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Tips From DSaaS Experts

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Chances are, you already have some guidelines that come to mind when designing creative content: stay away from red, ensure your content is engaging, know your audience, etcetera, etcetera. But what would the experts say are the non-negotiables when creating effective content specific to digital signage?

Is it the layout of the messages?

Possibly.

Is it the color scheme or clever wording?

Could be.

How about the eye catching branded content that really draws the viewer’s attention?

You’re getting there.

We sat down with one of our experts to discuss some of the secrets of the trade. Here’s the skinny, it is more involved than just using a special layout or clever wording. To create successful digital signage, here are 5 things to think about before booting up the screen.

1. Define your goals, scope and resources: What good is a message without a strategy? In our opinion, the strategy is the pinnacle of all digital signage projects. So where do you start?

Here are some questions to think through when kicking off your digital signage solution:

1. What are your overall business goals?
2. What are your goals specific to the Digital Signage as a Service (DSaaS ) project?
3. Do these specific goals align with your overall business goals?

The answers to these questions are your backbone. As you begin to hammer out the scope of your project, always come back to these answers to stay on target.
Additionally, it is also important to understand the budget, resources, and timing it will take to execute on this job. For easy prioritization, determine the most important aspects of the project. Maybe your scope is key, but timing is not a huge issue. Modify your project so that you can execute to the scope you desire but flex a bit on the timing. As these key elements become defined, it is important they work together to make a realistic scope and deadline that will later back up to your project goals. This way, your digital signage project won’t become delayed or known as the “dreaded never-ending, budget-spiraling project from the depths of…” well, you see where we’re going with that one.

2. Define what success looks like: It is imperative to understand how this project will be successful. How can you determine success if you haven’t defined what success means to you? It’s simple.

Here are some questions to think through.

1. What’s your end goal?
2. How can this be measured ?
3. What measurements would be attainable but challenging?
4. Do these measurements line back up with your defined goal(s) ?

There are different ideas of what being successful actually means, so it is crucial to determine and align here with the stakeholders. Without the definition of success, it’s difficult to get you where you want to be.

3. Brainstorm with key stakeholders

Gaining “buy-in” from your stakeholders is imperative as you kick off this – potentially – new initiative. With their support, alignment, and * ahem * money, you want to be sure you can prove the value in your digital signage solution. As you modify and measure, you can make optimizations to increase your solution’s effectiveness.

4. Ensure all your messages align to your brand values, the project and the environment

To tie it all together, we believe it is crucial to ensure that all of your messages align. The media you create must have synergy with your brand messaging. Take a look at the environment you will be placing your signage, are you duplicating any promotions or sending any conflicting information? Additionally, think through your other strategies. Are you missing any key information your company would like to push? Only once you are confident on the content messaging can you begin to develop the motion graphics.

5. Ensure your brand has been set

How could you expect to align your digital signage to your brand if your brand doesn’t have a clear voice, look, and feel? In the eyes of the experts, this is an absolute must. Knowing and defining the character of your brand is critical in helping you create effective digital signage. When your brand is clearly outlined, and your digital signage follows suit, your brand will transcend in the digital and live spaces. Without this component, you and your digital signage will become obsolete, potentially creating a negative effect.

So how do these tips help lead you and your business to success? Well, with aligned messages, full support, and consistent branding you know you are on the right track.

In the eyes of the experts, your overall strategy can be a tough cookie to crack. When you spend time on strategy and setting goals , you can track and report the success . Based on benchmarks, you can make adjustments to your signage which will only increase your message’s effectiveness. Now that you’ve got some tools in your belt, go and dream big. Using these expert tips, we hope your c-suite is beyond impressed.

The post Tips From DSaaS Experts appeared first on Blog by Convergent .

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8 Ways That Digital Signage Improves Employee Engagement

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Modern office or apartment area through the hallway

It’s no secret that Employee Engagement is critical in the success of any organization. Now, with Big Data and Analytics offering greater insight into the key elements determining success, it has become increasingly evident that incremental improvements in Employee Engagement drive dramatic improvements across a wide range of metrics. These include productivity, customer satisfaction, employee retention, defects and accidents, absenteeism, revenue growth, and stock performance.

This has led many organizations to invest in improving their employee engagement. These are most often multi-pronged strategies aimed at establishing strong bi-directional communications, while also establishing and reinforcing the corporate culture, mission, and values.

Digital Signage offers a highly-effective channel in implementing a blended engagement strategy, helping improve communications, culture, and the workplace environment .

Here are eight ways that digital signage helps improve employee engagement:

A Visual Medium – Roughly 65% of humans identify themselves as visual learners. This helps explain the limited effectiveness of email and other text-based forms of communications. With digital signage, your message is integrated with graphical elements to produce a more impactful result that better resonates with your employees.

Message Retention – The digital signage format allows your messaging to be clear and concise. It also allows your message to be repeatedly reinforced in a non-intrusive manner. As in advertising, the cumulative result of these micro-immersions is an increased awareness and retention of your message.

Immediacy – In critical moments, digital signage offers immediacy for rapidly communicating a message across your organization. This helps remove ambiguity, providing accurate information to your organization, allowing it to better perform.

Reaching Non-Digital Employees – In many industries – including retail, manufacturing, and transportation – large subsets of the workforce do not have regular access to digital devices. Signage networks allow you to overcome this technology barrier and better engage with these associates.

Cross-Departmental Utilization – One issue confronting many large organizations is that departments, or regions, become isolated and unaware of news and accomplishments from other groups. Digital Signage platforms allow diverse regions and departments to contribute content, resulting in a better informed workplace. This improves moral, performance, and cohesion throughout the enterprise.

Direct Communications – Surveys indicate that poor communications is the most common driver of employee disengagement. This is not always the company’s fault. An organization can be executing a flawless corporate communications strategy, but if an individual manager is a poor communicator, their direct reports are more likely to become disengaged. Digital Signage helps mitigate this risk by establishing a direct channel to reach those employees.

Social Integration – Employees are better engaged when they believe that their voice matters. Integration of social media into a signage platform allows for a bi-directional dialogue that is beneficial to all stakeholders. Note that care needs to be given in the selection and governance of these platforms to optimize their positive impact.

News & Entertainment – Digital Signage also allows your organization to address your employee’s desire to be connected to happenings outside of the workplace. It also provides a platform to entertain and enlighten, helping produce a happier, better-performing workforce.

As businesses of all sizes look to improve their competitiveness and performance, the need for successful strategies to engage employees is proving essential. Digital signage offers a valuable tool in achieving this success.

The post 8 Ways That Digital Signage Improves Employee Engagement appeared first on Blog by Convergent .

To view our Partner blog, click here