datmedia insight and expertise:

Content Is (Always) King

There’s no question – content is your network's driving force.

Content is King when paired with a best-in-class digital signage software like our Laqorr Content Management System, the Queen of your digital signage network. Without great content, why would anyone give your displays a second glance? Well, they wouldn’t. So what do the experts recommend when it comes to keeping your audience engaged with best-in-class content? Let’s find out.

There’s a science to creating great content and fortunately it’s not rocket science. You need to follow a simple process, based around three principles that you should keep front of mind at all times:

Tell A Story
Be Consistent
Prompt An Action

People love story tellers, and most of all they love story tellers who stay focused. Once you’ve got their attention, tell them what to do because if your story has been persuasive enough, action follows inspiration.

Tell A Story

Before you get cracking with the details, you have to give people a reason to engage with you in the first place. These are called attractors. It might be something as simple as a catchy headline or an unbeatable sale offer. Once people have glanced at your screen, reel them in. This is where the story comes in. We all want to know ‘what happens next’ and all successful campaigns evolve a basic concept. It may be over several messages, or several months. Either way, you have engaged viewers who want to know what happens next. They’re likely to talk about it with their friends and now your message is starting to spread.

Be Consistent

Consistency is the cornerstone of great messaging. It can be in terms of copy, ensuring that all your content is working to tell the same story, but also visual styling. The most successful brands stick to a thematic idea and never, ever vary from it. That’s how you know who they are. KFC’s logo has been modified over the years, but it’s essentially the same and is instantly recognisable. Their communications are always ‘on brand’ with the same colours, fonts, layouts and artistic flourishes so that, again, you as a consumer can identify immediately with the product. It’s the same at Apple, or Google. It’s about reinforcing the brand so that the message is clear and easily understood.

Prompt An Action

All good campaigns have one. It might be as simple as ‘call now’ but it’s vital that you let your audience know what to do next. And that is to engage with your company. You might want them to come inside, or make that call, or visit a website, or touch the screen, or tell their friends, or use a discount code or, well, it could be anything. So you’ve got to let them know what YOU want them to do next, you have to prompt an action. Whatever it is, you have to make it clear, you have to be consistent and you have to make sure it’s part of the story you’re trying to tell. If it’s not, it will hit a false note and you risk loosing their engagement and any potential action or sale you’re hoping to get.

No matter what form of interaction you’re hoping to achieve from your digital signage content, once you’ve got it, measure it. You need to know how effective your campaign is so you can determine your ROI (both in terms of content and network outlay). You also need this data so you can adjust the campaign, advance your story telling and attract even more people to your business. After all, that’s what good digital signage does best.