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Plan the content of your digital displays to ensure successful communications

Have you ever seen an ad that stayed with you for a long time? Did you ever wonder how a simple slogan can have such a deep impact? Ads that seem to owe their success to a stroke of luck are, in general, very well planned from the moment they are created until they are released and are rarely the work of a single person. The same goes for internal communications. The outcome seen by your audience is the result of many steps leading towards the winning combination that allow you to communicate the right message at the right time and to the right people, all the while using the right tone and the style of your brand – and nothing less.

This is about content strategies. At ITESMEDIA, we call this process the “Communication success strategy”. Digital signage software is the heart of ITESMEDIA, and content strategy is its brain.

Which matters most – content or container?

It’s the same as asking “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” – one cannot go without the other. If you are a manager, you’re probably looking for an effective, easy-to-use tool with a programming function to facilitate information distribution for your internal marketing campaigns. However, for people viewing a screen, software performance is not an incentive to read the content. As such, the communications manager’s requirements are not the same as the target audience’s needs. In this context, the content is at least as important as the container, and perhaps even more.

Who’s talking? Who’s listening?

Which information needs to be communicated? When? Which images should be used? How much information can fit on a slide? When you need to create a communication campaign with content adapted to your company’s environment, you will need to answer a lot of questions to properly target the message and the recipients.

Below are the steps we follow with our clients during a content strategy process. These can be done alone or with colleagues.

1. Define the objectives

What is your intent? Do you wish to inform, convince, entertain your public, or increase employee retention? Whether the message is intended for internal communications or for large-scale retail distribution, achieving your goals means communicating regularly with your audience. It is therefore critical to start your content strategy by identifying your communication campaign’s objectives and, preferably, making sure they are aligned with the company’s mission.

2. Identify and understand your audience

Who are you talking to? Employees, clients, the general public, or even friends?
Where will your audience be physically when you communicate with them through dynamic displays? In a corridor, a cafeteria, a waiting room, or outside?
Are the people you will be talking to ready to listen to you? Your public’s mental availability could change depending on the position of the signage (for instance, a screen next to a coffee machine will not have the same effect as one inside a conference room).
Which formula would work best for your audience? Reading, looking, listening, guessing? There are so many different ways to communicate!

To target your audience, no matter how large, a great exercise is to think about someone you know and whose profile matches the criteria of your intended audience. You will then have a precise example in mind while creating your message, which will help increase its retention rate.

3. Identify equipment and communication channels

Are the employees allowed to access their mobile at work? Can they go on social media sites during work hours? Are they using a computer all day long or do they operate machinery?

Being aware of the many (or the few) information sources witch employees can access will help evaluate the number of messages to publish.

4. Determine the types of content

What are your audience’s preferences? Do they prefer specific graphics and images, or a vocabulary in particular? Would they appreciate light content, or something more serious?

What emotion does the content generate? Can it make your employees smile or think, or call them to action? Think about the content you see on your social media. Diversity is the key to attract your public and, more importantly, to keep its attention.

5. Prioritize the information

Did you ever find yourself taking part in a lively discussion and trying to follow more than one conversation at a time? If yes, you have noticed the best way to listen to a conversation and to participate is to choose only one.

The same applies for the digital display communication channel: the most important message goes first.

6.Maximize sources that can automate the content

Using external sources to create content can be a winning move for everyone. For instance, news on your intranet can automatically appear on your screens. Reusing content can help you save time, and people can see it at more than one place (or not, depending on their preference).

Automated content can also be directly linked to your company’s activities and can display information in real time, such as production data, facilities’ status (e. g. active, out of order, undergoing repairs), and even emergency messages when an alarm is triggered.

Are the news or the weather important for your public? Attention-grabbing information? If the answer is yes, these automated programming options are easy to integrate within your communication plan.

7. Create and include visuals

Digital signage can also be used to promote your company’s brand in every message. Strong visuals are always eye-catching, but harmonized typography, colors, image types (pictures, icons, characters, etc.) will create reading habits and help the reader recognize key messages.

Digital signage is a part of our lives

It’s everywhere. People are used to see it, and more and more read it. In a restaurant, customers will read the menu because they don’t have a choice. In a waiting room, people read to pass the time. In a corporate environment, they read to satisfy their curiosity. In any event, the content must be engaging and informative, and should support the company’s goals.

Successful content needs to be good and look good – and to achieve it, it takes a strategy!

Do you want to drive your communications by following a communication campaign that is aligned with your objectives? ITESMEDIA offers a content strategy service to help its clients optimize their communications on their dynamic displays. We are here to help you, contact us – 514-642-3790 ext.1 , sales@itesmedia.tv.

How-to Communicate Messages Better

Communication tip to improve company culture

Are you ready to communicate your message?

So, you have a great message to share and you think you are ready to launch it into your marketplace. But step back for one minute and think…have you effectively cascaded that announcement about a company acquisition, new partnership deal signed, or killer marketing campaign for a new product launch to your own company’s staff?

Staff are interacting with customers and upholding your brand values everyday – even the ones that are not in sales.

Just because you say you want to communicate something doesn’t mean you’re ready to communicate it. The same goes for someone telling you to communicate on their behalf. You need to ensure that you have all the information required to cascade to stakeholders, all the answers to the questions that will come up and all the appropriate parties involved to ensure successful execution. When you achieve this, your message will be mission accomplished: heard, seen, meaningful and effectively resonate in the tone and manner you intended.

Internal First Checklist for Better Company Culture

Why:

An ‘internal first’ policy means employees will be well informed of all company initiatives prior to public launch. Internal first keeps all “in the know” at all times and should be mandated by all departments. Doing so significantly improves employee happiness. Nothing worse than learning about an initiative your company had after the fact, or from someone outside your organization. Employees who are informed are engaged.

There is an art to communicating to all employees. Not everyone one needs the same level of detail. And certainly, not everyone will, or even has access to, read an email announcement. But that limitation should not hold you back. A few well-articulated bullet points or a nice visual (think like an advertisement, but to your staff) is all you need.

Examples what you should communicate internally first are a new strategic partnership in your market or a new marketing campaign. Each are aligned to the values and goals of your brand. So, your staff should be aware first! The key is cascading key communications to all staff in more than one method like email. And making it visual for staff to quickly be informed and comprehend. A little info can go a long way if executed properly. The checklist in this post will help!

Using digital signage, you can send such awareness messages to staff fast, easily and in a visual design that helps them get the high points. Some screens can show a brief FYI – others can offer more info in rotation. Essentially your overall message is consistent. The exact the delivery is tailored to the audience that the digital screen services.

How to:

Initiatives to support Internal First (requirements and considerations):

Have you included all affected departments/employees in your information gathering process?
Have you asked all the required questions? If you aren’t sure, don’t wait to be told. Ask the question!
Be sure to include those who you think can improve the outcome of your project plan.

Challenge yourself to think outside the box. Who else could provide new considerations that you haven’t thought of yet?

Timeline

What else is being communicated to your target audience at that time?

Is your communication urgent and/or mandatory?
Does it align with other messaging?
Can it be combined with an existing message?
Does your project plan ensure that the message will be communicated at the best time, in the most effective way?

What communication channels will be used to communicate your message? For example:

Digital Signage software
Company intranet
IT email
Support email
Marketing email
Platform pop-up (within product/technology)

Internal Awareness Alert

The goal is to communicate internally a minimum of 48 hours prior to the external release of information.
Internal Awareness Alerts are intended to announce any external, client-facing communications or initiatives (marketing collateral, client communications, marketing campaigns, etc.).
Internal awareness of the project initiatives is the responsibility of the project owner.
Posting such an alert via digital signage software is optimal here. It is fast, in real time and can be shared to one, some or all screens and devices you need. Each screen can be set to share the appropriate level of detail base on how the screen is used or where the screen is located.

Should you get feedback from stakeholders during your internal first communication window that requires you to adjust your communication, no worries. Digital signage software enables you to make changes and update existing communications in minutes. Always have the best and most current information in the eyes of your staff.

Wayfinding Digital Signage for Better Customer Experiences: Where, Why, How and Who

We’ve all walked into a big building, stopped a few feet in, and quietly thought, “OK, where am I and where do I need to be?”

Finding our way around big places like office towers, office campuses, university campuses, medical complexes, airports, rail stations, central business districts, congress centres and shopping malls can all be daunting. There are rarely enough signs to point the way, and those signs may not have much in the way of answers beyond. They may provide location, but no context or help in getting to a target location, like a specific room or shop.

The answer is wayfinding, and ideally, digitally driven wayfinding. Printed maps and directories are only as good as the last time they were updated, and usually relay the absolute basics. Digital signage, done right, is current, interactive and deep in detail.

With a digital wayfinding application, otherwise lost and perplexed visitors to a venue can easily find out:

Where they are, with You Are Here! flashing on an interactive map
Where they need to be, like a store, clinic or lecture room, with directions and walking time estimates
Locations for things like food services, a bank machine or washrooms, based on keyword and category searches done right at the screen.

Thoughtfully positioned around buildings and large multi-building venues, digital wayfinding stations reduce frustrations for visitors and ease the burden on facility operators to stay on top of what can be a moving target.

Consider what happens in places like shopping centers and airport concourses, where tenants and services are regularly switching out or relocating. With a print directory and maybe an associated map, just one tenant moving out or relocating, or a new one coming in, means re-designing and updating the printed directory and map, sending it off to the printers, and then taking the time to get around to all the directory stations to put the new version in place.

Then a week later, something else changes, and the increasingly costly, time-consuming process needs to be repeated.

Digital is a much more nimble, efficient way to deliver on those basics, but that’s really just the opening argument for going digital with wayfinding.

Consider these advantages of Wayfinding via Digital Signage Terminals and Displays

Interactive

Digital natives – the huge population wave of adolescents and young adults who grew up not knowing anything but a world of smartphones, tablets and touch screens – walk up to things like concourse and entryway directories expecting and assuming they’re just big versions of their phones. You can see the confusion as they tap and try to pinch, zoom and swipe glass poster cases that have nothing but printed material and backlights inside. Interactive digital is expected.

Clever

Basic printed maps and directories can list what’s there and point out location. Digital wayfinding terminals (stations) can help people find what they need, without knowing specific names, and in context to where they are. Finding a place for quick bite at an airport works a lot better if you can use a touchscreen that locates where you are in a terminal and locates nearby restaurants. There’s no value in knowing what eateries are in another terminal. Even better, many wayfinding systems will show the walking route, and estimate the time needed to get there. In some cases, those directions can be pushed to the user’s smartphone.

Flexible

Printed material can do whatever it was designed to do, and that’s it. With digital signage, a wayfinding station can serve many purposes – running multiple functions or changing either on demand or through scheduling. For example, a railway hub can use wayfinding stations to direct people to tracks and to services in the terminal, but also provide touch-driven options for getting train status, schedules or interactive route-finders that help people sort out how they can get from there to another there. When they’re not busy, they can be used to support marketing for retail tenants and services, public safety alerts or third-party advertising that can offset or recover the capital and operating costs of the digital stations.

Fast or Instant

Doing things with print or other means can take hours, days or weeks to fully turn around. With digital, changes can be made quickly or even automatically. For example, suppose circumstances at a convention center require a meeting or event to be re-located to a different room or hall. If the facility’s management office uses a room booking system, or even just a shared spreadsheet on a network directory, when room assignments are changed in the management software, they can instantly change on the wayfinding/directory system. Notifications for things like public safety and weather warnings can also, easily, be automated and triggered to appear on screens.

How to make your Wayfinding project better? Work with a modern signage software company.

ITESMEDIA has a long, deep background working with large organizations and data – both real-time and archived, and has worked with a wide range of organizations on everything from searchable directories and wayfinding applications. For example, the Saint-Hyacinthe Technopole near Montreal engaged ITESMEDIA to develop a solution involving interactive kiosks and screens that promote attractions, hotels, restaurants, shops and other businesses near the innovation and meetings facility.

Guest experience is now recognized as a key to business success – with visitors having the sort of easy, helpful and positive experience that makes them want to return. That starts from the moment people arrive, and in a big footprint facility, stopping confusion and frustration before it develops – with a great wayfinding and directory application – is a smart technology decision.

How to Present Workplace Dynamic Data

Business communicators who want to drive meaningful and timely messaging on their workplace digital signage networks should get to know and embrace a nerdy little acronym – API.

That’s short for Application Programming Interface. While that will look both intimidating and boring to people charged with workplace communications, having access to APIs is a big deal for running a digital signage network that is always current, always relevant. and best of all, highly automated. For busy HR pros, it can be a lifesaver, because of the way data can work with software tools to steadily feed the content beast.

Imagine keeping staffers in office areas and out in the warehouse and production areas steadily informed on what’s going on, what they need to do, and how things are going, without allocating full-time resources to pull material together and get it all out to screens. Imagine all the complexity gone from tasks like accurate messaging based on things like location, time and operating conditions.

With APIs, that’s all not only possible, but relatively easy with the right software solution and technology partnership. In layman’s terms, APIs make it possible to securely access real-time data from business systems and cloud-based software platforms. An API presents that data in a reliably structured format, that can then be ingested by a content management system and used to present steadily updated, dynamic content on screens.

Still a little nerdy, we know, but here’s how that looks in a workplace:

Those time consuming and boring Spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides that a manager or assistant creates manually, and then prints and posts in break rooms or work team meeting areas, can instead be live content on one or several screens. In a manufacturing environment, that screen might be showing live charts that reflect production numbers against target, inventory levels, or shipping volumes reported by product, production line or whatever variable that’s required.

When a sensor connected to production equipment detects a spill, it can automatically trigger a warning notice to screens in that immediate area, with specific instructions for workers. Around the rest of the plant, the notification message might be different, or there may be no need for any messaging about the incident. Contrast that with older systems that might trigger a general alarm that a whole facility will hear and react to, causing downtime.

In a sales office, a screen or screens automate the key performance indicators – like sales pipelines and sales performance against targets – on real-time dashboard screens, instead of being printed out for discussion and review at a weekly sales team meeting.

At a logistics facility, cameras and sensors pick up and report when a truck enters the yard, and then logs on screens when it arrives at a bay, when it loads or unloads, and when it exits the facility. Compare that with a job that’s otherwise left to paper sheets and clipboards only a handful of people ever see.

At facility exit areas, automated content can let workers know about traffic problems or transport delays and disruptions, before they leave the premises and end up in a traffic jam they wished they’d known about.

Working with data for your communications can be easy

While all this likely sounds quite technical, and over the head of many human resources people who don’t think they missed their calling in IT, working with data is increasingly easy.

That big hurdle – getting at real-time data – is now easy for many to most businesses, particularly those running on contemporary, cloud-based systems. APIs for these types of systems are common, and usually essential now for doing business.

Smart digital signage and interactive solutions companies have developed tools – like data connectors and dynamic content templates – to make it easy. While every business out there is a little bit different, communication needs don’t vary as much. Most companies have KPIs they’d like to show on screens. Most companies want to celebrate success and acknowledge team milestones. Most companies want a means to reinforce safety, and a way to report how things are going.

Using something called HTML5 and Java scripting – don’t worry, you don’t need to learn them either – a content template can be updated instantaneously, and things like charts and graphics re-drawn and images switched, with no intervention from a creative person (or anyone else). Magic!

The right messaging can help boost performance. When a work team is behind on a task, real-time data can show where they’re at and encourage speeding up or re-allocating resources. Some companies have taken a cue from online game platforms to “gamify” work tasks – pitting teams across a plant, or multiple plants, to boost productivity with fun visuals and incentives.

The right digital signage solutions providers will have the tools and knowledge to work with customers and come up, usually quickly, with content automation templates. Often, busy IT staffers within an organization need to have little or no involvement when the systems that have the desired information are equipped with APIs.

NO APIs? Message automation is still possible, just ask.

When there are no APIs, that doesn’t mean partial or full automation is not possible. First, a solutions provider can work with the technology provider that has the platform and data, to develop custom access. Often, all that’s needed is some means to push data to a shared directory that is secure for the tech col, and accessible by an outside system.

It’s also possible to strip down and simplify automated messaging. Something as simple and ubiquitous as Google Sheets spreadsheets can be used. For example, if a company wants to post production target numbers at the start, middle and end of each shift, someone just needs to key those in to the right cells on the shared spreadsheet, and the CMS platform will “see” the changes and speedily, if not instantly, change that on screens, in numbers and charts that can grow, shrink and change color based on the design and pre-set parameters.

How to get started with automating workplace messaging

So how does an organization start optimizing and automating critical workplace messaging?

Three key steps:

Establish what messages are needed, where they need to be, and how often they change;
Determine where the information is generated and resides, and whether it is accessible (i.e. has an API);
Find a solutions provider that understands how to work with real-time data and has a track record of doing so for organizations.

The most successful workplace digital signage projects are those that are steadily fresh, timely, relevant and visually interesting. Done manually, it would be a lot of work. But with the right toolsets and tech partners, it should be a breeze. And much-loved around the organization.

The Real Cost of Free Digital Signage Software

Do you remember the last time you downloaded a new, free software for your business? You had to learn how to use it and then train all your staff. When something went wrong you were the one everyone came to with questions. You were spending evenings and weekends updating the software so the latest version was ready to go on Monday morning. You quickly realized your productivity was declining and you still weren’t seeing a return on investment.

All of a sudden that free software, like PowerPoint, isn’t really free anymore. Your digital signage software doesn’t have to be that way.

We recently heard from a real estate brokerage that hired an employee to work for $20 an hour, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 8 weeks (that’s $4,800). This employee was to build a PowerPoint presentation as part of the business’s communication strategy to engage employees and customer. The presentation would run on a computer monitor in their front lobby and showcase a slide about their agents, a few slides for currently listings, a few slides for open houses, and so on. So what’s the problem? Well, to start, the presentation would be out of date as soon as a property sold or an open house ended.

Now, imagine if that broker had invested that $4,800 in an automated digital signage solution that synced with existing technologies used by the brokerage to share information in real time. They’d have money to spare and immediate ROI. Also, the investment allocated to digital signage software would service the office over a long period of time, with dynamic content versus the manually 8-week effort needing to be repeated.

Free is only free when you first click download. Ongoing work and user experience will fall short of expectations and cost your team valuable time with low value tasks.

Don’t fall victim to the free software struggle. Get your complementary digital signage solution quote and demo today and find out how easy and affordable it is for you to get started on a proper system, designed for you.

How Much Does Digital Signage Cost?

Is the cost of digital signage software out of your budget? Think again.

Digital signage is becoming increasingly popular in today’s marketing and advertising landscape. Effective communication is at the forefront of many corporate, manufacturing and even real estate companies and they’re taking ideas from big B2C marketers.

You’ve seen big brands use TV screens and digital displays to showcase their brand for years. Think about New York’s Time Square or those tempting videos of Tim Horton’s latest donut creation while you’re waiting in line to order your double double. How many times have you caught yourself impulse purchasing because of how good those donuts look on that screen? Now imagine if you could do that for your business!

Average Costs of Digital Signage

You know you need to improve your communication efforts, but what’s the cost of an effective digital signage strategy? There are four main components you need to consider while you plan your digital signage strategy:

1. Software

The heart of your digital displays is the software. The software allows you to:

Manage the content you share across your digital signage network
Automate the information you share on which display
Integrate content from various data sources to simplify the sharing of information across your network

When it comes to software, don’t think you have to break the bank. Your digital signage software can start as low as $15 per month or lower if you have a high volume of licenses. For a solution with templates designed for your market to promote your products or for internal office communication, you can get a value packed software license with some content automation for just $49 per month.

2. Displays/Monitors

Depending on who you’re targeting and where you’re communicating – at a mall, in your front lobby or in your staff lunch room – your display options will vary, as will your prices. For options such as kiosks, interactive monitors, video walls, and tablets, have various price points. What you need to consider is a software provider that understands the hardware market and can bring you options that fit your needs. Some hardware needs can be met with monitors or “TVs” you already have. Some installation needs may require a commercial grade monitor. Plan for some investment in hardware and ask questions. A reputable provider will offer leasing on hardware as well. Leasing digital signage hardware is a great solution for many businesses and enables you to get everything you need at one time.

3. Media Player

Based on your display/monitor, you will need a media player to send content from your software to various screens. The media player is a key component to keeping your signage live. Cost will determine the quality, performance, and security of the content you share. The media player you choose should reliably support the needs of your display devices. You have many options when it comes to media players but remember a cheap media player creates risk that your signage will fail. It is recommended that you plan for approximately $995 for the cost of a proper media player. It’s a one-time cost or in many cases can be leased monthly to help your cash flow.

4.Content strategy & content creation

This can be an in-house cost through your Marketing or Communication team, or you can outsource the development of your content strategy to experts in digital signage who understand the why, how, when, and where to communicate, and will partner with you to learn about who you’re reaching and what you need to share. The cost of a content expert can be built into your monthly plan but to give you an idea, a proper well thought out content strategy support by digital signage experts cost around $3000 and be a one-time investment, quarterly or annual depending on your needs.

The digital signage partner you choose should provide payment options when it comes to your digital signage strategy. Monthly plans can be tailored to your business needs and objectives, while easily aligning to budgets and achieving ROI, which should all be established in your overall content strategy.

Ultimately, you’ll want to be aware of those “free” software offers that turn out to be anything but free and understand the value of partnering with a digital signage software provider. Many of those free software options will require set up time and training for both you and your staff the costs will quickly add up.

Your Digital Signage Cost Breakdown

While evaluating your options, it’s important to know the numbers right out of the gate. Without this you’ll have a hard time aligning the budget to the ROI.

Some companies provide their own cost estimators so you can build your own quote with the options you’re most interested in. The ultimate goal is to find a software and hardware provider that will partner with you to understand your business goals and challenges and provide packages with pricing options that meet your needs.

Don’t let your fear of cost outweigh the benefits that digital signage will have to your business. Take a look at the possibilities of digital signage for your business.

The Benefits of Choosing a Digital Signage Partner

Choosing a digital signage partner to take care of the four components of your digital signage project means you can spend your days focused on building your business while your beautifully designed, dynamic digital displays share relevant, accurate information in real-time, attracting new customers to your brand.

Your digital signage partner should understand your business needs and support your business goals through your content strategy, by recommending the types of displays and their most effective locations, and the frequency of information shared on those screens. For example, a real estate broker may be looking to increase agent retention internally and improve brand awareness within the community. Your digital signage partner should recommend a back-office display for internal communications, front window monitors to showcase your brand, and a kiosk for your local shopping centre to showcase agents and listings to attract new customers.

5 Podcasts That You Should Add to Your Playlist

You’ve likely heard about podcasts but have you joined the masses and started listening to them yet? Podcasts are a really great way to stay up to date on industry news and trends, professional (and personal) development, to get inspired about a topic of interest, or even just to relax and escape the daily grind.

Here’s a list of five playlist-worthy podcasts for the modern Marketing Communications professional. Whether you are a responsible for office internal communications, marketing communications for your brand globally or in a niche market of manufacturing, real estate or any other industry…these podcasts are worth your time.

1. Gary Vee

Gary Vaynerchuk is an entrepreneur with a portfolio of businesses under his belt. He’s spent his career building multi-million-dollar business. His podcasts cover everything he’s learned along the way from entrepreneurship to social media and more.

2. Kerwin Rae

Kerwin Rae is an entrepreneur, investor, business strategist and international speaker who helps business succeed. His punchy, no-holds-barred, “nothing is impossible” attitude is contagious and motivating, and worth a listen.

3. Scott & Alison Stratten

Scott and Alison Stratten take a bit of a different approach to their podcast. Rather than talking about what to do, they talk about what NOT to do first, which makes way for conversations about what you need to do in your marketing efforts. Hence, UnMarketing.

4. Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek has brought the theme ‘Start with Why’ to the forefront in many businesses. His first TED talk in 2009 is ranked the third most watched on TED.com. He is an optimist, a best-selling author and renowned leader.

5. Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review features conversations on women in business, leadership, management, and an advice show on workplace dilemmas. Like their articles, the thought-leadership is both educational and engaging.

PowerPoint is dead: Communicate better with Digital Signage

Welcome to the new age of engaging your employees and customers.

In an age where we have smart marketing communication software, smartphones, smart watches and smart homes, why is your business still struggling to showcase your brand, communicate your value, and engage your employees and customers on an outdated PowerPoint presentation?

PowerPoint has often been the go-to tool to create presentations – companies use it every day to solve a variety of communication needs from meeting presentations to front office displays to lunch room monitors. It may be a free tool that features static images and text on a screen, but it isn’t bringing your brand to life and getting your employees and customers excited about who you are and what you do, or can do, together.

When you think about your employee and customer experience, consider the level of engagement that each audience has with your brand. A study of U.S-based financial executives by Forbes Insights and SilkRoad revealed that an engaged workforce has a direct impact on the customer experience and in turn the success of an organization.

Are you sharing company information, employee successes, community events, etc.? Your answer may be ‘yes’ but if you’re sharing this information on a computer monitor via a PowerPoint presentation, your answer might as well be ‘no’.

The challenge is, your PowerPoint presentation is out of date almost as soon as you hit the save button. And the cost you invest in one of your employees, or yourself, plugging away to create a 20-slide, mediocre presentation for you to run on a computer monitor in your front lobby to show your customers who you are and what you do, turns out to be a massive waste of time and budget. Let’s face it, for effective communication with real people, PowerPoint is dead.

To prove it, we recently heard from a real estate brokerage that hired an employee to work for $20 an hour, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 8 weeks… that’s $4,800! This scenario is common to many other stories we have heard in different markets. The employee was to build a PowerPoint presentation as part of the business’s communication strategy to engage staff, agents and customers for just one office location. The presentation would run on a TV in their front lobby and showcase a slide about their agents, a few slides for current listings, a few slides for open houses, and so on. So what’s the problem? Well, to start:

The presentation would be out of date as soon as a property sold, or an open house ended.
Showcasing many agents in one presentation is LONG and boring. Versus dynamically highlighting an agent birthday, welcome new agents and acknowledge top performers of the week on a real-time, automated basis.
And how do you repeat this model to numerous offices? That $4,800 multiplied out sure gets expensive compared to the cost of digital signage software for real estate.
Also, the visual design was limited to the ability of the creator. People are visual learners, the layout and design to intrigue their eye and make a memory in their mind is an art and a science. This was a big miss for the office that was using just a PowerPoint.
The worst part of this real estate office effort to better communicate in the office…general staff feedback was, oh that’s it?

Sad but true, a PowerPoint on a TV run by a person isn’t the smartest move.

What’s the solution? In the case of the real estate brokerage, their intentions were good, their execution was limited to the tool they settled for. Their vision of hiring the employee full time to update and manage their communication strategy and plan, curate content, and refresh the PowerPoint on a weekly basis was falling short on ROI. That’s before they investigated digital signage and how a low-cost solution could not only fit well within their budget but also showcase real-time, automated information on beautiful, illuminated digital displays throughout their office. Such as solution frees up staff time to do more meaningful work that a busy office always needs help with.

Digital signage isn’t just for real estate offices looking to showcase their listings in their front windows or feature open houses on mall kiosks. Digital signage is for:

Factory employees to stay informed of new HR policies or Health and Safety tips;
Community centres to keep residents up to date on news and event information in their area;
Transit authorities to communicate schedules, delays, and emergencies to passengers;
Hospitals and clinics to promote wellness, share emergency information, or to direct traffic via interactive maps.
And that’s not all…

You should be spending your time thinking about what you’re communicating and to whom, not how you’re going to do it. The opportunity for you to share information and data, target communication to the appropriate audience in the appropriate location, on clean, organized and branded templates is available to you and extremely cost (and time)-effective when you consider the latter.

A blog in The Business Journal referred to dynamic digital signage as fresh, immersive, and a way to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors.

Isn’t it time you took your business communications to the next level?

Digital Signage Monitors vs. TV – What Are the Differences?

That old adage about using the right tool for the job definitely applies in digital signage – with made-for-purpose commercial displays a wiser choice for most jobs than TVs that may look similar, but are very different inside.

Using flat panel TVs for commercial purposes will almost certainly save on upfront costs, and then cost much more in the long run because of the need for repairs and replacements, and the inability to manage the screens remotely.

While large-format flat panel televisions are sleek and carry some of the same attributes as commercial digital signage displays – like Ultra HD 4K resolution and such technologies as HDR – they’re not engineered for commercial applications.

Here are the big differences

Engineering

TVs are designed to operate for relatively casual use, running a few hours daily. They aren’t engineered to run for 16 hours a day, or even 24/7. They also aren’t engineered to change their orientation and be used in portrait (vertical) mode – a common format in digital signage and advertising.

Management

TVs are built for home use and have audio/video connectors designed to hook up with cable TV and streaming services. They don’t have or need connectors that allow for remote management. Commercial digital signage displays, by comparison, come with connectors – such as RS-232 – that allow technical people to remotely access, monitor and troubleshoot issues.

Tampering

It seems trivial, but a huge problem with using TVs as commercial displays is remote controls accidentally or willfully shutting screens off. Commercial screens can block remote control signals and have routines to force screens back on if shut off.

Brightness

TVs are designed for homes, and don’t need or have the brightness levels required to cut through the ambient light and glare of commercial environments. While there are entry-level digital signage displays that have the same brightness as TVs, they can also be as much as 8X brighter, depending on need for light conditions, window installation or even outdoor signage.

Warranty, Wear and Tear

Televisions do not, typically, carry warranties that consider heavy commercial use. A TV warranty tends to be one year, and limited, versus three years for many to most commercial displays. Network operators who use TVs instead of more costly commercial displays tend to either not understand the implications and risks or make the calculation that they’ll have to replace a percentage of their screens over time.

What to expect when using TVs versus Commercial Digital Displays

Here’s what can play out when a digital signage network operator decides to go with TVs versus commercial display panels.

Prices vary by manufacturer and specs, but let’s say an operator saves $500 by choosing a TV over a same-sized commercial display panel. That’s significant, for sure. But while a commercial display is rated for, on average, five years of duty, a TV will be lucky to get three. So that $500 saving is wiped out by the need to reinvest in a new screen two years earlier. Add on that the likelihood, over that three years, that a maintenance technician will need to go on site at least once to troubleshoot a darkened screen (because there are no remote management tools in place). That service call will cost at minimum $150 an hour, and take two or three hours because of travel and time on site.

Digital signage solutions providers regularly field customer questions, and get objections, when they quote projects that use commercial displays. More familiar with Best Buy and Walmart prices, their sticker shock is understandable. It may seem like the service provider is trying to make extra money on a project by selling more expensive equipment, but they’re actually trying to save money for all concerned. They don’t want unhappy customers, and they don’t want the grief.

Think of commercial digital signage displays as tools. Professional tradespeople tend to have power tools and devices that look very similar to what many of us have on basement and garage workbenches. But anyone paying attention knows they’re more powerful, rugged and built to last. It’s the same thing here. Commercial displays are built for the job and built to last. And a digital signage project is nothing if the screen isn’t reliably on and looking good.

Outdoor Digital Display Signage: what you need to know

Marketers naturally want to get their messages in the places where people will be, which is why we all see more and more digital signage showing up on city sidewalks and public plazas.

But using an outdoor screen presents a lot of challenges – notably the impact of sunlight and harsh winter weather. Selecting and using the wrong panel can result in digital signage that’s either hard to see, or offline, because it wasn’t properly protected from the elements.
At ITESMEDIA, we’ve worked for years with everyone from media companies to city governments to specify, design, procure, deploy and manage smart outdoor display panels that are built to last. We have the City of Montreal – with its sultry summers and snow-filled, cold winters – as our working lab.

Questions to ask for Outdoor Signage

Our engineers have worked through the issues faced by anyone wanting to use dynamic signage outside and in environments that are anything but controlled. End-users need to ask several key questions of any company that’s being considered to help develop a solution:

How does the display handle glare from direct sunlight?
How does the display handle the “thermal load” from direct sunlight – all the heat that tries to bake the electronics on a mid-July afternoon?
How do the cooling fans deal with dust and debris from the streets?
How does the sign stay dry in driving rains?
And finally, how long will the sign and overall unit last?

End-users don’t so much need the deep technical answers for all these questions, but they do need assurance that the vendor has indeed thought about these things and can provide solid responses.

Future-proofing is the other key consideration – ensuring that the engineering design of the sign and its enclosure can be upgraded, modified or supplemented with extra technologies. That’s important because these outdoor panels are far more expensive than their indoor counterparts, and the time needed to realize a return on the investment is therefore longer.

So why put dynamic signage outside?

The most common application is advertising – with media companies replacing their street-level posters (usually plastic poster prints illuminated by rear lighting) with digital, dynamic signage that can be updated on the fly and enables full motion-graphic and video.

More and more governments, medical and educational organizations, and large private businesses are using digital signage displays in their public areas and building campuses to help people find their way around. Daylight-readable directories and mapping – at decision points like main gates and plazas – guide people to where they want and need to be. Unlike printed maps and directories, dynamic signage allows people to look up what they need via touchscreens, and even take information away, like walking directions, on their smartphones.

The Next Big Demand for Outdoor Signs

The next big demand for signs in outdoor spaces is emerging in the so-called Smart City movement. An outdoor display panel will not only be a screen but can have sensors that monitor things like street-level temperatures, crowd movements, dangerous gases and noise. What’s on the screen may be more about making a street, plaza or area “work” better.

ITESMEDIA is working with the City of Montreal on a smart cities initiative that has received global attention. All through the busy central district of the old city, dynamic signage at key intersections informs motorists of available parking lots – even updating by the minute the number of empty spots.

Each of the signs (some have several displays stacked) is connected to the cloud via a wireless network and gets updates from a central ITESMEDIA server. In addition to wireless the signs may be connected via LTE and Fiber. That server is getting fresh data, by the minute, from the parking lost management systems to connected garages in the area.

Our custom solution was designed to make the central district smarter – getting motorists off crowded streets quicker, reducing frustration and improving air quality by reducing overall traffic and idling.

Large flat panel displays are now very common in our business and personal lives – so much so that it would be easy to assume they’re all the same. But TVs and digital signage displays are built for very different needs and demands, and when a screen goes outdoor, the difference is dramatic.