Creating a digital signage network for your organization can be a protracted and expensive process if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. So we asked our panel of experts on the Digital Signage Expo Advisory Board to help us identify the key issues someone should consider before investing in digital signage, and particularly, how to avoid the most common (and expensive) pitfalls. While the experts emphasized different aspects of the planning process, everyone agreed that you must have a plan that clearly defines your goals and objectives.

Planning Steps for a Successful Digital Signage Installation

1. Preliminary Industry & Market Research
First become a student of the industry to better understand what digital signage is and what it has the potential to achieve, particularly for your organization.

• Do your homework and read about what’s happening in digital signage so you can begin to spot trends that may apply to your situation.
• Make sure to speak with others in your industry that have installed networks and secured funding to learn from their experiences as well.
• You can also consult available research and white papers to help clarify aspects on which you may need additional information.

Editor’s Note: You may also attend Digital Signage Expo International Conference Summit & Trade Show, the only place where digital signage and interactive technologies are exclusively showcased all in one place!

2. Goal Setting
It is critical to clearly define the goals of the digital signage program and ensure that everyone in the organization is aligned around those goals. Such a consensus is vital to the program’s success, beginning with the decision to fund it. What you want to accomplish will also frame your “digital strategy” and guide the rest of the development process. Begin by identifying the customer and/or business problem (or opportunity) that the installation will address, and determine whether you want the program to:

• Enhance the brand experience,
• Extend the brand into the environment,
• Drive additional sales,
• Communicate product benefits,
• Build transaction size,
• Generate incremental revenue,
• Educate in-house (store) personnel.

Include whatever “big” ideas you think will help propel your DS program forward, but keep an eye open for “quick wins” to ensure that you create every opportunity to deliver early successes. At the same time, be alert to identify any internal or external barriers to success to be able to anticipate and avoid issues that could derail your project.

3. Management & Stakeholder Buy-in
To get the program sold internally, you will need to build a business case, which also means establishing an achievable ROI and enumerating any savings the program may accrue through mitigating or eliminating existing costs. Get all of the stakeholders involved upfront. Make sure you have a sufficient level of support in the organization so you can meet all of your program objectives.

This is why it is necessary to promote ownership across departments by understanding what teams within your business need to be involved in the ongoing digital signage program. Encourage participation by educating this group about digital signage. Determine whether the existing capabilities and workloads will enable this program to be well managed long-term. If existing personnel cannot support the management of the program effectively at rollout and scale, it is best to know this and make provision for additional internal staff or budget for outsourced expertise.

And of course, success is only possible if senior leadership understands the investment objective and the intended outcome in terms of return. It is very important to define those expectations ahead of time in reasonable, but compelling terms. But once consensus has been achieved, program ownership, never a part time job, must also be established to be the single point of leadership for strategy, operational execution, content development and delivery.

4. The Digital Signage Plan

A. Budget
When framing your budget, take into account the costs of assembling the
technology necessary to accomplish your goals (i.e., software, hardware, cabling
and installation), as well as near- and long-term considerations such as:

• Pre- and post-research both to establish a baseline of customer attitudes and expectations before the installation of the first screen and subsequent follow up to gauge changes in the qualitative experience as well as the metrics for quantitative measures such as sales lift.
• The level of innovation that best fits the organization’s culture. Do you need to budget for “cutting edge” applications because of your firm’s marketplace position, or will proven technology get the job done?
• Can your organization justify a self-funded model, or do you need to incorporate a mechanism to generate third party funding (i.e., strategic partners, vendors, advertisers)?
• If the model is dependent upon generating some portion of third party funding, make sure that you have a firm commitment for participation and have clearly identified what that level of participation is going to be.
• Are the ongoing costs, such as connectivity, content, ongoing management (salaries and outsourcing) justifiable, sustainable and easy to absorb?

B. Measurement
Ongoing measurement is necessary to test audience reaction, understanding and response to ensure message relevancy and optimize customer engagement. You need to develop metrics to know if your digital signage installation is a success. Consider:

• How the results will be measured and reported.
• What are the guideposts for success? How will you substantiate program effectiveness?
o Was there revenue lift for the items promoted on your screens?
o Did in-line wait times decrease?
o Are there customer satisfaction measures you can use to gauge the impact of digital signage on your customers?
• How will you quantify audience delivery?
o Document delivered impressions?
o Confirm appropriate demographics of viewers?
o Prove effectiveness of viewership? (Reaching the right people at the right time).

C. Technology
The technology and logistical requirements to support that technology need to be thoroughly vetted to be sure that the budget includes not only that which the project will require for initial installation and testing, but also that which will be required to roll the project out throughout the organization as well as anticipating the need for upgrades as newer technology becomes available and/or needs to be replaced. Other considerations include:

• Technology selection (i.e., quality, size, with or without audio, plasma, LED or LCD screens).
• Yes, size is important since the screens must be big enough to make the right impact within the space they will occupy.
• Installation (indoor/outdoor mounts), maintenance and support.
• Which software provider will you use for scheduling, content, management and reporting?
• Is that software acceptable to your IT department if it’s going to be connected to your intranet?
• Warranties.

Take the time to understand the technology and equipment requirements for your digital signage application. Make sure that the technology available within your budget parameters works in your organization’s environment in a way that will enable you to deliver a compelling offer for the consumer, to ensure that you will be able to move the project forward.

Note: The issue of scalability to be addressed in a separate section.

D. Implementation
Understand the capabilities of the vendors in the marketplace. Ensure that there is a range of vendors capable of developing and delivering a program at the scale you need and in the way that meets your objectives. Don’t be afraid of using multiple vendors to create a custom solution. Find the right vendors to work together to deliver your program. To sort this out:

• Set up interviews with key digital suppliers who understand your view of your “customer’s journey” so they can help you determine what can be effectively communicated in your environment.
• Do an in-house talent assessment to determine how much of the work can be done in-house with existing expertise and what tasks will be outsourced.
• Prepare an organizational survey that will help you determine screen placement. Consider:
o Where will the digital signage sites perform best?
o What kind of geographic dispersion will best suit the initial test, and what should the priority be for roll-out?
o How should your customer demographics impact priority and placement choices?
o What is the best way to tackle facility space issues?
o Do you need to incorporate foreign language capabilities?

E. Content
Content is critical and there are a variety of considerations surrounding both creative development and management, such as:

a. Creative Development
• How will content contribute to the brand promise?
• How does the content achieve program objectives?
• How will you ensure that the content is appropriate for the venue in which it is being viewed?
• What technologies will be utilized to distribute content? (i.e., over intranet, another network, via satellite, or sneaker-net?)
• Who will create the content? (i.e., in-house vs. outsourced or a combination of both?)
• If content is to be produced in-house, are your in-house resources sufficient, or do you need to budget additional funding for time and/or money to train and develop in-house talent?
• What will your “play lists” look like?
• Should your messages be day-parted?
• How much of the content will be comprised of messages vs. entertainment, or will you find a creative way to meld both?
• How often will the content be updated?
• Does the application require live data?
• How is your DS program to be integrated with other marketing programs? (i.e., in-store, outside of store?)
• Does your DS content enhance, mesh or conflict with existing marketing efforts/materials?
• How, if at all, will adding a new medium affect your message (or the perception of your message)?

b. Content Management
New content not only engages viewers, but an enhanced customer experience also encourages repeat visitation and generates word-of-mouth. This means that there must be a commitment to develop new content on a regular basis. Two big issues to watch for that can increase the cost of a DS project are content and connectivity. Connectivity should be reviewed from both a network standpoint as well as the electrical power that it will require.

The following two lists of questions are designed to help make you aware of the things that impact costs related to these issues:

i. Content
o What type of content will you run on your network? (i.e., Photography, static ads, flash, video from files, live video)
o Will your DS network require sound capability?
o Will you have any type of interactivity such as touch screens?
o Most importantly: Who will provide the content. Do you have the talent in-house? Will you outsource to an ad agency or use freelancers?

ii. Connectivity
o What conduit will be used to update content?
o Will it be wired or wireless?
o Will your network have this capacity?
o Is there electrical power in the areas, if not is there capacity on our electrical plant or will it require a huge build out?

F. Database Management
If you intend to have interactive displays database management is another consideration. To ensure that you have envisioned a complete solution for interactivity in your plan, consider:
• Connectivity
• Database systems
• Maintenance (ongoing)
• Personnel (sufficient staffing or outsourced options)

G. Ad-Based Networks
If your installation will be an ad-based network also consider the sales aspects of generating incremental revenue to help fund the installation. Sales considerations include:
• Is your sales team in-house or outsourced?
• Do they understand the product?
• Do they have the appropriate tools to sell advertising?
• Can they help steer clients to submit appropriate creative applications that will ensure the success of advertisers?

H. Testing
Test, test and learn some more, but one step at a time. Make an initial investment in a proof-of-concept to understand the process, programming and investment. You need to plan for full scalability, but remain flexible in your pilot efforts so you can make strategic changes based on field insights. To minimize any downside, your planning process (and budget) should make provision for a test with a single location or small group of locations to first prove the effectiveness of the digital signage installation. It is always best to utilize existing locations (stores) where there is a sales history to compare the effectiveness of digital signage on customer behavior.

There will always be “local” issues with each installation, so do one screen at a time to minimize difficulty and expedite solutions. A pilot also allows for corrections to initial assumptions, reporting the initial findings to management, and creates a “showroom” in which management can see live product sales comparisons against control locations will help prove your case. But when choosing where to “test” for optimum reporting results, consider:
• Geographically dispersed markets,
• Lower-than-average customer satisfaction scores,
• Under-served markets,
• High concentration/availability of alternate access channels,
• Below-average revenue of products and services that will be promoted on your digital signage system, and
• Higher than average wait times.

Research is crucial to successfully proving your point before, during and after the test to confirm results, but choose locations that give you the best opportunity to show dramatic improvements and the power of real results. Make sure that management understands all the ways you are testing and quantifying the benefit of digital signage beyond an increase in sales. Other key attributes such as changing consumer behavior and attitudes can be just as valuable (e.g., dwell time, awareness of additional services, sales add-ons, etc.)

5. Scalability
If the application is corporate facing, think small, but if the application is customer facing, think big. If the latter is the case, it is best to have a long-term view of scalability at the outset, which means having a “Scalability Plan.” The initial “fixed” cost of setting up a digital signage network can be expensive and often can only pay dividends by spreading that upfront investment across the organization. This does not mean that the program has to be fully scalable from day one, but it should be somewhat clear (even in very general terms) how the program will bridge from pilot to scale. If certain aspects of the program are going to require single site or single screen management, it should be taken into consideration early with regard to how manageable the program will be at scale.

A. Vendor Road Map
Ideally, a roadmap showing the steps required for scale with a digital signage program should be created and potential vendors should be asked to provide a view as to how they will manage this process through a rollout. You want verification and references from other clients where vendors have actually deployed multiple screens in multiple locations.

B. Technology Considerations
Before spending potentially millions on a digital signage system, make sure that you are choosing a solution that will allow you to expand your technology in the future. Review both hardware and software and look for those little things such as hardware reliability. Has the software been developed as an enterprise application? Does it have a robust platform? When it comes time to scale, does it have a simple upgrade path, or does it require a forklift upgrade? If you anticipate the possibility of incorporating interactive two-way devices or mobile functionality, ensure that what you are building will be able to integrate those future technologies as efficiently as possible.

Summary

At some time during this process you may also wish to consider bringing in expert support to help vet your plan ahead of time to avoid some of time to be sure that it is realistic, has identified all available funding options, and alerts you to any industry trends that may impact your near- or long-term planning and budgeting.


Many thanks to our Digital Signage Expo Advisory Board for sharing the wisdom that only comes with first-hand experience so the rest of us may have the benefit of a cogent approach to planning. More category-specific details from each Board member can be viewed in the “Question of the Month” section of this site. If you would like the Board to address one of your questions, please submit it for consideration through the online contact form in the contact us section of this site.

This article was written by Geri Wolff, President/CEO, Market Works International, Inc. a Business Development and Strategic Marketing firm, and the Communications firm of record for Digital Signage Expo.