As customers around the world embrace a digital ecosystem for their retail and service experiences, many entrepreneurs are questioning the effectiveness of maintaining physical locations for their businesses. But make no mistake, brick and mortar spaces will always remain a necessity for specific startups. If your business needs to make a substantial investment to fund a physical location, it’s vital to maximize every square inch of your space.
And a key and often overlooked aspect of creating forward-thinking customer experiences within your physical location is effectively leveraging the power of digital signage.
To put it briefly, digital signage is a content distribution platform in which visuals and messaging are displayed on digital screens with the intent to inform and persuade audiences. These screens can differ from traditional TVs, smartphones, monitors, or tablets with a wide array of uses across various industries.
And here are several reasons why startups should maximize their spaces and boost visibility through the power of digital signage.
Perception is Everything
Technology is prevalent in every aspect of modern-day living. If you want your customers to see your brand as innovative and ahead of the curve, the use of digital screens that display engaging content immediately imbues the customer experience with a favourable and tech-forward sentiment. Simply put, digital signage takes your business out of the past and launches you into the now.
Maximize Efficiency
Businesses can populate digital signage with vital and real-time product updates and service offerings to help educate customers before they even interact with an in-store employee, thus freeing up manpower to serve as a resource for other more pressing operational needs.
What may have required multiple hands on deck using traditional techniques, can be lessened to a one or two-man job using digital signage. And interactive displays can meet customer needs like never before. From inventory checks to pricing information, interactive displays can provide a wide range of practical functionality that can wow your customers as you empower their experience with your brand.
Advertise Without Alienating
Customers hate being forced to sit through advertisements. But digital signage allows customers to both passively and actively engage with in-store advertisements through seamless integration with your physical location. With the flexibility digital displays afford, business owners can advertise new products, promote in-store events, and highlight key sales all while customers visit your location.
Creative Realities, a leader in the digital signage industry, also encourages startup business to leverage the power of social media in their in-store displays. Based on findings CRI has gleaned from hundreds of successful deployments, digital signage can help grow your community by directing customers to key social channels and highlighting user generated content to help the in-store experience feel more communal and organic.
The Power of POP Displays
According to the experts at CRI, based on their years of experience in the digital signage industry, an effective point-of-purchase, or POP display, is critical to both engaging customers and increasing sales revenue. Digital POP displays can encourage impulse purchases by ensuring ads are always relevant and highlight available products, allowing retail locations to better capitalize on the short window where customers become a captive audience. Touch screen interactive displays can also drive increases in loyalty program, membership, or email list registration.
Elevate the Impact of Promotional Boards
As store traffic ebbs and flows on an hourly basis, business owners must take advantage of every opportunity to woo shoppers and keep them engaged. Leveraging digital signage to create promotional boards results in 400% more views than static signage. Digital signage also empowers businesses with technology that yields automatic up and downtimes, targeted delivery tailored to the needs of specific locations and timeframes, and lightning-fast deployment. The net effect is digital signage makes for a more efficient medium than traditional print.
Staying competitive in 2020 means accepting the many advantages of digital signage over traditional advertising. Times are changing, so take advantage of it! Employing a digital signage company is a worthy investment for your startup business and can greatly improve your customer experience, boost brand awareness, and surge your sales.