You’ve got the best tool on the market to put in your business’ yard! Great – Now how do you best utilize this tool? We’re here to help! Here are the five rules you’ll need to follow to get the most from your digital sign.
1. Keep Your Message Short and Simple
If you use too many words, your customer will be passed your sign before they can read it ... and reading it drives response rates, so keep it simple. Be sure to include the deal (price or discount) too. Ex:
Huge Sale (slide 1)
25%+ OFF (slide 2)
Ends Friday (slide 3)
2. Use Large Font
Use the space your sign allows! Simple messages in the largest font you can fit on the screen create the best response rates. Negative space (space around words) can be less when using digital signs. GET their ATTENTION with LARGE LETTERS.
3. Make Use of Contrasting Colors and Clear Images
Use light fonts on dark background colors. Stay away from using colors that are close to each other in the rainbow. Often a black background with bright copy is the best. Never use a white background for ads that display at night — it will blind drivers and you will get complaints.
Along with crisp color contrast, be sure to use simple, up close, larger images vs detailed, distant scenes. Large simple images provide greater on-screen definition and are much easier to see.
Example: coffee cup vs café scene or a basketball vs a basketball team picture.
4. Quick Slide Rotation
You aren't doing a photo slide show for a party, so there is no reward for creative transitions. It is a waste of valuable eye-on-sign time for digital advertising. (and, your ordinance may not allow for it!) Change between messages quickly and without fanfare. Slides should take less than one second in transition and last 6 seconds per slide. If you want to share a longer message needing more slide real estate you can rotate more slides at 2-3 seconds each. But, keep in mind rules 1 and 3 when creating these longer messages!
5. Rotate Your Content
When you make an effort to create and share fresh content on a regular basis, your audience starts to expect something new and makes an effort to look to find the changes. If you show the same display over and over, it eventually fades into obscurity (and then, why did you buy a sign you can change?). You can schedule and rotate your content according to the time of day or based on the day of the week. You don’t have to change up your material every day, but you should do so at least once or twice a week.
Bonus: Double check your work – Nothing ruins great content faster than a misspelled word or a sentence that’s poorly assembled.
While there is always a desire to be cute and creative with a digital sign, the most effective ads are simple and straightforward.