A dynamic role for sign shops

by all | 26 February 2014 4:00 pm

By Chris Hills
While digital signage has developed as a different medium from printed and other ‘static’ signage, there is no doubt it is affecting the traditional sign industry. One need only walk into any Tim Hortons franchise to see an array of digital screens that have permanently replaced the menu boards that in the past were printed by sign companies.

Recent research from Intel (see Sign Media Canada, November 2013, page 26[2]) estimates, at the current rate of uptake, there will be nearly 10 million active digital signage media players in use around the world by 2015. Other consultancies suggest that estimate is too low.

With all of these screens and media players replacing printed signs, one may well worry where this situation leaves the average sign shop—but in fact, the average sign shop is perfectly positioned to expand its business by offering both static and digital signage to its customers.

Creating content
The key to understanding how sign shops can move into digital signage is ongoing content creation.

Screens and media players are not the most important elements in a digital signage network. For the medium to be effective, it is more important for the content to be fresh and new, to continue capturing attention and achieving impressions (i.e. the number of times a viewer looks at or reads a digital sign).

As such, there is an excellent opportunity for signmakers to increase their revenue by creating content on an ongoing basis. Continuously refreshing their clients’ messaging, to keep it effective and impactful, will ensure a continued source of income.

Although digital signage is a new medium to many signmakers, starting to pursue this opportunity could not be any easier, since sign shops already have graphic design experience, their clients’ art files from static signage and, most importantly, existing customer relationships.

Room for improvement
Large retail and quick-service restaurant (QSR) chains notwithstanding, much of the digital signage currently in public view is not as effective as it should be. According to a recent worldwide survey by 5^th Screen Digital, which manages related services for retailers and brand owners, 65 per cent of North Americans consider the majority of digital signage they have seen either ‘mediocre’ or ‘bad.’ This reinforces the need to improve the quality of on-screen content.

Companies without any signmaking, marketing or design experience—often the clients themselves—may recognize the relevance of digital signage, but not understand how to do it right. The results are often low-resolution images with poor colour choices and bland templates.

Sign shops are in the perfect position to transition digital signage away from this current condition. In short, they can do it better. Based on their experience, they have the opportunity to combine design with technology to help their customers enhance their messaging, catch the attention of passersby and achieve a significant return on investment (ROI). Indeed, some companies have recorded as much as a 33 per cent increase in sales because they deployed effective digital signage.

Communications specialists
To have digital signage successfully complement their existing print business, it will be important for signmakers to position themselves as communications specialists and consultants to their customers.

The aforementioned mediocre to bad digital signage, after all, results from the false assumption that digital signage is simply a matter of deploying hardware. Instead, the medium should be approached like any other type of sign:

• Assess the installation environment.
• Identify the target audience.
• Determine which messaging will generate the largest number of impressions from that audience in that environment.

The first question should always be, “What’s the purpose of this sign?” And for many applications, a printed sign will still make more sense than going digital.

So, by promoting themselves as consultants, signmakers will be in a better position to help their customers not only find the correct screens and media players for their business, but also determine what the content should look like, how often it should be changed and how it may be complemented by printed media for brand consistency.

An expanded portfolio
With the prevalence of digital signage in QSRs, retail stores, banks, schools and corporate environments, it is fair to assume most—if not all—of a sign shop’s business customers have already considered implementing digital signage. In some cases, they might even have to; e.g. restaurants in both Canada and the U.S. facing planned legislation that would require the display of calorie counts and other nutritional information on their menu boards, in which case printed graphics may no longer be practical.

By being able to offer these customers a fully developed, turnkey system—including hardware, software, training, installation and, most importantly, content creation—sign shops can keep ahead of the game. Combining digital with static signage for an expanded portfolio of products and services, they can take care of all of their customers’ signage needs and prevent some of the business going elsewhere.

This expanded portfolio can even help sign shops grow their customer base for printed graphics. By attracting new customers who are initially interested in digital signage, signmakers can also offer to print their point-of-purchase (POP) displays, seasonal graphics and/or promotional signage. In other words, digital signage can be the foot in the door for more print work, not just a new source of continued revenue for content creation.

Tools for the job
Of course, as a sign shop addresses this type of expansion, the question will arise of how best to manage both the print and digital sides of the business. It will be very important to manage content effectively for a number of screens in various locations without compromising the existing print work.

Fortunately, there is digital signage software today that allows users to operate and manage content for a full network of customers’ screens from one central location. This means signmakers can create and distribute messaging to screens anywhere in the world without having to leave their shops.

In turn, this makes it easier to incorporate a digital signage business into a traditional signage business. Content can be changed at any time of day and created in much the same way as printed graphics. It is simply a matter of creating designs and publishing them to screens instead of sending them to printers.

A chance to excel
To stay competitive in today’s market, it is extremely important to observe trends in the sign industry and react to them. Digital signage presents one of the major opportunities for sign shops to grow, particularly as it represents a market that has largely been untouched by signmakers, even though they are among the most obvious candidates to excel in the field. While they may need to find partners to provide hardware and software, once they do, all that is left is what they already do best: creating effective signage.

Chris Hills is digital signage manager for ND Graphics, which sells supplies for the sign and screenprinting industry across Canada. For more information, visit www.ndgraphics.com[5].

Source URL: https://www.signmedia.ca/a-dynamic-role-for-sign-shops/

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