Four common DAM challenges faced by... Communications Managers

From household brands and Blue Chip corporations to academic institutions and non-profits, organisations across every industry rely on the speed and accuracy of their messaging to build awareness of what they do and why their target market should care.

Communications Managers are key to this, responsible for delivering consistent brand messaging, maintaining control over sensitive media and responding rapidly to media inquiries—but this involves a lot of moving parts.

In this blog we’re going to explore the four common Digital Asset Management (DAM) challenges Communications Managers face.

READ MORE: Five common DAM challenges faced by... brand managers

The four DAM challenges Communications Managers face

A Communications Manager is responsible for looking after external messaging, media relations and PR strategy—and this requires rapid responses to meet the demands of the fast-moving media industry.

They have to ensure consistent messaging across all the organisation’s owned channels and third-parties, but the ability to do this quickly and accurately is incredibly difficult without clear Digital Asset Management processes.

There are four DAM challenges Communications Managers will typically face, regardless of the industry they’re operating in:

1. Risk of misinformation 
2. Lack of access control 
3. Difficulty finding older campaign content 
4. Compliance risks

Challenge 1: Risk of misinformation

One of the primary concerns for Communications Managers is the accuracy of the content they produce and publish. 

A single outdated image, incorrect statistic or misaligned brand message can undermine public trust or flout internal policies, and this risk compounds when comms content is shared across multiple channels. This risk increases if your organisation’s assets are stored across different platforms, with no clarity over the correct or approved versions of digital assets.

Communications Managers often work in fast-moving environments, such as media relations or crisis management, which means comms teams often rely on easily accessible content. This can lead to older campaign materials and messaging or unverified visuals being reused unintentionally. When this old content gets pushed live to the public, these mistakes are difficult to correct and can damage credibility with journalists, stakeholders and the public.

Without a clear system of approval and visibility, Communications Managers are left managing risk reactively rather than proactively, which puts both reputation and trust at stake.

Challenge 2: Lack of access control

Communications teams regularly work with sensitive and high-profile content, from embargoed press materials to crisis response messaging, but controlling who has access to these materials is difficult when you’re relying on siloed, disparate storage platforms.

If access is too open, there’s the obvious risk that unapproved or confidential content is shared externally. On the other hand, overly restrictive access can slow teams down, particularly when journalists or internal stakeholders need information quickly.

We can share content all around the world quickly and easily. I've uploaded content in remote places in the world and never had an issue with access.

If your organisation is working with external partners, agencies or internal teams based in different regions, for example, this is an added layer of complexity. Without clear, role-based access control, Communications Managers can quickly lose oversight of who is using what, increasing the risk of errors, leaks or inconsistent messaging.

Challenge 3: Difficulty finding older campaign content

Communications Managers often need to reference past campaigns, whether that’s to provide context to journalists, reuse proven messaging or respond to follow-up media enquiries. However, as asset libraries grow, finding this historical content becomes increasingly difficult.

Fairtrade communications staff around the world really appreciate ResourceSpace. It's proven invaluable as a one-stop for sharing and storing all our images and brand assets. I don't know how we'd manage without it!

Without a centralised DAM, old assets are often ‘stored’ in archived folders, old email threads or team members’ local machines—without the detailed metadata needed to provide context. Ultimately, this delay impacts the quality and speed of press responses. Instead of providing contextual information, comms teams fall back on whatever content is easiest to access, and over time this limits the ability to tell consistent stories and reduces the long-term value of past campaigns.

Challenge 4: Compliance risks

Communications Managers must ensure that every asset used in public communications is compliant with their organisation’s and industry’s legal requirements, including in relation to image rights, consent agreements, usage restrictions and regional regulations. However, when this information is not clearly documented or easily accessible, the risk of misuse increases significantly.

This challenge isn’t unique to Communications Managers—indeed, it’s something brand managers face too—but it’s key they stay on top of it—and when information is not clearly documented or easily accessible, the risk of misuse increases significantly.

When organisations lack a dedicated DAM system, digital assets can be used beyond their permitted scope, shared incorrectly or published after rights have expired. However, this issue escalates in a PR context, particularly if content is picked up by media outlets or shared widely online. This is an even bigger concern for organisations such as NGOs, public sector bodies and charities, with compliance failures leading to reputational damage, legal challenges and loss of trust among stakeholders.

Without the clear governance and visibility offered by a DAM, Communications Managers and the teams working with them are left guessing which digital assets are best for the job.

How ResourceSpace supports Communications Managers

We have been able to make adjustments according to our changing needs so that the system works to fit us. In addition, every question or issue we have had has been handled professionally and quickly; the hosts are friendly and incredibly helpful.

Communications Managers are some of the key ‘power users’ across our client base, and they benefit from so many of our core features, including granular access permissions, controlled and fast sharing with third-parties, and advanced consent functionality that archives assets from the DAM when permissions expire.

To find out more about how ResourceSpace supports Communications Managers, as well as people in similar roles, you can book a free DAM discovery call with one of our solutions experts below.