Outsourcing as a Point of Entry into Electronic Digital Signage

Consumers are bombarded by an average of 20,000 advertising messages a day, so it’s easy to see how static images are losing their impact.

In today’s instant-messaging, constant-contact and immediate-information culture, advertisers only have one or two seconds to catch a prospective customer’s attention. By comparison, this figure was three to seven seconds just a few years ago.

Rather than sticking their heads in the sand or hoping these trends will reverse themselves, some signshops are embracing electronic digital signage (EDS) as a valuable match between their customers’ needs and the capabilities of digital-technology manufacturers. And, as the cost of digital hardware continues to drop, new revenue streams are opening for signshops that can design content packages. These can accompany standard digital displays with built-in PCs and player software, standalone touchscreen kiosks and counter toppers for POP.

Advertisers can purchase digital hardware directly from a consumer-electronics retailer, but they would be buying personal– rather than commercial–grade equipment, and they would need to create and manage the content themselves. However, few business owners have the time, resources or interest to create fresh digital content regularly, and they will gladly find a one-stop provider who can outfit them with a complete, digital-solution package.

Harnessing the power of EDS

Digital signs can be useful, eye-catching tools for many businesses and community organizations that want to inform, entertain or advertise. Used well, EDS can increase brand awareness and improve a company’s bottom line. Their flexibility allows for nearly unlimited messaging options, on a real-time basis.

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EDS draws people in with engaging features. Content can be continuously updated in real time to show, for example, the current local weather forecast in one area of the screen and today’s event and meeting schedule for a conference center or hotel in another.

A digital screen can also serve as an interactive touchscreen to help someone navigate a facility. Imagine replacing a static mall directory with a touchscreen. Not only can a path illuminate the desired shopping destination, but relevant sales and promotions can also appear, as well as a list of similar stores.

At airports and train stations, EDS allows for digital check-in, constantly updated arrival/departure screens and interactive giftshop guides. A digital sign at a deli counter can engagingly show customers the menu, as well as current specials, timed to change from breakfast, lunch and dinner specials as the dayparts change. A digital sign in a school lobby can remind students and teachers of events, field trips and after-school activities.

Getting in the game

Although small, independent signshops may shun EDS because of its perceived high costs and the complexities of content management, they still can play in the EDS game – through outsourcing.

Because EDS is still emerging, advertisers can’t always turn to local signshops to order displays. Some of the larger sign franchises, like SIGNARAMA, are developing content-creation and management software and selling it wholesale to other signshops.

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By outsourcing EDS solutions to a larger sign chain, the independent signshop can maintain its client relationships and help generate sales for its customers through dynamic-advertising messages, while also creating an ongoing revenue stream. After customers have set up the display system, they pay only for new content, and at a greatly reduced price. This has become extremely important given constricting budgets and credit crunches.

EDS introduces an entirely new approach to sign sales. Whereas customers traditionally would purchase one sign that would last seven years, signshops can now create new content with fresh messages monthly, or even weekly – generating a continuous revenue stream for the signshop. It is a win-win-win for the signshop owner, end-user advertiser and EDS sign supplier.

Bob Chapa, a digital-signage pioneer who owns three SIGNARAMA stores in Michigan, transparently consults for several, independent, local signshops. He arranges subscription contracts for monthly content updates and passes a percentage of the revenue to the independent signshop. Structured as a per-order commission, rather than one-time referral fee, Chapa’s business model generates signshop revenue with each additional digital screen an advertiser may purchase.

With this system, Chapa obtains new business; the independent signshop retains its customers, and the customer receives a digital sign without the hassle of updating its content inhouse. Chapa also knows the “best practices” and can guide signshops to different templates they can suggest to customers, based on their industry and what has worked well in the past.

Once a relationship is established with an EDS provider, independent signshops can cast a broader net for new-business prospecting. Sales representatives with cable and advertising companies make great referral partners, because they sell to bars, restaurants, theatres, security systems and retailers, all of whom are seeking the competitive edge to get their messages noticed by consumers.

However, consider these cautions. Presented with more options than with static signage, customers may need guidance in identifying and prioritizing their messages. The advantage, of course, is reinforcing the signshop’s role as the trusted advisor.

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More to come

As more uses are developed for the technology, and prices for digital-signage solutions continue to fall, more businesses will embrace the concept. In fact, many static billboards have already converted to electronic.

Much more is in store. Sign pioneers in EDS are investigating concepts like 3M rear-screen projection film to create die-cut shapes for advertising messages on clear glass. This would allow retailers to fit their advertising messages into a heart shape on the store’s front window during Valentine’s Day or a Christmas tree during the holiday shopping season.

Touchscreen technology is evolving to enable users to control, and interact with, the content they see, based on selections they make on the display. Advances in Blue-tooth technology will eventually allow digital signs to “sense” the type of person in front of the display and change content based on the individual’s preferences.

This marketing strategy will become easier to customize in the future as more and more phones and devices are paired with demographic research and history gathered from users’ actual purchases. This history provides advertisers with information they can use to drive relevant messages to the end user. Retailers will now be able to send more coupons and specials to consumers’ mobile phones.

Digital signage equipped with Bluetooth hardware and software also provides a great opportunity for retailers, because many displays are located directly near the point of purchase. This software can even be configured to deliver a message to the mobile device simultaneously as it’s broadcast on the digital-signage display to achieve the maximum marketing effect.

Eventually, digital displays may even find their way to vehicle graphics and wraps. Several manufacturers are beginning to provide thin, flexible LCD and LED panels that can be mounted onto contoured surfaces.

The possibilities are limited only by the imagination, as the technology appears to be robust enough to execute whatever can be imagined. EDS will undoubtedly become an industry standard. And the even better news is, as points of entry open, whether through outsourcing or lower costs, more independent signshops will be able to expand their services to join the digital revolution.

Jim Tatem is president of SIGNARAMA, the retail sign franchise. With more than 950 retail locations worldwide in 52 countries, Signarama uses the latest software programs to provide a full range of comprehensive sign and graphic services to both the private and commercial segments of the business community