Many creative and marketing workflows utilize a variety of different systems and standards. These include PIMs, CMS’s, MRMs, CRMs, and DAMs. Together, these systems facilitate the overall digital asset management process. Their effectiveness and impact on your process depend on how you leverage each of their capabilities.
Have you ever played with LEGOs? If so, you’ve probably done it one of two ways:
- Using your imagination, putting random pieces together creatively to build something completely new. While your construction may have been impressive, it may also have ended up looking messy and thrown together.
- Buying a set designed to build something specific. These pieces typically have fancy features that make using them more enjoyable and the end result more satisfying.
The primary difference between the two ways of using LEGOs is that sets come with instructions. It’s much easier to build something useful if you know how its pieces are supposed to work together. This is true when making something out of LEGOs and also for managing your organization’s digital content.
Just like with LEGOs, there are two ways to use PIM, CMS, MRM, CRM, and DAM systems to build a digital asset management system. You can wing it and throw the parts together in hopes of making something functional, but odds are it will be messy and ineffective. Or you can reference a set of basic instructions on how to build a system that will suit your organization’s needs.
The purpose of this article is to provide you with some helpful guidelines for maximizing your creative assets and process using these systems. Continue reading to learn:
- The specialties and features of each system
- How they work together, and
- Why your organization benefits from using them within your creative and marketing workflows
DAM vs. PIM vs. CMS vs. CRM vs. MRM Systems: What’s The Difference?
Managing creative assets and marketing workflows is a complex process. Various teams within your organization rely on numerous systems to facilitate their specific needs.
These systems include:
- Product information systems (PIMs)
- Content management systems (CMSs)
- Marketing resource management (MRM) systems
- Customer relationship management (CRM systems)
- Digital asset management (DAM) systems
To know how to properly integrate the different systems used in a complex workflow, you must first understand the function of each. Below is a basic description of the core role of each system involved in the creative process.
Product Information Systems (PIMs)
A Product Information System (PIM) directly services any teams in an organization that deal with product information. This information includes technical specifications, data around the product’s usage, testimonials and reviews, and images, videos, and PDFs that display the product.
PIMs send this information directly to the organization’s eCommerce platform, sales applications, or print publications. Salespeople and retailers are the core users of these systems, pulling product information to send to suppliers and consumers alike.
Some of the key functions and features of a PIM include:
- Robust, centralized product data
- Cross-channel product content management
- Personalization capabilities
- Automation for tedious, time-consuming product management tasks
Plytix is the top-rated PIM, touted for its intuitive editing, clean taxonomy controls, and easy collaboration for small to mid-sized catalog teams.
Content Management Systems (CMSs)
A Content Management System (CMS) is software that allows a user to design and manage a website and its content without having to use complex coding languages.
CMS systems serve two major functions:
- Provide design templates and tools enabling users to edit and design content without using code
- Store all content (images, videos, downloadable blog content, and blog copy) so it’s easily accessible for editing and use
Every brand in the modern era has a website. It’s an absolute must-have for any brand looking to grow. For many organizations, however, the creation and maintenance of a website, especially in this digital and visual age, falls outside the expertise of most of their employees.
A CMS solves this problem by allowing your team to manage, modify, and publish website content easily. This includes photos, videos, resources, or templates that may be used.
While there are many options to choose from, WordPress remains the top-rated CMS. A robust selection of tools and themes, and affordable pricing contribute to its continued success.
Marketing Resource Management (MRM) Systems
Marketing Resource Management (MRM) systems are, at the same time, one of the most specific and most holistic systems included in many tech stacks. These systems are used by marketing professionals to create and distribute compelling creative content, manage projects and budgets, and plan events.
An MRM is an end-to-end system where marketers can facilitate all of their tasks, responsibilities, and projects, including:
- Strategic and financial planning
- Ideation
- Content creation
- Editing
- Approval
- Quality control
Wrike is a top-rated MRM system, best for campaign planning with advanced reporting.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems
Where MRM systems service a majority of the marketing team’s processes, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems do the same for the sales team. These systems are databases that hold information about leads and prospects, communication with them, and sales materials.
Some features of CRM systems include:
- Revenue and profit forecasting
- Other financial metrics
- Analytics and dashboards to track performance
- Storage for sales materials
The sales team uses these systems to ensure that their messaging and branding are consistent and transparent to internal teams and the consumers they’re selling to.
Salesforce Sales Cloud is the top-rated CRM system, praised for its robust features that enhance productivity and streamline workflows.
Digital Asset Management (DAM) Systems
No matter how built-out an organization’s sales or marketing team is, it’s still likely to use a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system. This is because every organization, large or small, creates digital assets to use for its website, social media, advertising, print marketing, and sales or other creative materials.
The main purpose of a DAM is to be a centralized repository of all digital assets, but there are many additional features, including:
- Metadata management
- Version control and asset history
- Workflows and collaboration tools
- Reporting and analytics
DAMs serve as the single source of truth for all digital content by making it searchable, organized, secure, and easy to access.
Check out the following resources for some examples of the best DAM platforms on the market:
Integrating Systems To Manage Creative Assets
If you look for common denominators between the different systems described above, one thing stands out. Every system in the standard creative tech stack uses digital content:
- PIMs need images or videos of the products and their specs
- CMSs publish all manner of content to the web in the appropriate format and size.
- MRM systems hold marketing materials used to connect with consumers, grow the brand, and create brand loyalty through visuals.
- CRMs help salespeople ensure that consistent content is put in front of prospects.
Integrating these systems connects multiple steps of the creative, marketing, sales, and overall business process. It reduces the thought and tedious components of managing creative assets while maximizing your efforts.
Selecting The Right Centerpiece For Your Creative Stack
Due to this common thread, the DAM system is the logical choice to be the centerpiece of your creative tech stack. As the single source of truth for the digital content used across the organization, the DAM is the most important program to manage and maintain to ensure that the rest of the systems stay healthy.
Many organizations that lack formal DAMs struggle with siloed teams. DAMs unify the organization and various technologies through consistent, secure, and searchable digital content. If you’re wondering where to begin building a more comprehensive creative workflow, start with a DAM system.
Benefits Of Using DAM, PIM, CMS, CRM, and MRM Systems Within Your Creative and Marketing Workflows
DAM, PIM, CMS, CRM, and MRM systems work together to benefit your organization in multiple ways. Some reasons why these systems are important to integrate into your process include:
- Connecting creative, marketing, and sales information and content. Each system holds content and information specific to a department or use case. Connecting systems helps information and content become more accessible and useful.
- Enhancing collaboration between these departments and your organization as a whole. Storing content and information for multiple departments within integrated systems opens up opportunities for collaboration. Cross-departmental collaboration innovates marketing and sales efforts and utilizes each creative asset to its fullest potential.
- Streamlines workflows and processes. Systems that work together reduce bottlenecks and streamline workflows, creating a more efficient business operation.
- Reduce wasted time and effort. Easily accessible cross-departmental information, hosted all in one place, eliminates the need to search through multiple locations to find what you’re looking for.
- Maximize investment in systems. Integrating your DAM, PIM, CMS, CRM, and MRM systems ensures you get the most out of your investment from each.
DAM, PIM, CMS, CRM, and MRM System FAQs
What’s The Difference Between DAM and PIM?
DAM and PIM systems both handle data, information, and content that’s valuable to the entire organization.
The main difference between the two is that a PIM system deals exclusively with information and content related to products, while DAM systems serve as a centralized repository for all digital assets, organization-wide.
What’s The Difference Between CMS and CRM?
CMS and CRM serve different purposes, with one centered around web content and the other focused on customer and sales data.
- CMS systems are content-focused, helping businesses build, operate, and maintain their website without complex coding and storing all of their files.
- CRM systems are customer-focused, storing information about leads and prospects, communications with contacts, and other sales-related materials.
Create an Effective Creative Tech Stack With Stacks!
Many organizations that lack formal DAMs struggle with siloed teams. DAMs unify the organization and various technologies through consistent, secure, and searchable digital content. If you’re wondering where to begin building a more comprehensive creative workflow, start with a DAM system.
If your organization is struggling to properly manage digital content in a unified and consistent way, begin by getting your digital assets under control. If you need help, contact Stacks! We work with organizations in all manner of situations and of all sizes to design effective and scalable solutions that can be the centerpiece of their tech stack. To learn more about getting started with DAM, see our other blog posts on this topic.
