With digital signage being at the forefront of technology there are a few tips that will pay be remember, these will save time and increase profits, something we all aim for.

Even before any hardware or deployment has been even conceived, the first major link in any company’s dynamic signage department is the “team”, these are the people who will discuss what will be used in the project and what is out.

They normally come with a wealth of experience and have experience in Information Technology, marketing and communications but they must all have one goal and to focus on the brand. As well as each individual offering different skill sets they all have to get on, this said when the signage team pulls together they will delivery a high quality product that they are all proud of.

Once the team is in place to create your digital brand, you need to set out what the guidelines and aims of the project are, is this to be a regional campaign or is it to run nationally or globally? Each will have their own challenges that the team has to overcome.

The teams in place, guidelines laid down – what now?

Well now it is time for the team to create content that connects with the audience, if the marketing message is aimed at the wrong target audience the impact of the message is hugely decreased.

If the team have done their work right, they will have decided around the branding section what demographics to target in the early days of the project.

Legacy technology used in Content deployment.

One major advantage used by TV is the play list, is now adopted by the signage industry, calling up how the content will be displayed in a certain order, for example some digital posters use a simple xml file that is created in Microsoft Notepad, this calls the media that is on the media card in order and then is accessed through the onscreen menu to activate, once activated, the dwell time can be increased or decreased effecting the run time. If it runs to fast people will not notice the product or service, if it runs too slow the viewer will get board and move on.

Controlling the customer.

When you have deployed the signage solution and everything is put in place the team has created, you now need to control the customer, the best digital signage campaigns compel customers to do something, it could be to go to a different part of the store or to buy something right there. You know when a signage has been well thought out, when a consumer things, “now what?”, for example a store has a promotion on a product and after the ads is shown a map of the store is displayed were the product can be found.

Dynamic signage is one of the fastest growing business sectors currently, this is fantastic as most IT companies are now diversifying into digital media and providing dynamic signage solutions.

 

But knowing the differences between products is fundamental in providing a solution that works and is at an affordable price, we will try to explain the most cost effective solutions for indoor digital signage applications.

 

Indoor Dynamic Signage.

As the name implies this is for indoor use in areas such as company receptions, waiting rooms at dentists, hotels, Universities and hair salons.

 

Now there are two options:

 

Firstly digital posters as below comprise with a integral media player that plays the media you wish to provide, this is drag and dropped onto a memory card and a play list is created using Microsoft Notepad, with the order of the images, video and audio you wish to display – pretty straight forward isn't it.

 

These range from 17" unit and go up to 80" in screen size, they come with a rear mounting plate for bolting to the wall or the smaller units can be hung as you would a picture frame. Can be used in either portrait or landscape position.

Secondly, digital menu boards, these are large screens with a media player attached to them either connected into the computer infrastructure or WIFI, so that media can be updated remotely, now this is where the cross over can take place as a digital poster can do the same job as a menu board but they are easier and quicker to install as there is no data cabling needed or a wireless point fitted.

 

So if you want to update the media every day or week, the best option is an electronic menu board set up, alternatively a digital poster is the answer, as you can update the media using a USB flash drive and the USB port on the media player.