A common question from newbies in the digital organizing world is what files to keep, and what files to delete? How do you decide? In this article, we’ll cover the basics, so that you will understand exactly what files will be beneficial to keep, and which ones won’t matter. Read on, friend.

Digital Files vs. Digital Assets – Why It’s Important to Know the Difference

Digital files are pretty self-explanatory. They are simply all the files in your digital world. No surprise there. But it’s important to understand that not all digital files are assets, and if they’re not, you don’t need to save them.

In most cases, we actually save too much. Call it FOMO if you want, but we are often so worried about losing our files that we don’t deleting anything at all, and that actually has the opposite effect. Now it becomes hard to find things, especially if you’re in a larger or fast-growing business.

​The biggest reason why it’s so important to manage your digital assets is because when you do, you can invest and the re-invest in the form of repurposing. Repurposing content is how we, as creators, stay productive. A well developed content repurposing plan will save you countless hours of work, not to mention energy!

What is a Digital Asset?

Let’s define what a digital asset is, so that we’re all clear on the definition. According to Wikipedia, an asset is a “resource with economic value that an individual or corporation owns or controls with the expectation that it will provide a future benefit.” They’re mainly referring to physical assets, I suppose.

I see it slightly differently because I distinguish between resources and assets. In my opinion, an asset is “something of value that you own that you can repurpose or somehow make use of later on, in order to save either time, energy, or money.“

A resource to me is “something that I benefit from that is owned by someone or something else,” which means that unless I somehow acquire it, it’s not a resource. This is an important distinction to make because there are often licensing or copyright challenges around resources, and those need to be acknowledged.

Some great examples of digital assets are:

• Social media graphics
• ​Videos
• Photos
• Email sequences
• Articles and blog posts

Digital assets are not money, but they are as good as money because by repurposing them, you save either time, energy, or some other opportunity cost and thereby extra expenses. In other words, making the best use of our assets is how we become increasingly productive and therefore wealthy.

What Isn’t An Asset, Then?

Now that you know what a digital asset is, let me point out what a digital asset isn’t….

The best example is a duplicate. We don’t need duplicates, only one copy of each file (in the best available quality, of course).  Duplicates can be deleted.

Another example is resources that are created by others. You’ll need to know how to access them to enjoy them, but unless you have acquired those assets for yourself either through purchasing them or licensing them, they’re not really your responsibility.

Anything that is not useful to you or your business now or in the future isn’t a digital asset and can be deleted. You may decide to keep some files for sentimental purposes only even if they’re not “useful” per se (photos are the most common here), but there likely won’t be as many of those.

What Happens to Most Entrepreneurs

Digital asset management tends to become a problem for entrepreneurs when they have reached about six figures, or perhaps slightly above. The reason? It’s around that time most entrepreneurs start experimenting with subcontractors and outsourcing. Since few small businesses take the time to set up a proper digital asset management system from the beginning, as the business scales over time, the problem snowballs into a hot mess.

It becomes extremely difficult to delegate and repurpose your assets when you can’t find them. Instead of simply giving access to an organized library of digital assets, the entrepreneur finds that it takes more time because it’s hard to find files.

Digital Assets are as Good as Money, and Works the Same Way Too!

Managing your digital files isn’t all that different from managing your money. You have to know where it’s stored, what accounts are open, and how it transfers. The D.A.M. world is no different. It’s the basically the same process  – understanding where they are stored, how the accounts work, and how to export them properly.

The way I see it, your digital assets (i.e. your intellectual property) are at least half of your company’s assets, if not more.  Therefore, there needs to be someone who manages it, just like there might be a CFO.

If the role simply doesn’t exist that becomes a problem really quickly unless everyone shares the responsibility. In fact, I believe that a digital asset management specialist is the most undervalued yet needed role in any business, small or large.

Care for your assets and they will care for you.

Who is Your Digital Asset Manager?

With every system, there is a one-time setup that needs to happen. This can be a large or small project, depending on the size of your business, but it needs to happen to get the foundation in place.

After that, there is ongoing maintenance. In other words, someone has to continuously add and update files as they become available. In smaller companies, this is often not recognized as an important task, but as you now know, it’s one of the more important roles you can identify. So who is your designated digital asset manager? If you aren’t sure, take some time think about how you can resolve it early on, so you prevent a digital dark age in your business.

Prefer to Watch? Here’s the YouTube Video!

Recap

When deciding what to keep and what to delete, consider if you will use it now or in the future. Could it possibly save you time, money, or energy by being repurposed. If not, it is sentimental? Only you can decide what stays and what goes, but create consistent criteria so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.

Remember:

Digital assets are ALL digital files, but not all files are digital assets.

And who is your designated digital asset manager? Figure that out, and your business will thrive. ✨

Featured Photo Courtesy of Andrea Piacquadio

• About the Author
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Caroline Guntur Organizing & Productivity Coach

Hi there! I’m Caroline, and I’m here to help you get organized and be more productive, so that you can live better and have time for what matters.

www.theswedishorganizer.com

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