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We know why you’re here. We’ve been expecting it. We already have a good idea of the thoughts racing through your mind. Because, we’ve all asked ourselves those same questions, at one time or another. “Google Drive vs. Digital Asset Management (DAM). Can’t I just use Drive to manage my digital assets?”
The answer, quite honestly, is “yes.” You can use Google Drive to manage your photos, videos, and brand guides. But there’s a better way. A way that leads to better collaboration, increased search capacity, and no more damn “you don’t have permission to view this document” messages when everyone else has gone home for the day.
When it comes to Google Drive vs. Digital Asset Management, DAM will always be more efficient, more collaborative, and offer more professional appeal. Here are a few reasons why:
1. Google Drive vs. Digital Asset Management: DAM is a More Visual Platform
If you’re a designer, marketer, or just have a pulse, you probably agree that Drive isn’t a very visually inspiring platform. It’s functional and intuitive, but it’s not a feast for the eyes. That would be alright for some marketing platforms, but not for your DAM, which is built for creatives, by creatives.
You need something that’s going to display your images, catalogs, brand guides, and videos visually. Because who wants to sort through a library of assets stacked within file folders you have to click through to view. With the visual layout a DAM provides, you can easily take inventory of what you have, where you have it, and in what stage of the design or collaborative process it sits.
You can also include information about how these assets should be used, guidelines for accompanying copy, and more. This means you can kiss asset misuse goodbye, because your DAM can also track who’s using your assets and how.
2. Google Drive vs. Digital Asset Management: DAM is Secure But Collaborative
That’s right, DAM facilitates collaboration within your company and external partners. A simple password connects all of your assets to the people and teams within your organization who need to use them. Want to hide certain assets from certain people, you can do that too. But you’re in control, and you can set or change asset access once, without fear of the right people being unable to access them. This is especially life-changing for your teammates who work remotely, in different time zones, or even on different continents. Brandfolder even has some clients who use DAM in countries where Google Drive is banned.
Want to have a separate location to share approved and appropriate assets with your contacts in the media? DAM press kits are a great way to share a collection of assets, your company history, brand mission, and team bios with the media to ensure fresh, accurate coverage every time. Embed your DAM in your website, or simply share a link with interested parties. Either way, it’s a much more professional way to give the media a first impression of who your brand is and what it stands for.
3. Google Drive vs. Digital Asset Management: DAM is More Searchable
Tired of relying on guesswork of how Betty in sales organized her Drive folders for that new project you’re working on together? Afraid you won’t be able to type in the right keyword to locate the file outside of Betty’s folder framework? Terrified she hasn’t shared you on the documents you’ve procrastinated on reading before your meeting in five minutes?
We’ve all been there, which is why, with DAM, you don’t have to worry about any of those issues. The visual storage platform allows you to easily see and locate the assets you need. Plus, with tags and metadata, you can ensure that misspellings, a variety of keywords, and helpful category tags will pull up the assets that you need, whether you or Betty uploaded them.
4. Google Drive vs. Digital Asset Management: DAM is More Interactive
If you’re using Google Drive or an internal server to manage your digital assets, you probably have to upload them to another service to share, edit, and receive feedback or approval on them. With DAM, you can kiss that time-intensive process goodbye.
Upload videos to your DAM and edit, clip, watermark, or create .gifs without ever leaving the platform. Plus, many DAMs on the market integrate seamlessly with Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365, Slack, and more of the tools you use every day, so you don’t have to worry about siloed asset storage or limited access. Each of your systems will talk to your DAM, and we think they’ll really like each other.
This also means you don’t have to wade through the endless graveyard of your email folders to find out if your manager approved your latest batch of images for use. Signify approval, second looks, and more in your DAM and spend less time searching and more time doing the work that actually matters to you and to your company.
5. Google Drive vs. Digital Asset Management: Who’s Going to Answer Your Support Ticket Faster?
What’s your first instinct? It’s probably the same as ours, but maybe that’s because our customers have repeatedly voted us #1 for Customer Satisfaction. Brandfolder always has a team ready to answer your questions via Slack, email, or phone.
Just want a refresher on the best ways to manage your DAM? We’d be happy to put 15 minutes on your calendar to walk through a strategy that works best for you. We also have an extensive onboarding process that shows you how to get the most from your DAM.
Ditch the Drive & Get with DAM
When it comes to your assets, you never want to be in the dark or shut out of your platform. With DAM, you have a development team, a customer service team, and really, a whole company who is ready to help you succeed. We believe that DAM should be simple, and so we spend all day, every day trying to make a better product. A product that empowers creatives and marketers to do the work they actually want to be doing. Want to learn more about Brandfolder? Check out the State of Digital Asset Management report.
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