According to Mark Hare, digital marketing specialist, ScreenScape Networks Inc, the effectiveness of your network is going to depend, in no small part, on the timeliness and effectiveness of your content, so it’s an area where you really don’t want to be cutting corners.
At the same time, graphic designers tend to be expensive and you don’t want to create a situation where every idea, every opportunity to message your audience, is taxed with heavy professional fees.
There are plenty of costs to consider when building a digital signage network. One area worth highlighting is creative services, which refers to the people and processes that are responsible for writing, designing and ultimately producing the onscreen messaging that is shared across your network.
Here are tips and techniques you can use to deliver effective content without breaking the bank on expensive creative services:
Leverage your team
Consider employing people from your team with any creative skills in the creative process, because outsourcing creates a costly dependency between you and your provider. Even if your organisation is small, you may have a staff member or two with a designer’s eye. With just a little help and encouragement, you could also have them posting on your digital signage network for fun and for profit. Bear in mind also that a local manager is likely to have in-depth knowledge of the local audience and a fuller context of what’s happening at the screen level.
The good news is that the old systems of the past are slowly giving way to newer, more modern systems that can deliver the same level of user-friendliness you’ve come to expect in a social media platform. Your staff is already posting online.
Leverage your existing resources
Digital signage isn’t the first new marketing opportunity your business has faced. You’ve probably already solved similar kinds of problems that you’re going to face when trying to tame digital signage.
Think back to the way your organisation adopted desktop publishing, email marketing or social media and you’ll see what I mean. That logo you designed for your company newsletter, that promotion you shared via email, or that video you posted on social media can be very helpful when it comes to digital signage. They may need some special formatting for the TV screen, but they are still just the kind of digital assets you’ll need to create for your digital signage purposes.
Choose a platform that you can manage
You don’t want to become beholden to another company just to enjoy the full benefits of your new communications channel. Most of the new digital signage software available on the market allow you to unlock the full benefits of professional digital signage with less cost and less complexity. Shop around for the right digital signage platform that meets your needs.
Here are some features to look for in sizing up an easy-to-use solution vendor:
• Built-in support for your favourite data sources like Dropbox, Google Drive, Facebook and Instagram.
• Beautiful Aesthetics out of the box – a brilliant playback experience with no transitions, beautifully designed templates, a wide selection of screen layouts and aesthetic themes.
• Built-in rich media editor – flexible and allows you to place images, text and video precisely where you want it – one that allows you to style every aspect of your creations.
• Simplicity in the user interface.
• Easy set-up process.
• Automation – pre-scheduling of content is driven by automated publishing techniques.
• Easy to manage at scale with hundreds of screens as it is with only one or two screens. Time is money.
This article was sourced from: www.digitalsignagetoday.com
