“Fueling” your Messaging – Ingredient #3 - ”Location, Location, Location”
Over the last 4 weeks, we’ve spoken about the importance of having a defined strategy when effectively using digital signage technology. We’ve discussed the need to set goals, and the underlying information we’ll need to understand in order to align those goals with our products and services. We’ve talked about the opportunities we have to better “know our audiences”, and the resulting benefits this can bring to our strategy.
This week, I want to discuss a topic that brings these important ingredients together – the need to understand where and how to display our messaging to maximize our chances of success with this important technology tool.
At first glance, it may seem pretty easy to determine where your signage will appear. But after a little thoughtful pondering, the decision takes on a bit more complexity. It’s because of these subtle but important nuances that a few “best practices” should be considered as you determine where best to display your content. Without further hyperbole, here is my interpretation:
“Knowing your audience” still applies – When deciding where to position your display monitors, consider first who the audience is that you’re hoping to attract with this specific messaging. If your digital signage is intended to be interactive for example, make sure that your screens are fully accessible to all including those who may have physical disabilities. If you’re displaying “Patient Admittance Procedures” at a local hospital, there’s probably no need (or interest) in showing it in the Staff break room. It’s also important to consider if the messaging is targeting internal or external viewers, and to then look for the most heavily trafficked areas where this audience travels or congregates.
Consider Sight Lines and Lighting Conditions – I’m a tall guy at 6” 6”, but It still amazes me to think of the many times I’ve visited a new client’s facility only to see screens that are 4 feet above the average person’s eye level. This may be acceptable to me, and possibly to a contingent of NBA players who might be wandering about, but for the average person, screens that are not at eye level are an annoyance – and can easily be tuned out, on either a conscious or an unconscious level. This goes for signs that are displayed too low as well. Although this seems to happen much less, it’s just as annoying. If your building gives you no physical choice but to install monitors higher or lower than optimal, make sure that you tilt the screen a few degrees in the direction of your viewer’s eyes to help compensate for this deficit. It’s also important to make sure that your intended audience can clearly view the screens through reasonably unobstructed sight lines. If this isn’t possible in the space you have available, it may be necessary to use more than one monitor to allow everyone to properly see – and respond to – your messaging. Also under careful consideration should be the amount of light and potential glare that intrudes upon the signage area. Although today’s screens are incredibly bright and vibrant, a display that has direct sunlight intruding on the screen will lose some of its “pop” factor, potentially wasting your time, money, and marketing efforts!
Product Proximity – In many cases such as retail sales areas, the closer your digital signage is to your product for sale, the better the chances the messaging will be seen and acted upon. This is especially true in places like restaurants and over-the-counter sales areas.
Keep Content Fresh, Current and Relevant – If you allow your content to become dated, no longer applicable, or just left in the content rotation too long, people will tend to ignore it – and then ignore other messaging that is being displayed right along with it. If they are frequent visitors to the area, they may even become “conditioned” into thinking that your messaging is irrelevant.
I hope I’ve given you a few things to consider when deciding how to position your digital screens to get the very best out of your well planned and executed content.
Next week, we’ll look at a very under-used ingredient in “fueling” your messaging – the art of content repurposing!
