Challenge
Securing charitable contributions relies on NPF’s ability to create and deliver compelling digital experiences through storytelling, pictures, and videos. In order to support more than 400 national park sites across the country, NPF needs to manage the exciting and powerful content that constantly flows into the organization, whether it’s through employees collecting the information on personal devices, people sharing photos from events, professional photographers and videographers, and more. We have a strong focus on storytelling,” explains Tori Channel, Graphic Designer for NPF. “So, capturing the different projects that we’ve supported and then retelling it, that’s our primary objective.
However, NPF lacked a central repository for keeping and organizing this continuous flow of valuable information. Instead, files were stored in folders, found in emails, or located on individual hard drives. Very often, a few people were responsible for not only storing and organizing the content but also knowing the context around that content, including where it came from when it was created, by whom, and possible restrictions around usage. If they left the foundation, the knowledge left along with them. Marketing and content creators spent significant cycles trying to find content, sorting through multiple versions to find the correct files, figuring out licensing details to ensure compliance, and then modifying the content in Photoshop to fit their needs.
“Our process was not evergreen. If someone left the foundation, we didn’t want to lose all the knowledge and intellectual property that they had about the assets. “ – Tori Channel, Graphic Designer, National Park Foundation
With content constantly flowing into the organization, NPF struggled to find the right files and associated licensing details to ensure compliance. They turned to Aprimo Digital Asset Management to centralize all its assets and enable its users to search and find on-brand, compliant content quickly to create compelling stories that allow them to scale their content operations.
Solution
Aprimo Digital Asset Management
DAM has enabled NPF to establish a single, centralized repository where team members can store all assets and quickly search for and find content that is current, on-brand, and compliant. “Our DAM has been a very welcome adoption, says Channel. “All of NPF knew that it was a much-needed tool.” Using Aprimo QuickConnect, NPF’s DAM is fully integrated with its existing content management system (CMS), giving the organization a tightly connected ecosystem. “QuickConnect is very easy and simple to use. It seamlessly makes integration happen; it’s like magic,” says Rebecca Watson, Digital Content Manager for NFP. While using the CMS, users can access the assets within Aprimo DAM, easily finding and pulling the content they need, along with the metadata, without ever leaving the CMS. “Now with this integration (between our DAM and CMS), if I’m building something out on the website, I’m able to search the DAM and filter through facets and find exactly what I need and push that to the site,” explains Watson.
“Aprimo helps us feel more confident in our storytelling…and that we’re giving credit where credit is due and using images and other pieces of content properly… it’s not a guessing game.” – Rebecca Watson, Digital Content Manager, National Park Foundation
Results
Using their DAM, Watson and Channel say the time saved looking for photos and assets is immeasurable. NPF already has 10,000 records in the DAM from shared drives – all of which can be accessed in the cloud, saving terabytes of storage space. With quick and easy access to not only content but the metadata tied to that content, teams can now tell more compelling and complete stories to inspire donors.
Because Aprimo DAM is CMS agnostic, teams can work faster, duplication of files has decreased, and productivity has improved now that users don’t have to use a third-party solution to modify and resize images for the best experience.
Aprimo DAM has also helped NPF reduce the complexity of content pollution by helping teams become more aware of existing design files and assets, preventing them from buying assets they may already have.
One year after launching Aprimo DAM, 45% of the staff is trained to use it effectively, which equates to almost 100% of those individuals within the organization that should be using the system.
“The more information we have, the more detailed we’re able to be in those stories. And the more detailed human-driven stories that we have, the more effective they’ve been in engaging our audiences.” – Rebecca Watson, Digital Content Manager, National Park Foundation
About National Park Foundation
The National Park Foundation (NPF) content and marketing teams help support more than 400 parks across the country with photos, videos, and storytelling to create compelling digital experiences that inspire the charitable contributions the organization relies on.
Chartered by Congress in 1967, the National Park Foundation (NPF) generates private support and builds strategic partnerships to protect and enhance America’s national parks for present and future generations. The National Park Foundation is the only national charitable nonprofit whose mission directly supports the National Park Service.