Why hire a DAM consultant when you have plenty of capable people on your team to handle it? Glad you asked!
Whether you are a fellow DAM consultant or an in-house pro, if you have been through the trenches of a DAM implementation, you might already have some experience of when and why a DAM consultant can bring value to the project. Through Spark Focus, I have been lucky enough to consult on some pretty cool projects at several of the key times below:
When: Project Roadmapping
Why: Sometimes a project has to start RIGHT NOW to keep the funding or to replace a failing DAM/CMS, but most of the time there is the option of planning ahead. Bringing in a DAM consultant before choosing a DAM vendor or the budget is final can help your end product be an ongoing success. When I’ve worked with clients on a DAM roadmap, one of the most valuable steps is interviewing the in-house stakeholders, admins, and end-users to understand the current pain points and goals for the upgrade. Some teams have dedicated DAM librarians with experience, some are planning to hire that role, and some have not considered what would happen on Day 2 post-launch. By asking what content is the most valuable, who will be using the system, how many assets need to be gated, and other questions based on past project issues that might not come out until it’s too late to make a quick pivot, DAM consultants can help the team prepare what they can before bringing in any vendors. They can better evaluate whether the vendors will be able to fit their specific feature needs, provide accurate storage predictions, and get a better grasp of the cost of the project.
When: Content Strategy Planning
Why: The way assets are structured affects naming, folders, permissions matrices, governance, metadata, tagging, and general DAM health. Bringing in a DAM consultant to work with the asset owners - from writers, designers, DAM admins, editors, and other stakeholders - early in a project can save later (usually more costly) replication of efforts. Figure out the high-value content and prioritize that first. What makes it high-value? Is it requested often? Do people need clarity on which is the latest, approved version? Will it make your bosses’ lives easier? Part of content strategy planning should include auditing the existing content to see what should not continue to live in the DAM. What needs to be archived, trashed, or otherwise removed from consumption - it might just need to be permission-restricted. A DAM consultant can bring fresh eyes to your current asset structure and advise on the organization that makes them more easily searchable and therefore more valuable. They can do this with an outside perspective (sans office politics…) and backed up with examples from similar situations they have experienced.
When: Metadata Design
Why: While this can be done from anywhere - try using Canva’s boards, Figjam, and other tech whiteboard options - there is something valuable about getting people together in a room with some post-its to figure out what people call certain products (shout-out to DIRECTV’s eternal box/receiver and remote/clicker debates), list out important categories and other proprietary information that would need to be included with assets to ensure they were more than just images. Are there date restrictions? References to other assets like tying model releases to a set of photos? Language copies for different regions? A translation plugin that needs enriched tags? Thinking through the metadata design means for can come to a vendor with a framework for how many fields and tabs you think will work best for your assets. The goal: a balance that will deliver a valuable, searchable DAM without burdening authors with so many requirements that no one wants to follow the process.
When: DAM Build
Why: Ah, the meat of the project! This is where you have probably already considered hiring an outside DAM consultant. Whether a solo pro or a 3rd party implementor, having someone between your staff and the vendor can help translate the requirements into tech to marketing terms (and vice-versa) and help the project progress while your team handles their day jobs plus the DAM integration. Many DAM consultants are veterans of certain vendors or have gone through several end-to-end integrations. Use that experience to learn when you should escalate issues (and more importantly, when to trust the vendor!) or know which questions to ask along the way.
When: Documentation
Why: Having a DAM consultant take notes, document processes, and share out benchmarks along the way is a great use of our time. Once the implementation is done, your in-house team might need to share the best practices and “rules” with people not yet included in the project. Documentation can back up opinions with examples and answer questions asynchronously in a global workplace. With diagrams, governance structures, and step-by-step examples, documentation from DAM pros holds ongoing value long after they have finished working with you on a project.
When: Change Management
Why: Back to fresh eyes. Sometimes we also need outside voices. DAM consultants come into your team without previous experience in the current DAM (if you have one) or way of handling assets (if you don’t) - as well as no issues with coworkers. Change is stressful, especially when it comes with new expectations and a learning curve. Rely on DAM consultants to help explain the value of upgrading systems and what can be expected to help remove some of the fear around change.
When: Training
Why: Finally, hire a DAM consultant to train your team. From high-level best practices, DAM theory, and metadata strategy to the everyday how-to-run-a-clean-DAM boot camp, use their experience to train power users or more casual users and executive stakeholders on the DAM value. Combining the documentation and change management process with training once the DAM implementation is complete might be a good combo package to increase the post-launch adoption and could be repeted on a regular basis as your team members or needs change.
At which of these points along the DAM path does your team need DAM consultant support?
When you’re ready to bring someone in, please reach out to me at Spark Focus and set up a free 15 minute consultation to discuss a plan together.