Why Should You Switch to Digital Signage in 2022?

Why Should You Make the Conversion to Digital Signage in 2022?

Digital signages are everywhere and have become an integral element of communication for both multi-national corporations and small businesses. Considering their advantages, businesses and institutions across sectors have been deploying them for greater reach and engagement. If you’re considering adding a new dimension to your consumer outreach, digital signages are one of the most cost-effective and flexible channels.

From stadiums to shopping malls to airports to retirement communities, digital signages are changing the way information is relayed. Small businesses that add these advanced technological solutions to their marketing mix don’t discard them as they see their compelling benefits, especially when compared to the traditional advertising methods.

The problems with traditional advertising tactics

For decades, when you thought of outdoor advertising, you would have thought of billboards, flyers, banners, leaflets, standees, etc. For small businesses, in particular, these were the preferred or only options. Digital signages changed that and empowered businesses to opt for a more effective medium.

The conventional outdoor advertising options were expensive for small businesses. If they wanted to showcase their products or services on a billboard, they would have had to design it through an external agency, buy the advertising space, put it up, and keep it there for a long time. These outdoor options were static and were exposed to the weather.

If a small business wanted to put a different message on its billboard, it would have had to start the process from scratch. Get a designer, wait for them to share layouts, approve them, get them printed, and finally put them up on the site. It was needlessly expensive and time-consuming.

There was another problem with these traditional outdoor advertising methods. There was no accountability. Advertisers couldn’t know if the banner or billboard was having its desired impact. They had to hope that the hoarding would attract attention and drive customers to their business.

Finally, small business owners would have needed assistance to manage their outdoor advertising. For designs, they would have had to hire a creative agency and then a media agency to buy outdoor spots. Updating billboards was also a tedious process for which business owners would have needed additional staff support. But with digital signages, there’s no need to worry about any of that.

5 reasons why you should switch to digital signage

If you’re a small business owner or in charge of marketing at a small business, here are five reasons to consider digital signages. Irrespective of the category you operate in, these advantages will encourage you to include digital signages into your marketing mix.

Significant cost savings

In the initial stages, digital signages were expensive for small businesses. That was mostly a function of less demand, which is what usually happens when new technologies are launched. But like with any technology, as production and demand increased, the price substantially decreased.

The primary expense in digital signages is the hardware. With increasing competition, display hardware prices have significantly decreased. This has opened the door for small businesses to make the most of digital signages. What makes it even more viable is the fact that solution providers like EasySignage offer attractive subscription plans.

There’s no need to print posters, banners, standees, or billboards on paper. That translates to considerable savings for small businesses. This is especially true when there is a frequent need for printing. A restaurant, for example, doesn’t have to print posters whenever they have a new dish or offer.

Once installed, digital signages can display dynamic content for years. There’s also no need to spend on the distribution of the printed material to various locations or getting hired help to install them. As a small business owner, you only have to pay for what your business would use. You can scale up when the need arises.

You can use the same digital signage display for multiple use cases, from brand videos to wayfinding to shopper deals. These would have necessitated separate posters or banners earlier. This is another way in which digital signages save a significant sum of money for small businesses.

Easy to update

Imagine a supermarket that has to print posters or banners whenever they have new updates to share with their customers. They would have to design them and get them printed. This means coordination with an advertising agency and then a printer. All these would cost both time and money.

Whatever gets printed would also have a limited shelf-life. When there’s a new offer or discounted deal, the whole process would have to start all over again. Since the process was cumbersome, many small stores cut back on their promotional campaigns, which reduced their revenue.

That’s where digital signages offer a compelling advantage. They’re exceptionally easy to manage and update. If a restaurant owner wants to make changes to their menu, they can do it on their laptop, tablet, or smartphone. If a gym wants to share the instructions for a new workout, they can instantly upload them.

When you update frequently and share relevant content, you’ll increase customer interest and engagement. They have something new to look forward to. If it’s a shopping mall, through flash sales and time-bound discounted offers, that interest can immediately turn into an impulse purchase.

Digital signages are also easy to manage because they don’t require any technical expertise. As a business owner, you’ll have an easy-to-use dashboard, like with EasySignage. Once you get used to creating, uploading, and updating content, you’ll be able to do everything on your own. There’s no need to turn to someone in IT or an outside agency for help.

Higher recall

Why do digital signages get greater recall? Because they’re a dynamic medium that you can refresh frequently. That ends up getting everyone’s attention. The same can’t be said about the traditional signage systems. Studies have found out that digital signages get double the retention rate of conventional signages.

Once you realize that digital signage is primarily a visual medium, it’s easy to understand why people remember it more. This increased retention makes it ideal for product launches and brand campaigns. You can also use digital signages to promote products at select locations to test their viability.

What makes digital signages a powerful proposition for marketers is their interactivity. Instead of merely absorbing information, you can also encourage customers to take specific actions through QR codes. These could be to discover product details, to follow you on social media, or to sign up for your newsletter.

Flexibility

One of the reasons why digital signages are gaining popularity among marketers is their flexibility. In static signages, you can only use printed material which can be limiting. In digital signages, there’s a world of opportunities for small businesses to connect with their audiences.

If you’re an educational institution or a healthcare facility, you can use digital signages for wayfinding. You don’t have to assign individuals for the task as visitors will find all the necessary information and maps on the signages. If it’s a hotel, other than directions, you can also use digital signages to talk about the latest dishes in your restaurant.

If it’s at a hospital or a restaurant, digital signages can also shorten the perceived wait-time as visitors will have something interesting to look at. This will increase customer satisfaction and decrease the number of complaints.

If you’re a retailer or sports arena, you can use a video wall. It’s a collection of several screens that look like a large screen. You can magnify your content or run different images or videos on each screen. This will make your brand look bigger and give it credibility.

To deliver enhanced customer experiences, you can also make your digital signages interactive. This way, users will be to get information without having to approach any of your team members. This is ideal for hospitals, trade shows, museums, train stations, airports, etc. You can also advertise on these since you’ll have a captive audience.

Remote management

You could be on vacation and still manage and update your digital signage from your smartphones. You don’t have to be present at the location to change the content or measure its performance. All the data will be available on your dashboard. This level of remote management makes digital signages the right option for a world where remote work has become regularized.

Since it’s based in the cloud, you can access it from anywhere. You can upload new content or edit existing content with ease. What makes it particularly useful is its scheduling feature. Once you activate it with the relevant content, the platform will publish it without needing anyone’s involvement.

This automation and the centralized control make sure that you don’t have to hire additional staff to monitor and manage your digital signage system.

In short

The future of marketing is all about engagement. Digital signages allow you to reach more audiences with cost-efficiencies while significantly improving your engagement. This makes digital signages a must-have for all small businesses.

Why Should You Make the Conversion to Digital Signage in 2022?