Digital Signage
Posted on
2008-Dec-18
at
02:57
It is funny that many people ask me what I do in life and when I tell them they have this blank stare on their faces. They tell me what a fantastic idea! I am not writing to toot my own horn here because I am not the one who ‘invented’ this concept. I am merely adding my touch to an ever growing advertising medium. Although this medium is relatively new there are scores of people who are running towards it and putting in their 15-30 second clips. Then there are the ones who are so reluctant to change. The people who still have the same haircut since high school, the same colour car since they were 16, the same....well you get the point.
It’s kind of the same phenomenon as Facebook. A little over a year ago I joined the ranks of ‘friends’ on Facebook and dove into a world where everyone is...well...connected. Call me a dinosaur for joining so late, but that is only because I was introduced to it late. But rest assured the evening that my friend told me about it I was signed up. My life has never been the same since.
Okay, I digress, my point is that many people who I have told about Facebook are so scared or skeptic to join. Not so unfamiliar with the people that are reluctant to advertise on a large, LCD screen.
But those who do embrace this medium quickly find out that a moving, full colour video with something funny or amusing will capture the eye of the consumer much easier than an ad in the local free press. But the trick is measuring its effectiveness. That’s were I tell my customers, do you think Tim Horton’s or Wal-Mart would have invested so much money on a concept that did not work? Think about the last time you were in line at Tim Horton’s ready to order a cup of coffee. You look up to the screen projecting an image of a muffin oozing out delicious hot fruit. Did it have impact on you? Conscientiously - maybe or maybe not? But the sub-conscience definitely did notice and there are studies that have backed this up. It has been concluded that 75% of buying decisions are made at the point of decision. So if you were at Wal-Mart buying some diapers for the baby and there was an LCD screen showing off a brand, well chances are you would by that brand, even it was to try it out.
Although this is a fairly new medium there are certainly many creative ideas that can be used here. Short movies can be featured on these screens to entertain the audience, historic trivia questions about a brand and the list can go on.
So for you not so easy to change, go read ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ and for those others well look up and around and find the right screen to pitch to your client.
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Don't Waste the Holidays
Posted on
2008-Dec-5
at
05:01
By Wes Hopper
If you're just running the same ads all year, you're wasting opportunities. It makes a big difference if you can tie in your ads to current events. You get to be creative, unusual and, most importantly, not boring! After all, the first goal of any ad is to get people to read it.
The easiest current events to use are holidays. We know that greeting card stores and general retail always have special merchandise for major holidays, but what about other kinds of businesses? This is where you get to be creative. Find a way to tie your products or services to a holiday.
It doesn't have to be complicated. My favorite example is the "world's greatest car salesman" Joe Girard. One of Joe's success secrets was that he kept in touch with his clients every month with a greeting card. His database had birthdays and anniversaries for the clients and he'd send them cards for those occasions, but the rest of the time he used the "holiday of the month" for a theme. If there wasn't a holiday, Joe invented a new one! His humorous, personal cards were a big part of the reason why people stood in line to buy a car from him. They liked him and trusted him. He had built a relationship to earn their business, and he used the holidays very effectively.
We know that the last quarter of the year is a popular time for holiday marketing, with Halloween followed by Thanksgiving followed by the mega-monster of them all, Christmas. Yet even so, many businesses not in retail ignore the opportunity. Let's look at some examples to see what we could do to use holidays to make our ads stand out.
An auto shop could build Halloween ads around getting the gremlins out of your engine and heater for winter. Or they could build on the fact that October is National Car Care Month. For Thanksgiving their ads might focus on being thankful your car starts on a cold morning. For New Years the theme might be starting the year fresh with a good tune up. They could run ads for preventative maintenance around Oct 15, National Grouch Day. "Don't let your car make a grouch out of you!" The possibilities are endless and there's an endless supply of holidays and National Something Days to work with.
To make the ads more effective, combine your clever copy with a special offer. I prefer offering an extra service rather than a discount, because offering discounts all the time weakens your pricing. So the auto shop could offer free tire rotation or a wash & vacuum. A photographer could offer a free 8x10 print. Vary the special offer month by month so that it's not the same all the time. You want it to be special, and if you can cleverly tie the offer with the holiday, so much the better. Be sure to test and track your ad response so you learn what works best.
Your best bet for standing out in the advertising clutter is to use all the unusual or bizarre holidays you can find. January is "Prune Breakfast Month" and "National Soup Month" which is convenient for everyone on their New Year's diet. February is "Creative Romance Month" and 6 months later when the romance has died you can celebrate "Kiss and Make Up Day" on August 25. March 20 is "Rotten Sneaker Day" for kids in sports and March 22 is "National Goof-Off Day" for the rest of us. April has "National Laugh Week." May 3 is "International Tuba Day." June 6 is "Doughnut Day." July 20 is "Moon Day" and you can take that any way you want. The 1st Sunday in September is "National Grandparent's Day" which comes conveniently just before all the grandparents leave for Florida or Arizona for the winter.
There's a lot more than this small sample, too. So wrap your promotions around a holiday and stand out in the crowd. It's easy to have fun with many of these holidays so don't be afraid to let your sense of humor show. Making people laugh is a good way to build trust and create bonding. So what are you waiting for? Don't procrastinate unless it's "Procrastination Week." That's in March!
Wes Hopper is the founder of Create Success Seminars and an author, trainer and motivational speaker. He is dedicated to assisting sales people and entrepreneurs in finding their purpose and living their dreams. Find more information at http://www.CreateSuccessSeminars.com Download his amazing ebook The Astonishing Power Of Gratitude at http://www.DailyGratitude.com
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Content
Posted on
2008-Dec-4
at
05:50
One of the most time consuming aspect of developing an ad for a client is figuring out the content that is to be placed in the ad. Our ads are typically 15 seconds. The average digital signage ad can run between 5 seconds and 30 seconds, however the length of time that someone looses interest in the ad is 15 seconds.
That being said, finding the content that will capture the audiences attention is a very daunting task. Our creative staff are constantly seeking new material in hopes of finding that original piece of art that will make the ad say 'WOW'!
We have found loads of sites where we can purchase materials. This is fantastic! But these sites have millions of pieces to choose from. So my creative team can spend days on the search. But once it is selected watch out people!!! The wheels are a turnin'...
Many times as I sit in theares and watch reels of winning ads I find the best ones are the ones that know how to use content to its fullest. Messages are relayed without ever using text and sometimes without a script. In my mind that is advertising magic.
Even on YouTube there are some real...I won't use the word...oh okay..'priceless' ads that once again use the content more than the words to get the message out.
Being at the forefront of the Digital Signage industry and developing content for my customers it is with utter amazement that people do not quite understand the importance of content over words and audio.
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