DS technology is constantly changing, adapting and morphing into an unstoppable profit-boosting machine. An unsurprising statement, since nowadays it is hard to imagine one day in our lives without digital signage. It is memorable, it is creative, it is everywhere and it works. You just have to buckle up and keep up with the newest functions, features and, of course, follow the trends. Let’s hope your marketing strategy keeps on benefitting from DS, and, meanwhile, here’s a look at the 5 things about digital signage that will help you to strive.
One. Your digital Signage is as good as your Software is
There is no wiggle room here, finding the best digital signage software partner is vital. With great DS software, you’ll be able to create mind-blowing visuals, change content in a heartbeat, collect and analyze data, interact with your customer base, promote your brand, save money and much more. While a sub-par digital signage software choice will become your turning point on the way down. Now, that being said, the best digital signage software provider means the best for you. Not the most popular one, or the one at the top of the charts, nor the most expensive one. Ditch the standard approach and optimize your decision-making process by only highlighting the features and functions you need thus making room for what matters to you.
For example, many companies are keen on using only Apple products as they rightfully believe them to provide more security and protection for their networks not to mention iconic Apple image and video quality is a must-have for visual content. That is a reason to look specifically for companies that offer the ultimate professional quality digital signage app for your Apple TV players. With just this one rather simple requirement your seemingly huge number of DS software choices will instantly shrink. We’ve chosen Kit Cast digital signage for Apple TV app alone, though they are also user-friendly and allow for really easy and intuitive content management, offer a wide range of beautiful DS templates, SM live streaming, and ability to grow our network.
Two. Know the Rules
Digital signage is all about creativity, beautiful eye-catching visual designs, engaging videos and freedom to change it all within seconds. However, there are some rules that everyone should follow, we call them the common sense rules:
- Pay attention to your font size. You cannot use a 10-point thumb and expect people to read your text standing 50 feet away.
- Contrast is always to be applied. Black text on white backgrounds will be seen, pink on purple won’t.
- Headlines and calls to action are a must.
- If you are using more than one video on your screen, show them consistently. The human brain cannot follow 10 different videos at once.
- Screens should always be mounted in an eye-catching place.
- Optimize your content for the screen you are using.
There is also a matter of timing, the number of words you can use for the text to be readable, the common sense fonts and colors, scheduling of the ads, ets.
If you are looking for a quick read on this, go to Brow University and HB collaboration guide of “Tips for Designing and Managing Digital Signage Systems”.
Three. Look to integrate!
To get all you can out of digital signage you will need your software to be able to integrate with a lot of back-end systems. Digital signage integration will help you to stream real-live content, integrate your digital signage with POS and inventory systems which will allow you to only market the available products. You will be able to collect and analyze data to learn more about your customer base, grow your audience and build brand loyalty. HR departments integrate DS to collect and analyze information for employee retention. There are amazing logistic applications, there are new applications for online payment options where you can scan the products yourself with your cell walking throughout the store, pay online and walk out having it all delivered to your doorstep shortly. In short, do your research, there are probably a ton of systems that can help you to technologically advance your business today with DS.
Four. Always look at the next big thing
Interactivity, integration, artificial intelligence, virtual assistance, personalization, data analysis, intelligent real-time data processing, and near-field mobile communications will all help to provide long-awaited direct connections between digital signage and your customer’s smartphones to bring personalization to a whole new level. For those working in retail, remember: soon enough AI and personalization will take over. Nothing can provide such an outstanding level of service through personalization than AI integrated with digital signage.
Five. Make safety a priority
Safety of your network should always come first. There are a lot of things that could go wrong, so, try to always be one step ahead. Plan your risk assessment dates to update all of thy security features, improve the security of the media players, install and / or update all of your software on time, use hardware and software firewalls and encryption systems, restrict access to your OS, make sure to run proper system scans, and don’t forget to regularly change passwords.