There is no doubt that digital signage is everywhere. Driving down the road, walking into a restaurant, going to the airport, and even going to school you see digital signage.
What is digital signage?
Here is how the Wikipedia version explains digital signage:
Digital signage is a subpart of signage. Digital signage uses technologies such as LCDs, LEDs, and projection to display content such as digital images, video, streaming media, and information. They can be found in public spaces, transportation systems, museums, sports stadiums, retail stores, hotels, restaurants, and corporate buildings, providing navigation, exhibits, marketing, and outdoor advertising.
So, in a nutshell, digital signage consists of any size screen displaying any type of content for any reason. This is an incredibly broad description and one of the main reasons why the average person looking to install a digital signage network is easily confused. Of course, another key reason for the confusion is the large number of suppliers to choose from.
So what is the best way to navigate through this multitude of vendor lists?
Determining Your Needs
The first question we ask our clients – and one they often struggle to answer – is “What is the ideal outcome once a digital signage network is deployed?” This is the first step in determining a prospect’s goals and objectives, and we ask a few further questions:
- How many digital displays do you want to deploy?
- What is the timeline for project deployment?
- What is your content strategy?
- Do you have a budget?
After completing this discovery process, we tend to either quickly demonstrate our capabilities or the prospect decides they have homework to do. Both scenarios are good. If you have a clear understanding of the intent and resources needed to make your network a successful one. If you don’t, it’s better to take a step back and think about it than to fall into the trap that so many do: buy digital displays, hang them up, and spend months figuring out what to do with them. Because we chose a digital signage network system, not digital displays.
So, you have a budget, a plan and the necessary resources.
There are many components to a digital signage solution, but they can be divided into a few broad categories:
- Hardware-Physical components: screens (digital displays), media players (if necessary), network components, mounts, etc.
- Software-Content and/or device management systems and playback software on media players
- Connectivity-How the digital display is connected to the content management system, whether using hardwire, Wi-Fi or mobile technology
- Installation-The entire installation process from site survey to final installation
- Content – the biggest ongoing cost of the network: constantly creating or subscribing to new content to keep the network current and relevant.
