Are You Really Ready To Roll On A Digital Signage Network?

November 25, 2019 by guest author, sixteenninewpadmin

Guest Post: Lillyan Wamaitha, Mvix

Lillyan Wamaitha

It’s important to understand the necessary ins and outs of owning and operating digital signage if you want yours to succeed. The smart decision is to wait to install until your goals are clearly defined, content ownership protocols are established, and you have a budget for content management.

Digital signage will change the way your business operates, so it’s a good idea to recognize when waiting is your best bet.

When Your Goal is Not Clearly Defined

Never implement digital signage simply to have it. It’s not going to add value to your company if you haven’t defined the goals you hope to accomplish with your new digital signage.

You want to implement digital signage because it solves some kind of content challenge or improves day-to-day operations. Successful implementation means outlining clear, achievable goals as well as identifying the software and hardware necessary to accomplish those goals.

Many business owners jump at the opportunity to spruce up the office or front-of-house with new, flashy advertisement and promotional videos. The global advertising market is estimated to grow to $517 billion by the end of 2023, but advertising is only one digital marketing opportunity.

Digital signage goals and implementation could include:

It’s important to determine exactly what you’ll use digital signage for and then take it a step further to define the intended outcome of implementation. Consider the following questions before implementing digital signage:

Answers to simple questions like this can help inform your goals as well as establish guidelines for content and messaging.

When There is No Clear System Ownership

It’s unwise to install new hardware and software without clear digital signage system ownership, even if your goals are well-defined. There’s no outlined path to follow to success if content ownership isn’t established before installation.

That means you need to have someone in charge of all things related to your signage implementation before you install digital signage solutions. This person is going to be your digital signage champion. They’ll be in charge of easing your business into the digital signage space by keeping up to date with the technology and measuring performance as you roll out new messaging.

Clear ownership starts with a digital signage manager, but you’ll want more stakeholders handling the content and technology side of things.

Successful digital signage ownership includes:

Every business is different, so the tasks and content standards set forth by yours will be subjective to your goals and digital signage uses.

When You Don’t Have a Budget for Content Management

There’s nothing stopping you from buying a dozen high-resolution screens and sprinkling them around the office. But you’d better have the budget to support your content goals, strategy, and management for the foreseeable future.

This doesn’t mean the price of content strategy software but rather the ongoing expense of updating, managing, and maintaining digital signage solutions.

Do you have the budget to support all of the digital signage stakeholders listed above? Also, how often will you create and implement new content? Your digital signage doesn’t add a lot of value if you haven’t rolled out new messaging in months and customers have stopped looking.

Will you need to subscribe to a content provider? Is your content delivery going to be automated? Are you going to integrate with aggregate-type services (like Salesforce) to display relevant key performance indicators?

Don’t get ahead of yourself and buy the hardware if you can’t comfortably afford the cost of content upkeep.

Reasons for Installing Digital Signage

There are plenty of reasons why digital signage is right for your business, whether for internal use or customer-facing content advertising. Remember, digital signage—when implemented successfully—will change the way your business operates.

Digital signage is a high-quality solution to your business’s content delivery challenges when goals are defined, content ownership is clear, and there’s a budget for content management. It’s alright to take a step back and evaluate your goals and establish a team of digital signage owners before you take the leap and start the implementation process. In fact, it’s the smart thing to do if you want your digital signage to succeed.

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