For schools, businesses, hospitals, and numerous other industries, digital signage technology has become a powerful and essential communication tool. Through effective utilization, digital signage displays can capture attention, keep audiences informed, and bolster engagement more effectively than traditional displays or static options. However, this success requires a sound strategy, as well as a consistent output of quality content. Additionally, it requires a deep understanding of your audience’s needs and wants. Whether you are new to the world of digital signage or an experienced professional refining your strategy, this guide will walk you through the key principles for creating engaging, tailored digital signage content for your audience.
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UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE
As mentioned previously, the most crucial aspect of creating effective digital signage content is understanding exactly who your audience is. Evaluate your environment. Are you a retail store? Are you communicating with internal teams? Are you providing information to patients in a hospital or students on a large university campus? From there, you can analyze demographic and behavioral details. Knowing the age of your audience, as well as the time and locations they are most likely to engage with displays, will inform your content strategy. Additionally, detailing what your audience wants or needs to know, how long they will be exposed to the content, and if they are expected to interact or simply view the content, will prove useful in fleshing out content as well.
For example, a waiting room may present calming visuals complemented with informative, health, and safety tips. These displays may be able to get away with more text and videos, as audiences will be spending longer amounts of time in these areas. However, a retail display would benefit from large, bold lettering with contrasting colors and concise messaging. The goal of these displays would be to convey promotions, product features, or limited-time sales quickly.
KEEP EVERYTHING SIMPLE & FOCUSED
Often, people will view your signage in passing, so it’s important that your message is clear and concise. With just a few seconds to make an impression, it’s important to aim for a single, focused message per slide within your playlist or visual. It’s important to avoid cluttering your screen with too much text or visuals. This can overwhelm your audience and cause them to tune out your displays. Some simple practices you can employ include using large fonts with bold lettering, keeping headlines and text short and sweet, and using contrasting color schemes to increase readability. Oftentimes, employing a “hook” or unique element to your displays can effectively grab attention.
Overall, you want to adhere to some sort of visual hierarchy. A visual hierarchy is the arrangement of design elements to highlight each element’s level of importance. This ensures viewers will see the most important parts of your displays first, increasing the chances of impactful content being digested. Size, color, placement, and typography can all be used to guide eyes around the display. For example, big, bold lettering is usually at the top, and then guides viewers’ eyes down to a smaller subheading or body text. Logos and calls-to-action should be placed in a way that encourages desired actions and reinforces brand alignment. Consistently adding brand elements will also add a degree of professionalism to your displays.
USE DYNAMIC CONTENT & REAL-TIME DATA
One of the biggest benefits digital signage software provides is its ability to provide real-time updates and data. This gives audiences the live, most up-to-date, and accurate information they need to make informed decisions. These can affect audience behavior and drive them toward desired actions. Some common real-time data we see clients employ include:
- Weather radars
- News headlines
- Social media feeds
- Countdown timers
- Traffic maps
- Sales metrics and graphs
These elements increase engagement as they not only provide important information staff members can check routinely, but also because they change frequently. These data points can affect store behavior as well. For example, current weather forecasts can be displayed alongside winter clothes sales or warm meals, encouraging viewers to partake in thematic sales or events based on the weather.
Regardless of the content you display, it should be scheduled strategically. The “when” matters just as much as the “what” when it comes to employing your content. Most content-management software includes scheduling options for content, allowing you to display content at times that align with audience behavior. For example, a restaurant may promote lunchtime deals between 11 am – 2 pm. Morning bus or truck drivers would benefit from traffic updates through displays. The variety of digital signage platforms offers can serve many different types of audiences.
TEST, MEASURE, AND IMPROVE
Continuous improvement is key in order to have long-term success with your signage strategy. Key performance indicators include:
- User behavior
- Survey feedback
- Interaction data
- Reviewing content freshness and accuracy
Using this feedback, as well as employing the other tips highlighted in this article, will help you refine your content and effectively reach your audience in efficient ways.
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