DAM and PIM Integration with Software Tools & Apps You Use to Build Your Brand

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Adobe Plugin
Connect the creation and editing tools you use every day with your single source of truth for creative content. Enjoy seamless connections between Image Relay and Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.

Adobe Illustrator
Accelerate creative workflows and improve asset control with a seamless connection from Image Relay to Adobe Illustrator.Adobe InDesignEasily move images and text from Image Relay into InDesign to create a wide range of marketing materials.

Adobe Photoshop
Create and update visual assets in Photoshop, then move them into your Asset Library so everyone has access to the most up-to-date materials.

Airtable
Connect Image Relay with your cloud collaboration service to enable unlimited creative connections.

Asana
Manage your team's work with your Image Relay content files at your fingertips. Quickly send attachments directly to Image Relay without leaving Asana.

Basecamp
Collaborate with your team and track project progress.

Box
Leverage Image Relay's DAM platform alongside Box's enterprise content collaboration features and enjoy the best of both worlds.

Canva
Create graphics, presentations, posters, documents, and other content with automatic access to your Image Relay library.

Conceptboard
Collaborate in real-time, communicate visually, and track your ideas and discussions alongside your content.

Dropbox
Share assets with stakeholders who use Dropbox quickly and easily.

Egnyte
Easily sync content directly from Egnyte to Image Relay.

Eventbrite
The DAM and PIM integration with Eventbrite and Image Relay allows you to automatically transfer files either as a one-time sync or on a day-to-day basis.

Evernote
Tackle your to-do list and keep key assets and content connected with your task management.

Expensify
Track your expenses with direct access to your Image Relay library for quick receipt filing.

Facebook
Link your Facebook account with your Image Relay account for easy access and fast sharing.

Flickr
Share your Image Relay content directly within your Flickr account, making sharing your images easier than ever.

Giphy
Create new content while tapping into your full library of Image Relay assets.

Google Drive
Easily move files from Google Drive to Image Relay.

Hootsuite
There's no more searching, downloading, and uploading your content: Schedule social posts while directly connected to your full Image Relay library.

HubSpot
Connect your content to your marketing, sales, and service software to help your business grow with DAM and PIM integration.

Instagram
View and import images from your Instagram feed. It's the perfect way to access these social postings for reuse!

Issuu
Publish your PDFs within Image Relay directly to your Issuu account and get the flip-book look and feel.

Image Relay File Selector
Drop a JavaScript widget into your sites to allow easy file selection from Image Relay with minimal coding.

LinkedIn
Keep your content connected with your social media accounts, making sharing simpler than ever.

Marketo
Connect your content directly to your marketing automation software and work all in one place.

Microsoft Dynamics
Leverage Image Relay's DAM alongside Microsoft's customer relationship management tools.

Monday.com
Manage your workflow with your Image Relay content for greater efficiency.

OneDrive
Now, it's even easier to share files with a direct connection from OneDrive to your Image Relay account.

Percolate
Find and access Image Relay files from within Percolate and automatically export files back to Image Relay.

Pinterest
Share your Image Relay content directly to your Pinterest account.

Salesforce
Improve customer relationships by integrating Image Relay's DAM with Salesforce.

Slack
Keep your team communications fully integrated with your content for fast, secure file-sharing.

Trello
Organize your workflow with seamless integration between Image Relay and your Trello boards.

Twitter
Keep your content connected with your social media accounts to make sharing simpler than ever.

Vimeo
Link your Image Relay content directly to your video-sharing platform to make content-sharing easier than ever.

Webflow
Connect Image Relay directly to where your website is built and housed, making it even easier to manage and update your content than before.

WordPress
Access and search for your content within your WordPress account. This CMS connection makes updating your website faster and easier.

Wrike
Image Relay's integration with Wrike enables you to quickly send attachments directly to your Image Relay account without ever leaving Wrike.

YouTube
Storing videos on Image Relay? Publish them directly to your company's YouTube account. It doesn't get much easier.

Zapier
Image Relay now integrates with 1,000+ applications through Zapier! Zapier lets you easily connect Image Relay to your other favorite Web applications.

Zoom
Access and share your company's content within your meeting collaboration software. Why leave to search for assets when everything is at your fingertips?

If you're reading this, you most likely are interested in the types of digital assets used in typical digital image management applications. That means photos, videos, documents, audio files, PowerPoint files, excel files, logos, design files, and other files most often used in everyday business.

A leading digital asset management expert, Ralph Windsor, defines a digital asset as "a collection of binary data which is self-contained, uniquely identifiable, and has a value."

This comprehensive definition covers all common types of creative content, such as images, videos, logos, creative files, and documents, as well as other digital assets that go beyond these more common types.
Let's break it down. There are four parts to that definition.

1. Binary data
These 1s and 0s of binary data are what make the thing digital. For a computer to understand it, it needs to be binary.

2. Self-contained
To be a digital asset, it must be a complete unit.

A random and partial string of code plucked from a website or piece of software is often not self-contained and wouldn't qualify for this definition.

Image files, videos, documents - all of these are self-contained units that can be stored and transferred.

3. Uniquely identifiable
If you can't find it, you can't use it, and it's tough to call something an "asset" that you can't find or use.

For digital assets, making something identifiable is where metadata comes into play. Metadata is information about your information.

It provides context to your files and makes them identifiable, searchable, and usable. That can start with just a file name and include embedded metadata and other metadata that a digital asset management system may apply.

4. Has a value
To be an "asset," that thing has to have value.

The amount of that value depends on several factors, including the cost to create or license, the importance to the brand (for example, a logo is more important than a single lifestyle shot from a photo shoot), the goodwill it represents, and other factors. The company or organization that owns the asset is in the best position to assign some specific value.

A fundamental part of an asset's value is the ability to use and reuse it. The photograph lost on a thumb drive has much less value than the video file shared thousands of times.
All of your valuable digital content would be considered digital assets for your company or organization. It would benefit from some of the best digital asset management programs available to find and organize these assets easily.

Digital Assets and Metadata
 Metadata is critical to make digital assets identifiable and valuable. Metadata is the information and context that allows you to find assets during a search and use them appropriately.

Please read our two-part series on metadata basics to learn how metadata can help you organize, find, and use your assets.

•    Metadata definitions and history
•    How to use metadata in a digital asset management system

"Digital asset" also refers to the digital entities with a specific financial value.
The most common types of "digital assets" of this type are the various cryptocurrencies:
•    Bitcoin
•    Litecoin
•    Ethereum
•    NEO
•    Ripple

And thousands of others, including an upcoming and controversial offering from Facebook called Libra, are all cryptocurrencies.

They all meet the same "digital asset" definition of being digital, self-contained, identifiable, and valuable, but how they are used is quite different from creative content "digital assets."

These differences between types of digital assets may increase confusion in the future, so it's essential to understand that not all digital assets are the same, and you should consider the context.

If marketing and creative-related, it's probably one type, but if talking about finance, it could be another type.

Marketers

Marketing departments often need a "brand central" to house all logos, fonts, guidelines, and campaign assets. Utilizing the best digital asset management system possible for their needs can go a long way in organizing and sharing company assets when necessary.
From this system, they can distribute assets, collaborate in-house, and work with agencies and outside vendors.

Designers and Photographers

Designers and photographers usually create the assets, or at least the underlying elements of the assets.

Keeping these files organized, accessible, searchable, and shareable is a top priority, making designers and photographers some of the heaviest digital asset management users.

Event Managers

Event managers must manage all types of work for the organization, supporters, and sponsors.
The amount of content for internal communications and external distribution, even for a small event, is enormous, and a DAM can help keep everyone organized.

Retailers

A retailer needs access to product information and marketing collateral when carrying hundreds or thousands of products. Access to information in a DAM helps the retailer sell goods from various brands and keep inventory information up to date.

Product Managers

Product managers must manage teams, sponsors, workflows, and a lot of content.
In a DAM, they can manage this content and the critical underlying metadata, like product ID, SKU, or copyright information.

Information Managers

Information managers are tasked with managing and securing the company's assets.
A DAM allows for the organization of the files and the management of metadata; perhaps, more importantly, for an information manager, a DAM provides control of users.

Sales Managers
Sales representatives often have to make a presentation on the fly and need quick access to brand assets.

They can grab assets on the go and share them with a prospect or a distributor, all while the central sales office works with marketing to ensure brand consistency and proper user access.

Manufacturers and Distributors

Those working in manufacturing and distribution have to work with sales and may also have a network of retailers who need to self-serve for various purposes.

DAM SaaS allows everyone to have appropriate access and for the company to maintain brand cohesion across a handful or thousands of users.

Human Resources
Digital assets don't stop at creative assets used for selling products and services. One area is human resources, where employee handbooks, company policies, and other forms can be stored and shared company-wide or with whichever groups of employees you choose.

The value you can get from digital assets is only as good as your ability to manage and use those assets effectively.

That's where it can help to find the best digital asset management platform for your needs.
Digital asset management is the best tool to keep your assets organized, make them findable by the people who need them, allow them to be used and reused, and also understand how your assets are used so you can make adjustments for new asset creation.

1.    Understanding what your team needs. In this blog post, you will learn more about how to get started with digital asset management. From finding out what your team is challenged with to understanding better what your team needs to do their jobs successfully, you'll learn how to take the first step to mastering digital asset management.

2.    Mapping the digital assets of your organization. You can't manage what you can't find. This post will teach you the process for finding out what content your organization has, where it's located, and how to create a plan for getting it all in one easy-to-access place.

3.    The best file types to use for each purpose. What's the difference between a JPG and a PNG? And when should I use which one? You'll find the answers to these and many more questions about the best file types for each purpose.

4.    Best practices for naming files. You can do a lot with a file name. It can add clarity, provide context, and let everyone on your team know what a file is without opening it. Get rid of those files with dozens of letter and number combinations that make absolutely no sense, and start using file names that can add value.

5.    How to set your goals for digital asset management. Setting clear goals is an essential early step to improving your content operations with digital asset management. This blog post teaches you what to consider and how to select the right goals for your team.

6.    How to meet and measure your goals. Setting goals isn't enough, however. You need to be able to track and work towards meeting those goals. In this post, you'll learn about what metrics to use and how to keep your team working in the right direction.

7.    How to manage users and permissions. Digital asset management isn't just about content and software. It's also about people. This post covers what you need to know about managing team access and ensuring the right people can get the right content.

8.    Metadata Part 1 - Definitions and history. This blog will give you an overview of metadata basics and how it is used in digital asset management. The terminology can be intimidating, but this post can give you the foundational knowledge to speak confidently about metadata.

9.    Metadata Part 2 - How to manage metadata in your DAM. In this second part of a short series on metadata, you'll learn more about how to apply metadata to your content and use it to make your content easily findable and usable by the people who need it.

10.    Image Relay FAQ. Please read our frequently asked questions for common questions about digital asset management and Image Relay.