So is it free or not???

October 6, 2010 by Dave Haynes

See if you can figure out this email marketing pitch without going cross-eyed …

Professional FREE Digital Signage for everyone! — Well, well … that’s a good price

It’s Digital Signage, but smarter more flexible and FREE for all — Yeah, you just said that

MediaSignage had changed Digital Signage forever! And not just because of our ridiculously low prices (as low as $4.95 per month); revolutionary software or multi platform support; it’s because we understand our customers. We listen to what you have to say and build our product according to your feedback; not what we “think” it should be. Get Started

— Ok, so it’s low but not free … but you just yelled at me twice that it IS free? Huh? What?

Migrate to us and get even more FREE service — Umm, so even more free … maybe … oh bother

Do you already own a Digital Signage network. Are you paying too much? Do you get the support you deserve? Migrate to MediaSignage and get all the benefits we have to offer + 1 year FREE of unlimited licenses. Check it out.

— OK, I give up

This company has been promoting an entry-level system that is free, or close to free, or something, for a while now. I’ve not used it, and it may be great. It is Adobe Air, Flex and Flash-driven – which could be good or bad.  They are doing some stuff that looks pretty interesting.

MediaSignage is, unfortunately, without equal in terms of godawful demo layouts – click on Live Examples in the RH column – but that doesn’t mean the software is bad, just that they need a fresh set of eyes on their graphic design.

However, in a marketplace utterly jammed with competitors, and free not even being a unique value proposition (see NEC and RiseVision, and maybe others) a company has to at least be crystal-clear in what it really is offering up. I read this email and conclude, “If I can’t even get my head straight on this, what would the rest of my experience be like with these folks?”

Sheesh.