Best Brand Management Software & Tools

Brand Management Software Definition: What are Brand Management Tools?

Brand management is essentially about companies aligning their brand identity in an advertising-effective, consistent, uniform, and not least error-free manner, and finally communicating it. Depending on the range of functions, a brand management software offers support for almost all related tasks.

At the heart of a brand management solution is usually an asset management tool. This is where all brand-related assets are managed centrally - from branding guidelines and logos, to infographics and text files, all the way to whitepapers and presentations. Employees can not only store relevant files here, but also work on them as a team and even create new assets.

Brand assets can be directly processed through connections to social media, specific marketing tools and other brand-relevant channels, programs or services. Increasingly, brand tools come with AI features that can automate individual steps in brand management very efficiently. It can be ensured that the creation and use of the files is always brand-compliant (on-brand), taking into account the brand guidelines that are also centrally available.

Many of the processes supported by brand management software fall under the purview of marketing. Therefore, such systems are often also referred to as brand marketing software or brand marketing tools. Nevertheless, they are also very useful for sales teams - especially for lead management.

Why should you implement a Brand Management Solution?

Optimum brand building primarily promises a high level of recognition for companies and their products. The main goal is to impart as wide a range of brand knowledge as possible to all persons in the target group. This should be aligned in such a way that it encourages the activation of positive feelings.

A high recall value and the positive association of a brand with a company lead de facto to significant competitive advantages. Such associations often have subconscious influences on purchasing behavior and better evaluation compared to competitor brands. Such associations can be created through various channels and with different forms of communication.

The company logo and digital assets play a special role here. The logo can be used practically omnipresent and is naturally (at best) immediately associated with a brand. Digital or online assets (which normally include the logo) therefore have a very high relevance, as (potential) customers nowadays mostly become aware of brands in the digital world, or look for information affecting these.

Accordingly, most of the processes that can lead to the above positive effects take place online today. This has been the case for several years. In the past, however, companies only had to manage and communicate their brand in the digital world through a few channels - particularly the website and perhaps Facebook and Xing. Even when pay-per-click campaigns were added, brand management was relatively simple.

Today, (potential) customers usually use several channels (and sometimes even in parallel) to get information, to buy products or to find entertainment. If you want to support your target group as best you can, wherever they like to be, and thus operate in a competition-dominant manner, you usually have to optimally position your brand across dozens of channels. Specific requirements apply to individual areas. In many corporate contexts, the following channels are a must for brand presentation:

• Company website
• Industry directories
• Email
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Snapchat
• LinkedIn
• Xing
• Messenger apps
• SMS

Taking into account all the important requirements and opportunities of these channels by hand, so to speak, is hardly possible. Let alone ensuring that all content or assets are reliably played out on the channels and comply with the company's brand guidelines.

Branding software can effectively help you here. It forms the central point from which almost all branding actions are initiated. The work of brand management is greatly simplified by the centralization alone. In addition, various tools and integrations ensure optimized organization, editing and output of branding measures in accordance with the applicable brand specifications.

How do Brand Management Systems work?

Brand management tools can definitely follow different functional approaches. These are essentially the result of the respective deployment model (SaaS or on premise solution) and the integrated features. However, the usage process is almost always the same.

1. Create, save, optimize brand assets: Digital assets for brand building are stored within the database of a brand software. They can sometimes be created directly within the system. The responsible team is often given the opportunity to evaluate and optimize corresponding work.

2. Retrieve, process, and secure assets: For certain campaigns, brand assets, such as logos, images, and text can be retrieved directly from the brand management solution, processed further, and stored or used directly.

3. Check based on brand guidelines: The brand software regulates what assets can and cannot be used for. This is done based on brand guidelines and usage regulations specified in the system.

4. Publish media: The assets or media created with them can be played out directly from the software or via links to other tools after being approved by the system and/or those responsible.

At this point, some people may be wondering what brand management software differs from digital asset management tools (DAM). Even though the two types of software may seem similar at first glance, they have different intentions.

Brand management features are often part of digital asset management solutions. However, DAM includes all digital means for marketing and sales measures. Brand management software, on the other hand, specifically focuses on dealing with assets that specifically support brand building. Such programs are usually smaller in scale and also cheaper than DAM systems.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Brand Management Tools?

Those who use a brand management portal benefit from a variety of advantages. It enables markedly simpler organization of brand assets centrally. Other related benefits are as follows.

• A single distribution center for digital brand assets: Every brand asset (such as logos, images or videos), and even every brand campaign, every advertising layout or brand presentation is managed in a brand management software in one central location. This makes it much easier for you to access and use the corresponding elements.

• Secure compliance with brand guidelines: All employees or integrations in good brand management software can only access the materials that are approved for their respective purpose. For example, with an integration with WordPress, the system only allows the use of brand images that are deemed suitable for the company website in accordance with the brand guidelines. You can decide which team, which program and which channel has access to which content. The clever part is that the individual departments can freely use assets without constantly sending requests to their superiors or closely scrutinizing the guidelines.

• More effective and efficient (collaborative) work: A brand management portal can (or should) be connected to other systems. This makes it possible to process files directly from there. These assets are thus available to marketing professionals and creatives in exactly the tools they use daily. This enables them to work more effectively and efficiently. Further, a brand management tool can also provide editing and collaboration features.

• No more duplicate assets: Once an approved digital brand asset has been uploaded to the brand management tool, the same asset is available to all relevant persons. For example, if a specific social media marketing tool is used, the images, videos, templates, etc. needed there are automatically displayed. This not only solves a major burden of manual asset assignment. It also eliminates duplicate assets that may differ from brand guidelines. Without brand management tools, every marketing platform may have its own version of an asset. If one of them needs to be changed now, there is a great risk that the current version will not reach all places. Conversely, if a new version of an asset is uploaded to a brand management platform, the changes are immediately available on the connected systems or in the relevant media channels.

Unfortunately, even the best software has not only advantages. Even when using a brand management tool, at least certain difficulties can arise.

• Administration effort: Especially larger companies often have huge amounts of digital brand assets to manage. A brand management software can provide a huge relief here. However, many tasks often still have to be done manually. It is necessary to classify resources according to the guidelines and release them, to define optimal tags for the search function (can some applications already be based on AI) and to handle other typical asset management routines. This administrative effort is often underestimated. You should be aware that at least one curator has to take care of the brand management tool. Without such coordination forces, the many advantages of the software probably can not be used fully.

• Integration problems: In order for a brand management system to work optimally, it has to be integrated with other tools that are relevant for brand building. Most branding programs have pre-made interfaces. If these do not match the existing software architecture, problems are inevitable. Many interested parties do not have this on the plan when choosing a brand management solution. APIs give you the flexibility to choose a brand management provider, even if they do not have the required integrations. However, programming is relatively complex here. So it is important to choose a solution with suitable interfaces from the outset.

How do you choose the right Brand Manager software?

Different organizations have different requirements and criteria by which they should evaluate brand management solutions. However, the following aspects should always be considered.

• Brand guidelines: The determination and selection of assets under specific brand guidelines is a very important component of brand management tools. If corresponding features are available, you can be sure that assets are only used for purposes that are truly conducive to brand building.

• Media rights: Closely associated with (but not the same as) the brand guidelines is the option to establish usage rights. This way you can restrict certain groups' access to individual brand files. This makes typical branding processes even safer, as unauthorized persons have no access. At the same time, however, system efficiency is also increased. For example, sales teams do not have to search through the entire volume of assets, but only get a selection tailored to their application area. Features such as defining general usage authorization and granting access for a specific period of time - for example as part of a time-limited campaign. Setting up a "public" library with brand materials for the press is also conceivable. Furthermore, different asset libraries could be set up for different regions to optimize brand localization.

• Digital Asset Management (DAM): A DAM system is a central place where digital brand media, such as videos, icons, pictures and text documents, are stored and organized. The best DAMs in brand management software have automatic tagging and filtering functions and provide users with search suggestions. Brand content management should be as efficient as possible. Changes to files in the DAM should also be automatically available throughout the connected software architecture.

• Design templates: Design templates are editable patterns for commonly used branding measures, for example for social media posts or advertising banners. Teams use these templates for a quick, consistent roll-out of campaigns without having to set up a complete design from scratch each time. This not only offers increased work efficiency, but also more security. By always using identical and approved patterns, there's a significantly less risk that campaigns that are not on-brand or do not follow the brand guidelines will be played out. Designers can also create and set up such templates individually so that users can only edit certain parts. Thus, companies retain creative control and brand consistency.

• Collaborative workflows: Brand management software allows team members but also freelancers and other external partners efficient collaboration on brand-related projects. Specific collaboration tools are available for this. You should definitely consider this since more and more teams are decentralized. Home office workers and external designers are not working isolatedly in the development of innovative campaigns. They need input from their colleagues, the company management and other stakeholders throughout the entire creative process for the best results. It is very easy to create these prerequisites with brand management tools that allow collaborative workflows.

• Integrations with the existing tool stack: An effective brand management tool always works with other solutions that are already used for brand building purposes. These include specific design tools - e.g. for creating print templates for brand flyers. But online marketing software is also usually connected to brand management solutions. In digital marketing, brand building is a component or part goal of almost every good campaign. The better the brand management system can be integrated into the existing tools, the easier it will be for employees in all relevant departments to benefit from the solution.

What do Brand Management Tools cost?

The cost of a brand management tool primarily depends on the integrated functions and the number of users who will work with it. Simple programs that offer little more than asset management can even be obtained for free. Larger suites with collaboration features, AI, and many pre-made interfaces, on the other hand, cost significantly more.

For smaller companies, a cloud solution (SaaS) is usually the most cost-effective option. Here, there is much less setup and administrative effort than with on-premise programs. Larger companies that have their own IT department, on the other hand, may opt for the latter option. They get maximum control with an on-premise program. However, such brand management tools are also more expensive - both to purchase and operate.

In general, brand management portals are usually offered in a subscription model. Billing here is either monthly or annually. The prices start at a few euros (per user and month) and are not yet at the upper limit at 1,000 euros (per user and month). Here, it can easily go into the five-figure range.