Every other aspect of your business has gone digital, so why not your signage? Digital signs are increasingly common, from large billboards to POS touchscreens that enhance the customer journey.

This guide explores the answer to ‘what is digital signage?’, looks at the applications for digital media and gives insight into the types of digital signage you can use to promote your business.

What is Digital Signage?

Digital signage offers a full-colour all-action solution to promoting your brand and products without the need to continually swap out materials. These digital displays use LCD screens, projection or LEDs to create attractive and eye-catching visuals.

Going digital can be supplementary to your existing signage and designs, such as in window displays, or can entirely replace traditional signage, such as wayfinding or totem signs. The versatility of digital signage makes this option an effective solution to a wide range of problems, such as the POS experience, promoting your brand or directing customers to different areas of your business.

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What is Digital Signage Used For?

For many businesses, digital signage is an appealing solution to achieving a consistent brand identity between offline and online spaces. These signs enable the use of promotional video, multiple images, and even atmospheric experiences in any retail, office, or public space.

Digital signage immerses and engages people, capturing the attention of potential customers where static branding may fall short. This makes digital displays an effective option for promoting campaigns both inside and outside of retail businesses.

Digital signage also serves as a medium for conveying information. These displays are particularly useful where a significant amount of information needs to be displayed without the space for multiple displays. For example, in medical practices, where a large amount of health information is presented to patients.

The Evolution of Digital Signage

Digital signage first emerged onto the scene in the mid-2010s. The affordability of high-definition screens and accessibility of cloud CMS enabled rapid growth, with many businesses investing in early versions of digital displays to promote their brands and create video-led campaigns.

Today, digital signage has evolved beyond its early iteration with the integration of touchscreens, allowing customers to directly engage with your brand. Gesture-based controls are also available for a touch-free experience, whether you’re displaying product catalogues, providing wayfinding maps or offering customer experience surveys.

Cloud-based systems have also improved in recent years, providing seamless solutions for scheduling, managing and updating content. This makes it easy for businesses to adjust their displays in seconds, from implementing limited-time promotions to changing entire campaigns.

The Benefits of Digital Signage

There are numerous benefits to digital signage. The versatility and practicality of these signs provides businesses with a way to stay ahead of competitors and capture the attention of customers in a digital-first world. Some of these key benefits include:

Increasing customer engagement: Dynamic content reflects customers’ preference for moving imagery on social media, appealing to them in the digital medium they prefer
Streamlining brand management: Simply and easily adjust promotions, change over seasonal campaigns and provide up-to-date information about your business without the cost or time required to replace traditional signage
Gaining business insights: Interactive digital signage provides a new way to gather data from your customers, whether it’s interest in particular products or direct surveys about their experience with your brand
Sustainability: Reducing the amount of material wastage in your business can help you achieve your sustainability goals, while modern LCD screens use minimal energy to achieve vibrant visuals
The ‘wow factor’: The modern, technology-first look of digital signage can create a strong first impression and makes your brand more memorable to potential customers. Helping you to achieve that all-important first touchpoint in their journey

Types of Digital Signage

Digital signage is available in a wide range of sizes and styles, enabling you to use it in many different areas of your business. Some of the most common types include:

Video Walls

Video walls are large-scale, seamless installations that make a strong and lasting impression on both customers and visitors. Common applications for these types of walls include shops and entertainment venues, where large displays can be a cost-effective way to maximise promotions or achieve the desired atmosphere.

Interactive Screens

Interactive screens offer an additional layer of engagement for your customers, allowing them to directly interact with your brand via touchscreen or gesture displays. These screens put the power in the hands of the user, enabling them to browse products, navigate maps or connect with different services you offer, making them popular in retail and food service environments.

Digital Menu Boards

Digital menu boards are a specific subset of digital screens, offering a quick and easy way for businesses to display different food options on a rotation. Fast food businesses commonly use digital menu boards to display their full product range or highlight specific promotions, with the flexibility to adjust displayed information in seconds.

Digital Posters

Digital posters are smaller, wall-mounted signage, offering a similar effect to old-school rotating motor signage by allowing you to display multiple visuals one after another. Digital posters are often used for promotion, whether for cinemas or retail stores, and are a cost-effective method to introduce digital signage into your business.

Outdoor Digital Signage

Outdoor digital signage is used in many ways to attract the attention of passers-by. Some of the most common include totem wayfinding signs with interactive maps and large-scale promotional signage used for the exterior of theatres and other entertainment venues. All outdoor digital signage should be weatherproof and designed for purpose by a specialist to ensure it is safe and reliable.

What Screens Can Be Used for Digital Signage?

The most common types of digital signage are LCD screens, the standard choice for indoor applications, as they are cost-effective and have lower power consumption. LED screens are the common choice for external applications, with bright displays that prevent poor visual clarity in sunlight.

Touchscreens are an increasingly popular choice for interactive digital signage. These can be LCD or LED depending on your particular application. Projection screens may also be used for large-scale content where a screen cannot be installed, such as at specific entertainment venues.

Tips on Creating Impactful Digital Signage Content

Some of the ways you can create impactful content for digital signage include the following:

Focusing on visuals over information: Too much information on your digital display can turn off potential customers, while visuals draw attention and encourage exploration
Making interaction easy: If you are utilising touchscreens, make it obvious how the public can interact with your screens to increase their engagement with your brand
Choosing attention-drawing visuals: Clever use of video and imagery can draw people towards your business from a distance
Considering your placement: Choosing high-traffic areas for your digital signage can help it make the biggest impression, particularly for promotional materials
Take accessibility into account: Using clear, easy-to-read fonts and colours that comply with high contrast requirements can ensure everyone can engage with your digital media

Digital Signage at Image

Choosing digital signage is an effective way to enhance your brand visibility and attract the right attention. With excellent flexibility, including changing displays at a moment’s notice, digital signs are an effective solution for a wide range of businesses.

At Image, we are the experts in signage – from bespoke signs to 3D displays. We have extensive expertise as signmakers for retail businesses, healthcare facilities and more. If you’re considering digital signs for your business, contact us directly today to discuss your requirements with our team.