5 Ways DAM Software Helps You Avoid False Claims and Off-Label Marketing

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation…

..and five minutes to ruin it”.

Warren Buffet was right.

A company’s reputation is the difference between a passerby and a new customer.

It’s not surprising that 87% of buyers take into account a company’s reputation before they make a purchasing decision.

It makes sense, right?

You only buy from companies that you trust.

If you have doubts, you’ll move on and find a company that you can trust.

When it comes to reputation and trust, there’s two things that will kill trust fast:

  1. Off-label marketing

  2. False claims

Off-label marketing applies to pharmaceutical companies in promoting their products in ways not approved by regional authorities or government, which in many cases can lead to incorrect and dangerous use of drugs.

When people make false claims, they’ll often attempt to make wrongful statements in order to get some benefit from it. Whether it be a financial benefit or some other kind of reward. Either case, it’s best to be avoided no matter what industry you’re in.

If your products don’t meet industry requirements, are recalled or worse - your marketing and communication isn’t true, then any trust you have built up goes out the window.

You also risk settlements and disputes, and that gets expensive quickly.

Either way, it leads to negative PR and the end result is the same - you risk losing customers.

Forever.

The impact of trust on a large purchase decision

So, how do you avoid off-label marketing and false claims?

The answer lies in control, coordination and better collaboration regarding your digital assets.

In this article we explain how a digital asset management platform can help you manage digital assets, while avoiding false claims and off-label marketing about your business.

The high cost of content mismanagement

If your company fails to stay in line with content regulations and compliance, you could be headed towards the same severe scenario as large companies such as Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube.

These 3 companies weren’t able to handle or remove of illegal content, and as a result, felt the burn of having to pay upwards of 20 million dollars in fines. 

Terms and conditions and content rights are often hidden in long documents that take forever to sift through. DAM makes it easy by giving a streamlined approval of which assets are safe to use and which aren’t.

New to Digital Asset Management? (DAM)

The concept of Digital Asset Management (DAM) is simple:

DAM is about improving the management of all your digital and media assets.

That means making it easier for all users of an organization to find, create, edit, manage, share and distribute assets, such as documents, pictures, logos, audio files, videos and so on.

All of your content and media assets are placed within one archive, which all users have access to. DAM solves the common content management challenges that arise when different content and files are placed on different computers or shared drives – at scale.

There’s a lot of benefits to a DAM. Here’s three:

  1. The right content hits the market faster: With a DAM system, you’re able to reduce the time it takes to search for digital assets. You’re also able to drastically cut down the time it takes to distribute this content to multiple channels. DAM automates a lot of these content processes. This means speed, which means growth.




  2. Helps you transform digitally: Digital asset management software also helps your company be a more significant part of today’s digital disruption.

    With all assets in one centralized place, your company’s internal structures become more systematic and controlled. Fully in line with how things are moving in today’s fast-paced marketing world, where more and more content is automated and tailored to fit each individual and niche.




  3. Breaks down silo approaches for more cohesion: As there’s only one central place to find all assets, people are more in-tune with each other and on the same page. It’s easier to work together when everyone uses the same assets and functions, which inherently boosts productivity.



If that all sounds great, you’d be right. It is.

But one of the hidden benefits of a DAM platform is being able to use it to avoid risk.

How DAM helps you avoid false claims and off-label marketing

A DAM platform is more than just content management and distribution.

  • It can also help you avoid negative PR, risk and disputes, including:

    • Ensuring compliance and legal protection,

    • Having a central source of truth,

    • Streamlining content processes,

    • Reusing assets for more consistency,

    • Facilitating more omnichannel and always-on experiences.

Let’s take a closer look at each one.

DAM ensures compliance and legal protection

The best way DAM helps your organization avoid off-label marketing and false claims is through increased legal protection and compliance.

Imagine you lose control over which assets are the right assets to use.

For example, there’s an abundance of photos, videos and documents that you’re constantly mistaking which ones are accurate and which aren't.

Or maybe the rights of access to a photo have reached the date of expiry. 

If a photo and other non-usable assets are distributed, it can take a lot of time to hunt down the asset on all the channels it's been delivered to.

And if you can’t identify an asset, your organization could be at risk for not complying with legal content regulations, breaking content rights etc.

DAM helps you steer clear from these worst-case scenarios.

Using workflows and processes, DAM lets users know when a photo is reaching the expiration date, which can diminish the risk of anyone on any team breaking any form of content rights.

Users can then easily add the correct expiry date to files or reject content from being published based on specific criteria.

From idea and creation to final approval

Avoid violations of consent or copyright issues through secure tools like DAM that make sure all assets are in line with the right terms and conditions and the correct disclaimers.

One central source of truth

Look at a DAM’s centralized archive as a single source of truth.

Both external and internal teams and departments are able to access this library.

And within this library are only the digital assets and content that have been deemed approved and considered relevant for publishing and distribution.

These approved versions include all sorts of marketing assets, whether it be a PDF document or an 3D image file. All of your relevant marketing collateral and materials are put together, coherently and cohesively.

Digital asset management helps you with the entire content production

Your library of digital assets through a DAM will ensure that only the right content and information is easily made available to your users.

That means that you’re taking all the right steps to ensure that only the right information gets out about your company, which could diminish the possibility of false claims.

So not only are you managing all your assets in one place, you’re also strengthening your branding by making sure only the right versions of content are on the right channels. In return, you avoid consequences that could cost more than you could think if wrong content is released.

DAM streamlines content processes

Furthermore, a DAM will help you more efficiently streamline all your content processes.

All of your content operations, whether it be the creation, editing or distribution of content, should be optimized so that everything runs faster, more smoothly and correctly.

Efficient content management is key in 2022.

Especially for larger companies that want to deliver an omnichannel marketing strategy, where you have several touchpoints of where your content meets the consumer.

So what DAM helps companies do is streamline the processes of approving which content is to be published or not. This way you’re avoiding miscommunication and legal liability.

Not only that, but this boosted efficiency and streamlining will help your organization avoid loss of reputation, off-label marketing and possible fines. This is because the processes become more structured and systematic, which makes it easier to approve the right content.

In order to take care of the credibility your brand has built up, only the right message has to be put out consistently by the marketing team.  

That’s not easy and something that many marketers are challenged with:

32% of B2B marketers want to ensure that the content they communicate follows the same guidelines (this number is higher for enterprise companies).

Chart that hightlights content management challenges

DAM facilitates this approval process and makes it easier to know that you’ve distributed the right piece of content.

Reuse assets for a consistent global message

What makes for a great buyer experience?

According to the customers themselves, 55% say that it’s from receiving a consistent experience across all channels.

Consistency across channels is important for customer experience

You can avoid false claims and off-label marketing by making sure product information is communicated in the same way, globally, while still abiding by local regulations.

A DAM platform will help you reuse all your digital assets so that there’s a global, consistent message getting put out. From all departments, in all areas.

With DAM, you can add metadata to each asset so they’re easy to search for and find, and thereafter reuse. It also helps you identify assets that have expired , so you know when to use it (and when not to).

This metadata will help all kinds of teams across all kinds of departments look for the exact same thing; a prerequisite to reuse the right content at the right time.

Another benefit:

DAM lets all users quickly search for the assets they need, for repurposing and distribution. The processes of delivering content both local and more regional connection points are simplified with DAM.

DAM facilitates a consistent omnichannel brand experience

A company can avoid the leaks of misinformation and off-label marketing by increasing the prevalence of omnichannel brand experiences.

If your marketing strategy strives to push the same content seamlessly across all channels, you increase the control over a consistent and relevant message you’re communicating.

After all, you’re providing a more integrated and cohesive distribution of content. You need to oversee how every single platform and every single device is giving the right content.

This represents a huge challenge given that 66% of companies do not have the current capabilities to manage content to reach their omnichannel goals.

In the context of integrated marketing, how would you describe your organisation's capabilities in the following areas

This is where DAM comes in:

DAM helps facilitate omnichannel content journeys by making sure everyone is in the loop on which assets to use, and when and where to use them. You’re avoiding friction between processes and teams, which helps your organization execute at a faster pace.

DAM helps with real-time updates of your content and throughout all the channels.

No matter the platform, the experience is uniform and consistent.

And as McKinsey revealed recently, the more channels you’re active in, the more market share you own.

In the end, with an omnichannel strategy, your content journeys are seamless and provide the right content and message to give.

Conclusion

False claims and off-label marketing are two factors of misinformation that can be damaging to a company if released. It can negatively impact reputation and trust regarding a brand.

Digital asset management tools are becoming increasingly prevalent within larger enterprises looking to control their content and gather all their owned assets in one centralized location.

By having all assets secure in one place, streamlining content operations and facilitating the reuse of assets, DAM ensures that only the right assets and content are dealt with in all stages.

DAM also helps to build omnichannel experiences and ensures legal protection - both are helping hands in terms of staying in line with what content and information should be delivered to the world, and which should not.

Want to know how DAM can help you ensure your digital assets, and ensure that the right message is delivered?

Book a demo with one of our experts today.

 
Per Bendsen

PER BENDSEN

Per Bendsen is a technology leader with more than two decades of experience working with software development in different industries ranging from software (e.g. Digizuite, Microsoft), space, and digital marketing to consumer goods (e.g. LEGO). He has held several management positions and been responsible for setting visionary and long term strategies for both product and organization.

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How to Manage Digital Assets Across Channels at Scale

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A Day In the Life of a Marketer Without DAM