Tips for marketeers piloting digital signage projects- part 1

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Digital signage is one of the many marketing channels that companies (and non- profit organisations) are using nowadays to promote their products and services.

And as with any marketing channel, the principles behind it stay the same: offer people something of interest (i.e. relevant information in this case), persuade them to take action (buy, enquire, subscribe, visit etc.) and then get them to act (Dominic Grounsel, Marketing). The same purpose, a different medium.

Know your objectives

To understand how digital signage fits into your marketing strategy, you must first be clear about your overall objectives and the paths to achieve them.  Jem Lloyd- Williams of MediaCom[1], a media communication agency in London, enumerates the three main methods that stay relevant for any platform. If applied to digital signage, they will help you integrate it brilliantly into your overall strategy. These are:

–          plot journeys for particular customers or persona types (the first place they stop in- usually the reception; where do they go next, in what other locations do they spend time in during the day- cafeteria, lounge area etc.)

–          understand where the medium works best for your organisation;

–          create useful and feasible connections.

Saying no to the silo trap

Perhaps the greatest mistake that can be made when embracing digital signage is looking at the system in isolation. A few screens in your stores or in your offices that operate separately from your other marketing and communications channels that a totally different department is responsible for.  In this case, you’re not only building a system that lacks a vision (and arguably a future) but you’re also missing out on the content game.

Screens and online content

Consumers are offered so many routes to content nowadays. When it comes to online ones, as a marketer you are probably focusing on websites, blogs and social media. Digital signage lets you to effectively create a new content environment as you combine different sources that offer different content and display them on your screens.

The same message, a different channel

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This technology is just a new way of sharing the same message, as consumers themselves request the same content in different forms and on different platforms (James Papworth, 2012). Maybe not everyone of your target audience uses Twitter, visits your website, reads your emails regularly or is an Internet aficionado in general. Those types of people need a different approach to be reached.

Conclusions- part 1

According to Marco Scognamiglio, CEO of leading multichannel marketing agency- RAPP, the most significant challenge for marketers nowadays is realising that what they need to do is what they always used to do- that is understand their target audience (Marketing, 15 August 2012). The choice of technology, content, screens placement and other digital- signage related decisions that will come later on- flow from this.

Want to talk to a digital signage expert about getting your system up and running? Nothing easier- just request a FREE consultation.