Strategy first, technology second.
While digital signage is such a powerful tool for audience engagement, it’s also one with limitless possibilities and without a pre-defined strategy, its potential can often be wasted.
We always encourage people to tackle digital signage in the same way they would any other marketing tool – start with a clear plan and set out your objectives. Everything else, including technology, should take a back seat.
Digital signage, a lot like any other communications medium, needs to be focused, relevant and targeted in order to be not only engaging, but successful, which is exactly why blocking out some time to come up with a pre-defined strategy is so important.
Here’s some things you might want to consider during your brainstorming phase:
Goals and objectives
Knowing what you are trying to achieve will help to determine the type of content you deliver. Whether you’re aim is to drive up sales or to entertain viewers, it’s best to know what it is you want the solution to do for your business, before taking any action. Defining your objectives first will also help you to get it right first time – saving you time, effort and money down the line.
Know your audience
Who are you targeting? What’s likely to attract their attention and gain their interest? Profiling your audience is just as critical as making your content look great. If you’re not quite sure, do your research and gain a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t.
Assets
What things do you already have that you can use within your content? Are you planning on tying in any elements from other marketing campaigns and activities? If you are, we always say, create for the medium. If, for example, you ran a really successful print campaign and want to replicate this digitally – it’s important to not just replicate, but to reinvent for the solution so that it works well and is maximised for digital.
Timing
Timing is everything – in every aspect, from length, time of day and frequency. The trick is to consider dwell times. If people are going to be passing by, consider shorter segments. However, if they’re lingering, consider making them longer. Simple things like this will help to deliver the message in full, for greater impact.
Monitoring, measuring and maintaining
The beauty of digital signage is its ability to be constantly reviewed and adapted, nothing’s ever set it stone. When planning your content, it can also be advantageous to plan how you are going to not only manage the content going forward, but measure its success, just as you would with any other marketing medium.