Juggling scattered folders, outdated logos, and endless “final_final” file versions is a daily reality for many teams. This disorganization results in wasted time, inconsistent branding, and mounting frustration. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Most businesses struggle to keep their digital files and assets organized and up to date.
But the truth is, digital asset management isn’t just a storage problem — it’s a brand governance challenge. And solving it can unlock consistency, efficiency, and confidence across your organization.
Read on for strategies, pitfalls to avoid, and ways modern digital asset management tools can transform how your teams manage brand assets.
Why your digital assets are more than just files
A digital asset is any digital content that represents or communicates something about your brand, product, or customer relationships. Unlike a generic file (e.g., a spreadsheet, a note-to-self, or a form), a digital asset has strategic marketing value: each one is a brand touchpoint with context, intended use, and impact.
Digital assets typically include an array of different file types like images, videos, logos, templates, social media graphics, ads, web banners, presentations, sales enablement documents, and more.
Assets carry the visual and verbal language of your company. A misused logo or outdated color scheme looks sloppy, but more than that, it can erode brand recognition and trust. This is why a proper digital management system is key to business operations. Without one, your teams waste time and money, you produce inconsistent content, and miss opportunities to promote your brand effectively.
Challenges in managing digital assets
Asset management struggles are usually governance problems, not disorganization. Even the most organized folder system can fall apart if there’s no clarity on who owns assets, which version is current, or how to control access. Here are some of the challenges that many brands face.
Scattered assets across platforms
Your teams need a single source of truth for your digital assets. Without one, files end up scattered across cloud drives, email inboxes, personal folders, and different tools. The lack of a centralized home makes it much harder to govern your digital assets, surfacing issues like version control, accessibility, and a lack of role-based permissions.
Imagine a marketing team preparing a global campaign. The team finds three different versions of a product video stored in Slack, Dropbox, and Google Drive. No one knows which is approved, so they either waste time reconciling or risk publishing the wrong one.
Outdated or inconsistent materials
Knowing what version of an asset to use is crucial to brand integrity and overall marketing efficiency. Without clear governance, your teams may use inconsistent and outdated logos, messaging, or templates across different platforms.
Say a regional sales team shares an old PowerPoint deck with the previous brand tagline for a major client pitch. But in an earlier email with the potential client, a sales rep used the current tagline. This inconsistency causes confusion and undermines your credibility and brand perception.
Lack of searchability
When your team doesn’t govern your assets with consistent metadata management, tagging, or naming standards, they can become invisible. This lack of searchability slows down your workflows and pushes teams to recreate assets instead of reusing existing ones. What looks like a simple productivity issue is actually a governance gap. Without clear standards, your brand can’t scale effectively.
For example, maybe a designer spends an hour looking for this year’s holiday campaign visuals. Without searchable, structured metadata, they give up and recreate new assets from scratch, wasting time and creating potential inconsistencies.
Security and access issues
Without governance of permissions, organizations often swing to extremes — either locking assets down so tightly that workflows stall, or leaving them overly open and vulnerable to misuse. Both scenarios create risks for the brand, including compliance violations, data leaks, and the loss of control over how and when branded content is shared.
Consider a freelance social media contractor who’s mistakenly granted access to unreleased marketing materials for an upcoming campaign. Believing the content is ready, they publish it on social channels. The result is a premature launch that erodes internal trust and damages external credibility.
Common misconceptions that undermine digital asset management
Beyond the day-to-day challenges, there are also common misconceptions about how to manage assets. If they don’t get addressed, these misconceptions can quietly undermine brand consistency.
1. Scattered assets ≠ disorganization — it’s often a sign of brand decentralization.
The more sub-brands, regions, or agency partners your brand involves, the more likely your assets will fragment. It’s a signal of scale, as opposed to sloppiness, and it demands a structured platform to manage it.
2. Static PDFs are still a default for many teams.
Although they’re outdated, static brand guidelines (especially in the form of PDFs) are everywhere. But these static guidelines are hard to update, rarely used, and quietly introduce brand drift, where everyday inconsistencies accumulate until your brand no longer looks or feels unified.
3. Tagging rarely gets adopted unless governance and procedures are in place.
Metadata is often perceived as a quick solution to a common problem, but without enforced naming conventions and ownership, it can degrade quickly. The strongest teams implement tagging after they define clear rules and accountability for how to do it.
4. Non-creatives are the biggest users of DAMs, but most tools aren’t built for them.
Sales, HR, and operations teams often outnumber designers and marketers when it comes to accessing assets. A successful brand should create onboarding and templates specifically for these users, rather than just for marketing.
Recognizing these misconceptions is the first step; the next is knowing what to look for in a solution that actively prevents them.
What to look for in a digital asset management solution
To overcome the issues of managing digital assets, you need a modern, comprehensive DAM solution that goes beyond storage — one that also supports brand governance. Use these criteria to find the right solution for your team.
Centralization → solves scattered assets.
A solid DAM system should provide a single source of truth for all brand files, eliminating duplicate storage across drives, emails, and personal folders. This centralization reduces wasted time searching across multiple systems and ensures everyone works from the same repository.
To make centralization stick, migrate all versions and formats of your assets to one place, so your teams can quickly find the correct file without relying on ad hoc requests. Establish your DAM as the single entry point for brand assets. Create clear upload rules to prevent new silos from forming and train teams to always pull and share files directly from the DAM.
Metadata and smart search → fixes discoverability.
Using metadata, like tags, categories, and keywords, ensures assets are categorized in a structured, consistent way. Similarly, when a DAM has smart search capabilities, powered by filters, AI tagging, and autocomplete, users can easily find assets in seconds instead of digging through folders.
Early on, decide on consistent naming conventions, categories (e.g., campaign, region, product line, audience), and standard tags so everyone uses the same language. Even if your digital asset management system has a smart search, a consistent file naming system helps metadata work harder.
Version control and expiration rules → prevent outdated/inconsistent use.
Automatic version tracking helps you manage the lifecycle of an asset. Modern systems have features that allow you to archive older drafts or mark them as outdated. You can set expiration dates so teams don’t accidentally publish an expired or time-limited asset (like a seasonal ad).
Establish rules and workflows around version control so you can program them into your DAM and create procedures that are easy for your teams to follow. For example, if one of your rules is to apply expiration dates at upload for time-limited assets, include that in your workflows or procedures so your team members don’t miss that step.
Integrated brand guidelines → ensure assets are used correctly, not just stored.
Housing brand guidelines directly in the DAM connects your brand standards to the assets themselves. This integration eliminates guesswork: when someone downloads a logo, they immediately understand how to use it in their content.
Keep your brand guidelines living, not static. Update them regularly as the brand evolves, and make sure those updates flow directly into the DAM, either manually or automatically. Modern DAMs, like Frontify, allow you to embed your guidelines, so when you update them, everyone who has access to your DAM can see the most recent version.
Secure, role-based permissions → address access and compliance challenges.
Role-based user permissions let admins control who sees, downloads, or edits specific assets. For example, you might have permissions that limit access to unreleased campaign files. Sensitive files can be restricted to specific groups, reducing the risk of leaks or misuse.
Before setting up your digital asset management system, decide which team members should have which roles. In addition to admin roles, DAMs also have roles like owner, editor, and viewer, each with varying levels of control.
Templates and non-designer enablement → free up creative teams, reduce bottlenecks.
Pre-approved, editable templates let non-designers quickly customize brand assets without breaking guidelines. Non-designers get autonomy while ensuring outputs stay on brand. Templates reduce repetitive requests to design teams, freeing them to focus on higher-value creative work.
Consider the templates you want to include in your DAM based on the assets you create most frequently. For example, if you send a lot of emails and present a lot of PowerPoints, create templates for those assets. You could also include templates for social posts, web ads, flyers, brochures, fact sheets, and more.
Robust integrations → ensure the DAM works across the tech stack, not as another silo.
Integrations with tools like CMS, project management software, or creative suites let teams access assets directly where they work, avoiding constant downloads/uploads.
To make integrations effective, identify the systems your teams use most often and prioritize connecting the DAM to those first, whether that’s design tools, marketing automation, or sales enablement platforms. You want your brand assets to flow seamlessly into daily workflows, to reduce any friction that discourages adoption and prevent the DAM from becoming “just another place to check.”
How Frontify goes beyond traditional digital asset management software
Many DAM platforms focus mainly on storage and retrieval. But as brands expand across teams, regions, and external partners, the real challenge isn’t just organization; it’s maintaining consistency and control.
That’s where Frontify goes further. Frontify is a cloud-based DAM solution offering advanced search and metadata tagging, integrated brand guidelines that keep usage on-brand, customizable templates to scale asset creation, and secure access controls that balance collaboration with protection. Together, these features give organizations not just a place to store assets, but a system to ensure every asset is used correctly and consistently, wherever the brand shows up.
“I’ve used many asset management systems over the years, and Frontify’s platform is far and away the best tool I’ve worked with to date. It’s incredibly intuitive and easy to use, both from a user and developer standpoint. The number of available features and functionalities is astounding.” – Leah Palmquist, Creative Director at Caribou Coffee
The evolving role of AI in DAM software
As AI evolves and yields more use cases, it’s popping up more often in digital asset management. When teams have to manually search for files that they know exist but can’t locate (or worse, they reuse outdated assets because they can't find the approved version), it wastes valuable time that they could be spending on more high-value tasks. Teams are adopting AI to automate tagging, improve search, and surface the right asset at the right time.
However, most DAMs stop at using AI for tasks like tagging files or auto-sorting folders. Helpful, but limited.
Frontify takes it further with Brand Assistant, an AI built on a governance-first philosophy. Instead of only surfacing the right file, it helps teams use assets correctly once they find them.
Brand Assistant can answer practical usage questions, like “In what ways should I not use our logo?” and “Which font is approved for presentations?” It guides teams in real time before inconsistencies ever reach the market. It’s AI that supports proactive brand compliance, not just reactive policing. For brand teams, that means fewer mistakes, faster decisions, and a stronger, more unified brand presence.
Tips from our brand experts for managing digital assets
Based on years of working with leading brands, our experts recommend a few practical ways to get the most value from your DAM system.
Regularly audit your assets
Conduct regular audits to identify outdated, unused, or duplicate assets and remove them to keep your asset library clean and efficient. Brands that skip audits accumulate ‘dark assets’ that drain storage and confuse users.
Depending on how many assets you create, quarterly audits are sufficient for many brands, but if you’re adding a large volume of assets to your DAM regularly, you may do a monthly review. For example, Spring Health creates 10–50 templates per day, so a more frequent audit can help their teams keep assets fresh and up-to-date.
Involve marketers, designers, and other stakeholders who regularly create and manage assets.
Train your team on DAM systems
Train your teams on how to use DAM systems effectively, including tagging, searching, and uploading assets. Training should be an ongoing effort, rather than a one-off onboarding. Use micro-learning videos, office hours, and quick reference guides to visually and procedurally show them how to manage assets properly.
Consider embedding DAM training in employee onboarding, especially for roles that will be using and uploading to the DAM regularly. Refresh your training offerings when DAM and brand guidelines change.
Monitor and optimize asset usage
Track asset usage and analyze brand performance data to identify trends and optimize your processes. Identify KPIs to help you understand how your teams use assets so you can make informed decisions on budget allocation, content needs, and software integration.
KPIs could include most/least downloaded assets, asset views, time-to-find, number of active authors, and tracking template usage.
These insights can guide practical decisions, like retiring unused formats, expanding popular ones, or filling gaps where assets are missing. For example, if your teams are frequently downloading sales decks, they could be strong candidates to convert into reusable templates.
Create a clear folder structure
Create a logical, intuitive folder structure that aligns with the organization’s workflows and makes it easy for teams to find what they need.
Your folder structure should mirror the way your business operates (e.g., by campaign, product line, or region) so teams can find assets where they intuitively expect them. The folder path of each asset reinforces that logic and gives users instant context. For example, you might use a path like Campaigns > 2025 > Spring > Social.
Standardize file naming and tagging conventions
Consistent naming and tagging conventions make your assets more searchable and less confusing.
Pair clear naming (e.g., AssetType_Campaign_Region_Date_Version) with standardized metadata and tags to ensure assets appear in keyword searches, filters, and smart suggestions.
Tags can be added manually or automatically, depending on your DAM's capabilities, balancing precision with efficiency. For example, in Frontify, tags can be added manually or automatically with AI and Automations.
Use templates for consistency
Creating editable, locked templates frees designers from rework and lets teams publish faster, without risking brand damage.
Identify the assets your teams create most often. Is it flyers, website banners, digital ads, social media posts, or something else? Create templates for the types of assets your teams use most frequently.
Account for regional or sub-brand needs, too. For example, each region may use a localized logo (e.g., [Brand] America or [Brand] Europe). Creating templates that already have those logos in them makes it easy for each region to produce consistent content, while still leaving room for tailored messaging.
Set up approval workflows
Approval workflows are a quality assurance tactic, catching off-brand or low-quality assets before they enter your library.
Define each role in the process, including creators, reviewers, approvers, publishers, and administrators, so everyone knows exactly what they’re responsible for at each stage. From there, use automation, integrations, and permissioning to keep things moving: automation removes repetitive steps like file conversions or tagging; integrations connect reviews with the tools your teams already use; and permissioning ensures the right people see the right assets at the right time.
What happens when every asset reinforces your brand
When assets are organized and governed, they stop causing bottlenecks and start becoming performance levers. A modern DAM reduces wasted time spent hunting for files, recreating work, or fixing off-brand content.
The payoff of well-managed digital assets is faster discovery, fewer duplicates, quicker campaign launches, and less manual compliance review. Over time, these efficiencies compound into measurable ROI, especially as brands scale, turning everyday brand management into a driver of growth.
Why choose Frontify for digital asset management?
Frontify goes beyond storage and search to give brands a connected system for managing every asset, guideline, and template in one place. Features like template governance, role-based permissions, and an AI roadmap are designed with one goal: helping teams maintain consistency, reduce bottlenecks, and scale content creation without losing control.
The results speak for themselves. At Bosch, just four people manage the entire brand design space for over 100,000 users and customers worldwide. By centralizing their brand in Frontify, they’ve saved significant time and reinvested it into higher-value work. Uber saw equally transformative results, with nearly 2,000 employees adopting Frontify almost overnight. Today, more than 20,000 people globally use the platform to create, manage, and share assets.
If you’re ready to move beyond scattered tools and unlock a more efficient, consistent, and scalable way of working, it’s time to see Frontify in action. Book a demo to experience how the platform can help your brand thrive.
