Shoppers are practically breaking down your door to snag the killer deals you've made available. And with every "ching" of the cash register, you feel like doing a jig. You're unstoppable.
All of a sudden, you wake up. You were dreaming. But who says dreams can't come to pass?
If you're not making the most of your storefront's foot traffic, now is a good time to try digital signage. Research shows that the market for digital signage will jump from nearly $21 billion to nearly $32 billion from 2017 to 2023 -- an increase of more than 7% per year.
In other words, if you haven't gotten onto the digital signage bandwagon, your business may soon be left behind.
Here are nine ways to use digital signage content to draw in customers.
Let's get started!
1. Use Digital Signage Content for Branding Purposes
When people enter your business or walk by it, it's critical that they recognize who you are. And more importantly, they should remember your business.
You can make this happen by using digital signage to show off memorable elements of your brand. For instance, your digital sign could display your branding images, name, logo, font, and tagline. Anything that represents your brand conceptually and visually can go on your digital sign.
What's great about digital signs is that they are extremely customizable, so adding branding to any store is extremely easy. Also, just one screen could show hundreds of videos or photos featuring your brand's elements. So, if you have multiple screens at your physical location, customers will have a relatively hard time forgetting your brand.
In addition, when you use digital signs, you portray your business as cutting edge, modern and tech savvy. And that will help you more than ever in the years ahead, especially if your store targets the younger crowd. That's because the more up to date you appear, the more likely that young people will be willing to enter your store to check out what you have to offer.
2. Show Off Your Products
Digital signage is also an excellent tool for showcasing your collections and products, and this is excellent considering that your products are basically brands within your brand.
You'd certainly like to sell all of your products, but it's oftentimes a good idea to draw attention to certain items -- for example, your company's most valuable, best or most popular products or services. This is particularly true if you're a clothing retailer, as your items vary from season to season.
You can even show product demos or short infomercials on your digital sign. This is particularly helpful if your products provide visual results or are hard to describe. It's also an excellent move if you're introducing a product to the market.
In addition, you can showcase on your digital sign a product that's been lingering in the shadows and needs to finally enter the spotlight. Existing customers who like your other products will probably be excited to discover your business's lesser-known products.
When you showcase your best products, you pique the interest of passersby, who may then be more willing to enter your shop to check them out firsthand.
3. Go beyond the Product
Digital signage can no doubt be a great source of information for your customers. But they can do more than that -- they can also entertain them.
When you use your digital sign to entertain your customers, they're more likely to spend more time at your business. Plus, if they have to wait in line, or if they have to wait for you to complete a service for them, their wait times won't seem as long to them if they're engrossed in your digital sign content.
One way you can entertain your customers and actually build a relationship with them is to tell your story.
Consumers -- particularly Millennials -- care about who they're doing business with. By explaining how you started your business or sharing a glimpse of your processes or team, you make your company seem more personal. And as a result, you might draw more customers to you simply because of who you are -- not just what you have to offer.
Another way you can entertain customers is to show off the types of good work you do in the community.
Again, Millennials like companies that are focused on more than just their bottom lines. In fact, research shows that most Millennials base their buying decisions on the types of responsible efforts that companies are making.
For this reason, if you are all about philanthropy, don't be shy about sharing your story in a manner that is compelling. The more personal and human you appear on your sign, the more you may draw the foot traffic of consumers who support what you're all about, in addition to being interested in your products.
4. Share Reviews and Testimonials
Finally, digital signs can be useful for showing off positive customer reviews and testimonials.
People as a whole value and trust customer reviews. In fact, research shows that most customers trust reviews online just as much as they trust personal recommendations.
If you have great reviews online, share them on your digital sign, too. In this way, your in-store customers or passersby will see what previous customers have said about you, and this might motivate them to check you out or purchase even more products or services from you.
5. Display Your Other Platforms/Properties
Another major benefit of using digital signs? You can show customers at your store your other properties and thus draw foot traffic to those other locations as well.
For instance, maybe you have other store locations that may interest your customers. Other physical locations might have offerings that aren't necessarily available at your main store location. In this situation, you can encourage your customers through your digital signage to visit these other locations for those special offerings.
Or perhaps you have digital properties that your customers would love to visit -- for instance, your social media sites. Digital properties are an especially convenient way for your customers to connect with your company online.
6. Share Relevant News
Who says your digital signage has to be used for promotional purposes only?
You can always feel free to share news concerning your industry in general or your brand in particular. This is especially valuable for brands today given the fact that the business world is rapidly changing.
Customers who value information, not just advertising, may be more willing to walk into your store and see what you're offering if your digital sign offers unique nuggets of knowledge they simply don't see elsewhere.
Your digital sign can also be useful for sharing policy changes or store updates with your buyers.
7. Produce Customer-Focused Content
Consumers are constantly exposed to advertising, but they rarely get the chance to participate in the conversation.
That's another benefit of using a digital sign -- your customers can interact with it. This alone may draw people into your store since it offers them a unique experience.
For instance, your customers can post something about you on a social media platform, and you can allow it to appear on your shop's digital sign screen. These posts may include comments or photos, for example.
This can certainly be fun for your in-store customers, but it can also generate more exposure and buzz for your business online. Simply encourage your in-store customers to post content related to your offerings or even to use certain hashtags online.
Of course, you might want to have a designated person to monitor your stream and approve posts before they appear on your digital signage screen. This will help to prevent the posting of content that is inappropriate in your store.
8. Promote Sales
People love great deals, particularly in the retail world. And the more you promote your deals with numbers on digital signage, the more they'll stand out to passersby and thus draw them into your shop.
For instance, maybe you're offering five items for $25, or two for one, or 40% off.
Numbers are excellent to use on a digital sign for a number of reasons. First, they draw attention, as they stand out among a sea of text. Second, numbers are quick and easy to read.
On top of this, numbers have a way of instilling trust. After all, customers are more likely to trust a company that says they're offering 20% off on certain meaningful product, than one that simply put sales across the board only for customer to find out that most of what they want are still retail price.
Furthermore, numbers tell your audience precisely what they can expect from you. For instance, if you say "30% of purchases over $75," this is much more specific than simply saying "sale today!"
It's also a good idea to use odd numbers when possible, as these numbers tend to grab people's attention more than their even counterparts do.
The Value of Sales
So, why all the talk about sales?
Because if you're a retailer especially, you need to draw buyers into your store before you can make sales. After all, many people enter stores specifically because they saw that these stores were having sales.
Retail outfits have been relying on static signage for centuries to advertise their sales. But digital signs give you more flexibility and control over your content.
Sales change often, and so does your inventory. So, the money, time and energy required to produce a static sign for a sale are oftentimes disproportionate to the length of time that the promotion will last.
Fortunately, you don't have to worry about this with digital signage. All you have to do is log onto your computer, tablet or smartphone to update your digital sign in real time to reflect each new promotion.
Reaching Customers inside the Store
Digital signs are certainly handy tools to set up outside of your store, but they can be just as helpful inside the store.
For instance, you can establish digital sign tablets at your points of sale -- for example, near retail shelves or at cash registers. In this way, your customers can view deals they might not have known existed.
Sure, static signs can do this as well. But digital tablets featuring touchscreens can show your customers slideshows and provide detailed information on your offerings. The tablets can also ask customers for their email addresses as well as provide additional help.
All in all, digital signs are a great way to revise your marketing campaign when needed and to keep your messaging cohesive as well.
9. Show TV Feeds
The ability to show a custom TV feed is yet another advantage of using digital signage.
If you have a waiting room where your customers can watch TV, the problem with traditional TV programming is that it doesn't reinforce your business or branding.
However, if you use digital signage, you can use Private Label TV instead. With this customized programming, you can display content on your digital sign that you have personally selected from a library. Ideally, the content should be in alignment with your business goals and branding.
You can even add your own frame to go with the programming, making sure that the frame is also in alignment with your brand.
If customers know that you offer a custom TV feed, they won't have to think twice about choosing your company over another similar one that lacks such a feed.
How We Can Help
We can easily turn any TV screen into a digital sign to help you to promote your offerings more effectively. In addition, our cutting-edge platform makes it possible for you to manage multiple screens remotely by using a central portal featuring a dashboard.
All you have to do is choose a device for playing content on your business's TV. The most cost-effective and popular one is Amazon Fire TV Stick at $39.99. Then, you can go to your device's App Stores and download the OptiSigns app. After that, you can use our portal to update your screen content as needed.
We stand out because we work with images, PowerPoint, PDF, Youtube, Vimeo, Videos and Google Docs. You can also easily manage the timing for all of your content.
Get in touch with us today to find out more about how digital signage content can enhance your business this winter and beyond. With our help, you can more easily connect with customers and strengthen your bottom line.
