Most teams have a system of record for finance, sales, and code.

But for creative? It’s still chaos.

Yes, there are Digital Asset Management (DAM) platforms but they don’t cut it. Not with the needs ecom brands face today. We believe it’s time for a proper System of Record for creatives—something way more powerful than just a DAM. One that captures the full story behind every asset, not just where it’s stored.

Let’s talk about what that looks like.

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So What Is a System of Record?

A “System of Record” (SoR) is your source of truth. It’s the place your team goes when they need clarity, direction, and context. It’s where decisions live. And where execution starts.

In finance, your SoR might be QuickBooks or Xero.

In engineering, it’s GitHub.

In sales, maybe it’s HubSpot or Salesforce.

But in marketing? For creative production? …

Let’s be honest: most teams are winging it. Relying on Drive folders, Slack messages, Notion docs, and sheer memory.

And that’s a problem.

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Why Creatives Need a System of Record

Creative work isn’t a one-and-done task. It’s collaborative. It’s iterative. It builds on past insights and repurposes past wins. And it lives or dies by performance.

Without a system of record, your team:

• Loses creative history
• Repeats the same mistakes
• Can’t scale content production intelligently
• Has no visibility into what’s working, what’s not, or what’s even been tried before

You’re building with no blueprint. And you feel it.

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What a Creative System of Record Should Include for Ecom Brands

If you’re scaling a brand or supporting brands through an agency, here’s what your system should cover:

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A Shared Marketing Calendar

Every sale, launch, and shoot lives here. Click into any event to see the brief, moodboard, approved copy, deadlines, and instructions. Go back in history to any event and see the creatives, plan, and the outcomes. Use it to inform current strategy. 

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Clear Creative Targets

Set how many assets you need. Break it down by campaign, by contributor, or by platform. Everyone knows how many evergreen videos you’re planning. Media buyers are aware and ready. Know if you’re on track or way behind.

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Structured Workflows

Ideas get logged. Assignments generated. Deadlines get set. Everyone knows what they’re responsible for and when. No more vague “can someone make this?” questions.

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Easy Content Uploads

Simple, clean, and organized. No Dropbox links. No “sent via WeTransfer” chaos. Assignments are fulfilled and deliverables flow effortlessly into your library.

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A Central Creative Library (DAM)

Every asset gets stored with context: tags, SKUs, performance, who made it, when it was used, where it ran, how it did. Everything is searchable. Everything is trackable. 

Side note: A generic Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform won’t cut it. Your SoR needs a DAM purpose built for ecom.

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Launching Without Leaving

Push assets live from the same place they’re made. No more download-upload-repeat. Ads, social, organic, launch from within your system.

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Performance Insights That Close the Loop

Track creative velocity. See what’s running, what’s spending, what’s flopping. Feed that back into the team so your next round of creatives isn’t guessing: it’s evolving.

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Why Most Tools Don’t Cut It

Google Drive is a black hole.

Slack is a game of telephone.

DAMs are just digital filing cabinets: good for storage, useless for workflows.

And performance platforms? They show you what worked. But not how you got there. And any insights you might have aren’t easily actionable. 

None of these tools tell the full story. None give you true creative infrastructure. And none help you scale.

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Creativity Deserves Infrastructure

Great content isn’t random. It’s systematized.

A proper creative operating system allows the “fun messy” part of building creatives to thrive. Structure doesn’t hamper creative work, it allows it to grow and provides direction.

If your team treats every campaign like it’s starting from scratch, you’ll stay stuck.

A system of record for creatives is how modern brands scale: without burning out.

And if you’re ready to level up your creative production, Yoho is here to help.

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