By David Kovacs
Even if you cover your store walls and windows with colorful banners and posters advertising the latest deals, it won’t necessarily lead to higher sales. The problem is that promotional posters are everywhere these days and pedestrians and customers will hardly even give them a momentary glance. This is why more businesses are adopting digital signage into their in-store campaign efforts. Digital displays provide content in a whole new way that really gets heads to turn.
Most seasoned marketers agree that static displays lack appeal, and a static image or message shown via digital display is no more effective than a paper poster. The key is to keep up with what is currently trending and incorporating that into your promotional efforts. This entails studying the habits of your consumers and knowing them inside out. If you can step into their shoes, then you can pinpoint what it is that gets their attention and their motivations for spending their hard earned dollars on your merchandise or services.
The following ways are some of the popular methods currently employed by retailers with respects to their signage displays.
Identify Your Hottest Commodity and Heavily Advertise It
Some items or services sell remarkably better than others. This is usually the case when there is a product launch. A music store, for instance, can showcase a newly released and heavily anticipated album using digital display to show snippets of music videos or live concert footages from the singer or band. The display can also provide an interactive experience by allowing customers to preview 30 second track samples using a touchscreen monitor. When a new product is promoted and given special attention in this manner, people will take notice and be more inclined to give it their undivided attention.
Bring Social Media into the Campaign
Still not using social media? Then what are you waiting for? Social media has become so prominent in today’s society and not using it to benefit your business means that you are blatantly ignoring a huge sector of untapped demographic.
Using social media doesn’t mean just including a message for customers to join your Facebook group. You can certainly do that, but you also need to make a more bold effort if you want to make a more profound impact. Do whatever you can to incorporate your social media into your digital signage in an interactive way. You can, for example, show your company’s Twitter feed along with the latest tweets from current consumers. Invite customers to send their own tweets pertaining to the company products or services they used and why they like it.
Tell Your Story
Customers are people, and people like a story with a humble beginning. Customers are more likely to become loyal if they can associate your products and services with a memorable background tale. By telling your story, this doesn’t mean using plain text with a voiceover; even showing the company founder as he talks about the company’s origins is not going to elicit attention. Tell your story in a creative fashion. You can use 2D, 3D or whiteboard animation or even combine them. The story can even be told through customer interaction. With a touchscreen display, give them the option to choose the format in which the story is told, perhaps by providing several language options or with a digital avatar telling the story using sign language.
Reward Your Audience for Watching Your Ad
Why is it that most businesses provide coupons and limited time offers? These incentives are given because businesses have long realized that customers like good deals and freebies and are more apt to spend their money if they can get more for less of their money. At the end of your ad, reveal a discount code that is good for an online purchase. Alternatively, the code can also be given through a QR code, which customers can scan with their mobile phone.
Digital signage is currently one of the hottest marketing tools out there. However, like any other marketing platform, there is a right way and wrong way to utilize it. If you want to get the most out of your displays, then give your audience an industry-specific experience that will have them talking about your brand for a long time.
