Creating Captivating Content for Digital Signage

Digital signage is an exciting marketing tool that can allow you to reach a vast audience and create meaningful interactions with new and existing customers alike. Using digital signage in your marketing strategy provides the opportunity to create unique customer experiences and brings an element of excitement to your brand.

The decision to go digital may be easy, but creating content that converts is crucial to getting the most out of your investment. Creating eye-catching visuals that grab your audience’s attention can seem like a daunting task. We’re here to help ease your mind with content tips that will simplify the process and result in digital signage content strategy that will engage your audience and get them excited about what you have to offer.

Creating effective digital content starts with knowing your audience. Understanding your audience’s behaviors, preferences, and pain points will help you educate, entertain, and engage them with your content. A great place to start is through customer surveys or feedback forms, or reviewing the analytics from your social media accounts. Getting better acquainted with your customers and their needs will enable you to create content that resonates with them and entices them to take action. Once you’ve determined who your customer is and what problem you are trying to solve for them, use the tips that follow to create captivating content to keep them returning time and time again.

Types of Content

Including the use of digital signage in your overall marketing strategy opens a whole new world of possibilities in reaching your current or potential customers. The ability to provide real-time reporting of things like sales promotions, company news, customer reviews, and more, can help captivate your audience creating an engaging and enjoyable experience. With digital signage marketing, the possibilities are seemingly endless. You may be surprised what you can do using digital signage.

Here’s a list of some of our favorites:

• Share discount codes for an ongoing promotion
• Provide the latest on an upcoming event
• Advertise new products or services
• Show demonstrations of your product(s)
• Link to digital product catalogs that allow customers to browse your offerings and even make a purchase right from the kiosk
• Rotate the latest customer reviews
• Link to social media feeds
• Offer wayfinding around your event, shopping center, or office
• Allow guests to check-in for appointments
• Display restaurant menus and daily specials
• Provide entertainment for guests in a waiting room or reception area
• Broadcast company information including contact information and business hours
• Showcase company announcements or reminders
• Display recognition of outstanding employees, awards, or birthdays
• Inform your guests with real-time updates, such as weather, news, traffic, etc.

Before you start planning your content, think about where your digital sign is going to be located. If you’ll be using it somewhere like a waiting room or lobby where people may spend a little extra time, generally anywhere from 2-30 minutes, it’s okay to plan content with a little more depth, or even a video that can keep viewers occupied as they wait. If it’ll be in a more fast-paced environment, somewhere like an office where employees may be passing by or somewhere like a coffee shop where someone is waiting in line to order, shorten your message to no more than two minutes to give them time to view your content and move about their day with no delay. And for the even more fast-paced audience, you may only be able to grab the attention of people like passersby or shoppers for 30 seconds or less, so if that’s your crowd make sure you stick to only the essentials to keep your message short and sweet.

Design Elements to Consider - Images

To create the type of content that will draw your audience in, there are a number of things to consider to make sure your message is relayed in the most effective way possible. You want your digital content to be engaging, so avoid things like outdated information, a dull loop, or low-resolution imagery that isn’t pleasing to the eye.

When you’re planning your content, make sure you are paying attention to aspect ratios and display resolution. These will help you understand how to fit your content most effectively without things getting cut off or squished. Just like a bleed on printed materials, make sure to leave some safe space around the edges of your design to prevent the display from cutting off the edges of your content.

Your images and videos should be high-quality, which means ideally larger than the dimensions of your digital signage. You want to avoid blurry, pixelated images by resizing images that are too small to fit a large screen. Don’t use images that are copyrighted unless you have purchased the necessary licenses to use them. If you’re unable to do so, there are many stock image websites that offer license-free content.

Design Elements to Consider - Text

Text is just as important as images on digital signage, and maybe even more so. Make sure to use large enough font sizes that your audience can get an idea of your message even from a distance. 20-30 point fonts can be seen from seven feet away, while most people can see a 100-point font from roughly 26 feet away. Because most signs are viewed at a distance of 7-10 feet, you’ll want to make sure you’re using a large enough font for your audience to view comfortably.

In terms of which fonts to use and how to use them, sans-serif fonts are the easiest to read, so try to stick with those whenever possible unless your branding calls for something else. Use only one or two typefaces, and use bolded or colored words for emphasis rather than italics which can be hard to read on a digital screen.

Use high contrast colors, not just as a design element but also for accessibility. In order for your text to be legible to those with limited vision, your text should have a high contrast to the background behind it. In a similar vein, avoid overly vivid color palettes or clashing colors that make your text hard to read or your content straining to view. Make sure not to crowd your content, instead leaving generous white space in a way that makes your digital sign nice to look at and your content easy to digest.

When it comes to the amount of text you should use, go for clarity. Use straightforward terms and succinct sentences so your audience can read and understand your message in the limited amount of time they may have to view your content, or before the slide changes to something new. A good rule to follow is the 3 x 5 rule, where you use only three lines of text with no more than five words per line, or five words of text with no more than three words per line. If you’re using a slideshow, think about just how much information your viewer will be able to take in during the slide’s duration, and plan your content around that.

Branding

Staying true to your brand is just as important when using digital signage as it is when you’ve had a banner or other display custom printed. If your company has a branding guideline, make sure you follow that. Use approved logos, fonts, and colors in a way that makes your message shine while still staying true to who you are and what it is you have to offer.

Calls to Action

When designing ask yourself, “what’s the purpose of this message?” What is it you’re trying to communicate, and more importantly what do you want your audience to do with the information you’re giving them? If you want them to take a particular action like making a phone call or visiting your social media accounts, you need to make that clear to them with easy-to-understand steps or instructions. If you’re using a touch screen sign and want them to visit a webpage or make a purchase, you’ll want that to be expressed clearly and quickly so they’re not stuck at your kiosk trying to figure out what they’re supposed to do next, or worse: giving up and walking away. If you’re not using a touch screen digital sign or kiosk, try to avoid things like website URLs because they are near impossible to remember and can’t be acted upon. Instead opt for offering a QR code that they can scan with their mobile devices that brings them right to that page!

Using Sound

If your digital sign has built-in speakers or has the ability to connect to speakers, carefully consider the types of sounds you want to play. Make sure the audio is appropriate for the location, and make sure it’s at a volume that is clear enough to hear without overwhelming the space. Using sound is perfect if you’re featuring content such as live videos, news broadcasts, any type of streaming, or social media that may feature videos. If your content doesn’t include video but you’d still like some audio to accompany your visuals, make sure you have a digital device that supports those types of files.

The last and probably most important thing to remember is to mix up your content up and keep it fresh by using a combination of images, video, news feeds and more. Digital signage allows you to change up your messaging as much and as often as you need to, making sure those who see your digital display regularly remain engaged and informed.

You’ve made the investment in digital signage to connect with your audience in a whole new way, and now that you’ve learned some of the best practices for creating digital content that will captivate, you’re ready to put that purchase to good use and get your message out into the world.