Part 5 - It's All About Content and Location


Author: Judy L. Hoffman

It is agreed that digital signage advertising networks or DSANs are a viable advertising medium. But only if the content displayed is doing its job. Besides artistic guidelines, media planners must also understand the differences in digital signage ads.

For instance, many media planners expect digital signage ads to be 30-second spots like television. You may need to spend some time explaining that digital signage ads must be half that length or less to be effective. Viewers in retail environments seldom spend that long watching an ad. The message must be conveyed in the 10 to 15 seconds that the buyer is passing by the screen.

Studies show that connectivity with viewers happens within the first seven seconds after noticing a digital screen. So digital signage ad content must engage the customer and relay its message within the allotted 10 to 15 seconds. Otherwise, the viewer has moved on and will miss the impact of the message.

Consider, too, TV advertising is targeted to a random audience with varying psychological profiles. Whereas, digital signage advertising is very highly targeted and directly reaches individuals that are there to buy and welcome product information.

What about the content? Ads should be relevant to the customer and the purchases they are making at the time. Is the ad short, concise, entertaining, and informative?

Media planners, content providers, and owners of digital signage advertising networks should have a thorough understanding of the needs of on-site customers or the demographic of shoppers at that location. Consideration of the place, time, promotion and audience is essential when developing advertising content.

Besides content, screen placement and deployment is vital. Are the screens delivering targeted messages where and when they will be seen? Are the screens being used to cross-market or up-sell where possible? This should be monitored and evaluated meticulously.

Interactive experiences are much more memorable than non-interactive ones. Digital ads benefit greatly by exploring ways to offer mobile marketing, SMS messaging, proximity sensors, and touchscreens to extend the experience of customers.

For instance, viewers can be offered a code or take a picture of a code that will allow them to download product specs, options, discounts or hear a sales presentation. By sending messages from phone to screen or vice versa, DSAN owners create an extreme social shopping experience, leading to increased sales.

Consider technology that allows specific messages to be triggered as customers move within a given proximity. With facial recognition technology screens detect viewers as being male or female to trigger gender specific ads. This requires extensive planning and coordination to deploy such a system, but the effects can be phenomenal.

Smell technology can appeal to the interactivity of ads by offering smells that correlate with specific ads. For instance, customers could smell roses when a digital ad for floral specials appears. Who can deny an increase in popcorn sales when digital ads provide the fragrance of freshly popped popcorn to coincide with movie ads?

ABI Research predicts that we will see more sophisticated options in targeting demographics with the use of cameras and the integration of RFID sensor networks with signage, thus achieving more interactivity.

Such exciting technology truly brings ads to life. But how do you sell this to the ad agencies, media buyers, and companies in general? This will be addressed in the next article titled "Measurement Matters".

About the Author

Judy L. Hoffman has freelanced marketing and public relations services for over 20 years serving a wide range of industries worldwide and, while working as PR Specialist at Noventri (www.noventri.com), has nurtured a keen interest in the digital world and the effects of digital signage in the field of marketing and public relations. Hoffman is a freelance writer and has been published in numerous trade journals, newspapers, and online publications. Hoffman holds a Bachelors in Marketing Management.

More Resources

Moving Message Board
Moving message boards are used in the areas where continuous announcements, or other information are need to be displayed in to either indoor or outdoor. Used most widely in churches, schools, airports, other transport stations, banks, production and administration department of organization as marquee information billboards.
10 Reasons Why Your Company Needs Custom Invitations
I am always amazed when I hear about companies who spend tens of thousands of dollars organizing a make-it-or-break-it company event designed to celebrate a company milestone and/or impress prospective customers. Sometimes these events have big contracts or sales at stake! Yet, often planners will fall short on the most critical aspect of planning the event-the invitations! After all, before a client steps foot into your venue, or even confirms attendance, the invitation sets the tone and leaves the first and most important (and lasting!) impression!Have a look at this compelling list of "10 Reasons Why Your Company Needs Custom Invitations".
Crazy Ads? Maybe Youre Just Out of The Demo!
My father called me to complain, again. He's 82 and he's angry.
Promote yourself on radio for free
Unless you have become extremely popular in your personal or business name, you likely need all of the marketing and promotion you can get. Now, you may say, of course, I'm aware of this, but who has the money? This a good and fair question.
Advertainment is Sneaking Into Music, Movies, TV and More
The very name "advertainment" sends thrilling vibrations up the spine of anyone with marketing in their blood or communication in their genes. And it produces a strong shiver of disgust from many of my colleagues in the music industry.
Advertising Costs Getting Too High?
Everyone knows that advertising is essential to growing a business. One problem that small business owners have always faced is the high cost of marketing.
How to Breathe New Life into Your Advertising Campaign
If you haven't made many sales or perhaps none at all, don't be discouraged. Use this 10-point checklist to breathe new life into your advertising campaigns and improve your response rate.
The Graphic Problem
Digital printing has revolutionized the sign industry. Current printers can reproduce an image at 1440 dpi (dots per inch) at virtually any size.
Whats On Your Business Card?
A professional business card says more about youand your business than any other tool in yourmarketing arsenal. You need a card that looksgood, tells what you do and makes it easy tocontact you.
How to Know if Direct Mail Will Work for Your Business
Here's a great lesson that applies to direct mail. Ready? Some people say one thing and do the opposite.
Business Cards: Why Waste Valuable Space?
So many business people neglect this valuable asset that may be used for a multitude of messages.Don't fall for the trap of supplying a "scribbler" for others that virtually guarantees your card will be in the "round file" sooner rather than later.
If You Lost 70% of Your New Customers, Would You Notice?
Buyers Don't Rely on the Yellow Pages Like They Used toCustomers' buying behavior has changed - for good. If your business depends on most categories in the Yellow Pages to attract new customers, you've probably seen a decline.
Secrets of Getting Free Advertising
The opportunities for getting free advertising for your product or services are limited only by your own imagination and energies. There are so many proven ways of promoting your own objectives without cost that it literally boggles the mind just to think of listing them.
Advertising - Should You Be Advertising Your Services?
You offer a reliable, quality service. You know that if more people knew what you can do, you'd increase sales.
The Internet and Beyond - 12 Tips on Writing Better Brochures
Every year thousands of online businesses fail. None of them begin with the idea they'll fail, in fact they have high hopes of success, but they fail all the same.
Electronic Score Boards
Wide range of electronic Key venues around the globe has turned to Electronic score boards that not only look breathtaking from every angle and distance, but provide consistently reliable performance year in and year out.Different type of sports including athletics, track cycling, running events, street cycling and mountain bike, swimming, synchronized swimming, diving as well as inline skating, water polo, ball spots, motor sports, alpine skiing, cross country and biathlon are some of the areas where Electronic score boards perfect fits solutions for.
Customer-Involving Signage and Selling
Here's some easy ways to create signage that will attract, not annoy customers (and local government agencies that regulate signage):1. Since movement always attracts attention, any banner, sign set of a pole that might move with the wind or electrically-turned sign will stand out from the static messages around it.
Radio Interview 101
Different Types of Station ContactReaching radio hosts (for the purpose of trying to get booked foran interview) can take on various forms, depending on the typeof station the show is done at. What's best? All of them at thesame time, of course.
How To Write Eye-Grabbing Headlines That Catapult Your Prospects Into Your Ads
If you're interested in improving the selling results of your ads, tweaking your headlines is a great place to start. Because your headlines influence the sales results of your ad more than any other element.
How To Write Ads That Get Response
Your print ads should do more than just get noticed. Their job is to bring you business, and if all they do is lay around and attract attention, they're no different from the lazy employee who does nothing all day but look busy.

More Advertising Information:

Related Articles

What are Text Adverts?
Not everyone is aware of what are text adverts? Text Adverts are a form of low cost advertising used by website owners to promote their website and services to a quality targeted audience.Online advertising offers an outstanding opportunity to efficiently and effectively target your desired audience.
Marketing Tips - Advertising
Typical methods of advertising-newspapers, radio and television are effective if used properly, but there are other, less expensive ways to get your company's name out. Local or cable television is an inexpensive alternative to the traditional forms of advertising.
Advertising Your Holistic Business
The most basic answer is the same answer as to the question, how does advertising work? Advertising works through repetition, and Holistic Hometown offers you that repetition.What all successful companies know is that advertising it a process.
Is there anything new under the sun? Heres how to find out if your bright idea is unique.
"There's nothing new under the sun" is probably the one phrase no inventor wants to hear, seldom believes, and is always trying to prove wrong. However, moving too quickly to prototype stage and first disclosure can turn out to be costly for the inventor who doesn't take the time to find out if his or her invention is already patented.
Become a Storyteller Not an Advertiser and Watch Your Traffic Increase
When you read the newspaper, do you read advertisements as closely as you read news stories? Do you believe advertising as readily as you believe news stories? I don't and neither do most people I know.Because we have advertising shoved at us from every angle we tend to ignore it, but we pay attention to news or public interest stories.
A $40 Million Dollar Little Known Referral Strategy
Would you like to know how a car wash chain with only 12 locations has cleaned over 33,373,975 cars and has an annual revenue of over $40 Million (that is not a misprint) using little to no paid advertising?Well, sit forward because I'm about to tell you. The company name is "Car Spa" and here's how I discovered their brutally effective referral strategy.
I Dont Want to be Different
To succeed in today's crowded marketplace where most of the products and advertising look exactly the same, a small business owner must stand out, shouting above the din with a message so clear and compelling that prospects stop and take notice. It's a matter of business survival.
Secrets of Getting Free Advertising
The opportunities for getting free advertising for your product or services are limited only by your own imagination and energies. There are so many proven ways of promoting your own objectives without cost that it literally boggles the mind just to think of listing them.
Mortgage Marketing - Broadcast Advertising vs Direct Advertising
Do you know how to design and deploya marketing campaign?Even if your ad budget is small you should still plan and measure the results of you advertising. This process is the key to your ultimate success.
Get Better Results from Your Advertising with a Disruptor
When you spend money on an advertisement you want to get the best return possible. To do that you need to get people to STOP and LOOK at your ad.
Heard A Good Radio Ad Lately? Neither Have We
To many ad agencies, radio is considered advertising's ugly stepchild. It's not sexy like television and is treated as a necessary evil with little effort put into it.
What Makes A Winning Online Ad?
Most people who have been involved with sales & marketing for any length of time have heard the axiom, "Sell them what they want. Then sell them what they need".
Media, the Internet, Yellow Pages, and Your Business
If you are reading this article, chances are you could use a little extra money. With the advent of the internet and the migration of advertising dollars from print to electronic (and this time, it's the real thing, I swear! Not one of those 1999 tech busts!.
Double Your Sales Potential With Double-sided Business Cards
Swapping business cards is one of the most basic and common forms of networking in the business world. With something that is so common practice, people often hand out cards blindly while not really thinking about what the card does AFTER you hand it out.
Printing - How Do I Buy It?
Why should I care where I get my printed material from, I'll just go for tenders and go with the low bidder. If you do this probably you won't be in business for long or you'll never really run a successful business.
Scrolling LED signs
Scrolling LED signs is type of LED signs that displays Scrolling text and can be used as outdoor and/or indoor outlet. Wide variety of businesses uses this equipment to spread news and other information quickly and efficiently.
Boost Headline Believability With Specifics
Don't use vague generalities in your headlines. Be as specific as possible.
Hiring an Amateur Could Mean a Potential Lawsuit for Your Business
These days, everyone's looking to save a buck. But if you plan to cut corners by using a fledgling copywriter or marketer, expect to put the money you just saved towards a really good lawyer.
How to Advertise with Flyers
When you first start out on your business venture, money is usually tight but you still need to advertise. One of the most affordable, yet very effective, ways to begin your advertising campaign is with flyers.
10 Reasons Why Your Company Needs Custom Invitations
I am always amazed when I hear about companies who spend tens of thousands of dollars organizing a make-it-or-break-it company event designed to celebrate a company milestone and/or impress prospective customers. Sometimes these events have big contracts or sales at stake! Yet, often planners will fall short on the most critical aspect of planning the event-the invitations! After all, before a client steps foot into your venue, or even confirms attendance, the invitation sets the tone and leaves the first and most important (and lasting!) impression!Have a look at this compelling list of "10 Reasons Why Your Company Needs Custom Invitations".