Digital signage software has the power to turn dormant screens into dynamic platforms that transform your marketing efforts. But doing so goes beyond mere display – it also requires strategic planning and thoughtful content development.
Investing in the hardware is one part of it, but a well-crafted digital signage marketing strategy is what will really elevate your screens and turn them into a valuable assets that will help you to achieve your business goals.
Without a strategy, digital signage marketing content can lack focus. This often leads to a spray-and-pray method of content deployment, resulting in forgettable displays and poor engagement. Instead, organised content generation, deployment, display timing, and regular review periods will ensure your screens and their messaging remain relevant and impactful.
This article offers insight into these areas and guidance on creating a digital signage marketing strategy that works.
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How Can Digital Signage Be Used to Support Marketing Campaigns?
Digital signage can play an integral role in supporting and amplifying your marketing campaigns, effectively reaching audiences and promoting your brand, products, or services. Customers are often bombarded with information, but using screens in your marketing strategy can help you to cut through the clutter with targeted eye-catching displays.
The most commonly used digital signage hardware in the marketing sector include:
One of the most significant advantages of digital signage in marketing is that displays can be changed, updated and timed to suit the target audience perfectly. Using screens instead of traditional print methods of advertising also saves on print costs and ultimately proves more engaging. Digital displays can have up to 400% more views and have a visual element that stays in customers’ memories longer than other traditional channels.
Brands can use digital screens for a variety of use cases, including:
- Product promotions: Digital signage enables you to showcase promotions or sales in a visually appealingly manner. For instance, retail stores can use digital posters to display flash sales or limited-time offers, capturing immediate customer attention and creating fear of missing out to prompt purchases.
- Informative displays: You can share product details, comparisons, or how-to guides to generate awareness. This enhances customer understanding, aids in decision-making, and indirectly boosts revenue.
- Interactive content: Interactive displays like touch-screen information panels, quizzes, or games engage audiences. Interactive digital signage provides immersive experiences, increases brand interaction, and can gather valuable customer data that marketing teams can leverage for future campaigns.
- Social Proof: Showcasing customer testimonials, ratings, or user-generated content on digital signage can build trust and push potential customers towards a buying decision.
- Cross-Promotion content: Partnering with complementary businesses and cross-promoting each other on your digital signs empowers you to reach wider audiences.
- Event Announcements: Use digital signage to promote upcoming events, launches, or webinars, encouraging participation and brand engagement.
How To Create An Effective Digital Signage Marketing Strategy
Define Your Audience
It’s essential to develop detailed and data-led customer profiles or buyer personas that have been backed by market research. This will allow you to go beyond primary demographic data to provide a more nuanced view of your clients’ behaviours, preferences, and needs. CRMs such as HubSpot have native tools that allow you to build out personas.
Image Source: Hubspot
Consider various factors such as their daily routines, weekdays versus weekends, and interests at different times. This in-depth analysis will aid you in curating compelling content that resonates with your specific audience.
Set Goals
Establishing clear and measurable objectives is fundamental to developing your digital signage marketing strategy. Here are examples of goals that you might set:
- Boost website traffic by x%
- Increase product sales by x%
- Expand event or mailing list signups
- Amplify social media presence
Alternatively, objectives could focus on influencing audience behaviours, such as:
- Enhance internal communications
- Motivate sales teams
- Streamline wayfinding or room booking
- Improve brand awareness
For instance, a high-tech electronics retailer could use digital signage to showcase an innovative new gadget, aiming to boost in-store demonstrations by 30% within the initial launch quarter.
Note: Defining objectives and success metrics early on enables a more focused and result-oriented approach to digital signage marketing.
Set Measurables
Each goal needs a corresponding Key Performance Indicator (KPI) — a quantifiable measure that aids in assessing the strategy’s effectiveness. These KPIs could reflect various metrics, including revenue growth, increased customer footfall, or a rise in referrals and social media followers.
Use unique URLs, promotional codes, or compelling calls-to-action on your digital signage to track progress towards your KPIs. Ultimately, KPIs serve as tangible milestones, allowing you to gauge the success of your strategy and make necessary modifications to ensure you are meeting goals.
Communicating these KPIs and milestones is essential in demonstrating the effectiveness of your marketing strategy too. Creating KPI dashboards will help ensure your team is united around these core measurables.
Experiment
This may involve an element of trial and error, but it’s important to gather data through some experimentation and refine your strategy. With the right software in place, it should be easy to change, test and update messaging on your screens to find out what really works.
Testing Content and Variables
Leverage your digital signage software’s in-built tools to design content that aligns with your brand and audience personas. Content can be varied and dynamic, from design images and videos to interactive elements or live feeds, creating a visually captivating and informative experience worth the viewer’s time. Remember, the goal is to enhance, not hinder, the viewer’s experience.
Position Your Screen(s)
Having chosen the right screens for your needs, test their performance in different positions. Factors such as footfall, viewer activity, and viewing duration can influence your screen placement. It’s worth mentioning that the type of content displayed also determines the position of screens and vice versa.
For example, a tech retail store could position screens next to specific gadgets, displaying key features, comparisons with similar products, or even brief how-to guides, supporting customers in their decision-making process. At the same time, a digital display promoting a new product or brand launch and inviting customer participation could be placed near the checkout area, ensuring maximum visibility.
The type of content displayed would be intricately linked to the position of the screens. The placement should always complement the content, ensuring it effectively reaches the intended audience.
Note: Externally placed screens generally have shorter viewing times than internal ones, so thoughtful positioning can significantly enhance the impact of your digital signage.
Segment
Content segmentation involves tailoring your content according to your audience’s preferences, habits, and viewing times. Consider factors like audience type, their emotions upon viewing, and changes in customer demographics throughout the day.
Whether in a waiting area or a busy restaurant, the aim is to create engaging content that matches the viewer’s context and attention span. Use narratives or themed content to maintain interest. Finally, review your content from the viewer’s perspective, ensuring clear, concise messaging that suits even a brief glance.
Playlists and Schedules
Designing playlists and scheduling content involves strategic timing to optimise customer engagement. Good playlists serve the right content at the right time, mirroring best practices in various marketing disciplines.
Scheduling allows content updates to resonate with real-time events or cater to specific audience segments, enhancing the overall viewer experience. Digital signage scheduling has various uses – from changing restaurant menus daily to seasonal sales and events.
Digital signage software offers a straightforward way of scheduling content across screens. Take a look at the video below to learn more.
Measure the Impact
A robust digital signage strategy includes consistent monitoring, ideally every week. This practice allows for a thorough analysis of viewer interaction, enabling you to adjust content, timing, and placement for maximum impact. Key considerations include:
- Your busiest hours
- The content type that garners the most attention
- Your primary audience’s age group
- Products needing a promotion boost
For example, if analytics show a high footfall during weekday afternoons, you might schedule promotional content for a product targeting working professionals during this period. Adapting your strategy based on these insights helps optimise your digital signage effectiveness.
Feedback
Seeking feedback is vital for a successful digital signage strategy. Engage staff, customers, or other fresh pair of eyes to review your content. Make use of simple feedback forms or real-time viewing through preview screen features.
Analysing feedback can expose unnoticed design issues, typos, or readability problems. An agile, cloud-based digital signage system allows for continual refinement.
For example, you might experiment with different colour schemes on your displays and ask viewers which one they find more appealing. Such insights can significantly enhance your strategy’s efficacy and viewer engagement, ensuring your content remains relevant and practical.
Review and Iterate
The essence of a digital signage content strategy is to maintain fresh, relevant content. As with any strategy, it requires regular review and adjustments to ensure it continues to meet your goals. This isn’t a “set it and forget it” task. Constant monitoring, reassessment, and tweaking based on your measurable KPIs are essential.
The ability to quickly adapt and refine your strategy will lead to more effective campaigns, maximising your return on investment. Like a vibrant garden, your digital signage strategy needs constant care and attention to thrive.
Digital signage brings more impact to marketing strategies
Digital signage is a potent tool that amplifies marketing strategies. Its influence extends from creating brand awareness to driving conversions, underpinned by engaging and dynamic content.
Whether it’s enticing promotional offers, informative displays, social proof, or interactive platforms, digital signage caters to various marketing needs. Businesses can capitalise on digital signage’s full potential by strategically positioning screens, segmenting content, designing effective schedules, and continuously measuring and iterating strategies.
Want to make digital signage an integral part of your marketing strategy, driving engagement and boosting bottom lines? Speak to our expert team today!
