Digital Asset Lifecycle Management: How To & Expert Tips

Your company has created a mountain of digital assets—files, images, videos, documents, you name it. The mountain just keeps getting bigger, and the management of these assets has become a bit of a nightmare. You’re facing storage scattered across various platforms, inconsistent metadata that makes finding files a hassle, and a lack of proper governance that’s creating chaos. And let’s not forget the pushback from teams resistant to change. 

Sound familiar? Don’t worry—you’re not alone, and we’ve got just the guide to help you out. In this article, we’ll walk you through a streamlined eight-step approach to digital asset lifecycle management, share expert tips, and fill you in on the digital asset management (DAM) tools that can make all the difference. Let’s dive in. 

What Is The Digital Asset Lifecycle?

So, what exactly is the digital asset lifecycle? It’s a comprehensive framework outlining the various stages of a digital asset. Think of it as the journey each digital asset takes from the moment it’s created to when it’s no longer needed. It’s not just about where your files live but how they’re managed, accessed, and eventually archived or deleted.

The way an organization manages the lifecycle of their digital assets can vary from one company to another. While some stages of the lifecycle—such as planning, creation, storage, distribution, and archiving—are typically consistent across organizations, how each stage is defined and managed is often unique. It depends on the company’s specific needs, industry, scale, workflows, regulatory requirements, organizational goals, and other factors.

Determining how your business will manage the digital asset lifecycle is an important element of managing digital content effectively.

The 8 Steps Of The Digital Asset Lifecycle

So, what steps are involved in creating and managing the digital asset lifecycle?

While the details may vary from organization to organization, the fundamental stages of managing digital assets tend to follow a similar path. The eight steps below serve as a guide to help you understand the key phases involved in managing your assets from start to finish. Whether you adapt these steps directly or use them as a foundation to build your own customized lifecycle, the goal remains the same: to streamline your processes, enhance accessibility, and maintain control over your digital assets. Let’s dive in and explore what each stage of the digital asset lifecycle entails.

1. Planning 

Asset creation typically starts with planning. What assets need to be created and why? You’ll need to work with stakeholders across your company to define long-term goals and objectives clearly. Look at your current assets to determine what works, what needs replacing or editing, and what is missing. During this stage, your goal should be to answer these business-relevant questions:

• Who is our intended audience, and how will they use these assets?
• What is the desired action or outcome for each asset?
• Which assets are keepers, and which need to be replaced or retired?
• How does each asset meet the company’s strategy?

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2. Creation

Once your planning is complete, it's time to turn those ideas into reality. Whether you're creating fresh content or repurposing existing materials, this is the stage where your digital assets will take shape. Examples of digital asset creation include capturing a photo, recording a video, designing a logo, or writing a document. Or you may simply be repurposing assets by modifying file types and designs. 

The key here is to stay aligned with the goals you outlined in the planning stage. Every asset should serve a clear purpose and support your company’s strategy. As you create, keep branding consistent and think ahead about how these assets might be reused across different platforms. Also pay attention to the file formats, dimensions, and metadata of the assets as you create them to help streamline their use and management down the road. Quality matters, too, so take the time to make sure each asset is polished and professional.

3. Ingestion 

Once you’ve created your digital assets, the next step is to add them into your company's digital asset management system or storage solution. This process, known as ingestion, isn’t just about uploading your files. It's about making sure those assets are properly organized, cataloged, and easy to find when your team needs them. In short, think of ingestion as setting the stage for how effectively your assets will be used throughout their lifecycle.

4. Storage

Once your assets are ingested, the next step is ensuring they’re stored securely and centrally. This creates a single source of truth, where teams can confidently find and use assets without worrying about outdated or missing files.

Depending on your organization’s needs, storage solutions can vary. You might opt for cloud-based storage, which offers flexibility and easy access from anywhere, or on-premises servers if you need tighter control over your data. Some companies even use a hybrid approach, combining the best of both worlds to meet their specific requirements. 

Whatever method you choose, the key is to make sure that your storage system is reliable, scalable, and aligned with your company’s security and accessibility needs. This way, your digital assets are not only protected but also ready to be used whenever and wherever they’re needed.

Author Tip:

Proper storage practices like regular backups and versioning can help protect your assets from data loss or corruption.

5. Transformation

The next step in the digital asset lifecycle is transformation. This is where your assets are adjusted to meet specific needs or requirements. Think of it as preparing your files for their final destination—whether that’s a website, a printed brochure, or a social media post. The goal here is to make sure that each asset is optimized for its intended use, so it looks and performs its best no matter where it’s used.

Transformation might involve resizing images to fit different platforms, converting file formats to ensure compatibility, or creating various versions of a document for different audiences. 

6. Distribution

The next step is distribution—getting your assets into the hands of the right people, at the right time, via the proper channels. The way you distribute your assets can directly impact collaboration, brand consistency, and ultimately, the success of your projects. 

Distribution might involve sharing files with colleagues for feedback, providing assets to external partners for a campaign, or publishing content across various platforms like your website, social media, or marketing materials. Whether you’re sending large files via cloud storage links, integrating your DAM system with your marketing platforms for automated distribution, or simply ensuring that everyone has access to the latest versions, a well-executed distribution strategy makes it easier to collaborate and keeps your brand message consistent across all touch points.

7. Governance

Overseeing the digital asset lifecycle also requires a robust governance framework. Effective governance helps maintain your digital content's integrity, security, and compliance throughout its lifecycle.

This step might include setting up access controls to determine who can view or edit certain assets, defining usage rights to make sure assets are used appropriately, and outlining compliance requirements to meet legal or industry standards. 

8. Archiving and Disposal

As digital assets reach the end of their useful life, it’s important to have a clear plan for archiving or disposing of them. Proper archiving and disposal practices can help optimize storage, maintain data privacy, and ensure compliance.

For assets that are no longer in regular use but still need to be kept for reference or compliance reasons, consider transferring them to long-term storage. This could be a dedicated archive within your DAM system or a secure external storage solution. On the other hand, assets that are outdated, irrelevant, or no longer required should be permanently deleted to prevent unnecessary storage costs and reduce the risk of outdated information being accidentally used. 

Why The Digital Asset Lifecycle Matters

Why put in the time to establish a digital asset lifecycle in your organization? Here are some benefits of having a process in place:

• Improved efficiency: Your business can streamline its digital asset management processes and reduce the effort and time required to locate, access, and distribute assets.
• Enhanced collaboration: The digital asset lifecycle facilitates companywide, end-to-end collaboration by ensuring that digital assets are centrally stored, versioned, and accessible.  
• Consistent branding: It can help maintain your brand guidelines and consistency by ensuring that the latest versions of assets, such as logos, images, and marketing materials, are readily available and used by everyone.  
• Compliance and risk mitigation: The digital asset lifecycle can also incorporate governance and control measures, such as access rights management and archiving procedures, to help your organization comply with regulations.
• Improved decision-making: It can also provide valuable insights into how you create, use, and value digital asset performance, enabling your company to make more informed choices and set priorities.

Digital Asset Lifecycle Example

Let’s say you have a marketing team at a growing ecommerce company that has accumulated numerous product images, promotional videos, and brand assets over the years. Without a structured digital asset lifecycle management approach, your team struggles to keep up with the increasing content volume, leading to:

• Wasted time searching for the latest version of a particular asset
• Not being able to locate specific assets quickly
• No consistent metadata or tagging system in place

As your company expands, your marketing team continues to struggle with access control and usage rights of its digital assets. Unauthorized sharing or distribution of assets becomes a major problem, leaving your organization open to legal risks and potential copyright infringements.

By failing to understand, implement, and manage your company's digital asset lifecycle, inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and risk prevail. 

Expert Tips For Managing The Digital Asset Lifecycle

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to create, manage, and optimize a wide range of digital assets. Through this experience, I’ve discovered that these tips are particularly effective for successfully implementing and managing a digital asset lifecycle:

• Develop a consistent metadata schema and taxonomy. An extensive repository of assets is only useful if each asset can be easily found, especially in large enterprises with tons of digital assets. Creating a consistent metadata schema and taxonomy can help make sure that your digital assets are properly categorized, tagged, and searchable.
• Educate users. Throughout my years working in IT, I’ve noticed that users in different functional areas are often unaware of where and how to access digital assets on demand. Provide ongoing training on the tools and processes so that everyone in your company understands and adheres to your digital asset management best practices.
• Continuously monitor and optimize your lifecycle processes. Avoid setting it and forgetting it. As your company grows or things change, so should your assets and strategies. Gather feedback from stakeholders and make necessary adjustments to identify improvement areas and address emerging challenges.
• Leverage analytics and reporting: Use the data and insights provided by your DAM system to gain a deeper understanding of your digital asset usage, performance, and trends. This will help inform strategic decision-making and optimize your digital asset management efforts.
• Collaborate across departments: Encourage cross-functional collaboration between the different teams that create, manage, and use your digital assets. This can help create a shared understanding of the digital asset lifecycle and promotes more efficient digital asset management.
• Keep up with industry trends and best practices: Stay up-to-date on the latest best practices, technologies, and trends in the digital asset management space. This can help you adapt your strategies as soon as better solutions emerge.

Tools For Digital Asset Lifecycle Management

Effective digital asset lifecycle management often requires a digital asset management (DAM) system with comprehensive features. With so many DAM solutions to choose from, you may want to send out a DAM Request For Proposal (RFP) to help you carefully evaluate potential vendors.

Don’t know where to start? Check out our list for some of the best digital asset management software on the market:

1. 1. MediaValet — Best for enterprises wanting unlimited users
2. 2. Air — Best for agile, collaborative enterprise teams
3. 3. Bynder — Best for enterprise brand consistency
4. 4. Scaleflex — Best for being MACH-certified
5. 5. Brandfolder — Best for enterprise usability and adoption
6. 6. Acquia DAM (Widen) — Best for configuration and customization
7. 7. Pics.io — Best for organizing digital content
8. 8. Stockpress — Best for organizing without duplication
9. 9. Filecamp — Best for online proofing
10. 10. 4ALLPORTAL — Best for integrated DAM and PIM

When selecting a digital asset management tool, here are some key features to look for:

• Asset ingestion and cataloging: Look for a DAM solution that offers seamless ingestion capabilities. This lets you easily upload, organize, and categorize digital media assets. Your tool should also support various file formats and provide batch ingestion and metadata extraction features.
• Metadata management: A robust DAM tool should offer advanced metadata management capabilities, enabling you to define custom metadata schemas, apply consistent tagging, and leverage powerful search and filtering functionalities.
• Version control and approval workflows: Effective version control and approval workflows are essential for managing the evolution of digital assets. Your DAM tool should also provide features for tracking changes, managing approvals, and ensuring that the latest versions of assets are easily accessible.
• Asset transformation and optimization. The DAM system should offer tools for transforming and optimizing digital assets, such as resizing, cropping, and format conversion. This way, your assets are ready for various use cases.
• Access control and rights management. Look for a DAM tool with granular access controls and rights management features. This will help you define user permissions, restrict access to sensitive assets, and stay compliant with copyright and licensing requirements.
• Distribution and sharing. A comprehensive DAM system should offer seamless distribution and sharing capabilities so you can securely share assets with team members and external partners, or publish them on various platforms.
• Reporting and analytics. Robust reporting and analytics features can help you better understand your digital assets' usage, performance, and trends. Your DAM tool should provide comprehensive reporting capabilities and data visualizations to support informed decision-making.
• Integrations and ecosystem. Consider a DAM tool that offers a rich ecosystem of integrations, including APIs that enable connection with other business applications, such as content management systems, marketing automation platforms, and creative DAM platforms. This allows for a more seamless digital asset management experience.
• Scalability and performance. As your digital asset collection grows, make sure your DAM tool can scale to accommodate your needs. Look for solutions that offer reliable performance, availability, and the ability to handle large volumes of assets without compromising speed or functionality.
• User-friendly interface. The DAM tool should also have an intuitive and user-friendly interface that makes it easy for team members to navigate, search, and interact with digital assets.

Author Tip:

While it’s nice to have every bell and whistle, usefulness, cost, and return on investment (ROI) should be considered when evaluating a DAM tool and its features. Make sure everything aligns with your company’s and industry-specific needs.

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