What Are the Key Differences Between TV and Digital Signage Monitors?

Posted on: February 20, 2020

smiling-manager-giving-a-monitor-presentation-to-LSDEHZ9-minOne of the most important components of creating a successful digital marketing campaign is having the right high-quality hardware and equipment at your disposal. Many business owners mistakenly believe that they can get away with using consumer-grade TVs instead of investing in high-end commercial-grade digital signage monitors. The former may end up saving you some money upfront, but those savings are meager and incomparable when you take into consideration the long-term saving and ROI potential of purchasing state-of-the-art digital signage communication monitors for your marketing campaign.

Why You Need a Commercial Display for Your Digital Signage Communication

Outwardly, commercial and consumer-grade digital displays might look similar, but their design and application differences are what truly set them apart. Here are some factors to consider when deciding whether to purchase digital signage monitors for your business:

Commercial Monitors Are More Versatile

Consumer-grade TVs are only designed for minimal home or personal use. At best, they can last a few hours while turned on without overheating. Once the mechanisms start to heat up too much, the display will automatically go into power saving mode or shut off.

Commercial-grade monitors are more versatile in the sense that they’re designed to withstand much longer periods of usage without overheating and they can be used in a variety of indoor and outdoor environments. They can also be exposed to more of the elements without succumbing to damages or needing repairs.

Commercial Monitors Are a Better Long-Term Investment

Purchasing a digital signage monitor for your business entails a great deal of usage. In some cases, that could mean requiring the display to be operational for the length of your business’s hours of operation. Depending on what type of business you’re in and where you’re located, it could even mean ongoing usage.

Commercial monitors require very little maintenance and they can last for long periods of time without overheating or automatically shutting off. Plus, you can control them using remote software and mechanisms to update or change advertisements and brand messaging as needed. Consumer-grade TVs aren’t equipped with these capabilities.

Commercial Monitors Are Compatible with Multiple Inputs and Outputs

Commercial monitors are compatible with a variety of inputs and outputs which means they can easily be transported to various locations and fit within their display mechanisms without issue. You can even connect commercial monitors to personal devices like mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers to remotely control and update commercial content. 2

Commercial Monitors Have Better Brightness Settings

Considering commercial monitors are going to be set up in public places like retail stores, shopping malls, cafeterias, food courts, train stations, subway stations, restaurants, and other types of business locations, it’s important that customers are able to see what’s being displayed on the screen. Commercial monitors have state-of-the art sunlight readability and brightness settings that can be adjusted according to the specific location, screen angle, and natural lighting.

Consumer-grade TVs only have limited brightness settings that are ill-equipped to handle these types of factors.

Nauticomp Inc. is one of the leading experts in designing, manufacturing, and distributing high-end commercial and industrial digital displays on an international level and across a wide range of industries. Contact us today to learn more or to place an order!

How to Build a Solid Digital Signage Content Strategy

Posted on: February 10, 2020

Digital signage is one of the most effective modern advertising tools that businesses can use to get their brand messaging and product information in front of the eyes of their target audiences. Statistics show that consumers are 400% more likely to become engaged with digital displays and advertising as opposed to conventional static advertising methods. Interactive and moving digital displays have the capacity to capture and keep people’s attention as they’re passing by in public places. But it’s not enough to simply purchase and occupy the ad space.

You need to constantly create new, exciting, and engaging content that entices and impresses your target audience. To accomplish this goal, you need to come up with a dynamic and creative content strategy that’s always changing and not only keeping up with the most recent trends but also anticipating and staying ahead of them. If you want your brand to be at the forefront of advertising innovation in your field, then you need to be an industry disruptor by regularly creating and releasing fun and memorable content.

Why You Should Invest in a Dynamic Digital Signage Content Strategy

Creating unique conceptual digital signage content to help capture and retain the attention of your target audience is challenging, but the end result is well worth it. Investing in creative digital marketing tactics can help boost your ROI and your overall bottom line. Along with getting your brand name and message out there, memorable digital advertisements also have massive selling power.

Where static signs tend to fade into the background, digital advertisements tend to be far more dynamic due to their unmatched visual and interactive appeal. In many cases, digital advertisements physically draw your audience in, making it impossible for passersby to ignore them.

Paired with a high-end digital signage system, the right content strategy can help put your advertising efforts over the top. But there’s a lot of elaborate planning involved and it might not necessarily happen overnight.

Here are a few tips to help you build a solid digital signage content strategy that’ll not only help your brand get noticed, but that’ll also help establish a loyal fan base and expand your reach.

Clearly Define and Outline Your Goals and Objectives

What is your organization trying to accomplish with your digital signage initiatives? How will you go about effectively reaching those goals? Before you go ahead and install digital displays throughout your various business locations, you need to have a clear and precise brand message in mind that you want to be associated with and representative of your business.

Without a clearly defined and well-worded brand message, it’s easy for consumers to lose sight of what you’re trying to sell and advertising to them. A good content strategy should consist of a strong brand message that customers can easily relate to, understand, and associate with your brand.

Once you’ve determined what you want to communicate to your target audience and prospective demographics, the next step is to set a content strategy and communication budget that can help you achieve those goals.

Set Your Brand Apart From Your Competitors

Digital displays present your brand with a unique opportunity to differentiate yourself from your competitors. What features and attributes does your organization possess that makes you stand out from your competitors? This is important information to have in your arsenal so that you can effectively communicate to your target audience why they should support your business instead of others in your field.

An in-depth content strategy should include your brand’s core values and put them on full display at all times. Of course, the nature of your industry is constantly evolving and your brand messaging should evolve with it. That’s why conventional static advertisements no longer suffice to represent modern businesses. A digital signage system gives you the ability to make automatic changes as needed, but you should carefully think about what type of messaging you want displayed, which is where a concrete content strategy comes into play.

Tell Your Audience Who You Are

Generally speaking, consumers find it easier to support an organization they recognize instead of some large faceless corporation or conglomerate. One of the most important aspects of creating a brand image through a well-thought out content strategy is telling your target audience who you are as an organization.

An effective way of accomplishing this is by introducing your audience to your team to introduce them to the faces behind your organization. Associating familiar faces with a business helps make it easier for customers to relate to your brand and encourages them to support you more. Digital signage can help you tell your brand’s story in real time and give personal perspectives of what it’s like to work for your business. This personal take is important because it can help you reach out to a much wider niche audience that takes pride in supporting local businesses.

Plan a Well-Timed Content Strategy

Consider the time of year when planning out your content strategy. Are there any well-known or widely celebrated holidays coming up? Of course, there are always the big holidays like Christmas, New Year’s Eve/Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Thanksgiving that are all excellent advertising opportunities for every business.

But try to think outside the box to make your brand stand out even more. Are there any specifically location-based or regional holidays or events that you should be aware of? Research each location your business is in and try to speak directly to the unique sensibilities of the locals there.

Digital signage offers your brand unparalleled opportunities to flex your creative muscles, so you can have a little bit of fun with it and make it more engaging for your local target audiences as well. Don’t shy away from clever tongue-in-cheek slogans or bold and bright colours, images, and interactive displays.

Nauticomp Inc. is one of the leading designers and manufacturers of custom digital display systems that are ideal for indoor and outdoor use. We build digital displays for a wide range of industries including military, Marines, retail, hospitality, restaurants, and even medical facilities. Contact us today to learn more!

How to Plan Your Digital Signage Communication Strategy

Posted on: January 30, 2020

Plan Your Digital Signage Communication StrategyProject and digital signage communication planning go hand in hand. Every organization needs to implement a structure of well-thought-out digital signage strategies that reflect their short and long-term company objectives. Without such a plan in place, any effort to mobilize interdepartmental, companywide, B2B, and B2C communications have a high probability of falling flat.

There’s a lot of research and necessary legwork that goes into creating and executing a successful digital signage communication strategy. Undoubtedly, there’ll be a few blunders along the way (this is common with any new business venture), but these should be viewed as valuable learning opportunities rather than debilitating failures. Use everything you learn throughout the process of composing a digital signage strategy to improve upon your current system as much as possible.

Here are some excellent tips to help you get started

Create and Understand a Strategy Framework

Your digital signage communication framework is the basic starting point for your entire strategy. It consists of putting together a list of well-defined goals, company objectives, tactics, and strategies that you can use to help get your message out to your target audience.

First and foremost, you need to have a clear, comprehensive, and cohesive message in mind that everyone in your organization fully believes in and supports. Even a tiny morsel of doubt or disagreement amongst your colleagues can tarnish the entire project. For the endeavour to succeed, everyone needs to be on the same page in terms of what they hope to achieve from the very beginning.

Plan the Display Structure

For the strategy to be successfully implemented, every last detail needs to be planned out in an orderly fashion. Start by creating a chronological timeline of events and make detailed notes of the timeframes for each event. Try to leave a little bit of wiggle room in case amendments need to be made along the way.

If possible, plan your display structure around industry- and business-specific events that you know will be widely attended by your professional peers. That way, they’ll all get a taste of what your business is capable of accomplishing.

Also, give each department autonomy over their own digital signage communication strategy so that they can implement it in a way that makes sense for their specific objectives.

Determine Information to Be Displayed

Once again, this plays into the notion that it’s important for all parties involved to be on the same page in order to deliver a clear, concise, and cohesive company message. Figure out the type of message you want to deliver to your target audiences, as well as the exact wording you want to be associated with your organization. This will greatly determine how your business is viewed by your core target audience and any prospective customers or clients you hope to onboard.

Focus on Creating a Strong Content Strategy

As always, content is king when it comes to effectively delivering key brand messaging to your target audience. Your content should be unique, memorable, and above all, reflective of your overall organization. Creative content can be delivered in several avenues across the digital spectrum. Wording should be concise and limited, while visual aids such as high-quality images and videos should take priority in order to capture and keep people’s attention.

Nauticomp Inc. is one of the top digital display designers and manufacturers in North America. We provide custom digital displays to a wide array of industries with incredible features like infrared lighting, sunlight readability, waterproof and dustproof capabilities, and so much more. Contact us today for more information!

How to Measure the ROI of Your Digital Signage Systems

Posted on: January 10, 2020

NauticompThere are a lot of benefits to integrating modern digital signage systems into your daily business operations. Digital signage boosts your advertising efforts and helps you reach out to a much wider audience than traditional static advertisements. From extensive wayfinding solutions to interactive displays and memorable marketing outreach, digital signage provides a strong platform for you to reach your customers in innovative ways. But how do you measure the impact digital signage has on your business objectives? How do you know if it’s actually working in your favour and helping achieve the results you want?

Although there’s no universal indicator or one-size-fits-all metric to help you determine if digital signage is having a significantly positive impact on your business, there are certain steps you can take to maximize its benefits. Keep reading to learn more.

Define What Your Business Objectives Are

As with any new business concepts, the first thing you have to do is clearly define and outline your business objectives. Every business has unique goals that they hope to reach within a given timeframe—just make sure that your goals and timeframe are both reasonable. When used to its full potential, digital signage can help you achieve the vast array of business objectives including boosting productivity, efficiency, sales, and information delivery to the appropriate parties.

Whether you’re interested in communicating more effectively on a companywide or interdepartmental level or you want to establish more engaging and interactive communications with your customers, digital signage can help achieve all of these goals on a minimal or massive scale. In order for this technique to be successful, though, you have to know what you want to accomplish before purchasing and setting up the technology, so that you can ensure it’s used in a practical, meaningful, and impactful way that benefits your business.

Defining your goals ahead of time also give you the ability to aptly plan how and where you’re going to incorporate digital displays throughout your organization. Having a clearly outlined plan of action in place minimizes spending and reduces the margin of error significantly. Additionally, it helps to do in-depth market research to guarantee that this is the right step for your business.

Analyze and Understand ROI and ROO Data

ROI stands for “return on investment”, whereas ROO stands for “return on objective”. These are two vastly different concepts that are both closely intertwined and also closely tie into the abovementioned notion of defining your business goals.

Measuring ROI is fairly easy. Simply subtract the initial cost of the investment from the gains of said investment. This basic principle can be applied to pretty much any business expenditure. The resulting figure represents your quarterly or annual earnings or losses as a direct result of your investment.

When it comes to technology, the ROI should be measured over a long period of time to get an accurate reading. It can take weeks or even months before you start noticing favourable results or break even.

Overall, though, you’ll find that the cost of designing, printing, and manufacturing static paper advertisements far surpasses the cost of managing and maintaining a state-of-the-art digital signage system for your organization. The cost saving benefits and future proof design of modern digital displays are where the real ROI and ROO can be seen. This is clearly summed up as the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)—the cost of owning and maintaining a product or system.

Other financial and time-saving benefits include freeing up your staff members from having to handle common situations or inquiries that can easily be addressed through digital displays that are prominently set up throughout your organization. Digital signage can be used to display important information like wayfinding directories, answers to frequently asked questions about your organization or industry, statistical data, and any other information your customers and employees might find useful.

Identify Which Metrics Are Worth Measuring

As mentioned in the previous section, most businesses tend to focus on financial returns, which makes a lot of sense. However, ROO is equally important and valuable in the sense that reaching your business objectives and maximizing processing productivity directly and indirectly helps to boost your finances. Digital displays enhance efficiency levels in more ways than you can imagine, most notably by delivering fast results in a vast array of areas.

Many retail employees find them useful because they can easily look up products, check inventory listings, and find the answers to customers’ questions in a matter of seconds by simply inputting information into the system. Customers usually love this fast return because they not only get the solution they’re looking for, but it’s delivered expediently with minimal inconvenience. You can measure customer satisfaction levels by asking them to submit feedback either by reviewing your business online or in whatever way you see fit.

Easily Set Up and Manage Digital Displays

Automation is no longer just the wave of the future. It’s already here and it’s only getting increasingly advanced by the day. Though many people have expressed their grievances with certain forms of automation in the retail industry such as self-checkout kiosks, the reality is that these machines are popping up pretty much everywhere and people are using them at high volumes. Interactive displays are everywhere and the great thing about them is that they allow business owners to easily update, edit, revise, or completely override their existing brand messaging at a moment’s notice without having to go through a middleperson.

The days of creating a design and waiting days or weeks for the printers to deliver and install the latest static advertisements are over.

Nauticomp Inc. is at the forefront of cutting edge technology that allows business owners to install and manage state-of-the-art digital display systems throughout their organizations. Through high-end crystal clear and responsive displays, you can boost your investment returns and encourage your customers to continue supporting your business. Contact us today to place your order or learn about our products and services.