfavorable response is a remote possibility. There was an emphasis on the word ‘if’ in Sam’s message.

PROBLEMS WITH DIGITAL ASSETS

I’m sure we’ve all faced similar situations at work and I can easily summarize the problems of sourcing, retrieving, storing, and sharing files that are images, videos, artworks, presentations, and other important documents – also known as Digital Assets.

Here’s a list of problems to begin with  –

• Most Assets remain stored in individual laptops or desktops of team members and due to the lack of a central repository system that allows access to Assets available on these devices, the files are as good as lost when the devices pass through many hands.
• FTP servers don’t have an intelligent Search. You have to know the file names and the indexing architecture to locate a file. Everyone who uses the FTP server needs to understand the filing convention followed by the team. At times, due to a lack of education about the convention, Assets end up in the wrong location on the server.
• Agencies, printers and other vendors do not store Assets for long. When you disengage with an Agency, it’s next to impossible that an Asset can be retrieved.
• File Storage & Sharing Platforms are no substitutes for a Digital Asset Management tool. They have several limitations. And as you read through the article, you’ll understand the benefits of a Digital Asset Management tool and can compare it with the File Sharing Platform that you’re using.
• Copyright infringement is a grave concern and attracts penalties and lawsuits. Images, videos, and content have to be scrutinized before being published. How to track the use of Assets is an important question that organizations are grappling with.

There’s a reason why they’re called Assets. They have a value attached to them. Have you ever wondered what the cost of recreating an Asset would be? But I can assure you that it’ll exceed the cost of creating it in the first place. The time taken to retrieve it, and the time invested in creating it if the original is missing amounts to a large expense.

There’s only one digital tool that searches, sorts, curates, manages, and shares Assets –

The Digital Asset Management tool (DAM for short).

Danny surely wants to get his hands on this one.

IMPORTANCE OF DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT

Content is produced in abundance daily!

You would have noticed that in your organization, the content (social media posts, videos, other digitally generated creatives, PowerPoints, etc) that was produced last year would have outweighed what was produced the year before.

Several indicators that make a persuasive case –

According to datareportal.com, “ Our latest data show that 4.14 billion people across the planet are using social media in October 2020, equating to 53 percent of the total global population”.

According to HubSpot, “70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing’’.

According to McKinsey, “The most powerful applications of social technologies in the global economy are largely untapped. By using social technologies, companies could raise the productivity of knowledge workers by 20 to 25 percent”.

                     McKinsey Report on Digital Asset Management Stats

CMOs are and will continue to make large investments in producing and publishing content. As per Gartner’s 2019-2020 CMO Spend Survey, Content creation, and management were listed as one of the top capabilities that CMOs felt most vital in supporting the delivery of their marketing strategy over the next 18 months.

Research and Markets (R&M) estimates that Digital Asset Management software will account for $6.9 billion in spending by 2024, indicating a 34.7% compounded annual growth rate from 2019 to 2024.

PRODUCTIVITY, GOVERNANCE AND COLLABORATION

(unsplash.com)

Okay. Let’s get to the point. What can this tool do?

Wait for the drum roll?

And here we go!

I can list down a multitude of benefits of the tool, but I’ll cover the ones that I like the best; the ones that are most often used by members of a team.

Central Hub for Creative and Media Content

The Digital Asset Management tool functions as a central repository for all your digital Assets. Call it ‘the vault, the single source of truth, the window of discovery…’, you get the idea!

Controlled access to Digital Assets

Governance prevails. Provide ‘regulated’ access to team members, external agencies,s and vendors. Set rules on Asset Use, Download,s and Shares. After all the Assets belong to the organization. Permissions can be assigned to various individuals or groups to –

• Add Assets to Folders and Collections.
• View Assets
• Share Assets
• Download Assets
• Rename Assets

Intelligent Search

The crowning glory. Search with Keywords and other metadata. Discover an Asset within seconds with an Artificial Intelligence (AI), Image-recognition based Search. Smart tagging using AI identifies objects within an image. It’s an effortless, time-saving way to search and uploads Assets.

Drag & Drop

I love the usability of the thing. It even gets better when Upload with a simple drag and drop whether it’s a single file or a bulk upload.

No licensed software required

View Photoshop, and  CorelDraw files on your Laptop or Desktop without having to install the creative software. The tool supports thousands of image, video, and file formats.

Thumbnail Previews

Don’t bother, streaming the whole video file to determine its content. Get a sneak peek at the thumbnail preview feature.

Metadata & Versions

Every file, be it an image, video or document has a Metadata description (as per ITPC, EXIF, XMP fields).

You can filter Assets by using descriptive metadata (Titles, authors, etc). At times we may have ended up using the wrong version of a file.

Now, with the Digital Asset Management tool, you can identify the right version of the file that you wish to use.

The file name, date of the versioned file, and annotations are provided along with other Asset details. An Asset can be downloaded in a specific file format and size, e.g. if the Asset is for a Facebook post, it can be sized for the post.

Create Folders & Collections

Imagine using containers for collating Assets. Folders are containers where the Asset is saved in a specific folder path. Collections act as personal containers and don’t follow a hierarchy.

Easy Sharing For Digital Asset Management

Eliminate the use of third-party file-sharing tools once you start using this feature. There is a control to set the file size, till when the file can be shared (date of expiry) and the number of downloads for the same file. Share Asset files with single Users or a group of Users.

File Approval Workflow

Some Digital Asset Management software is equipped with an artwork approval feature that allows various stakeholders to follow a collaborative process of approval. The approval process is a configurable workflow that requires an action to be completed by authorized stakeholders at various stages of the workflow.

Say you’re an agency professional who needs approval on a creative, you can go to the workflow feature and upload the file. Once uploaded it’ll be assessed by relevant stakeholders. Each stakeholder leaves a comment or annotations and highlights areas to be edited. You view the comments and resubmit the iterated file for approval.

Work From Home

Considering today’s new normal, Digital Asset Management software fits into the scheme of things. You can operate it from anywhere as long as you have access and an internet connection.

FLEXIBLE DEPLOYMENT & PRICING

You can opt for a SaaS, On-Premisee, or Hybrid deployment. SaaS, on a pay-per-user per month, is usually preferred by smaller teams as the entire onus of hosting, uptime,e, and maintenance of the tool lies with the software provider (vendor).

The pricing of the tool has various components to it –

• Application (software) usage fee – charged on the number of subscribed Users
• Data storage plan – an important component and is dependent on the quantum of Assets. There are Active Assets that are used regularly by teams and Legacy Assets which are archived to be retrieved when required. Your choice of a plan will have to factor in both. The storage plans range from 500 MB to 10 TB.

SECURITY

Measures such as 2FA (Two-factor authentication), encrypted shared links, and controlled accessibility to assets, are measures in place. Your data is secure at all times.

ANALYTICS

The tool’s administrator has a bird’s eye view of Assets and Users on the tool. Alerts and Notifications are triggered on events. The Administrator can allocate storage limits to each User and capture the cloud consumption patterns.

You can be overwhelmed by the available options of Digital Asset Management software.

I’ve been experiencing KURATE for over a year now and have no complaints so far.

FINALE

The Digital Asset Management digital tool is the best cloud-based solution for collaboration within a team and across diverse groups. It offers flexibility in deployment with minimal vendor support. Initially, quality time has to be invested in defining the File Architecture, training Users, and populating the tool with Assets.

Other marketing technology tools can be integrated with this software through APIs, e.g. Marketing  Agency professionals can retrieve an Asset and publish it on social media or a website through the same tool. As a massive amount of content is produced every day, the sooner you get organized, the more productive it is.

The post Digital Asset Management Tool That Marketing Agencies Need. appeared first on Fixbracket.