The Role of Digital Asset Management
A DAM system centralizes all digital content, making it easier to store, organize, and access assets across the organization. Luckily, DAMs can specifically address the pressing problems hoteliers continue to face:
World-Class Workforce Collaboration: Teams across different departments and locations can effortlessly access essential tools and resources through a centralized portal. This includes features like Single Sign-On (SSO) for secure access, AI-powered search to find visual assets, license rights management to ensure compliance, social content distribution tools to seize timely opportunities, and analytics to make informed decisions. These capabilities promote better collaboration and efficiency, crucial for managing a diverse workforce in the hospitality industry.
5-Star Guest Loyalty and Personalization: DAM systems can help hoteliers leverage their digital assets to create personalized guest experiences. By organizing and tagging images, videos, and other marketing materials, hotels can quickly tailor their communications and offerings based on guest preferences.
Streamlined Sales and Marketing Efforts: Effective hotel marketing requires a vast array of digital content from multiple sources, including photographers, videographers, employees in the field, external partners, guests, and influencers. A DAM system centralizes all of this content. It ensures that marketing teams have quick access to high-quality, up-to-date assets but also allows for the tracking of asset performance. Understanding which images, videos, or promotional materials resonate best with potential guests can significantly improve marketing strategies.
Operational Efficiency: DAMs reduce the time required to locate and manage digital content, freeing staff to focus on more strategic areas of hotel operations. AI automation features help get content from lens to live in 60 seconds, and integrations with other apps help teams create faster workflows.
Real-World Applications and Benefits
Consider the scenario where a hotel chain launches a new promotional campaign featuring a virtual tour of their properties. A DAM system can house all of the high-quality images and videos required for this campaign, ensuring they are easily accessible and properly formatted for various platforms. The hotel’s marketing team sets up a brand portal where shared folders with approved visual assets for their social media team, website designer, partners, and external influencers. This speeds up the campaign launch process and ensures a consistent brand experience across all touchpoints.
By analyzing engagement data from the DAM system, hoteliers can gain insights into which aspects of the campaign are most effective and adjust their strategies accordingly. This data-driven approach can significantly enhance the effectiveness of marketing efforts and, ultimately, drive revenue.
At the Boston Harbor Hotel, Marketing Manager Christine Whitnel and Social Media Coordinator Marc Gonzalez overcame their visual asset management challenges with a new DAM system. Previously, they struggled to handle multiple channels using outdated systems and scattered photos. Content retrieval and organization were difficult, especially for events like the Boston Wine & Food Festival.
The new system transformed their workflow with AI-powered search and tagging, enabling quick and accurate photo retrieval. It also streamlined sharing with external partners, allowing their website agency to independently access needed photos.
Additionally, the system simplified rights and usage management, ensuring clarity and security. This data-driven approach allowed the team to analyze campaign effectiveness.
Future-proofing Hospitality Businesses
As the industry evolves, so does the technology that supports it. DAMs increasingly incorporate advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide even more sophisticated capabilities. These include:
- Automated search and tagging to maximize the ROI of every asset
- Social media content distribution to expand reach and audience
- Advanced rights management to protect digital assets
While DAM systems may not be the most visible technology in the hospitality industry, their impact is profound. By improving workforce management, enhancing marketing strategies, transforming guest experiences, and driving operational excellence, DAMs are indispensable tools for hoteliers looking to thrive in a competitive market. The integration of DAMs will undoubtedly become more prevalent, proving essential for those who wish to lead in the hospitality sector. The key to success lies not just in adopting new technologies but in leveraging them to their full potential to create meaningful, lasting relationships with guests.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Fingerman is the CEO of PhotoShelter, a leading digital asset management (DAM) software for brand and creative teams. Nearly 2,000 brands leverage PhotoShelter today, including the Philadelphia Eagles, Delta Air Lines, FreshDirect, the National Cathedral, IMG Golf and Wendy’s.
Andrew is responsible for growing the PhotoShelter user base, ensuring members are getting the most from the service, and hosting the annual company BBQ. He served for four years as the company’s VP of Marketing. He was previously a Senior Product Manager with OPEN, the small business team at American Express, handling customer marketing for the Centurion, Platinum, Gold and Green charge cards. Earlier in his career, Andrew held a variety of marketing, public relations and consulting roles, starting with political campaign management. Andrew holds an MBA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, a BA from University of Michigan. Andrew frequently photographs his two kids, and anything he cooks.
