This year brands embraced digital experiences in response to the pandemic. While this solved one challenge – of connecting with customers who could no longer shop in-person –  it created several new challenges, including as, Sitecore CMO, Paige O’Neill shared with us recently, that “[t]he more digital experiences customers consume, the higher their expectations are.

These heightened expectations mean that brands need to produce more content to provide a fresh yet personalized experience for their customers. But the costs of creating new content add up quickly and most brands find it difficult to reuse content, both in terms of retrieving it and ensuring that it has a connection to the customer.

But some brands are meeting the challenge. At the recent DX Summit, General Mills shared how they were able to save nearly $2 million by using a Digital Asset Management platform to use content more effectively and reduce overhead. Read on to learn more.

As we move firmly into the digital age, many brands have made large investments in content. One common struggle that many companies face is finding the right place to store content and figuring out how to best organize and access it. It’s difficult to use the content if employees are unable to find it and can be costly to create new digital assets instead of having quick access to that already in use. Choosing the right Digital Asset Management platform can help solve these issues.

So, how do brands find a solution that achieves digital content management, while also reducing costs? In a recent DX Summit panel, Doris Sanocki, Product Manager, Digital Asset Management and Services at General Mills, discussed the method of using the “3 Rs” in order to find a Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform that would fulfill her needs.

Sanocki said that the first step in the “3 Rs” is to reduce the “spend on asset creation, time spent looking for assets, time to marketability.” The second is to reuse “assets for the same reason, in the same way, ‘n’ times.” Then, repurpose assets by altering them “and/or incorporate into other forms without completely recreating” the asset. Or, by using the ideation or innovation of the asset for other content.

With the right DAM platform, brands are able to create an organized space, streamline digital content, and accomplish goals all while cutting costs. Sanocki stated that “by having digital content in a centralized system, you can drive reuse,” since it will be much easier for employees to find and utilize the right asset at the right time.

Sanocki was able to measure the success and value of this platform in numerous ways. By reusing and repurposing digital content, General Mills saved $1.8 million and reduced administrative costs through using a DAM platform. The company increased value drivers, such as, “improved search, video, workflow, scalability, and compliance,” while reducing risk in “performance, obsolescence, and vendor support,” stated Sanocki.

There are many more ways in which a DAM platform can advance digital content management and maximize a brand’s investment. Digital content will continue to grow with the rise of e-commerce. Sanocki remarked that “e-commerce is driving all of [their] processes these days. Any additional things that [they] can do to help drive e-commerce scalability,” is exactly what her company is looking for in an asset management platform.

The implementation of a content management system will allow for a brand to easily navigate the platform in order to find the digital assets quickly, aid in reusing and repurposing content in order to stay fresh, while reducing costs, and to create a multi-channel experience that can be utilized companywide.

Learn more about digital asset management platforms here.

This article originally appeared on Retail Technology Insider on November 10, 2020.