February 1, 2023

6 Key Components to Set Up Your Digital Signage Effectively

Digital signages continue to become a powerful mode of communication with customers. Many brands are experimenting with it to come across the widely advertised benefits of setting up signage. But like any other form of communication, it requires a strategic approach to get the desired results.

Yet, many businesses fail to implement continuous modification and personalization based on changing customer behavior. To curb this, here are six significant components you must focus on to set up your digital signage effectively.

1) Identify the objective/intent of putting up signage.

Digital signages have many uses, like running promotional ads, interacting with the audience through exciting contests, and showcasing product galleries. Begin by identifying the intent behind setting up signage. Most businesses prefer a blend of promotional and interactive content to keep the customers engaged.

Ideas You Can Implement

  • Running time-sensitive ads during crowded hours.
    The time of the day also plays a crucial role in selecting the content type. For instance, time-sensitive ads remain suitable during crowded hours. Running ads through signage remains ideal as it remains a cost-effective method compared to traditional advertising.

  • Showing interactive content to capture and retain attention.
    People have a low attention span, and losing interest is common. Your thought-out promotional videos won’t survive if you only boast about your product collection and trending offers. Therefore, work on running interactive quizzes, contests, and animated slides for fresh, dynamic, and engagement-driven content.

  • Standing up for a cause.
    Whether you run promotional or interactive content, it connects with your products or services. However, many businesses take it up a notch by standing up for a cause that they are passionate about.

For example, a shopping center in England partnered with Battersea, a home for cats and dogs, to start a #lookingforyou campaign.
The home aimed at increasing adoptions and volunteers began by giving out brochures with a radio frequency tag. Every person who took the brochure would see a dog named Barley pop up on a digital sign throughout the center.

digital signage setup checklist

The campaign remained highly influential in gaining engagement. Standing up for a cause you deeply believe in helps your audience understand you better and develop an emotional connection.

2) Choose the right frequency of running ads

The importance and relevance of the ads heavily impact the frequency. For example, running an enticing offer on your bestselling products will likely capture attention. It makes sense to run these ads more frequently than others; as you know, customers already love these products. Therefore, give more display time to ads with high relevance to potential customers.

Other Factors Impacting Ad Frequency

  • Screen’s distance from the viewer: If the screen is installed far from the viewer, you can run ads multiple times to ensure it catches the audience’s attention.

  • The crowd in the store: There’s no point running multiple ads in an empty or barely crowded store. Make it a point to increase ad frequency when you have enough people in the store. Therefore, schedule ads based on the timings with the maximum crowd.

3) Type of content to display

As discussed earlier, digital signage must have the correct promotional and interactive content blend.

Key Areas to Target

  • Displaying more video content.
    Use short yet compelling videos as viewers interact better with videos than static images. You can showcase product demos, new product launches, production processes, different ways of styling your products, customer feedback, etc.

    Raise awareness about existing products and their key benefits. Sometimes, users fail to notice products they like among a store’s hundreds of products. Display your best products on a digital screen to pique interest and initiate more action. Also, slip in the idea of visiting your social media pages, website, and newsletter subscription.

interactive digital content
  • Keep your audience updated with news from your niche.
    People love knowing about industry-specific information. Instead of boring them with the usual content, try going into specifics and monitoring the engagement. You can also keep them updated with your business’s different locations.

  • Showcase images and videos from recent events and workshops.
    Businesses conducting events and workshops must share the experience through digital signage. These images and videos help build a connection with the audience beyond basic selling tactics. Moreover, it motivates people in your store to participate in the next event.

  • Share the experience of past customers.
    People’s buying decision is drastically affected by what other customers say about a business. Therefore, share reviews from your website, social pages, or Yelp to build trust and garner engagement.

digital display software
  • Answer frequently asked questions about your products.
    Go through user reviews and connect with your sales reps to identify FAQs related to your business. Answer these FAQs to help out customers who hesitate to ask any question.

Additional tip: Along with informing about an upcoming event, give customers a chance of an exclusive entry to garner engagement.

4) Ways to create engaging content

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to create compelling content for digital signage. Platforms like Adobe and Canva have many templates suitable for diverse content creation. You can easily create posters, infographics, short videos, etc., without hassle.

For example, Rawshorts is a great free tool for creating animated videos. But if you are more inclined to develop presentations, go for PowerPoint.

You can also keep an eye out for digital signage providers who help with end-to-end service offerings, including creating content. Intelisa, besides having an in-built integration to Canva, also provides a great additional introductory package for customers by designing the right creatives and managing their creative library. This greatly eases the process of adopting the new digital signage channel and getting the best ROI through it.

retail signage solutions

You can hire a graphic designer or display free stock content (images and videos). Many businesses go with purchasing compelling stock images, too.

Here are some of the best free and paid stock photography websites you can consider to get you started:

  • Adobe Stock
  • Pexels
  • Pixabay
  • Unsplash
  • Shutterstock
  • Getty Images
  • Vecteezy
  • Offset by Shutterstock (content from more experienced photographers)
  • Fotolia

5) Correct placement of digital signage

The placement of digital signage plays a crucial role in capturing the audience’s attention. It might seem straightforward, but it requires some thinking.

Key Questions Before Installation

  • What’s the general path taken by your customers to reach the location?

  • Which areas have the highest amount of crowd during rush hours?

  • Where do your customers spend time waiting around in the store?

  • Is there any extra wall space that directly captures the audience’s attention?

customer engagement signage

Placement Ideas

  • Interior walls for conveying broad messages: Fixed in angles directly facing customers for general messaging like “50% off on weekends.”

  • Aisled endcaps for targeted content: Smaller digital screens with highly specific content such as exclusive offers or product demos.

  • To reduce the waiting time: Install a screen with informative content at checkout counters to keep customers engaged.

Tip: Avoid filling empty wall space — go forward with strategic signage placement.

6) Selecting an effective digital signage software.

Easy setup and installation remain a priority when considering digital signage software for your business.

For instance, Intelisa’s cloud-based software ensures you get started within a few clicks. You can control it using your smartphone or computer, integrate your social pages, create dynamic content, and offer a personalized experience.

advertising display frequency

Core Features Intelisa Provides

  • Plug-and-play solution is active in 5 minutes

  • Displays all content types (images, videos, documents, etc.)

  • Works in offline mode for intermittent internet areas

  • User-friendly interface for all tech levels

  • Affordable subscription-based model

  • Increases revenue through third-party advertising

  • Centralized monitoring and content control

  • Social media integration for reusing online assets

  • Many advanced features to future-proof your investment

The software you choose eventually decides the success of your campaigns. Therefore, ensure you go through all relevant features before choosing.

Wrapping up

In conclusion, rightly implementing these six components will ensure you get a good start. Keep modifying your digital signage strategy further to create a lasting impact. The idea is to experiment with different content types, keep ad frequency in check, select the correct digital signage placement, and rely on an easy-to-use digital signage solution.