Digital signage is nothing more than a screen with content running. You can buy digital signs that consist of screens, smart screens, and even weather-resistant screens. Or, if you wish, you can buy a TV, pop it on a wall or a stand, and use that as a digital sign. Some are interactive with a touch screen, some work on their own and some link up with other signs to create larger moving images. With software like Kitcast tv, you can turn almost any screen into a digital sign. You can even nail your tablet to a wall and call it a digital sign if you wish. It has never been easier or cheaper to add digital signs to your business (or your home), but is that the only reason why experts are telling brands to install digital signs?
The Future Said So
Ask any movie buff, and they will tell you that digital signs play a big role in the future. Almost every movie that shows imaginings of the future seems to feature digital signs. From the signs on the sides of buildings from Blade Runner to the signs that talk to people as they walk by (from Minority Report).
Living in a Post-Pandemic World
Ask the business analysts and brand consultants, and they will tell you that the COVID scare in 2020 – 2022 demands that businesses install digital signs. Nobody knows when people will decide there is another pandemic, and there is no telling how far the governments will go next time when it comes to restricting personal freedom. Companies need to “Futureproof” themselves against these possibilities by creating a contact-free social-distancing infrastructure. They need to create a scenario where people can navigate their business without touching other people, and much of that will rely on digital signs. They will control everything, from how many people may enter the business, to who may enter the bathrooms next. Even if people are less likely to fall for the idea of a global pandemic again, businesses have to protect themselves against every possible threat to their bottom line.
Drip Marketing is More Effective in Real Life
The Internet is so cluttered, and people have been trained to have such a short attention span, that drip marketing is only the privilege of blue-chip companies on the Internet. In order to seep into people’s consciousness, companies need to repeatedly expose the same people to the same brand principle, same idea, or even the same need/want/desire. Doing this on the Internet is now very difficult because it costs a massive amount of marketing money.
However, if you have people on your business premises, you can expose them to the same need/want/idea/principle/desire on a repeated basis. You can do this with posters, digital signs, digital menus, digital ordering platforms, posters, product placement, and even with staff comments (can I supersize that for you?) You can catch consumers in your web of drip marketing to the point where they are moderately indoctrinated even after just one visit.
The Bridge Between Digital and Real Life
Looking further into the future, the world is on a very digital trajectory. It is very possible that we are training our young people to view the world in digital terms. It sounds silly, but they said the same about radio. There was a time when radio ads were hyper-effective, but now, they are only effective on podcasts by people whom the listener trusts.
Traditional posters, signs, and other forms of offline media may simply become ineffective to people who were raised in a digital world. Look at how ineffective newspaper ads are, how roadside billboards have less traction and how radio ads have died. There may come a time when the only way you can spread your brand principles offline is to run content on digital mediums like digital signs, menus, ordering platforms, etc.
