Branding Your Digital Signage

As a marketer, your strategy is focused around building, protecting, and growing a brand. The brand speaks for who your company is, what it does, and what the public can expect from it. These are the reasons why it's imperative for a company to always keep your brand identity consistent throughout all marketing outlets either internally or externally. One outlet that often gets overlooked are the digital signage networks.

Why is branding your digital signage content so important? Well, would you send a print advertisement to the press without your logo it? Would you run a TV commercial without saying or displaying your company slogan or tagline? Ultimately, would you ignore putting your company name on any marketing communication? I hope your answer was - Of course not (to all three ridiculous questions). Well, your digital signage system is no different. Hundreds to thousands of people will see your screens so why not use that opportunity to put your brand in front of them.

Imagine someone waiting in line for service, looking at the screen the entire time. A weather file says "5-Day Forecast Brought To You By 'insert company name here'." The file is branded with your company colors and logo. Now, later on that day, this person and a friend are talking about golfing this coming Thursday, but this person know it's going to rain. They say "I saw in 'insert company name here' that it's supposed to rain" - That's the 'BOOM' moment. Now, think about if that file wasn't branded - That 'BOOM' moment never happens and that is a missed opportunity.

Now that's a pretty basic example of how branding all digital signage content would benefit, but the same affect applies to other situations - community events, announcing contest winners, corporate recognition, etc. Marketers also want to ensure that the same marketing message is communicated through all channels. That way every person has the same idea of what to expect from that brand (aka consistency).

There are a few challenges a company faces when it comes to digital signage content. It's a relatively new idea, so a lot of companies don't have the resources to create Flash animation, high quality and resolution images, etc. So, how can a company manage their system and customize their content to fit their brand?

Well, many digital signage providers offer templates that allow users a little customization to fit their brand. They may let the user drop in a logo, change some text, colors, etc. Users benefit from the flexibility and it saves them a lot of time designing content, which in return saves them a lot of money. Adding to that, some digital signage companies can even offer Creative Services that will design the content for you. They work with you to understand your brand, come up with ideas, or create an idea that you have.

Whether you have the resources to create high quality content, use customizable templates, or have a media company design it for you; your brand is important to your digital signage and your digital signage is important to your brand. Utilize your system to build on your brand and capitalize on every opportunity.