Top tips for digital asset management!Do you need good suggestions for effective marketing, customer experience management and intelligent information storage? Need tips for content marketing and digital asset management? Welcome! This is the right place. Gredi blog reveals the proven tips and tricks for effective digital asset management.
Before the content is released to target audiences in the desired channel and format, it has gone through a long and often complex production process, regardless of whether it is digital or print. The ever-increasing need to publish content quickly across different channels, devices and formats requires an efficient publishing process and an intelligent publishing automation solution.
Making the publishing process more efficient starts with a thorough current state analysis
Before putting the different steps of the publishing process into production, it is important to look at the whole production and publishing process and identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement. A detailed analysis of the current state of the production process will reveal any manual steps that slow down the process or add to its complexity, often unnecessarily. The analysis of the production process also reveals well which steps of the process can be automated and which technologies can be used.
Revealing the bottlenecks in the process
To identify bottlenecks in the production process, it is always a good idea to go into detail about all aspects of the publication workflow from the perspective of all parties involved. In addition to the production perspective, it is also necessary to review the workflows with the buyer and product manager, as well as with marketing and project management. Some of the issues to be defined together include:
Sources of product data, importing and editing
Sources of image data, management, file formats and naming conventions
Sources and maintenance process for pricing data
Layout designs, styles, and document settings
Campaign-specific data
Print proof traffic and commenting
Typically, the publishing process is slowed down by the need for editorial instructions, numerous rounds of proofs and the many manual steps involved in commenting and communicating them. Without modern product information or campaign management tools, the publishing process is laborious, difficult and time-consuming.
Clear targets and right solutions
After a thorough analysis of the current state, it is easy to define clear objectives and, above all, to decide which parts of process to develop first. When the target is to get the most out of every stage of the production and publishing process, the best solution is to implement publishing automation. The benefits of a modern publishing automation solution are obvious:
Simplicity: automated information flow
Increased productivity: no more searching for data in different systems, no more copy-paste, no more unnecessary review rounds
Updatability: a quick way to update product images and data, such as prices for campaigns
Customizability: the automatically generated layout can be freely edited
Quality improvement: no typos, calculation errors or mishaps in thinking
Smart use of freed-up time: staff have time for more value-added work
Scalability: easy system integrations, automatic language versions, faster time to market
Gredi publishing automation makes editing highly efficient
Gredi offers a comprehensive, multi-channel solution for publishing automation, whether it is a digital or print publishing process that can be automated and integrated. Gredi Content HUB enables the most automated approaches and the most modern, easy-to-use tools for different use cases. For content producers, the ability to produce, layout and reuse the same content across all major channels is enabled. This saves time for content producers and effort for brand marketers.
Gredi Content HUB dynamic tools, value-added data management features and new publishing automation “AutoTaitto” are integrated to a seamless publishing automation process that brings speed, ease, quality and a whole new level of publishing possibilities.
Make the most of publishing automation in your organization
Gredi in-house publishing automation solutions are easy and fast to deploy. Whether large-scale layout jobs or marketing materials that require dynamic personalization, Gredi’s solutions can meet every need.
Please feel free to contact us for more information:
Tero O. Nieminen, Gredi, head of publishing automation, tero.nieminen@gredi.fi, tel. +358 50 464 2045
Building a new brand or renewing an old one is a time-consuming process. The real work begins when the finalized brand identity is launched and implemented. Poor implementation can easily ruin even excellent planning and preparation. So how do you build a coherent and consistent brand – and avoid the pitfalls of the roll-out phase?
1. Embedding your brand values in your business strategy
A strong brand reflects your company values and ways of working. The brand experience is created and reinforced in every customer encounter. At your touch points, your brand image is shaped by the actions, views and values of your staff, your business models, your responsiveness and business logic, and your other service and product offerings. Your brand is therefore much more than a carefully crafted visual identity or a story that your communications foster.
Your brand and your company values are carried out in every physical or virtual encounter between your company and your customers.
Conflicting signals in your customer encounters may undermine the credibility of both your brand and your company. Ensure that your staff and key stakeholders have understood your core brand message and they are able to communicate it in the way you want. Whenever possible, involve your staff in the brand work before the actual implementation phase. At the very least, keep them informed of upcoming changes. Also explain the background to your brand, its values and objectives, and justify how they implement your company strategy.
A strong, effective brand communicates your company strategy into practical actions and deliverable promises.
Customers expect a good brand to deliver value beyond pure product benefits. Empty promises such as sustainability no longer convince informed consumers. The company inspires trust by genuinely guiding its actions and its people through a coherent set of values and objectives, and by delivering on its promises.
Branding is a great opportunity to unify your organizational culture and develop common goals and actions. By implementing a new brand through your digital asset management, you can roll out digital branding tools and policies that make everyday life easier across your entire organization at the same time.
2. Networking
A brand ecosystem supports consistency in the visuals and content of your messages. Fragmented communication channels challenge the coherence of your brand. How do you maintain a unified brand message when media requirements and even the senders of messages change from channel to channel?
Thus, brand building has become more or less of an ecosystem building exercise – bringing together and coordinating multiple stakeholders and media streams to achieve a common goal.
A memorable, controlled, and coherent brand experience is the cornerstone of customer-centric marketing.
Personalization has become the new normal. A data-driven customer experience is built around personalization based on data collected from different touchpoints. If stakeholders outside your organization are needed to deliver your product or service, the data provided by them is also important. A skillfully managed brand experience is personalized, yet consistent and aligned with your brand image. It is worth thinking through your personalization requirements and writing them into your brand guidelines.
Intelligent personalization will give added power to messages produced at the right time and through the right channels from the brand.
Harness your digital asset management as a hub for brand data and information. Distribute and track your brand assets accurately and securely outside your organization. Ensure that your latest brand data and guidance is available to your entire ecosystem.
Disseminate best practices and ideas to your brand ecosystem. Produce ready-to-use materials and make them widely available. At the same time, you lower the threshold for producing and using your brand guidelines material in the way you want.
3. Prioritizing and anticipating
Digital brand management requires agility and responsiveness. Your customers complement your carefully constructed brand image with their own and others’ beliefs and experiences of your products, services, and business. Some of these pieces are beyond your control. If your brand attracts attention on social media, for example, ups and downs can happen in the blink of an eye. That’s when you should react immediately, not days later.
The channels of brand communication are not only in the control of the sender of the message. Untrue beliefs, rumors, praise and thanks can spread effectively through electronic channels.
When implementing a brand image, you will have to produce a large amount of material that is vital to your organization. Prioritize your core business activities such as sales, marketing and communications materials. This way, your business will not suffer from a lack of brand-related information. For example, it is important to keep the content of your website and social media channels up to date, as they are your direct electronic showcase in the world.
Divide your content that needs updating into a few priority categories. Once you’ve got the most essential day-to-day sales and marketing documents in shape, you can focus on less urgent updates.
Be prepared to communicate to your existing customers how your brand will keep the values intact. That way, your satisfied customers won’t have to wonder whether they’re still getting the value for money they want. Make sure that the purchase decision your customers made in the past does not turn into a mistake in your new brand communication.
Centralized asset management supports and speeds up the process of updating your materials. You can find all your materials, including graphical instructions, in one place, where you can also manage and monitor their use. Personalize and target your messages to different customer groups, standardize visual identity elements and automate your publishing processes.
By connecting your isolated assets into a common ecosystem, you can ensure that the information that matters for your brand and reputation is accessible to all.
Sales performance drops if time is spent on the wrong things
A major cause of sales inefficiencies for businesses is that salespeople spend their time on unnecessary or wrong things. If a sales presentation needs to be prepared from scratch for every sales meeting, or if it’s difficult to find up-to-date sales presentations or sales support materials, it’s no wonder salespeople get frustrated. When focus is lost and not enough time is left for actual sales work or customer relationship management, sales performance drops and targets are not met.
Gredi Content HUB is a salesperson’s best friend
When you need more power for sales and more time for good sales meetings and customer relationship management, the Gredi Content HUB is the perfect solution. Its unique benefits include:
Gredi Content HUB cloud-based service ensures that up-to-date sales materials are promptly available. Your materials are always in line with your brand guidelines and contain the right sales arguments, whether sales presentations, videos or any other type of material.
Sales materials are easy to edit and personalize according to the customer and circumstances, on any device, from any online access point.
Heavy files in the Gredi Content HUB do not need to be downloaded to the salesperson’s own computer, eg. images and videos can be displayed via links in a customer meeting over the internet.
After a sales meeting, when you want to deliver sales presentations and collateral to the customer, the modern way is to send the customer a direct link to the desired materials.
Speed up and increase your sales with effective and clear sales and support materials. Save time and yourself, and focus on the actual selling and relationship management.
The Gredi Content HUB benefits not only the sales organization of companies, but also their marketing, communications, IT and business management, as well as various stakeholders and partners.
Lomarengas utilizes Gredi Content HUB in its sales work
Lomarengas is the oldest and largest holiday home rental company in Finland. The company offers cottages, villas, and apartments through its online service. With a selection of ca 4,000 properties, it offers everything from beach cottages to ski pavilions and from luxury villas to cottages in the countryside.
“We have dozens of photographers who travel all over Finland to take photos of the cottages. The photos are processed, colour-corrected, and made attractive. There are 20-25 photos of each cottage. As there are about 4,000 sites, we have more than 100,000 photos in total. This huge and massive number of images is now served by the Gredi Content HUB,” says Pekka Huttunen, Marketing Manager of Lomarengas. The images are automatically integrated into the online service when content producers upload their material to the system.
Gredi and PunaMusta Media – value through partnership
Today, Gredi is part of PunaMusta Media, which provides the partnership with a network of top professionals and services that, together with Gredi’s solutions, form a unique package for the needs of marketers and for the management of companies’ digital business.
The shared vision is to unify commerce on the brick-and-mortar and digital environments into a single transparent, measurable entity and a coherent brand experience.
The basic idea of the ecosystem is that everyone wins. Instead of competing with each other, the network utilizes common resources in the best possible way for the whole ecosystem. The revenue and successes are also shared among the participants. This way, your success doesn’t depend only on the resources of your own business.
Building an ecosystem is worth starting by strengthening collaboration with your existing partners. Finding the most suitable marketing, sales, distribution, product development or production partners and working together to design a network model that benefits everyone is the agile way. You can share information, know-how or financial resources.
In a marketing ecosystem, a networking solution might look like this:
1. The marketing departments of the ecosystem members work together, plan campaigns and manage the brands of the network. Ground rules should be agreed clearly at the earliest possible stage. Marketing departments are also responsible for ensuring that outbound communication is consistent regardless of the company.
It is not necessary for all parties in the network to have their own marketing expertise. A marketing expert produces material for use by the entire ecosystem. You can streamline marketing with digital content management that facilitates the production and utilization of unified material and automates your routines, for example message distribution to different channels.
Establish an asset management task force that shares and develops best practices among all parties.
2. Digital platform generates sales leads. Sales function helps content marketing target messages to desired recipients and supports marketing communications with up-to-date information about customer needs and desires.
Sales people primarily represent the entire ecosystem, but the sale of a partial solution produced by one member to a customer is also allowed if it fits the way the network operates. This increases the seller’s responsibility to clarify and understand the customer’s needs. It is not enough for a seller to identify only the sales prospects of his own company’s products and services. They need to know what your entire network has to offer. Once your vendors have internalized this, they will get an even wider range of solutions in their toolbox.
Cross-selling is enhanced by well-produced marketing material distributed on a digital platform and the packaging of products and services into ready-made solutions.
3. The ecosystem emphasizes information sharing, ease of sharing, and reliability. When customer and product information is no longer created exclusively in your own company, access to shared information is vital. Customer feedback and data collected by technical support should also be shared with all parties.
It is a good idea to automate the updates of product information. That will reduce the probability of errors and the latest information to the network will be published in real time. Business management can track marketing activities and productivity through a digital platform. They also have a view of the customer feedback and requirements. In this way, the management is able to react quickly to changes and can use the information in its decision-making.
4. A good digital platform provides everyone with access to common valuable intangible assets. Marketing-related material production becomes more efficient when digital asset management brings the latest documents, images, brochures and technical materials to everyone without delay.
The network gives an extra boost
Marketing resources can be utilized more efficiently when the members of the ecosystem no longer need to produce the same basic materials. Content is spread through a single effort for the entire network.
The automation provided by the digital asset management service should be utilized both in unifying the visual look and in automating and scheduling publishing operations.
Digital asset management also supports message duplication. There is a trend towards part-time marketers in service marketing in particular. The group includes all employees involved in the provision of the service in one way or another, even the entire staff of the company regardless of their job description. Their work input has a decisive impact on the customer’s quality experience and purchasing behavior. In an ecosystem, the number of part-time marketers can multiply as the chain of professionals involved in the production of your service grows. With digital inventory management tools, these informal marketers of your service have easy access to product information and marketing materials.
Listen to Gredi’s Digismart Ecosystem audiobook, get it now for free here.
With the remote working leap the communication has become an increasingly important prerequisite for work. Now is the time to make sure that your investment in digital asset management is not underutilized and not a special tool for your marketing department only.
In a production ecosystem your entire organization will benefit from digital asset management as you harness it as a comprehensive standard tool for transferring information and digital assets.
During the digitalization boom the basic business routines of many companies have already been digitalized. Truly mobile data management and communication makes it possible and even easy to work regardless of time and place. A centralized secure storage and distribution location for branded and version-managed materials benefits your sales, marketing, communications and other operations.
The basic pillars of a digital production ecosystem are digital asset management, a digital communication platform and operating models that support remote working.
Different functions may have different material management needs. Sales value up-to-date and personalizable materials as well as timesaving and error-reducing customer and product information integrations, or additionally easy distribution channel management. You have an excellent sales tool in the PowerPoint tool for asset management, with which you can produce branded presentations in a flash. Distributing offers and attachments as web based digipapers also makes your sales easier.
In marketing, asset management requirements focus on the ease of material distribution and access rights management, automating material production and guaranteeing brand image. Gredi Content HUB’s artificial intelligence helps in the classification, formatting, language versioning of materials and, for example, in the automatic subtitling of videos.
For communication priorities, Gredi Content HUB provides assistance in timed brand-managed publication, efficient utilization and recycling of existing content and materials, and monitoring and reporting on use and publication. You can also automate the customization of your message to different channels.
To make your remote work more efficient and build a production ecosystem around it, start with these three basic elements:
Remote working communication platform. Choose the communication tools that work best for your organization. There are several options and you should properly familiarize yourself with them. A good platform is reliable, easy to use, stretches for many uses and can be integrated with other systems.
In an efficient production ecosystem, the number of internal communication tools should be minimized. Centralized information flow reduces errors and saves working time.
Free movement of information and easy access to digital assets. In addition to a digital communication platform, decentralized information work needs digitalized information. The more comprehensively you digitalize your information sources and data collection, the easier it will be to harness them for your information work. A prerequisite for effective remote work is effortless access to your company’s digital assets. The data is no more located and hard-to-find on your experts’ hard drives, when the storage and distribution is centralized in digital asset management.
Up-to-date information moves easily and quickly in your remote work production ecosystem. Streamline your data flow by integrating the most important systems with the data management. You will get one centralized view of all information.
For example, a remote sales meeting requires digital sales materials as traditional e-mail does not quickly reach a remote meeting customer. The rhythm of work has accelerated so that materials are needed right away, not just days from now.
With digital asset management integrations, you can ensure that the customer and product information is updated to the databases or websites you want at the click of a button. You can also decentralize material production and personalization of materials to your experts. As a bonus, you will lighten the workload of your marketing department.
Common ground rules. When your entire organization works according to common rules and practices, unnecessary adjustments and guesswork are eliminated. Digital tools help and support your business. Gredi Content HUB automatically takes care of your campaigns and publications of your marketing messages, reminds you of your project schedules, monitors the access rights of your materials and updates your content to various channels and product templates.
Common ground rules reduce errors, streamline processes, and streamline your practices. They help you to make concrete the steps to achieve business goals. Your experts will understand what you are doing and what role each one has in the big picture.
Listen to Gredi’s Digismart Ecosystem audiobook, get it now for free here.
The past year has revolutionized work practices. With the corona, remote working became a new normal. The model of place-independent work was hastily ramped up in many places where it did not previously exist.
Now that you have gained experience you should pause and evaluate how successful the digital leap of remote work was. Is your organization thriving towards success at an even faster pace and inspired by new operating models? Or are your knowledge workers stuck in the challenges of remote work?
One of the biggest challenges of remote working is the difficulty of teamwork. When a physical connection is lost advanced digital solutions are needed to make the virtual work environment support teamwork.
More than half of the workers who switched to remote work felt that group work in particular had suffered, and 40 per cent also felt that work efficiency had decreased.
However, remote working is here to stay: 40% of the companies surveyed expected employees to continue working remotely, full time or part time. Remote working has also become a significant recruitment asset: 60% of workers interviewed wanted the opportunity to work remotely in the future as well. Thus, a virtual workspace was not a quick fix for one epidemic but has an important and justified place in the development of the working environment of the future.
An efficient and sustainable remote work model must offer employees the same digital opportunities as traditional office work, says BCG’s research.
The tools must enable smooth teamwork in a digital environment, regardless of time and place. Nearly 90% of companies surveyed said investing in remote work technology is on their priority list.
Digital interactions need impressive communication
In remote meetings, the communication toolbox is more limited than in face-to-face meetings. In the worst case the conversation is riddled with disconnections. Digitally presented material greatly benefits from clarity, branding, and timeliness and these features are emphasized when the usually reinforcing elements such as gestures and facial expressions, environment, sounds, and scents are barely conveyed to the recipient.
You can ensure that your message is fully communicated by using high-quality and consistent digital format that flexes seamlessly across different channels and formats.
We compete for the attention of customers, and we need to stand out from the crowd
Digital channels and marketing automation have increased the flood of messages your customers face. Getting attention in the future will not be easier. In the sheer bulk of the messages, the senders that best identify the customer’s needs will succeed. The volume, channel and timing also matter. Your customer understanding will improve as you track the delivery of the messages you send and analyze your customer’s reactions.
Digital asset management increases the accuracy of your messages as you can target them better. With automation, you can distribute up-to-date, accurate and brand-managed messages in the right formats to different channels.
Brand-controlled and easy-to-read material tells a memorable story
Of the thousands of messages, the stories that feed the imagination and emotions are the most memorable. The power of the image is enormous. Therefore, the importance of the visual look of a message should not be underestimated. Your familiar, unifrom brand look is more likely to stop the recipient at your message.
Make sure your remote meetings leave your customers with a positive image of your business. High-quality, easy-to-understand sales material communicate the reliability and professionalism of your company, even in the smallest details.
Read about Gredi’s solutions for Varma that facilitate the remote and team work of experts
Listen to Gredi’s Digismart Ecosystem audiobook, get it now for free here.
Now that work communities have disintegrated and employees have been forced to work remotely it is the right time to ensure that your employees have an easy access to your digital assets. Working from home is functional and efficient when the tools are in order, communication is working, and you have all the materials and information you need. At this point, a Digital Asset Management solution like Gredi Content HUB makes your life much easier.
Remote work is here to stay. Its popularity is undeniable. For example, according to the State of Remote Work Report, 99 % of respondents wanted to continue working remotely throughout their careers. And 95 % were willing to encourage others to work remotely.
In many areas, remote work is becoming a matter of course for workers. Offering possibilities for working from home is an asset for the recruiters and an expression of trust in employees, respectively. A responsible employer minimizes the travel needs of its staff. And ensures that the conditions for remote work are perfect for everyone.
Your potential talent pool will grow global if you can guarantee your experts access to your information regardless of time and place. For remote workers, the proximity of the head office does not matter if the information flows seamlessly. And the tools support communication in all forms.
DAM supports remote work
The Digital Asset Management cloud service is the place where your employees will find up-to-date data and where they are able to produce all materials according to brand guidelines independently. Sharing content, commenting and publishing materials is also effortless. Digital Asset Management supports version control of your remote workers’ files and prevents the spread of invalid material.
When you open the access to your Digital Asset Management solution to your partners they can download your material at the most convenient time they prefer. The content producers can transfer their materials directly to your service without unnecessary intermediaries. The work-in-progress will no longer be stuck in anyone’s email.
Integrate all your information sources into Gredi Content HUB. Your employees have a unified view of your digital assets and vital information. This speeds up and simplifies work.
Rationalization of work tasks and reduction of unnecessary routines, in combination of the positive responsibility of working remotely, improve the well-being of employees at work and their work ability.
With the Digital Asset Management solution, you will update your old ways of working and your workflow to be even more efficient. At the same time, you can automate your routines and eliminate unnecessary work. Some of the repetitive, manual work is handled by the artificial intelligence of the Digital Asset Management solution. You can also streamline your company’s remote work practices and polish up their reliability to the top.
The communication playing field has been highly fragmented in recent years. Emerging technologies have generated new channels and communication tools. The old media hang on and some still play a significant role. The abundance of valid options poses particular challenges for channel management and message adaptation to different formats. How do you manage the whole in the way that the requirements of comprehensive communication do not hugely inflate and unified brand management can still be possible?
In addition to communication tools and channels, brand management is also changing. To reach your customer, your brand message needs to be implemented in a number of media – the time for communication based on only one or two channels is over. In some communication channels, such as social media, complete control of the brand is impossible. As the customer has become an active player and content provider in social media channels, the authenticity and honesty of brand communication is emphasized.
The brand image is built on all the brand-related experiences and images the customer encounters over time. A mere well-thought visual look and marketing efforts that reinforce the brand image are no longer enough. The customer experience of the brand can become very different from what the owner of the product or service intended. As customers are able to communicate their experiences instantly and globally, brand management has become more and more reputation management.
People associated with the brand also influence the customer’s image. Every employee in your company represents your brand – voluntarily or involuntarily. Your resellers and their employees can be added to this reputation chain. And the service representatives associated with your product. Coordinating the image conveyed by these parties according to the values and goals of your brand places considerable demands on your brand management.
Digismart brand manager prepares for the future
Fortunately, technology offers good solutions. When every employee in a company is a potential brand ambassador, brand awareness and material with a unified look will spread to everyone on Digital Asset Management ecosystem platforms like Gredi Content HUB. Digital tools, artificial intelligence and automation significantly facilitate message targeting and customization. When used properly, they enable a new level of cost-effective personalization. Or create user-specific and even recipient-preferred content. Brand management routines are also speed up and number if errors is reduced when at least some of the tasks are delegated to the AI.
A strong and well-managed brand grows faster than its competitors. It is also an advantage in recruitment. Brand management is still basically about building a distinctive, memorable and well-known brand. The playing field though has expanded and become more complex. There is more to manage and control. By automating the basic routines of the digital asset management ecosystem, unifying operating models, and planning the path to competence development, you have already taken a big step toward smart digital brand management.
Check out the solutions that have revolutionized our customers’ brand management. Or contact our sales director Matti Tammisalo (tel. 050 583 8319, matti.tammisalo@gredi.fi) and you will learn more about our smart Digital Asset Management services.
Corona virus strikes hard in the operations of many companies but also opens up new opportunities to view the needs of customers in a completely new way. The virus crisis brings opportunities for actions that increase feelings of trust, responsibility and intimacy, the perhaps the most enduring dimensions of brand equity.
This can be a simple action. A month ago, my local convenience store installed a disinfectant device in the doorway. Shortly afterwards a sign appeared in which the first hours of the morning were reserved only for customers over the age of 70. Acts like this help build an emotional image that I found myself adopting to my own speech as well. I am no longer talking about a convenience store but my convenience store.
Utilizing the ecosystem
The virus is also a good magnifying glass that makes the importance of networks, partnerships, and ecosystems more evident.
In ecosystems companies, their partners and customers seek the value of collaboration. The collaboration does not target to quick wins but to fresh ideas, operating models and ultimately new products. This requires long-term interaction. The necessary requirement for its success is not pushing one’s own agenda but the skill of listening. A person remembers especially well when he or she has been heard. Therefore, the most important thing an ecosystem builder can do at the moment is to pick up the phone and ask the partner: How are you?
The math of marketing, now is the best time to share and tell
In the midst of the crisis, marketing is increasingly transformed into sharing and working together. These acts build lasting interactions both in personal lives and in customer relationships. Listen and help your partner and be flexible about your own needs where possible. Develop ideas on how to get out of the corona tunnel. Together.
Professor Janne Seppänen is one of Finland’s leading researchers in visual culture and media society. He trains journalists at the University of Tampere and writes the popular Mediayhteiskunta blog. In addition to his main job, he consults companies and public administration organizations on issues related to brand building. Seppänen is currently building a visual brand analysis tool based on, among other things, his own research.
Chargeable services have become common in several educational institutions. The demands of working life have changed, lifelong learning has become the basic premise and only a few workers are able to build their careers based on one single long-term education. Educational institutions have responded to this demand by, for example, arranging short, specific training to improve professional skills and developing the course offerings of the Open University of Applied Sciences and the University.
Educational institutions cooperate with businesses
Developing cooperation with businesses can be found on the agenda of the educational institutions that understand the big picture. On-the-job learning and internship periods in companies, as well as writing theses work for companies are well-established ways to cooperate in many training institutions. Economic cooperation such as sponsorships is still in the development stage in Finland. And quite tightly regulated if compared to, for example the U.S. practices. A lot is to be done in the systematic commercialization of research results.
For companies, cooperation with educational institutions provides ways for developing staff skills and business operations as well as creates channels for recruiting future experts.
In recent years measurement has gained ground in the world of education. University rankings have become a valuable benchmarking tool and a decision-making criterion. On the basis of rankings, strategic solutions are already being made and operations are being developed. A good ranking will increase the reputation of the university and attract talented researchers, teachers and students who will boost the educational organization for ever better success.
An educational institution can develop its reputation by improving its visibility. Digital Asset Management solutions facilitate ongoing communication and public relations practices and the institution’s reputation and brand management.
Internationality is considered one of the indicators of high quality education. If an educational institution has a lot of international cooperation and visibility in for example international publications its reputation and awareness will improve. When partnering with a company and doing international cooperation the educational institution opens a door for business where the business potential is often greater than on the educational side. Research cooperation with companies often receives greater visibility when the information is shared in multi-party networks. They also arouse interest in other companies and generate follow-up projects if the results are commercially exploitable.
E-learning environment
E-learning environments transfer teaching to a channel that is easily replicated and distributed. A single online course or series of lectures reaches a multiple number of participants compared to traditional classroom training. At the same time the institution will meet the demand of a 24/7 society for a service that is independent of time and place.
By eliminating repetitive routines of teaching, such as repeating lecture series, the teaching staff can focus on refining the quality and actuality of the content.
The backbone of an efficient e-learning environment is a Digital Asset Management system. It is the heart of the learning ecosystem and an efficient tool for information management, material production and distribution. The Digital Asset Management system ensures that the correct information is transmitted to the recipient without errors, in a timely manner and in the desired format and channel.
The expertise will be automatically distributed through digital channels to the recipients of your choice with the tools of Digital Asset Management preset publication times.
Digital Asset Management supports educational institutions
Digital Asset Management makes it easier to manage the visible image of an educational institution. Digital publishing tools help you target your communications to different target groups. At the same time, they measure the effectiveness of your message and provide information about internal workflows to support decision-making. Regular communication to an up-to-date target group and the development of communication based on analysis and customer feedback will make your institution work smarter.
Digital Asset Management supports your institution’s brand and visual image management with tools such as dynamic publishing templates. They allow your content-production experts to distribute brand-managed, unified material to different channels in a timely manner. Your international sales will be strengthened when you implement ready-made operating models for asset management, for example for the management and production of language versions.
Digital Asset Management enhances the internal and external flow of information in the educational institution. It connects units and breaks down barriers. A more open and unified flow of information also prevents duplication and unnecessary work – and saves working time.
One of the most persistent perceptions is that only images, graphics, logos, and fonts make the visual content of a brand. It is forgotten that the visuality of the brand extends deeper than these visible features on the surface. The visuality of the brand lies above all in the customer’s mind, in the emotional images to which the company and its products relate.
The key concept is emotional images. They are tools of the human mind combining emotions, thinking, and imagination. Emotional images are, as the word suggests, thoroughly visual.
So even spoken or written words turn visual. The phrase “Let’s meet at Stockmann Meeting Point” is not just words, but images that evoke in a person’s mind about an encounter in a certain place. A lot of positive meanings and feelings are summed up in the expression. Emotional images are an integral part of any company’s brand equity. Actually, they are the core.
There are two ways to access emotional images. With the often used market and customer research methods it is possible to examine the preferences of (potential) customers and the expectations related to the company and products. However, they make it difficult to reach the core of a brand’s emotional image which is often a crucial factor in the brand’s success.
Analyzing a visual brand requires knowledge of how people form common meanings and feelings in culture and society. Visual brand analysis is the perception and verbalization of these meanings.
Nokia visual brand as an example
Nokia brand is an excellent example of how visual emotions are based on the core meanings shared by people.
“Connecting People” was not created on the basis of the information provided by the market research. The slogan was born as a result of a competition organized by the company for its staff. In this way, the brand formed a close connection with exactly what the entire staff of the company felt they were doing. They built technology that allowed people to be better connected to each other. The idea of connecting with people is a very strong emotional image that easily became the mission of the entire Nokia staff.
Above all, the slogan hit the heart of customers’ emotional images. It is difficult to come up with other thing as strong in human life and evoking visual emotions as connecting, being together, meeting and interacting. The need to be together is rooted in every person’s genes and that is exactly the spot where the Nokia brand hit. Probably everyone who got their first mobile phone experienced emotional images of where to call their loved ones. Nokia campaigns included a variety of images and visual solutions. But just two words were enough to communicate the company’s actual visual brand.
Strong mission for the entire staff
The Nokia brand was able to evoke emotional images that spearheaded the product marketing. And at the same time built a strong mission for the entire staff. The substance of the company operations and marketing met. And reinforced each other at the core of the brand with excellent effectiveness.
Nokia’s current presence shows that even the strongest brand cannot withstand failure to develop the actual product. Inheriting this, the key brand challenge for the new Nokia is how to catch up with new kinds of emotional images.
Professor Janne Seppänen is one of Finland’s leading researchers in visual culture and media society. He trains journalists at the University of Tampere and writes the popular Mediayhteiskunta blog. In addition to his main job, he consults companies and public administration organizations on issues related to brand building. Seppänen is currently building a visual brand analysis tool based on, among other things, his own research.
In his blog Antti Tanaka, Director of Omnicommerce Development at Stockmann, discusses the company’s understanding of digital processes and how the new customer information generated by those processes impacts customer service. How to strive digitalization to generate more satisfied customers?
“Digitalization means making the WHOLE company digital,” Antti Tanaka begins. “Digitalization is not just what an ICT director does. It cannot be a separate operation. From the management team onwards, it is everyone’s responsibility to think how to utilize digitalization in their own work.”
“I will give an example from car retail business: when the Internet came, the customer was able to find a lot of information online in advance and select the car even before entering the car dealership! Therefore, car dealers have to get involved in online discussions and thus influence the purchase decision. Digitalization, e-shops and social media have brought great challenges and opportunities to this business,” describes Antti Tanaka.
Draw the processes from start to finish
Antti Tanaka advises that before digitizing the process, it is worth visually drawing business and customer processes in detail, from start to finish. “When the process is drawn in detail there often appears new, more sensible ways to run. After that the process can be automated and optimized.”
Once processes are drawn, digitized and integrated into company systems and to external partner systems, the information generated by the processes can be measured and the service improved. “Don’t leave data in separate silos such as a purchasing systems or CRM, because they can’t be measured together when in silos.”
“Earlier, the first data item from the customer to the company was a purchase receipt. Now we know about the customer even before the purchase decision, things that help us serve the customer better. It’s a different thing what a customer looks and tries than what the customer buys! For example, in terms of total sales, it makes sense to keep the most expensive product on offer, even if it doesn’t sell brilliantly, and make the sales of mid-priced products grow brilliantly,” says Antti Tanaka. “In addition to processes, the psychology of sales must be considered.”
“We know the customer’s purchase history. When we add their interests to that we know how to offer the customer what he wants and needs, such as more sustainable and responsible products. Our salespeople also know how to serve better with the help of this customer information.”
“Gredi service brings security and transparency to our processes and facilitates a wide range of daily activities.”
Stockmann’s brand and Digital Asset Management service by Gredi incorporates information and brand materials, such as brand guidelines and logos. There you will find catalogs of the legendary Hullu Päivät – sales campaign, mood images of private label brand Stockmann Casa’s products, videos from marketing campaigns as well as product images. There are brand marketing materials that are used in targeted campaigns for loyal customers and other target groups.
“The benefits are huge. Gredi service has brought us transparency between marketing and purchasing activities and made it easier to run marketing activities. The process starts in Gredi system. The process makes it easier to do a variety of things when you don’t need numerous internal meetings to find out the necessary things. We no longer need to email materials as attachments when working with Gredi system. The larger attachments don’t get stuck in the firewalls of advertising agencies and other partners anymore,” says Antti Tanaka.
The Stockmann service created by Gredi has more than 200 users and several user groups. In addition to its own users, there are advertising agencies and other external parties using the same service.
“We operate in the Baltics in addition to Finland and the people of the Baltics also have well-functioning real time access to the materials.”
Customer service will be jointly improved in the new digital ecosystem
“As a company, Gredi has been very open from the beginning and has shown with tangible examples what Gredi’s service is able to do at different stages of our business processes. Gredi provides good references from many customers and different industries.”
Antti Tanaka also appreciates the reporting and analytics of Gredi brand and asset management service. “As an admin it’s easy for me to keep track of which brand and campaign materials should be promoted and which ones should be added.”
What is the role of Gredi service in Stockmann’s ecosystem? “To put it simply, it is the messenger from one system or person to another. It also brings security. We can trust that the information moves forward in the process. From a technical point of view, it makes sense that Gredi’s SaaS service operates in open environment.”
In business, product turnover is essential, and another key thing is product availability. “We have our own media such as our online store and our physical shops, and other media that is bought. In our online store the customer searches for products through categories or by inspiration, and we provide product recommendations. In our physical shops, the amount of information and supply of goods to the customer is huge, and the role of the salesperson is to help the customer make good purchasing decisions.”
Antti Tanaka has held management positions in digitalization for decades, at Verkkokauppa.com and other companies. Today he is responsible for Stockmann’s multi-channel business development as Omnicommerce Development Director.
Artificial intelligence and human thinking are a winning combination. When artificial intelligence performs routines, the brain gets more space for thinking, creativity and better interaction. “Artificial intelligence can overcome the bottlenecks in human cognitive functions,” says neuroscientist Kiti Müller.
Artificial intelligence is doing more and more human tasks. This is good because in many ways AI is faster, more accurate, and more reliable than people. It learns from examples and is tireless. On the other hand, it is sometimes feared. It is a common conception that increased use of technology and applications confuse and stress people. However, when used properly artificial intelligence is the best companion for people as it helps brain work and acts as an external aid to memory.
“Utilizing artificial intelligence and digital devices works best when people have a sufficient theoretical knowledge on issues that artificial intelligence is solving. The way you input keywords in a search engine, for example, is a skill in itself,” says Kiti Müller, a neurologist and neuroscientist at Nokia Bell Labs.
Müller gives a hypothetical example. A medical student has access to a smart device application that designs the patient’s clinical research. The application tells you what to do in the research: now you should examine the brain nerves, now listen to the heart beats, and then to measure the blood pressure. At the same time, the application informs you of the possible causes behind high blood pressure or extra heart beats and guides your research forward. Artificial intelligence remembers thousands of patient reports and articles on the subject and helps doctors make the most accurate diagnosis possible.
“With this application, the doctor can focus on clinical examination and interaction with the patient when the memory is not constantly filled with what to do next or what all this data means.”
Human memory has many forms. There are working and storage memories, such as long-term memory, and emotional and event memory. People operate with their working memory.
“The working memory is the here-and-now memory. It collects observations and at the same time retrieves relevant information based on past experience and knowledge from its cache memory. When the working memory is focused on the present situation, one cannot perceive, remember and process all that is relevant. Artificial intelligence helps to prevent working memory overloads”.
When the brain is overloaded, physiological changes occur in the human body; such as degradation in immune system and changes in sugar metabolism, and in the worst case a total collapse. On the other hand, if the brain is doing well there is a good chance that the whole person is doing well.
Müller has often said that work should be developed to be more human-friendly. In practice, this means minimizing routines, for example.
“If formal routines are assigned to artificial intelligence, we will have more time to think. You need to take notes at the meeting, but if you had an artificial intelligence assistant that would take the notes and an application that would make sure everything was documented, it would really unleash people to do real thinking,” Kiti Müller illustrates.
According to Müller, artificial intelligence could in the future help people’s well-being in a comprehensive way. “It would be great to have an application that tells you that your attentiveness and both physical and mental resources are at limits. ‘Now it is time to take a break.’ It could prevent mental exhaustion which often takes days to recover. Of course, it would require that people had previously been willing to share their physiological data both in stress and in sleep. People are different, someone could need a break every two hours, another one every four hours.”
Artificial intelligence is already ahead of us in many ways. There is an algorithm that recognizes art reproductions better than art experts. Another algorithm predicts dementia two years ahead of the first symptoms. Is it now the time for AI to do all the brain work? “There are many tasks that will not disappear. I hope that the use of AI would result in less hectic work. A big part of the experts’ time goes into routines. Automation enables you to create something new and think about new solutions. If people had more time, it would also improve well-being at work,” says Müller.
Gredi’s Artificial Intelligence solutions make life easier for the customer
Artificial intelligence is a standard feature of Gredi Content HUB. It speeds up daily routines and saves customers time. For example, it can analyze the audio track in a video and what is said on the audio track is stored in Content HUB metadata as text. The text is then automatically indexed by AI and can be found in the search results. Different content is easy to find when all data is indexed.
“The other great thing is that artificial intelligence can analyze the image of a handwritten meeting memo and the contents of the memo can be found on Gredi’s service,” says Gredi’s CEO Risto Pasanen.
Gredi’s strength is that platforms of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies, such as Google and IBM, can be integrated into the Gredi ecosystem. “Our customers are implementing artificial intelligence in small steps. We are currently involved in a project to train AI to become even more intelligent through machine learning.”
Ask more from Risto:
Risto Pasanen, President and CEO, tel. +358 40 849 2620, risto.pasanen@gredi.fi
The marketing and brand management ecosystem should be based on a digital platform that allows information management in an open, smooth and secure manner. A digital asset management hub combines information from different sources. The valuable digital assets created in the ecosystem are accessible to everyone, anytime and anywhere.
It is worthwhile to invest some time in the design of the marketing and brand management ecosystem. A well thought out process and operating models will facilitate the development of common practices. It is advisable to think carefully about the composition of your network, so that you have all the necessary, mutually supportive parties involved. A network lacking relevant skills and resources is not functioning effectively.
An efficient ecosystem requires a digital platform to meet marketing needs. Digital brand and asset management solution can be built to be a hub that moves not only marketing materials, images, videos and templates, but also all the background information needed for marketing and branding. For example, customer information is useful in target group segmentations and in personalized marketing. The price and product information integrated in the hub can be used by sales, resellers and end users.
Fine tune marketing process
Once the basic building blocks are in place you can focus on fine tuning your marketing process:
1. Start by listing your target groups and customers. Take into consideration what your entire ecosystem has to offer and select the channels where you will best reach your customers. You can also share your digital platform to your customers and collect feedback, for example, directly on your platform.
2. Next, focus on what you communicate. Describe and list all the messages and content that flow through your hub to the selected channels. List the materials, product templates, images and texts you need to create your message. Design your message in a way that the core message stays unchanged and the visual look is recognizable regardless of the channel.
3. Make everybody accountable. List the people needed to produce the contents. Define responsibilities for each role clearly and at what point in the process each one steps in.
4. Collect background information required for content production. Check that your hub contains up-to-date specifications for materials and product templates for different publishing channels. Update them when needed. Collate up-to-date product information and images.
5. Do smart personalization. A carefully built digital platform enables accurate and high level message personalization. Depending on the quality of your CRM data, you can target your messages very precisely based on your customer’s purchase history. Utilize this information when upselling additional services or products, for example. Take particular care not to overload your customer with messages about products he has already purchased.
6. Open your marketing playing field to other participants. Make sure the common rules of the game are known to everyone and frequently remind them in the early stages. For example, it is worth having consistent commenting and discussion practices. You are likely to encounter resistance to change, especially at the beginning. Be prepared to justify the benefits of your platform many times over.
7. Integrate your marketing automation to your channels. Start content production and automate the look and feel of your materials in your content hub. Content management solution will generate suitable versions of your materials to the selected channels and publish them scheduled the way you have defined.
8. Measure and learn from the results. Keep track of your messages and performance, such as newsletter open rates and clicks. Make sure your customer’s journey is carefully monitored and supported until the purchase decision – through a landing page on the web and timely contact with the sales rep, to give an example. Request feedback from all parties, share it immediately in the ecosystem, and leverage the information you collect to improve your service delivery.
In digitalization, new agile players rule the game compared to their traditional competitors. Digital platform economy and ecosystem thinking are taking over the market. Many start-ups that started the disruption in their markets, such as Amazon or Airbnb, have rapidly grown to become major players in their industries. Businesses based on traditional value chains are suffering while competitors’ ecosystem value chains multiply their business opportunities.
The digital ecosystem is changing the revenue logic. The value is no longer generated in the traditional production pipeline from producer to the end user. In an ecosystem value chain earnings are growing simultaneously, in many places and in many different ways. Platforms extend the business network and offer more opportunities than traditional channels – and as things get complicated, also challenges that are not solved by traditional means.
Ecosystems bring together a wide variety of players, activities, services and products. At its best this multidisciplinary network responds quickly to customer needs and creates new offerings by combining its network expertise in an innovative way. A functional digital ecosystem benefits all its members, and in the best case it incorporates end-users that are actively involved in the development of products and services.
In addition to money, the network creates information and other immaterial assets that are relevant to the business. The ecosystem needs a digital platform to ensure that network diversity does not end in chaos. It supports the flow of internal and external information, data, content and messages within the network. A high-quality, responsive digital platform guides its users to the best practices and leverages the valuable knowledge of its members to others.
Generate value and increase productivity
The ecosystem is built on mutual trust. The more openly the members share their resources and business data, the more efficient and productive the ecosystem will be. For example, by sharing their cost structures and processes network members can search for the most efficient and economical players among them. There is a big shift in thinking: in an ecosystem model, it is sometimes worthwhile to share traditional trade secrets in order to make the most out of them.
Value is not generated in the same way in all ecosystems. The steps in the traditional value chain can be completely bypassed and unnecessary middlemen removed. The success of a single player brings benefits to everyone in the network. Productivity increases when the whole network creates value in addition to the value generated by individual businesses.
Groups of small players can challenge big players and succeed with agility and innovation. As value chains crumble the disruption opens up opportunities to challenge the whole production chain. For example, Amazon revolutionized book sales and dictated new terms for the distribution business. The company has since expanded to other areas of e-commerce where delivery speed and reliability are important.
The digital ecosystem creates new business opportunities but requires a reliable and sustainable digital growth platform that enables value creation for the benefit of all the members in the network.
The EU Data Protection Regulation has come into effect on May 25, 2018, and raises strong feelings in marketing and communications management. You still remember the flood of ”If you want to receive our newsletter in the future” -emails in your mailbox? The first GDPR legal cases have already been in court in Sweden. The Finnish IT-magazine TiVi reports that the defendants include two healthcare companies, 13 non-profit associations, three public sector transport companies, five teleoperators, three banks and 35 government organizations. GDPR commitment is not to be taken lightly.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is applied in all EU member countries. The goal is to harmonize data protection rules in terms of personal data and to develop EU’s internal digital market. GDPR strengthens individuals’ rights when collecting and processing personal data. Digital asset management needs to be even more carefully designed, since practically all companies handle personal data in various digital assets.
GDPR, laws and regulations
The GDPR applies to all companies in which personal data are processed, whether the company is in the consumer or B2B market. In principle, the company as a data controller is also a data processor. Data can also be processed by external parties, for example in cloud services.
Generally, all physical or digital formats in which personal data are stored and processed are classified as personal records. The data controller is obliged to inform the registered person not only of his rights, but also of the processing of personal data.
Such personal data processing rules include, for example, retention periods for documents containing personal data. Some documents must be kept for a certain period of time, and some of the material may not be stored after a specified period. These kind of rules are not only in the GDPR, but in the laws concerning employment contracts, accounting and privacy. Some regulations are based on recommendations.
Consent and rights to protect your personal data
Companies should protect personal data with different access rights and different roles. With GDPR, the company must be able to demonstrate that the processing of personal data is subject to the consent of the registered person. It must also be possible to withdraw consent easily. For this reason, for example, you can cancel a newsletter subscription with one click.
Quick checklist for the best practice for GDPR compliance
Train your personnel to GDPR
Prepare the processes to fulfill the GDPR obligations for reporting
Update your privacy notices
Establish processes for the individual information requests related to the personal data
Inform your personnel about the crisis communication plan – what to do if a security breach occurs
The biggest change to previous data protection legislation is the obligation to demonstrate. It is no longer enough for a company or organization to comply with data protection legislation, but it must also be able to demonstrate it. This can be done through various documents on data protection and the processing of personal data, such as a privacy notice and data security guidelines.
The registered person has the right to request access to and rectification or erasure of personal data. The controller should be obliged to respond to requests within one month.
The company personnel needs to be trained and educated in these kind of requirements, so that everybody knows how to act.
What if the crisis strikes?
Communication professionals working in listed companies know that stock exchange announcements have their own regulations. The accuracy, uniformity and timeliness of information sharing are essential. According to the GDPR, every company has an obligation to report breaches to the data protection authority within 72 hours.
Good crisis communication is, for example, the CEO of a company stepping forward in the media right away and telling what has happened. And also what actions have been taken and what is the plan forward.
It is a serious issue of brand management and the entire business of the company. The reputation of the company is endangered, and serious costs issues are also involved.
The data protection authority can impose sanctions on companies, up to 20 MEUR or 4% of the company’s turnover, whichever is greater.
Pay attention to GDPR in your ecosystem
In addition to your own company, your affiliate network should work under the GDPR when doing business in the EU. GDPR needs to be considered when integrating systems, and for example, when using marketing and sales automation systems.
Gredi stores it’s customers’ digital assets in a 100% secure way in Finland, in the data centers of DataCenter Finland.
We will guide you how the digital assets can be processed and shared through the Gredi Content Hub securely and in compliance with the GDPR. With Gredi Content Hub, you can store, manage, find, archive and control versions. You can also comment, personalize and approve, as well as share and publish information.
We will guide you through best practices and give effective tools and know-how to bring you all the information you need with the GDPR in mind. We will tell you how to automate data processing in a secure way, and how to make data sharing easier. We are here to help you with experience and enthusiasm. Contact us by email myynti@gredi.fi or call +358 10 778 7100.
Your digital assets are not productive if they are just left to your company’s hard drives. You may invest large sums to acquire new information, but no one cares about the usability of existing information. Have you already identified the strengths and weaknesses of your organization’s asset management?
The users do not always know if your company already has the information they need. If finding or browsing information is difficult, the information will never find its way to the user. Then the euro you invested in the information will not produce the desired results. Information often requires refining and combining to generate useful business information. Even if the users find the information, combining fragmented data can take so much time that the job never gets done.
The purpose of information management is to make your digital assets securely available for everyone and to facilitate the use of information. It also enables you to store, manage, archive, and easily find the information you create.
With Digital Asset Management you can control your expenditure, increase productivity and avoid pitfalls, such as:
It takes a lot of time to find information. The information is scattered in many places and it is difficult to be retrieved. Metadata and classification are inadequate, and search tools do not serve users’ needs.
Digital Asset Management does not serve everyone. The system is either not in use, there is no up-to-date or frequently used information stored there, or the user’s asset management skills are inadequate.
The information is scattered in non-integrated systems. Product information is in one system, brand information in another, and customer information in a third. Compiling the required data set may require a lot of manual work if the systems do not automatically discuss with each other.
The material is disappearing. If the files are only stored on a hard drive, users may move or accidentally destroy important data. Restoring information or finding original sources take time from more valuable tasks.
Information management is in silos. Business units or individual people produce information for their own needs, but do not share or communicate about the information to others. Overlapping work is a waste of productivity.
Information is not readily available when needed. Information is not published for those who need it, and time is spent searching for material and looking for the right people in charge. In addition, more attention needs to be paid to the data storage so that all security-related and access-related issues are considered in order to increase the value of digital assets.
When you want to increase the productivity of your digital assets, you need operating models, tools and know-how to bring information to everyone, automate data processing processes, and facilitate data sharing.
Gredi will be happy to help you with these issues, so please do not hesitate to contact us immediately at myynti@gredi.fi or tel. +358 10 7787100.
In his vastly successful ”Sales Rebellion” seminar and the book with the same name, Mika D. Rubanovitsch asks if the machine will replace human sales people? Masterfully, Ruba guides sales and marketing decision-makers to the digital world and answers the question. Our answer at Gredi: The machine will not replace great people in sales or marketing. Instead, the machine helps people do their work more efficiently, better, faster and more safely. Also, add multiplied results. Let’s give you a few examples.
How is it done?
You can simplify your marketing by contacting Gredi. We will show you how to simplify your marketing with digital asset management. The most powerful tool for digital asset management is Gredi Content Hub. It provides smooth brand management, smart digital asset and product information management, and intelligent archiving. It helps you automate marketing processes and utilize artificial intelligence.
Example 1: Save hundreds of thousands of euros
An international company has subsidiaries in 30 countries and uses the whole range of marketing arsenal. The social media channels are in active use in 12 languages. The budget for ad agencies is in millions and the company is launching 300 marketing campaigns in a year.
With Gredi’s Digital Asset Management, the company’s cost savings are 660,000 euros in a year. Artificial intelligence and automation take care of routine tasks. For example, when adding a picture or video to digismart Gredi Content Hub, the service automatically creates metadata and product information from the image data using AI-based image recognition technology. Next, the service automatically indexes the search terms and attaches them as identification data of the digital asset. No more misspellings, no more routine work. When creating the published versions, the quality of the material is superb, thanks to dynamic templates that prevent the misuse of logos, colours, fonts and other brand elements. The brand image will be consistent in Europe, Asia and America. A digismart enterprise can make changes in real time, 24/7, and overnight.
Example 2: Prevent irreparable loss of data
A Finnish growth company has a challenging position in the market and tough growth goals. The company decided to invest in marketing. The marketing people travelled around Finland in order to photograph hundreds of marketed properties. Thousands of kilometers and dozens of hotel nights later the material and image archive was complete.
Then, the server crashed. All valuable material were lost and the work had to be started over from scratch. This time it was done in the digismart way. First, Gredi Content Hub was brought into play. Subsequently, the sites were photographed again and the material was re-produced. All digital assets are now stored safely. Images, logos, texts, videos and other content are easily put in brochures, announcements, and banners using Gredi’s dynamic publishing templates. The company saves all its ad agency costs. And the marketing people can sleep well.
Example 3: This makes your work easier and more fun
Did you lose your pleasure of work the last time you were frantically looking for the videos and pictures needed for the campaign, from a network drive, laptop, memory stick, smartphone and co-workers? And didn’t find them. You can feel the panic creeping in. A deadline is a deadline, and all the versions of the campaign material for different media as well as social media postings need to be fixed.
With Gredi Content Hub you would be ready already. Content Hub also keeps your digital assets (videos, images, ads, and a variety of promotional materials) safe. The material can be found in one place for your employees, network, resellers, and advertising agency partners 24/7, just by using Gredi Content Hub. Easily, quickly and in exactly the right format for different media. The brand management is guaranteed.
Want to try it yourself?
Trial use is now easy, as we at Gredi will give 100% satisfaction guarantee. We have great customers who are already working in the digismart way. Read more about real-life successes: www.gredi.fi/customers
Do you want to see how Gredi’s simple but brilliant digital asset management works? After a demonstration, you’ll realize immediately why we are so excited. Simplify marketing, multiply the joy of work.
Deep Learning, Neural Networks, Artificial Intelligence, AI. AI is an emerging, fast-evolving field in almost all industries and all businesses. Artificial Intelligence is here to stay, and it speeds up the use of a wide range of consumer, business and public sector information services.
You might not even notice that you are served by artificial intelligence. AI travels through gigabytes of data in seconds, it can see your footprint on the services you use with smartphones and computers, and it is able to suggest just the right deals and offers for you. AI is constantly learning more and more, and it is never overwhelmed by huge, ever-increasing amounts of information. On the contrary, it works even more efficiently. That is why it is an extremely powerful tool for marketing and sales.
Successful companies have already noticed that AI is very powerful especially when combined with the traditional human intelligence and social interactions guided by human emotional intelligence. Still, artificial intelligence is often described as future technology. Why? It is already commonplace in many services such as Gredi Digital Asset Management. In the beginning we use that traditional human intelligence and create a common operating model with our customers. Our professionals’ expertise and experience from different customer sectors will always benefit our new customers. We also learn more with our customers.
Metadata improves usability and quality
Everyone talks about metadata, but what is it and what is it’s significance in managing digital assets. Metadata, or additional information or descriptive information, is information about information or abstract information about a file or content. Metadata creates the basis for searching and utilizing data. A prerequisite for well-functioning asset management is a sufficiently detailed and relevant metadata attached to the digital assets.
One of the most profit generating and, therefore, the most important content type for customers is an image in different formats: product picture, advertising image, personal photo, product video, corporate video or other visual material. The images and videos are often utilized in full potential in marketing and communication. The desired goal is to make images easy to find, process and publish on multiple channels.
The metadata attached to the images significantly improves the usability of the data management service and increases the value of the company’s digital material. In theory, there can be an unlimited amount of metadata. The real challenge is to take the time and resources to add metadata – if there is no AI to be utilized.
AI Image Recognition automatically creates metadata
Storing and finding images is now much easier, facilitated by the AI inside the Gredi Content Hub. When you add an image to the service, the service automatically creates metadata (such as search terms) using image-recognition technology based on artificial intelligence, and adds the metadata as image identification information and search words.
The metadata and the details created by AI can be controlled by the desired criteria. Metadata can be created in multiple language versions, and the text can also be recognized directly from the image. It is recommended to test and validate the level of detail on a case-by-case basis.
Combining artificial intelligence and human intelligence includes many benefits
Thanks to the Gredi AI, marketing professionals can leave routine work on the system, and focus themselves on other important tasks. It is very practical, profitable and rewarding when you have an intelligent tool that simplifies routines and helps you manage information. Our customers say
that with Gredi, they have learned to manage digital assets easier, faster and with better quality. For example, AI detects errors improving quality management immediately.
Our customers especially like Gredi’s service orientation and that we come to the customer site to help. It is also very important for our customers that all of their digital assets are stored securely in EU/Finland.
Gredi Content Hub introduces AI to improve your business
Gredi introduced the use of artificial intelligence-based image recognition technology in its digital asset management service and validated its performance. The results have been excellent and the new feature was introduced to the Gredi customers in April 2018.
Do you want to know more and see how Gredi’s image recognition service works? Contact us and we will give you a demonstration.
Marketing and communication today is more targeted, automated and multi-channel than ever. Brand automation, marketing automation, digital analytics and latest technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) already allow automatic identification of the material, micro-level personalization and targeting to the desired person. Always at the right time, with the right content and the right channel. Locally, globally and on a 24/7 basis.
Digital asset management systems have responded well to this modern marketing demand. Marketing and communications materials and value-added information (metadata and product information) remain in good order and can be easily found, shared and published on a multichannel basis. In digital asset management systems, commenting on visual materials, automated workflows, and project management features have made it possible to work efficiently and enabled the use of workflows. Integrations (input & output) to the required systems are available and easy to use.
However, the challenge remains how to dynamically manage marketing content when it needs to be edited in real time, regardless of location and time, and in multiple channels simultaneously. Or how to make sure that all marketing communication is always in line with the brand image, with more and more parties involved – partners, customers, retailers and people in your organization around the world. And most of all, how to make all this cost-effective, easy and controlled.
In addition to traditional asset management, Gredi Content Hub is a dynamic management solution for marketing content. Images, videos, texts, product information, different files and formats will become ready-to-use channel-specific content as they are edited in the creative process according to customers’ brand strategy and published in different channels. Traditionally, this process has been controlled by marketing communications partners, digital agencies and specialists of different channels, in addition to the customer’s own organization. The process itself works but has too many phases and often takes too much time and is expensive.
Gredi Content Hub is a smart digital marketing solution for marketing and communications when
Time-to-market requirement is immediate
Activities need to be implemented in multiple locations in real-time
Content must be both tailor-made and according to brand guidelines
There are many different stakeholders involved in content production and publishing
It requires publishing in several channels at the same time
The targets must be measured on a monthly basis?
Access rights need to be up-to-date?
Managing the whole process is important and you want to avoid duplicate work
No marketing or communication model, tool or system alone will make you happy. When a company wants to succeed in marketing and communication and best serve its customer, it is necessary to have the ability to manage and combine creative content in different channels, services, systems and meeting points. Agreed practices already at the beginning of the content generation process are crucial. Different systems include marketing automation software, web pages, PIM system and content publishing systems. And above all a highly integrated dynamic content management system Gredi Content Hub.
Marketing automation and efficient brand management increase the return on the euro invested in marketing and sales. It also helps your company to serve your customers with higher quality, faster, and in a more personalized way.
Automation first brings to mind the digitalization of an existing job. We at Gredi see that, in addition to making routines easier, automation opens up new opportunities. Here are some thoughts on how to make your own business more effective with marketing automation.
Marketing automation – the benefits:
Save time and money. Automate tedious routines and focus on creating new impactful content.
Shorten your campaign planning time. Automatic versioning and campaign templates save time in content production. Automatic publishing to different channels will speed up campaign launch.
Measure and improve the effectiveness of your campaigns. For example, tracking and analyzing newsletters provide information about products and topics that interest your customers. Compare the performance of content versions with automatic reporting and get ideas for further development of your campaigns. And when you publish in many channels, you will reach your customers better.
Comprehensively follow all steps of content production. When material is uploaded in one system and commented there, you will have better overall picture of your campaigns. By using campaign planning templates, there is a clear place and time for each part of the campaign.
Create roles. Distribute material based on user roles to partners, customers and your company’s employees. With the system, you ensure that the user rights and publication schedules are automatically set to run correctly from one campaign to another.
Integrate. Data is automatically updated between background systems. When you work on campaign material, up-to-date product and customer information is available. Your customers will always see the latest product information on your website and on your online store when the information is updated automatically.
Duplicate the best campaign templates. You can instantly copy the campaign template to be used as a base of a new campaign. You can take advantage of existing workflows and ensure that all the necessary pieces are in place.
Reduce errors. Dynamic templates will ensure that, for example, product brochures or print ads are created in exactly the right format.
Marketing automation is an effective way to add traffic and attract interest to your services. It also improves your brand consistency and timeliness and speeds up your communication.
Business is easily siloed between different business units, information systems, and even individual experts. Integration of information systems helps to overcome these barriers. The value of the information also increases when it is properly combined.
Online sales will increase when product descriptions are up to date. The value of the shopping cart will increase when you can recommend additional services to your customer based on their previous purchase history. And the loyal user base is more satisfied when it receives information about their favorite brand through social media.
We listed six suggestions related to the integration of your information systems that will add value to your digital assets.
Information Systems Integration:
Create a holistic view. The information in non-integrated systems or files is not as productive as it could be. If you need to collect data from many sources, the job is easily neglected, or at best the results are outdated quickly. By using digital asset management solution and platform, you can automatically import comprehensive product and customer information. You will see the big picture at one glance. You can create messages that provide information and sell your products well.
Display the information. Encrypted product information sells poorly. Make sure that the information you create in the digital asset management solution reaches your customers immediately. Use automated workflows to publish data from multiple systems directly to a website or in your online store.
Combine. Comprehensive information is more valuable than fragmented details. Ask your customers what information they need to support their decision-making. Make a plan on which information integration will improve the customer experience and increase your sales the most.
Decentralize work, gather results. Build tools for your content management network to deliver material quickly, in the right format, and in the right place. Let the system take care of automatic editing and classification of the material. Centralize the material you gather on a digital asset management platform where your sales, marketing, and product management users can easily create campaigns and other messages to your customers.
Make sure the information is up to date. Synchronize data between systems in real time. Avoid versioning information on different systems.
Develop communication with your partners and business units. Provide comprehensive answers to your customers. Collect information from different business units, systems, and partners. When you work on behalf of your customers, you make it easier for them to make decisions and lower the threshold for buying.
More customers will make their purchasing decisions long before you have the chance to talk to them. Integrate the information lying in various systems to provide your customers with the information and experience they need to make decisions without face-to-face meetings.
Your company needs help with automating marketing and managing digital assets. Does it mean that you should be expecting a months long IT project? The outcome of which will depend on a thousand variables, including the position of the stars?
More than 10 years ago, digital asset management would most likely have meant launching an IT project, writing technical specifications, testing, and fixing system errors. Overall, secondary work for your organization.
Luckily, there is a faster way today. You can deploy a new digital asset management solution within hours. And without any IT specific tasks.
You can model processes and test basic routines right away, minimizing all risks. You can fine-tune your processes and setup integrations in just a few hours and eventually introduce your users a ready-to-use package during the same week. Nothing like a traditional IT system project.
You can focus your resources on motivating your organization and developing content. By providing your users with highly developed and tested workflows, you can avoid unnecessary technical discussion and get the most from your investment. *
Let’s compare the traditional project-driven and modern cloud service model.
Traditional IT Project
Cloud Service
“The IT department must first evaluate whether we can use this technology.”
“The technology is not an obstacle or limitation when the application works with a browser.”
“We need to get the hardware first and agree on support responsibilities.”
“Let’s start using this! Right now!”
“We need to have a meeting and define what features we need.”
“Here are the workflows proven to be effective. Choose the best ones for you. ”
“Our development roadmap has other projects before that. Our IT resources are tied to them. ”
“ Yes! Deployment does not require IT department resources. ”
“The functionality and usability of the system can only be seen after the software is customized and deployed, and the users trained.”
“After one hour introduction, any user can try their own workflow in the right environment with the real system.”
The cloud based solution is the right one when you want to develop your marketing and content management without technical IT talks.
The company’s digital asset management solution as well as the way company operates it, has a significant impact on the efficiency of its marketing. There are five steps on the way to a smart digital operating model that takes the best out of digitalization. Read the following to see if there are efficiencies to be gained on your own development path. If so, we’ll be happy to help you.
These five steps of digital intelligence guide your business towards the goal of a constantly evolving business model:
LEVEL 1: No operating model Each project and campaign are launched from scratch. The graphical guideline guides the operation and the consistency of assets with the corporate identity is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Communication is based on email, ad hoc project organizations and ad hoc goals. The material and all of its versions are stored on the network drives.
LEVEL 2: Rules of the game Projects have a foreseeable schedule with clear monitoring points. Content producers know the goals and requirements of their work. All versions of marketing, product management, and communications material are done manually and case-by-case.
LEVEL 3: Standardized asset management There is a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution that supports working. It is used for version control and material distribution. Some of the basic campaign and communication tasks are automated. There are clear guidelines for the product descriptions, according to which the products are at least generally described.
LEVEL 4: Standardized operating models In addition to Digital Asset Management (DAM), there is a clear format for operation. This means that content production approval points, goals, and technical requirements are clearly set and communicated. Brand materials are centrally managed and most of the data can be generated and managed automatically. Publication, for example, in social media channels is also automated and takes place directly from the digital asset management solution.
LEVEL 5: Continuously evolving Every project and campaign further improve the operating model. Each participant can intervene in faults and poorly functioning parts of the process. The results of each project are compared with previous performances. Productivity is measured, and its improvement is proven.Five steps of digital intelligence.
Gredi is an expert in digital marketing and digital asset management, helping in all these levels. Gredi’s digital asset management solution is tailored to the needs of companies at different levels, whether the need is material / content / image bank, product information management (PIM) solution, e-commerce solution, multi-channel publishing, web-to-print, web-to-web, or intelligent archiving.
Even the best expert is not able to monitor communication on all channels in real time. Instead, he needs an overall picture of ongoing campaigns and requirements for future operations. With good tools, your content manager leads content producers, other partners, and marketing and communication channels like the captain conns the ship.
Prerequisites for digismart marketing
1. Operating model Cost-effective use of digital assets and value addition (Digital Asset Management, DAM) require you to measure and capitalize on branding, product marketing material, product information management (PIM), communications, and intelligent workflows. Multichannel environment requires continuous versioning of the material and control over the marketing activity chain. The material and its value-added data (metadata) have publishing and expiration dates, which you need to manage with the right operating model.
2. Tools You will need digital, modular and customizable tools to take strict control of your digital assets. With the right tools, you manage your brand image, product information, and the requirements of the publishing channels. You control the work of your team, regardless whether the supply chain consists of your own business units or subsidiaries, or external service providers. For example, a right tool is one centralized material bank that makes content management effective.
3. Know-how The technical requirements of various channels require you to properly communicate to the producers of the digital information. You may not be able to acquire special expertise from all areas to your organization, but instead you need proven and standardized operating models and ways to communicate and monitor their requirements.
In addition to these basic prerequisites, you will get good practical tips on all the possibilities to get the most out of digital marketing and business.
1. How do I make my brand appear correctly in the media?
You centralize all your images, logos and other branding material in one digital asset management service and provide media representatives easy access to download the material from your website. You can forget emailing the material and there is no hassle with the user IDs.
2. How do I make sure that my reseller uses my branded sales materials?
You centralize all your marketing and sales materials in one digital asset management solution. When you import and update all the materials there, you know that the right materials are also available for your dealer network.
3. How do I manage my brand globally?
By using centralized digital asset management solution, all brand-related material is used in the same way in every corner of the world. Just set the access rights so that you know who can use and edit the data.
4. How do I speed up the production of brand material?
With the dynamic templates, anyone can edit and personalize the created material without editing programs. If you use a multichannel publishing tool, you will automatically get the right versions of the original material for print, web, mobile, social media and newsletters.
5. What systems do I need for managing the brand material?
One digital asset management solution that helps you to use the functionalities, you really need. The modular design of the solution ensures that you can easily deploy new features to suit your needs. Why would you use a separate system for email marketing, for example?
6. How do I make sure people do not play solo?
There are clear brand guidelines that are always available to everyone who use the material bank. The user always finds instructions if needed. The user always sees up-to-date rules on the use of, for example, your brand’s visual elements.
7. How do I increase my brand’s productivity?
See six previous tips. Save time and money by reducing hassle and overlapping work. At the same time, your brand will appear consistent and correct everywhere and, in every channel, just the way you want it.
At its best, digital asset management can provide the company with a number of valuable benefits. Below are the five most common ones.
Consistency of the brand image
The brand value is high on the priority list of companies seeking success and long life. The brand that has been created with hard work needs to be taken care of and its consistency must to be ensured everywhere. When company grows and more people are involved in the material handling, the risk of a false brand image gets higher. Gredi material bank gives the company the opportunity to manage all of its digital assets, thus reducing the risk mentioned above. When Gredi’s solution is used for archiving and sharing, old material will not be used by employees and partners.
“We now have the assurance that our brand will appear everywhere as planned.” –Timo Leppä, Vice President, Communications, Kemira
Dynamic templates are especially helpful when maintaining the consistency of the brand image. They can ensure that all outgoing material has the correct logo versions, colours, fonts, layout and elements. The best thing about dynamic templates is that after a brief guidance, any employee can produce brand-managed content. When every ad or brochure does not need to be created at the advertising agencies, the campaigns can be produced faster, and money will be saved.
File sharing
Once all the data has been transferred to Gredi’s secured servers, there is no need to move them anywhere. You can share your files in a controlled way with your partners, without a fear that they are stuck into people’s emails or elsewhere in the digital space or get into the wrong hands. Sending large files can be done smoothly, and their availability can be modified.
“The sharing of digital material is now possible for various user groups without the risk that the information would go to the wrong parties.” – Janne Kallio, Head of Digital Marketing, Suunto Oy
Large files such as printable images or video files cannot always be sent as email attachments. There are various types of cloud services available for transferring the data, but their security is not always guaranteed. Large video files can be uploaded to the material bank, and their distribution to partners goes smoothly and in a controlled way. The files that the customer wants can be delivered faster and no time is wasted in searching them.
Visual commenting
When designing marketing materials, there will be many different draft versions that may get mixed or lost when sending them by email. Gredi’s visual commenting feature makes communication with advertising agencies and other designers easier. The latest version is always available and clearly marked, and suggestions for improvement can be drawn and written directly to the draft version. This is how designers know immediately what to change to the next version.
To make commenting easier, you can define multiple comment rounds for each draft. In addition, each round can be given a time limit for submitting comments. The material bank also shows who has already commented, so you can kindly remind those who have not yet done that when the time limit expires.
Search and reuse of the material
Many companies do a lot of extra work if old materials are not reused. Many files, such as images, ads, or exhibition materials, could easily be modified to meet new needs. Usually, the reason for the lack of reuse is that after use, the original material is lost to the hard drives. When all the material is centralized in the material bank, finding the files you need is easy every time. Time and money are saved when you don’t have to build every campaign or ad completely from scratch.
“The Brand Tool has all the visual elements we need, and no one needs to spend time searching for the files.” – Jenni Salmela, Concept Designer, Oy Gustav Paulig Ab
According to a research conducted by IDC, a marketing and IT research company, it takes an average of nine hours a week for information and file searching. The material bank speeds up the day-to-day search of the material, with all the material clearly defined in one storage location. In some content management tools, the files are shown as a list, but Gredi’s ability to show preview images of the files makes searching easier.
Process enhancement
Systematic and well-designed digital asset management reduces the need to do unnecessary work. At best, up to a third of your working time is saved. Finding material is smoother when everything can be found in one place. The amount of duplicate work is reduced when the original material can be used in a variety of ways and there is no need to produce all the material from scratch. Advertising campaigns are better in control and can be launched faster.
“BrandTori is the foundation of our marketing. It’s a storage as well as a commenting and distribution tool.” – Jyrki Hutri, Marketing Manager, Lumon Oy
Most of the marketing needs can be managed within the material bank. Newsletters are easy to compile and send and they can be tracked directly from the solution. Other features that enhance day-to-day operations include Gredi’s web-to-print and web ordering services. With web-to-print, all print material can be sent directly to the printing house. Through web ordering service, all other material (exhibition stands, PR material, clothing, etc.) can be ordered directly from the supplier.
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Before the content is released to target audiences in the desired channel and format, it has gone through a long and often complex production process, regardless of whether it is digital or print. The ever-increasing need to publish content quickly across different channels, devices and formats requires an efficient publishing process and an intelligent publishing automation solution.
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