Paul Flanigan: Why Content Is So Important

As technology continues to advance in ways that allow even the most minor operators to utilize digital signage for their environments, awareness on the need for quality content continues to grow.

It would seem obvious that replacing a static sign with a digital screen, or adding a screen to an environment, would automatically create more awareness for whatever was being communicated. It’s easy to see that putting really great video (herein generally referred to as “content”) on an HDTV that someone wants to buy is a foregone conclusion. But that is not the case. In situations where the shopper is buying a staple, like shampoo or toothpaste or milk, the shopper is so focused on the mission at hand that almost all signage, static and digital alike, is ignored. The potential to miss the audience can be frustrating to a network operator that has spent enormous amounts of money to put in a network and wants to see a return on the investment.

The ultimate goal of digital signage is to change behaviors. It could be to navigate through an environment, or learn more about a product, or catch up on the latest news. But digital signage alone does not allow the operator to be better at communicating.

You need terrific content.

The ability to engage a viewer with outstanding visual content is not easily accomplished. The awareness and respect for content is increasing because providers continue to learn about the medium. The common battle cry of “It’s Not TV!” runs through the industry. It isn’t TV in the traditional sense of what we sit down and watch in our homes each night. But it is a screen designed to communicate, and the understanding of how to communicate is evolving as fast as the industry itself. It is TV, just a different kind of TV.

In the past, the novelty of a screen in a store or elevator or subway was enough to allow the network operator the freedom to simply hang a screen and turn it on. Now we are seeing screens treated as vital elements of design, being built into the physical structures. This completes the experience for the end-user and the audience. The screens and content look like it was made for the store, rather than just added on at a later stage in the environment’s evolution. Venues are constantly looking for advantages over their competitors, but brand logos, colors, and store layout can only go so far. Compelling, relevant content can give one environment over another by bringing the environment to life.

As much as good content has the ability to engage a viewer, bad content can detract a viewer just as fast.

High quality, relevant, and compelling content is the most important feature to digital signage in any application. It is the reason you’re adding the screens. It can connect you with viewers in ways never before achieved through the traditional methods of communication. Whether you are a brand, or a product, or a service, or just someone who has information to share, digital signage gives you the ability to engage the viewer with your message.

There are myriad variables to consider when creating good content. What works in one retailer, or waiting room, or on a billboard, will not work on screens of the same nature because the audience makeup is different each time. This creates havoc for providers who are trying to get the right content in the right place at the right time. But there are a few basic principles that can be understood and applied across any medium that will give the provider and/or end user great content, great impact, and a greater return on the investment.

Great content tells a story. The unique environments and audiences give creators the opportunity to tell more intimate stories with greater impact, focusing on key features of the subject that appeal to the viewer at that particular time and place, rather than trying to cover all the bases in a short message you may find on television at home (a good reason why “It’s not TV”). Because digital signage is a more dynamic way to communicate, providers can leverage the creative resources to tell a better story about their brand, or product, or service. For example, a cell-phone provider may be able to show live action of the cell-phones screen and interface (think of the iPhone commercials) as an advantage over other cell-phone manufacturers. This has tremendous impact at the point of sale, where the phones are on the shelf, where customers ready to buy. Great content creates competitive differentiation.

Great content can engage a viewer like no other type of communication. And with the growth of interactivity through touch screens and mobile devices, that engagement can become personal and inspirational. Brands, products, and services can now connect with customers and consumers at all points of interaction, from the internet at home to touch-screen kiosks in the store to mobile social media that allows users to define a brand or product in their eyes. The effort to change behaviors and create impact is tremendous when the customer becomes engaged with the message.

Great content makes money. In the case of retailing, relevant and compelling content will encourage a viewer to purchase a product. The revenue generated from more product sales in turn becomes a budget that retailers can spend on bigger and better digital signage applications. The technology of digital signage alone does not generate the revenue needed to purchase a network. The largest revenue generator for digital signage is the content and the amount of money someone will pay to put a message on your screen.

Here’s the catch: This is easier said than done. The research and strategy that goes into creating an engaging network can be extreme and often nebulous. The factors of audience demographics, environmental attributes, and advertising requirements all play very heavily on the composition and execution of great content. For example, creating content that runs longer than a person’s dwell time at the point of viewing will keep the viewer from getting the message because she has already moved on. Another example is sound. In a noisy environment, audio will not be effective in communicating a message, so the message should be entirely visual. Any aspect of the message in audio can and will be lost on the viewer because he cannot hear it.

However, the front-end work that goes into understanding the variables of compelling content can pay dividends in the end when the understanding of important features creates guidelines from which terrific content, and viewer engagement, can be achieved.

Content is that important.