The 9 best brand management software for 2024

Can you imagine walking into SpaceX and seeing aerospace engineers using desktop computers from the 1990s, or sitting down in your dentist’s office and seeing rusty tooth scrapers? No you can’t, because you know these people have their act together and won’t compromise their operation with inferior tools.

This is the mindset you should have toward your brand and the software you use for effective brand management. Your company has fought hard forging a valuable brand, and your creative team needs the best tools to monitor and elevate it.

Brand management software ensures that every piece of content, every interaction, and every campaign aligns with your brand’s core values and identity. We’re going to walk you through some of the essential tools your team needs to protect one of your company’s most valuable assets. Let’s take a look!

What we'll cover

What is brand management software?

Brand management pays dividends to companies that take it seriously, and a large part of that is using seriously good brand management software. This software encompasses a range of tools that help companies maintain consistency, compliance, and quality across all brand assets. These tools can be broadly categorized into three key areas:

• Collaborative proofing software (also referred to as online proofing software) — These tools ensure that creative content is properly reviewed and approved in line with brand guidelines. Teams can provide real-time feedback, streamline the approval process, and ensure every piece of content aligns with the brand.
• Digital asset management (DAM) software — DAM software is designed to organize, store, and distribute approved brand assets, ensuring that teams across the organization have access to the most up-to-date files.
• Brand intelligence tools — These tools capture and analyze brand data from various sources, such as social media, to provide insights into brand perception, performance, and competitive positioning.

Who are brand management tools for?

A company’s brand makes up anywhere between 20 and 50% of its value, and the responsibility for using brand management tools to maintain that value falls across multiple personas and departments, including:

• Creative operations managers double-checking compliance with brand guidelines. A creative operations manager at a large retail brand might use a collaborative proofing tool to ensure all marketing collateral aligns with the brand’s updated visual guidelines before approving them for launch.
• Marketing teams looking to maintain consistency across campaigns. Marketing teams could rely on a DAM tool to access the latest logos and templates, creating peace of mind that every digital ad and email campaign reflects the same branding standards.
• Brand managers responsible for overseeing the brand’s identity and messaging. A brand manager for a global beverage company might use brand intelligence software to monitor how the brand is perceived online and guarantee that messaging stays consistent across all regions.
• Content creators who need access to approved assets and brand materials. This could be a graphic designer at a tech startup using a DAM platform to quickly pull approved images and videos for a new product launch, confirming consistency with the brand’s established look.
• Social media managers tracking brand sentiment and engagement. For example, a social media manager at a fashion company uses a brand intelligence tool to monitor customer sentiment after launching a new collection and to engage with influencers who positively mention the brand.

Collaborative proofing tools focus on streamlining the review and approval process for brand assets. Must-have features include:

• Real-time commenting — Teams can provide feedback in real-time, reducing delays in the review process.
• Version control — Easily track changes and compare versions to ensure final approval aligns with brand guidelines.
• Approval workflows — Customize workflows to ensure that the right stakeholders are involved at each stage of the review.
• Annotation tools — Mark up videos, images, and documents to provide specific feedback directly on the asset.
• Task assignment — Assign tasks and feedback to team members to ensure clarity and accountability.
• Integration and connectivity — Integrate proofing software with your project management tool and/or connect to your creative apps, such as Adobe Creative cloud.

DAM software features

Digital asset management tools are all about organizing and managing brand assets. Key features include:

• Centralized storage — Keep all brand assets in one place, accessible to all relevant teams.
• Metadata tagging — Use metadata to organize and categorize assets for easy retrieval.
• Version control — Guarantee that only the latest versions of assets are in use.
• Permission settings — Control access to sensitive brand assets by setting permissions for different users or teams.

Brand intelligence software features

Brand intelligence tools (one of our favorite features) focus on capturing and analyzing brand data. Key features include:

• Social listening — Monitor brand mentions across social media platforms to understand brand sentiment.
• Competitive analysis — Track competitors’ performance to identify opportunities and threats.
• Analytics and reporting — Generate reports on brand performance to guide decision-making.
• Customizable dashboards — Create dashboards that highlight the most relevant data for your brand.

Collaborative proofing tools for brand management

You shouldn’t even think about making creative assets live if you haven’t used a collaborative proofing platform first. It’s the only sure way to know that assets align with brand guidelines. These tools streamline feedback and approval workflows, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring consistency.

1. Ziflow

Ziflow is an all-encompassing collaborative proofing platform designed to simplify the review and approval process for creative and marketing teams. Ziflow  allows users to annotate live websites, images, video, and more, making it easier to provide clear, actionable feedback. Ziflow is ideal for developers, designers, and internal and external stakeholders who need a streamlined way to review creative content.

With a relentless innovation pace and seamless blend of simplicity and robust functionality, Ziflow delivers a platform that's both powerful and user-friendly. It's this unique combination of ease, flexibility, and sheer horsepower that makes Ziflow stand out from the crowd.

Pricing: Ziflow offers various pricing plans based on team size and feature needs. Pricing starts with a free version for small teams and individuals, with more advanced features available in paid plans.

2. GoVisually

GoVisually is a more comprehensive review and approval tool designed to streamline the feedback process for creative development. It’s geared towards design teams, marketing departments, and creative agencies.

The UI is pretty basic for GoVisually, and lacks some of the detailed functionality an enterprise or advanced user needs.

Pricing: GoVisually's pricing starts at $20/month per user, with options for teams and enterprises that require more advanced features and integrations.

3. QuickReviewer

QuickReviewer is a versatile cloud-based proofing and review platform tailored for creative professionals across various industries, designed to enhance the efficiency of the review and approval process directly within a web browser. It offers an array of annotation tools, along with features to compare versions, reply to comments, attach files, mark comments as resolved, and receive updates through notifications.

Pricing: QuickReviewer offers flexible pricing, including a free plan for smaller teams, with paid plans providing additional features and storage.

Digital asset management tools for brand management

DAM tools are crucial for managing brand assets, ensuring that approved files are easily accessible to all relevant teams. These tools prevent unauthorized use of outdated or non-compliant assets.

4. Bynder

An AI-powered DAM, Bynder is the single source of truth for digital content across systems and marketing channels. It’s a scalable solution that helps big and small businesses ensure 100% brand consistency across touchpoints. Bynder offers an intuitive user interface and a rich set of integrations.

Pricing: Multiple factors determine Bynder’s subscription plan pricing, including the number of users, storage, products included, and the desired level of support.

5. Brandfolder

Brandfolder is another robust DAM tool that makes it easy to manage and distribute brand assets. Its intuitive interface and powerful search capabilities make it a favorite among marketing teams. It aims to help marketers and creatives manage and distribute all of their assets, and understand how they're performing.

Pricing: Brandfolder’s pricing is available on request, with packages tailored to the size and needs of the team.

6. Acquia

Acquia DAM is a flexible and scalable solution that integrates with various content management systems. It’s ideal for teams that need to manage a large volume of digital assets across multiple platforms.

Pricing: Acquia offers tiered pricing based on the organization’s size and asset management needs.

Brand intelligence tools for brand management

Brand intelligence tools help teams monitor brand performance, track social media sentiment, and gain insights into how the brand is perceived in the marketplace. These tools are essential for making data-driven decisions. Here are a few of the main players in the space.

7. Brand24

Brand24 is an AI social listening tool that helps companies protect their brand reputation and measure brand awareness. It lets you discover what people are saying about your brand across social media, news, blogs, videos, forums, podcasts, reviews, and more. 

Pricing: Plans are billed monthly or yearly, starting at $79/month for the Individual plan.

8. Meltwater

Meltwater is a comprehensive media monitoring and brand intelligence tool that provides insights across social media, news outlets, and other digital channels. The company’s goal is to help your brand “unlock its competitive edge” with the power of robust data. It’s ideal for teams that need to track brand performance across multiple platforms.

Pricing: Meltwater offers custom pricing based on the organization’s needs and scope of monitoring. Pricing is broken into “Essentials,” “Suite,” and “Enterprise” categories.

9. Brandwatch

Brandwatch is a powerful brand intelligence tool that uses AI-driven insights to help teams understand brand perception and customer behavior. The company seems to put a high value on speed, which is critical for keeping up with today’s social media pace. It seems ideal for companies that need deep insights into brand performance and competitive analysis.

Pricing: Brandwatch’s pricing is available upon request, with packages tailored to the specific needs of the organization.

Establish strong brand management workflows with Ziflow

Managing a brand is no easy task, but with the right tools in your tech stack, you can streamline the process and maintain consistency across all your brand assets. Ziflow’s collaborative proofing platform is an essential component of any brand management strategy, helping creative teams ensure that all content aligns with brand guidelines before it goes live. From centralized asset management to streamlined approval workflows, Ziflow offers everything you need to protect and promote your brand effectively.