Getting the Most Out of Your Digital Signage Investment

Written by: Carolyn Heinze

Not long ago, “futureproofing” an organization’s digital signage spend focused largely on hardware infrastructure: was the transition from standard to high-definition displays justified for the use case? Or was it wiser to deploy 4K, which would (hopefully) perform better for a longer period of time?

These questions are less relevant today; in most applications, deploying higher resolution screens won’t produce a significant return on investment. What matters more is how these devices are supported: are the remote monitoring and management tools in place to easily push firmware updates and security patches to the devices on the digital signage network—be they 50 or 5000? Do the manufacturers of these devices support the web browser of choice? These are some of the things to consider when striving to futureproof a system.

Most importantly, getting the most out of an investment in digital signage technology requires organizations to consider their overarching communications strategy. How can we engage our desired audiences—and reach them where they are, when we need to? How can we leverage our existing digital signage technology to support this exercise?

In hybrid organizations where employees, faculty, and students are no longer confined to corporate offices and campuses, restricting these messages to onsite displays is no longer effective. To reach remote audiences, it’s necessary to distribute content outside of these facilities. The digital signage network has extended beyond screens on walls to screens of all sizes, including the tablets and smartphones that accompany most people as they go about their day. Like any communications campaign, this requires content creators and digital signage administrators to determine:

- Who is the target audience?
- When will we communicate to them?
- Where will we communicate them? On what displays and devices?
- What’s the call to action?
- Do we have the analytics in place to measure the engagement levels associated with the messages we distribute?

When organizations take the “screens of all sizes” approach, they stand to boost engagement because messaging is reinforced across devices. The notice on the classroom display also appears on students’ mobile devices, reminding them of an upcoming seminar—and, because they may answer the call to action from their personal devices, they can register for that event on the spot before they forget to. This boosts not only their interaction with the messaging, but their participation in school activities as well.

The same concept applies to the business world: the notification about the upcoming expense report deadline that appears on remote employees’ smartphones can also run on the sales department display, where they will see it when they check in at head office. It may also appear on the screen in the conferencing room, once again reminding them to submit their paperwork.

In both scenarios, analytics will measure how effective the messaging was, enabling content creators and administrators to adjust future communications to further increase engagement. “Screens on walls” is just one piece of the strategy. “Screens of all sizes” takes into account the investment that organizations have already made in displays, mobile devices, and digital signage platforms, enabling them to make more of an impact. This is the most meaningful way to futureproof a digital signage system. This is the future of digital signage—and the future is here, now.