How DAM is evolving to solve the content crisis
Growing customer experience demands requires content at scale.
5 minute read
What is the content crisis?
Content crisis is the overwhelming challenge organizations are facing to meet these content-heavy CX demands in order to appeal to their customers on an individual level across the channels they choose to use. And with volume, expectations, and velocity ever-growing, companies are finding that their traditional content marketing systems are no longer meeting their production and publishing needs.
“...if there’s too much of something, there has to be an adjustment. You’re going to have a flood and you will need to adjust.”
- Mark Schaefer, Social Media Marketing Expert
Unfortunately, the content crisis spans industries. Whether in retail, hospitality, financial services, or tech, teams are overwhelmed by the demand to create and distribute high volumes of content across increasingly fragmented channels. In a recent Guardian piece exploring the toll content overload is taking on hospitality businesses, restaurant co-founder Will Murray said, “If it gets to the point where we’re prioritising content over the success of the restaurant, we’ve gone too far.” That sentiment captures a broader concern: content demands are beginning to compete with core business priorities.
You can’t solve your content crisis by simply working harder when your systems don’t scale to support your efforts. You need a plan, a process, and technology to help you with content delivery. Companies now need a content management platform that will cover every step of the content lifecycle.
Why traditional DAM is no longer enough
Most companies putting out high volumes of content already know how valuable a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution can be for keeping the marketing organization’s content organized.
A common use case for a DAM system is to store completed media files for marketing teams to easily access. But creation of the content and the distribution of it are traditionally in separate systems, often siloed.
By solely using a traditional DAM solution to manage content at the volume of today’s demands, companies will encounter disadvantages:
- Inefficient parallel work streams
- Few opportunities to reuse content across channels
- Overlapping efforts due to delays in communication
- Higher risks of inconsistencies
55%
of 250 U.S. marketing leaders report negative outcomes from rogue, unauthorized content, such as reputational damage, less effective marketing, or legal issues.
How DAM is evolving to solve the content crisis
The traditional role of DAM as a centralized library for finalized assets is no longer enough to support the demands of modern content ecosystems. As big and small businesses shift toward always-on, omnichannel engagement, DAM systems are being reimagined not just as repositories, but as active enablers of the entire content lifecycle.
Modern DAMs are solving this in three key ways:
- Moving upstream in the content lifecycle
Rather than managing content after it's created, evolved DAM systems now support creation and collaboration from the start. Teams can ideate, assign, review, and approve content all within the DAM environment. This eliminates scattered tools and brings structure and visibility to the earliest stages of content development.
- Becoming a content intelligence engine
Advanced metadata, tagging automation, and AI-powered recommendations help teams surface the right assets faster, and even identify opportunities to reuse or repurpose content across campaigns. This content intelligence reduces redundant work and supports personalization at scale by linking assets to audience segments, journeys, and channels.
- Integrating into the digital experience stack
Today’s DAMs are no longer standalone. They're increasingly built to connect with CMS platforms, PIMs, e-commerce engines, personalization tools, and analytics suites. This ecosystem-first architecture makes it possible to publish the right content to the right channel at the right time, while tracking its performance and ROI in real time. A modern DAM plays a vital role in any martech strategy, ensuring tools work together to drive greater impact.
Think of your DAM less like a vault and more like a nervous system—connected, intelligent, and responsive to the demands of your entire content supply chain.
This shift from static storage to dynamic enablement is helping brands respond faster, collaborate better, and scale content operations with clarity. Instead of contributing to the content crisis, the modern DAM is now a key part of the solution.
Making the right decision
If you're still relying on traditional DAM or fragmented tools, it might be time to rethink your approach. Ask yourself:
- Is your content built for omnichannel delivery?
Content no longer lives in the channels An integrated, CX-driven content management strategy means forgetting about the practice of creating content for specific channels and realizing the potential for a content piece to function in an omnichannel way. Creating one standard piece that can then be modified for various formats, such as a newsletter, webpage, or an Instagram post is the cornerstone of a modern platform.
- Do you have a defined content creation process?
Content creation needs a defined process The process of content creation – from ideation to publication – can be clearly defined when its lifecycle is managed in a single, connected platform. Approvers, stakeholders, and creative teams have the needed visibility and access for streamlined collaboration across the content workflow.
- Is technology a blocker or an enabler?
A content management system, by design, is intended to make content creation, production, and publishing simpler; but not all systems are created equal. A unified content solution has all the components in one platform for marketers to manage the full content lifecycle, plus integrate seamlessly with downstream solutions, like commerce, eliminating silos and tech fatigue, and accelerating digital transformation.
- Can you prove content ROI?
Content strategy must be part of the business landscape An effective marketing team drives key business decision-making. And data empowers marketing teams with the information needed to scale and adapt strategies to effectively boost the bottom line. A connected content system allows for end-to-end tracking of performance, engagement, and business impact, a requirement for today’s data-driven initiatives.
Solve your content crisis with Content Hub
As content needs continue to rise, Content Hub helps businesses meet the moment, without compromising on quality, creativity, or speed.
The most exciting thing about Content Hub is that it’s making it easier than ever for companies to produce high quality, collaborative, omnichannel content at scale. It’s supporting the work of marketing departments and, in turn, supporting entire businesses. When a company supplies its employees with a single, integrated Content Hub, the possibilities for creativity and productivity are boundless. Book a demo today.