Digital Signage: Keep Your Content Fresh

If a digital signage system is to fulfill its mission of communications, smart managers will plan for keeping content fresh.

Any manager knows there are costs associated with buying a piece of equipment that go well beyond the initial purchase price. Regular maintenance, parts, additional operating expenses are some that come to mind.

In the digital signage realm, there're some additional expenses smart managers should keep in mind as they add or expand a system. Fortunately, since the technology behind digital signage is so computer-centric, there aren't many mechanical parts to fail or be replaced. However, there is an expense that can be easily overlooked. Unless you happen to have a background in media, you may be completely unaware of this recurring demand on resources, and if you don't plan for it, it can become a constant drain on your operation.

What's this mystery expense? It's constant content creation -an action I like to call feeding the beast. It's something that must be done regularly -definitely weekly, probably daily and maybe hourly depending on what you're specifically trying to accomplish with your digital signage communications.

Generating and inserting fresh content into the playback schedule of a digital signage system is an essential component of the sign fulfilling its reason for being. Without fresh content, customers, employees or whoever is your target market will quickly tune out the sign and your communications. Think of it this way, how willing would you be to watch your television if every time you turned it on you saw nothing but the same program?

The same is true for your digital signage communications. Granted, no one is going to stand in front of your digital sign completely mesmerized by your message the way they would sit in front of their television and watch their favorite show. But if you stand a chance of grabbing their attention and holding it for the few precious moments they glance at the sign, it better present something new, fresh and interesting.

What this means for an enterprise committed to communicating with digital signage is making a commitment to creating the content necessary to achieve the organizations goal -weekly, daily or hourly, depending on the mission at hand. For an organization, that translates into channeling the appropriate resources to the process, including skilled people, the right tools and an appropriate amount of creative time. To shun this burden is to cripple your communications effort before the first digital sign is turned on.

Fortunately, there are some practical tools and approaches at the disposal of an organization to freshen content and attract recurring viewer interest without busting the budget. They include:

• Television - many digital signage systems include a television or cable TV tuner so a portion of the screen will always include something new.
• Subscription data feeds - whether it's news, stock tickers, sports scores, temperature or traffic conditions, there are a variety of data feeds available to stream new information continuously.
• RSS feeds - in the same way data feed subscriptions can keep content fresh, free Internet RSS can deliver headlines, weather and scores. However, taking this approach removes the comfort of predictability that's available with a data subscription.
• Existing marketing materials, television commercials and training videos. Excerpts of these existing corporate resources can minimize the need to shoot and edit original video content - especially in the initial phases of system rollout.

As with so many things in life and in business, digital signage requires balance to be achieved. Organizations employing digital signage successfully have learned to allocate the appropriate number of resources to maintain content freshness without generating unacceptable expenses. By using some or all of these suggestions, finding that balance should be a bit easier.

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Digital Signage: The Potential of Self-service Interactivity is Enormous

Could the addition of traditional linear digital signage content drive the transaction value of self-service kiosks even higher than the forecasted $1.7 trillion by 2012?

If you've been reading my blog postings for some time now, you now how excited I am about the potential of hybrid, interactive digital signage.

For those who haven't ever before read my blog, let me summarize. Combining the ability of traditional digital signs to playback segment after segment of linear content (in other words, Item No. 1, Item No. 2, Item No. 3, etc.) with the interactivity normally associated with kiosk is hugely important. The traditional digital signage content can attract an audience; interactivity can hold them and direct them.

In June, new research from market research organization IHL Group underscored exactly why interactivity is an essential element in the future course of digital signage and the nearly unbelievable potential for upside growth. According to the researcher, transactions at self-service kiosks will exceed $607 billion in North America this year.

I hope you're sitting down for this next tidbit. IHL Group projects the value of these self-service kiosk transactions will more than triple to in excess of $1.7 trillion by 2012. According to IHL Group Lead Retail Analyst Lee Holman, the research confirms what's been seen over the past couple of years as all manner of self-service kiosks -everything from automated movie theater ticket sales kiosks to $1 DVD rental machines- grow in consumer popularity. In Hollman's words, "consumers are showing a preference for self-service kiosk activity of all kinds."

The research, "2008 North American Self-Service Kiosks," documents how self-service kiosks are being used in six particular areas: self-checkout systems, ticketing kiosks, check-in kiosks, food ordering, postal systems and other retail kiosks. While the traditional digital signage component might not be appropriate for every self-service kiosk, it amplifies the potential of others.

For example, consider the movie ticket sales kiosk. Add the linear playback component of traditional digital signage and this sales kiosk instantly transforms into a sales promotion tool by playing back movie trailers of what's showing in all the glory a high-definition display panel has to offer. Take that kiosk out of the theater lobby and place it in malls across the country, and you have a dual-purpose movie marketing machine that reaches potential customers who might not otherwise have given going to the movies a serious thought.

Or, consider an airline ticket kiosk. How often between flights have you walked by these kiosks and seen no busy travelers nearby. During these opportunities, couldn't these kiosks offer linear playback of travel related goods and services? Certainly, the linear digital signage content should in no way detract from the primary mission of these kiosks, but a well organized implementation could prevent that and offer the potential of increased revenue in the form of advertising sales.

In my mind, the bottom line is this: The full potential of self-service kiosks may be even larger than IHL Group forecasts. If the interactivity of the self-service kiosks is matched up with the "carnival barker" role traditional digital signage can play, it's conceivable that in the right situations this hybrid, interactive digital signage can drive the value of these sorts of transactions even higher.
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Digital Signage: Customize Marketing Campaigns Based On Consumer Interaction

Interactive, hybrid digital signs offer marketers a real-time way to take the pulse of shoppers.

Here's an interesting concept: Base in-store promotions on what shoppers actually want, not what some marketer thinks they want. That's the bottom line on findings from the recent consumer intentions and intended actions survey from Worthington, OH, -based BIGresearch.

Survey findings, released in May at the Promotion Marketing Association's first annual Shopper Marketing Summit in Minneapolis, show something that --while seemingly obvious-- often goes overlooked: every retailer has a unique customer base. In other words, not all grocery shoppers are alike. Nor are all sporting goods customers, clothing buyers, houseware hunters, and on and on.

For example, BIGresearch found 71.6 percent of Kroger shoppers say coupons sway what they buy, while 59.2 percent of Safeway shoppers say they influence their purchasing decisions. Such insights into one's customers are invaluable to marketers as building blocks for marketing campaigns, according to BIGresearch senior VP Kim Rayburn.

So if understanding what factors influence shoppers to make their buying decisions is so important, why aren't shoppers constantly polled by clipboard-carrying researchers traversing the aisles of stores or springing out from between the discount racks? Part of the answer could be attributed to the cost of doing research, some to not wanting to annoy, and thus drive away shoppers, and perhaps a bit to respect for the privacy of shoppers.

What marketers need is a tool to help with customer researcher to inform the direction of their campaigns but doesn't cost too much or drive inconvenienced shoppers from stores before they make their purchase.

Interestingly, interactive hybrid digital signage can play an important role in determining the desires, habits, likes and dislikes of customers. Interactive digital signage combines the strength of linear content presentation in attracting an audience with the interactivity normally associated with a kiosk. At little less discussed aspect of the interactive component is the ability to collect data about the customers' request.

Consider the power of tracking how interested consumers are in a special offer, the types of coupons they seek out, how much money they are interested in spending, the types of items they're interested in at certain times of the day --the list goes on and on. In the hands of a skilled marketer, such information is invaluable, forming the basis for future marketing campaigns based on the real-world consumer data.

With the right bit of programming, interactive hybrid digital signs can record such data, store it and send it at any desired interval -weekly, daily, hourly or even minute by minute- to marketers who can use it to strategically map out far-reaching campaigns or simply tweak existing digital signage marketing messages to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

Years ago it was not uncommon to be approached in a shopping mall by a lady or gentleman with a clipboard who asked for a bit of cooperation in participating in marketing surveys. Today, similar data can be collected in a far subtler manner simply by recording the selections consumers make when they interact with a hybrid interactive digital sign. Doing so will equip savvy marketers with the information they need to succeed while their less informed competition continues to struggle in refining their marketing approach.
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Digital Signage: People Like Interactivity

As consumer electronics and television programming get more interactive, digital signage must adopt interactive touch capability to remain competitive.

Perhaps you have a friend like mine. It seems no matter what we do, whenever I'm over at his house, the TV is on. No one may be watching, but the set alternates between some talking head delivering the news and commercial blaring out their sales pitch.

When I question him about why the set is on, he never has a very definitive answer, just some nebulous comment about background noise. Without question, my friend -and millions upon millions of other Americans- have found a way to tune out the endless stream of information, commercials and promotions and selectively focus in long enough if something arises to pique his interest.

I've often compared and contrasted television and digital signage in this space, usually pointing out the benefits of the latter, such as its ability to reach audiences at the point of purchase -when they're actually looking to spend money. Sadly, however, digital signage has the potential to suffer from the same "tune out factor" my friend integrates into his normal TV viewing. Without the right messaging, it's possible that digital signage will blend into the background and fail to connect with its audience at the most opportune moment.

Fortunately, good news is at hand -literally. A recent forecast from market research firm iSuppli shows that by 2013 global shipments of touch-screen display modules are expected to double, or 833 million units. By way of comparison, in 2008 worldwide touch-screen module shipments will reach 341 million units, about $3.4 billion in value, according to the research organization. At symposium in Los Angeles last month put on by the Society for Information Display, nearly 60 companies promoted their particular touch-screen sensor technology.

When coupled with digital signage technology, such touch-screen sensors can transform ordinary linear digital signage content (in other words, a succession on visual and audio elements presented one after another) into dynamic, interactive content that let's the public seek out the information about a product they desire. Interactive digital signage combines the best of the kiosk world -namely touch-screen interactivity- with the power of consistent messaging delivered when the sign operates in a traditional linear mode.

The significance of the iSuppli data is that it quantifies something we all intuitively know. People like to touch screens, interact with technology and get what they want. Look at the incredible success Apple Computers has had with the iPod, the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Those products have hit a nerve with the public. Simply touch a screen, interact with the interface and satisfy a desire.

Even the monolith of linear program presentation -the television industry- has been forced by technology to re-evaluate its business model and begin making the transition from so-called "appointment TV" to the anything, anytime model of video-on-demand. Spurred by DVRs, VOD, pay-per-view, IPTV, and cable television, those whose business it is to generate revenue from commercial television sales are working hard to develop a business model that makes the most sense. While all of the details are being hammered out on a daily basis with each new media sale, it's safe to say the future of TV will be built on interactivity.

Consider the ramifications from digital signage content. Marketers who rely on the presentation of endless linear digital signage content are likely to find their messaging becoming less effective as their audience increasingly finds their experiences with consumer devices, like an iTouch, and their television, to be more interactive.

Simply put, to compete in the battle to influence the buying decisions of consumers, digital signage content producers will soon be forced to incorporate interactivity into their presentations just to stay competitive. 

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