Humans are naturally drawn to the vibrant and dynamic displays of digital signage. Thus, these digital signs are more effective than traditional signage in drawing customers to your business location, keeping them interested in your offerings, and making them do business with you.

However, deploying digital signage does not automatically guarantee an uplift in business outcomes. The technology will work wonders for your business only if you deploy it right. So, how do you do digital signage right?

This article will answer this question. We’ll look at 13 strategies for success when embarking on a digital signage journey. 

1. Make content visually appealing 

Humans are visual beings. We are naturally drawn to vibrant colours, vivid images, and moving pictures. Thus, an effective digital signage strategy is to create great visuals. Make your digital signage displays visually attractive using high-quality images and videos.

Know that the first hurdle digital signage screens must scale is to catch people’s attention and make them take notice. If the content on your digital screens is not eye-catching, people will not be bothered to pay attention to it.

So, even before thinking of the great message you want to pass, think of the visual elements you’ll use to make it attention-grabbing. Know that great visuals not only catch the eye more but they are remembered for longer.

Also read: Unlocking The Power of Digital Signage: A Guide To Getting Started

2. Choose a suitable location

Your digital signs cannot succeed if people do not see them. This goes to show that a strategy for success when deploying digital signage is strategic placement. Your digital screens should be placed where visibility is maximised.

When using outdoor displays, strategically place them on busy roads so passersby do not miss them. 

Large indoor signs before glass walls can also act as outdoor digital displays to target people walking by. Such digital signs will act like beacons to direct people to your doorstep, effectively increasing your foot traffic.

When using indoor signs to target people who enter your store, strategically place them in high-traffic areas in your business space. Ensure that the signs cannot be missed by anyone who comes into your store.

A perfect high-traffic location for indoor digital signs is your store’s entrance. A sign showing an attractive offer can help potential customers make up their minds as they enter your store.

Waiting rooms (reception rooms) are other great locations for digital signage. People spend more time in these locations waiting to be served. They’ll naturally find something to fill the time, forcing them to pay attention to and engage your digital screens.

Whether you are going for indoor or outdoor displays, the guiding principle should be maximum visibility. The signs should be front and centre so your target audience cannot miss them. 

3. Add interactive features

If you want to make your digital signage more memorable, give your audience an experience instead of just showing them some message. Interestingly, one of the best ways to give your audience an experience with digital signage is to make your digital screens interactive. 

When your audience interacts directly with your digital signage displays, they engage with your message better and will have a more enjoyable overall experience.

The most common way to deploy interactive digital signage is to add: 

QR code

A QR (quick response) code is a type of barcode that stores information in a square-shaped grid, which can be read by a digital device like a cell phone.

When your screens have interactive QR codes, users can scan them with their phones to access additional information about your products or promotions.

Retail stores can use QR codes on digital signage screens for product showcases. Customers can scan the code to explore detailed features of the product, read reviews from real customers, etc.

Touchscreen

Touch-sensitive screens allow users to interact with your content by tapping and swiping elements on the screen. There are several applications for touch-sensitive digital signage screens. 

You can use touchscreens in self-service kiosks to allow customers to place or customise orders to their preferences. 

You can also use them to add interactive games to the customer experience. Visitors can tap on the screens to play quick branded games while in your location.

4. Make your message clear and concise

It is one thing for your content to capture the attention of your target audience. It is another thing for the content to hold your audience’s attention and convert - that is, make your viewers take the action you want them to take.

Know that content cannot convert if the viewers cannot grasp its meaning.

Thus, another strategy for success when deploying digital signage solutions is to ensure your message is easy to grasp and understand. Make the message clear and concise.

“Less is more” should be a guiding principle to create content that is clear. 

Make your message simple by using only essential text and elements to pass your key message. Do not use complex text or include unnecessary elements, as that can clutter your visuals and make your message difficult to understand.

5. Tailor content to your target audience

Imagine that a digital signage display manages to capture your attention. But when you pay attention to the message, you realise it is not something you care about. That’ll definitely turn the excitement off! You wouldn’t want to follow through and act on what the display is promoting. 

Digital signage content leads to better business outcomes when the content resonates with the audience. Thus, to reap good results when implementing digital signage, tailor content relevant to your target audience.

So, how do you tailor your content to your audience? Start with understanding your audience! What age group and gender are you targeting? What does your audience like?

If you manage to understand your audience’s demographics, preferences, and behaviour, you’ll know the language and imagery to use to create content that resonates with them. 

For example, are you targeting younger audiences? Then, use animated imagery and interactive games. Is your audience older? Then, text-heavy ads and testimonial videos may be more effective.

6. Display dynamic content

Making content dynamic is one way to keep content fresh, relevant, and engaging. Thus, when you employ digital signage, show dynamic content by updating what you display from time to time.

Wondering what dynamic content is? It’s simply content that changes over time based on specific criteria.

You may change content to reflect changes in information. A typical example is providing real-time updates, such as weather updates or news feeds. Such dynamic content keeps viewers updated and increases engagement.

You may change content based on specific criteria, such as product availability or promotional campaign. For example, when you have new arrivals, you can promote them on your digital screens. Also, any time you want to run a promotion to boost sales, you can show them on your screens.

Know that digital signage is a cost-effective advertising method that allows you to change content without incurring huge printing costs. Unlike traditional advertising methods, digital signage will not require printing new materials anytime you want to run a new ad.

7. Tailor messages to specific times

One of the secrets of success when deploying digital signage technology is to make the content relevant. Interestingly, one way to make content relevant is to make it timely.

Imagine showing winter clothing when it’s summer! Your digital displays may be eye-catching and attention-grabbing, but they’re unlikely to lead to sales because the winter clothing you’re showing is not what your audience is interested in at that time.

To ensure your retail digital signage not only catches the eye but also converts, make content relevant by tailoring it to specific times.

Determine what your target audience would be interested in at particular times and tailor your digital signage content accordingly.

Think of winter clothes during the winter months or the weeks leading to the winter season, back-to-school items shortly before the school year begins, etc.

Creating time-relevant content may often require showing different displays at specific times of the day. For example, restaurants and cafes may showcase breakfast menus in the morning, lunch menus in the afternoon, and dinner menus in the evening and night.

Tailoring content to specific times is one of the best ways to use digital signage to boost conversions and sales revenue. Success is likelier when you build campaigns around products that customers are actively interested in.

8. Capitalise on user-generated content

User-generated content is any content created by people rather than brands. This can be reviews, testimonials, social media posts, etc.

Consumers trust content from fellow consumers rather than content from brands. It’s not hard to see why. People generally believe that a brand will not say anything negative about its offerings but that fellow customers are more forthcoming about negatives to watch out for in a product.

Since people trust user-generated content more than brand messages, incorporating user-generated content into your digital signage display will help you gain people’s trust.

Curate user-generated content and show them on your digital screens. Some of the best user-generated content to display are: 

Reviews

Virtually everyone reads reviews before making purchases. People want to see what fellow consumers are saying about a product before they take the plunge. So, showing customers’ reviews on your screens can be what helps people make up their minds about purchasing your product.

Imagine that someone picks up your product and is considering whether it will meet their needs. Then, a digital screen before them shows real user reviews, with satisfied users extolling the virtues of the product. That can make a lot of difference!

Video testimonials

Video testimonials are filmed statements from users of a product describing how the product helped them. You can use video testimonials to vividly show your product’s impact through before-and-after comparisons.

Just as with reviews, video testimonials show that real people are satisfied with your products. This makes adding them to digital signage an effective marketing strategy.

Social media posts

In this social media age, virtually everyone posts on social media, making inquiries and telling their audience about the products they use.

Thus, when incorporating digital signage into your marketing efforts, one way to ensure success is to use your screens to show your social media feeds.

Showing your social media feeds via digital signage keeps your audience updated about the latest news and interactions related to your product and brand. 

Your audience will see that real users are engaging with and enjoying your product, encouraging them to try it themselves.

When you integrate digital signage with social media feeds, you encourage audience engagement. This is because seeing their posts displayed on your big screens may encourage your audience to engage with your product.

9. Showcase product highlights

One of the best strategies for success when implementing digital signage is to use it to showcase your products. Digital signage is one of the best platforms to highlight your products effectively to increase awareness and boost sales.

Product highlights shine the light on your products, bringing awareness to specific features that you offer.

The more people know your product, the more they’ll understand its value and the more confidence they’ll have in buying it. Thus, highlighting your offering directly leads to increased sales.

It doesn’t take much to highlight your products with digital signage. You can show high-quality blowup pictures of your product’s key features on your screens. 

You may use compelling messaging to highlight the benefits of the product. Video content also works well, especially to show how the products work. 

By doing this, you’ll help your audience understand your product better, especially its value. This can sway their mind and make them choose the product over other alternatives.

10. Provide in-store entertainment

In-store entertainment can provide an enjoyable in-store experience. Therefore, a good strategy for boosting a business is to use digital signage screens to provide in-store entertainment.

Imagine that you’re dining in a restaurant, and a screen on the wall is showing an interesting musical playlist or movie! We’re sure you’ll enjoy every second you spend in the place and will likely want to spend more time there.

Thus, in-store entertainment enhances customer experience. It creates a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere that contributes to a positive customer experience. This will make customers rate you higher than your competitors.

It also increases dwell time - how much time customers spend in your store. Longer dwell time provides more opportunities for customers to explore your products, leading to increased sales opportunities. 

Also read: 15 Digital Signage Tactics to Maximize Sales (Proven Strategies).

11. Promote events

Every business owner knows the power of events in boosting sales. Events will increase your store’s visibility, putting your business in front of a larger audience, including potential customers who may not have heard of you.

Events also allow you to engage directly with your target audience, helping you forge stronger connections.

However, the success of store events largely depends on how well they are promoted. People have to be aware of an event and attend it for it to give benefits such as increased visibility and enhanced customer engagement.

Digital signage is a great platform for event promotion. So, when you have product launches or other special events coming up, use digital signage to create a sense of excitement and encourage customers to attend. 

To do this effectively, start by using your digital screens to announce the upcoming event. Create visually appealing event announcements, displaying key details about the event, such as date, time, activities, etc. 

Use engaging visuals and videos to highlight the key activities of your event. This will generate interest. Then, create timers counting down to the event to display on your digital screens. This builds anticipation and adds a sense of urgency.

12. Use the right digital signage software

The success or failure of your digital signage campaigns also depends on your digital signage software—the application you use for creating, managing, and displaying content on your digital screens. Thus, research the technical requirements of different digital signage platforms, then go for the one that can support your goals.

The right application will make it easy for you to create, organise, and upload content so that you can display the right information at the right time.

The right application will also guarantee good uptime so that your displays will not go off unnecessarily. You don’t want your digital screens to go blank, making you miss out on opportunities to reach your target audience with your message.

A good digital signage tool will also have remote management capability so you can control and update content for your multiple screens or locations from a centralised place.

Luna Screens is a digital signage software that offers intuitive content management and remote management capability and is highly reliable.

13. Ensure brand consistency

When you show yourself as professional and competent, people are more likely to trust you. And customer trust will do wonders for your business.

It’ll make your customers stick with you and buy from you. Secondly, it’ll make them tell others about your product and brand.

One way to establish yourself as a professional and earn customers’ trust is brand consistency—using the same colour schemes, font styles, logos, and design elements across all marketing channels.

It takes professionalism to ensure consistent branding, and customers recognise this. So, a strategy for success when utilizing digital signage is to adhere to your brand guidelines to ensure brand consistency.

Digital signage enables businesses to reinforce their branding and build brand recognition. When you incorporate your branding into your dynamic digital displays, every time people see the displays, your branding registers in their minds. This enhances brand awareness and recognition.

Takeaway: Deploy digital signage right and boost your business

While traditional static signs can speak to the audience, digital signage does it better.

The dynamic content of digital signage is far better at catching people’s attention, better at holding people’s attention, and better at turning potential customers into paying customers.

The 13 strategies above will help you deploy digital signage correctly so you can use the technology to boost your business. 

Know that without the right software, your digital signage campaigns can be plagued with many problems, including difficulty creating content and system downtime.

Thankfully, you can’t go wrong if you choose Luna Screens as your digital signage solution. Luna Screens is a cloud-based digital signage system that allows businesses to turn any screen into digital signs easily.

Luna Screens has an intuitive content management system, ensuring that even people with zero technical skills can use it to create amazing digital displays. We also guarantee unparalleled uptime, ensuring your digital signs will be live and running whenever you need them to.

Ready to boost your business with digital signage technology? Get Started with Luna Screens today!