How to Plan Digital Signage

---

Whether it is a multi-site rollout or just a single screen and media player, digital signage will need a certain degree of planning. The complexity of the solution will determine how much planning is required but Black Box can offer a complete solution covering design, planning, procurement, installation, training and maintenance. We can also offer a FREE site survey to discuss all of your requirements and how best to implement them within your space, budget and timescale.*

Planning
Before you begin to think about installing a digital signage system, you need to consider several things including:

1. The physical area you have available to install your screens
2. The budget you have available for the complete solution (including installation)
3. What the purpose of your digital signage is (information, advertising, revenue generation etc...)
4. Any timescales you are working to
5. Do you have any training requirements?
6. Whether you will be designing your content

By considering all of these things, you should be able to both reduce cost, time and aggravation when your digital signage system is installed.

The Physical Area
Some places are going to be better than others for mounting or placing digital signage screens. You will need to consider several things when deciding where to locate yours. Most screens, whether they are for information, advertising or revenue generation, will be placed in areas of high visibility, but this may not always be as straightforward as we would like. For instance, you need to ensure that screens are mounted near to the electricity supply and networking cabling otherwise getting this power to them could raise unexpected and unbudgeted costs. However we can offer a wireless digital signage solution, to get around part of this problem. Another thing to consider is the lighting in the area you have chosen, as if the screens are in direct sunlight, or under bright fluorescent bulbs, this may determine which type (Plasma, LCD or LED) is most suitable as some reflect light better than others. Whether the screens are located inside or outside will also be a determining factor in screen selection.

One other thing to consider is the size of the screens for the area. Although in most cases the bigger the screen the better, if the general area in which they are located is not that big, some screens can look out of proportion and dominate the space too much. The quality can also be affected if people are looking at them too close up and it may cause them to look away. The flipside of this is if you are trying to reach large audiences from a large distance. If this is the case, you need to ensure that your screen is big enough to be seen clearly from a distance, if not, it doesn’t serve its purpose. Therefore it’s important to consider what size screen is the most practical for your location.

The Budget
Ultimately your budget will determine exactly what kind of digital signage solution you can achieve, however we can ensure that your budget is used to gain maximum results for your money. We are able to offer solutions to suit every pocket and every requirement, whether it be a single player and screen in one location or a multi-site, multi-screen solution all controlled and managed from a central location. The simplicity of our software should also help you ensure that you don’t waste money on expensive training and content production.

The Purpose
The purpose of your digital signage will need to be considered during the planning stage. Who are your audience? Will they respond to digital signage? What message are you trying to convey? Are you delivering information, advertising or a combination of both? Do you want to use it to generate revenue? All of these questions will determine whether digital signage is right for your needs and, if so, how is the best way to use it. If your purpose is purely to deliver simple information to people in a lobby or reception area, then your requirements will be far different from somebody who wants to deliver outdoor advertising campaigns to thousands of people and try to generate revenue. So knowing the purpose of your digital signage and what you are trying to achieve is crucial to implementing a successful digital signage solution.

The Timescales
It goes without saying that the more complex the job, the longer it will take. This is no different with digital signage. With one of our digital signage systems we can have you up a running in no time. However larger scale, more complex solutions will require more time to install and test, particularly if you choose multi-site remotely managed options. However clear timescales will be discussed and agreed upon during a site survey so that we can ensure everything expectation is met.

Training Requirements
One of the things we pride ourselves on, and which sets us apart from the competition, is the simplicity of our basic digital signage systems without limiting your creativity. We offer both a template driven system, as well as software that allows you to control exactly where the content goes without limitations so that you can create your own designs and branding. Not only that, both of these systems are incredibly easy to use and take a minimum of training. The solutions are intentionally designed so that they don’t need to be controlled or updated by a graphics expert or web designer and can be carried out by any member of staff who has had the basic training.

Your Content
Although it’s a bit of an industry cliché, the saying “Content is king” still rings true. No matter how sophisticated your signage system is, if it’s not displaying decent content it is unlikely to achieve its objective. One of the main benefits of digital signage is it’s capability to display multimedia content (including both video and audio) which gives it far more appeal, and scope for creativity, than static signage or advertisements. If you want to take full advantage of the capabilities of digital signage you may need to ensure that you have staff with the necessary skills in house to produce dynamic multimedia content or whether you want to hire an external agency to do it for you. If you do hire an external company to produce your content, you will need to factor in the time and cost of updates and redesigns etc…. which could prove costly. The simplicity of our solutions helps ensure that it is possible to create professional looking signage and be able to update it instantly without this, but for content such as corporate videos or flash animations you may still need the experts touch, and may have to pay for it. You also need to consider where the content is streaming from and how to manage it, particularly if it is on a remote server or tied in to other systems.

If you are trying to use your signage to generate revenue you will also need to plan your content. It may be necessary to investigate how you will try to sell advertising space, how much you will charge for it, who will produce the content and reports etc…. You may decide to outsource this to a third party, such as a media-buying firm who can handle this all for you and produce proof of play and proof of display reports for advertisers, although our high-end solutions can produce these reports for you should you wish to go it alone.

* FREE site survey subject to certain terms and conditions, please contact us for details.