New research from Canto’s 2025 report on The State of Digital Content finds that 68% of marketing teams spend (read: waste) more than three hours every week searching for digital assets and content. While some brands have mastered this workflow, most still struggle through fragmented systems that drain productivity, cause errors, frustrate partners, and ultimately impact market performance. When marketers can’t quickly access the right assets or product information, both daily tasks and broader marketing initiatives suffer.

The risks, though, extend beyond efficiency. Marketers accidentally using outdated assets from scattered hard drives and siloed cloud accounts—or sharing incorrect product information from disconnected spreadsheets—can damage brand reputation. For teams tasked with building and executing customer experiences that move their brand forward, these errors directly undermine their core mission.

The solution lies in modernizing processes through a combined digital asset management (DAM) and product information management (PIM) strategy. Integrating these systems eliminates manual busywork while ensuring accuracy and consistency. Brands are increasingly adopting DAM and PIM in combination, recognizing that unified asset and product information management delivers far better results than piecemeal approaches.

To successfully implement and maximize the value of an integrated DAM+PIM strategy, brands should follow these best practices:

Establish a single source of truth

A unified digital hub that serves as your organization’s definitive and single source of truth for all assets and product information is critical. Getting this set up correctly almost immediately eliminates version control issues and redundant data entry, while enabling secure, customized access for different teams and partners. With proper permissions and format controls in place, teams can confidently access and distribute the exact materials they need.

A centralized approach changes collaboration by enabling true self-service access—no more hours spent fulfilling one-off requests for materials. Marketers and brand partners can now work from the same digital library to accelerate campaign development and drive competitive advantages in time-to-market.

Put a single leader in charge of achieving clear DAM+PIM implementation goals

Just as marketers need to move past data silos toward a single source of truth, the implementation process needs clear and centralized leadership. Brands need to assign a dedicated leader to drive the initiative. That could be a marketing executive or cross-functional lead; who exactly it is matters less than ensuring there is a single decision-maker driving the modernization effort that prevents the delays and compromises that often plague committee-led projects.

This leader’s first task should be working with stakeholders to define clear goals and requirements: What functionality is needed? Who needs access and to what degree? What types of assets and information will be stored? Brands that begin with clear objectives and strong leadership consistently achieve better results in their DAM+PIM transformation.

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Target realistic deadlines, and earn cultural buy-in for the benefits to come

While the need for modernization may feel urgent, rushed implementations often falter. The project leader must balance speed with careful planning, setting achievable milestones that maintain momentum without overwhelming teams.

The initial effort of migrating and organizing assets and product SKUs requires significant work from employees. Win their support by clearly communicating the long-term benefits: streamlined workflows, reduced busywork, and more time for strategic initiatives. Teams that understand the ‘why’ behind the transition are more likely to embrace the ‘how.’

Give PIM data governance the extra attention it calls for

In most cases, brands launching into PIM modernization don’t have the comprehensive and well-organized product information they envision straight out of the gate. Assembling that information takes deliberate attention and thoughtful data governance, including defining clear product data standards and taxonomies, establishing processes for data entry, validation, and enrichment, and assigning data stewards to oversee quality and consistency.

At the same time, marketers should know that accurate product information is critical for campaign success and brand reputation. Three-fourths of consumers will stop doing business with a brand after just one bad experience, often due to incorrect product information that leaves them feeling misled. Getting that information right is worth the work, and marketers have the opportunity to ensure more positive brand experiences via a well-cultivated PIM.

Marketing backed by transformative efficiency

As marketing teams face pressure to deliver more content across ever-expanding online and offline channels while ensuring compelling brand experiences, DAM+PIM modernization offers transformative efficiency gains. By reshaping practices and multiplying productivity, an integrated DAM+PIM strategy empowers marketing to better meet these challenges. But to realize the benefits, brands must follow best practices to avoid frustration and start-and-stops, beginning with a clear vision and strong leadership to guide the implementation.

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