Digital signage offers the possibility of playing a key role in the marketing of your practice, but it can be difficult to know where to begin. These signs can utilise imagery, video, and text, all providing your potential customers with an immersive experience that can ultimately give them a more compelling reason to enter your practice. But what do you need to do to really optimise this process, and make sure potential consumers will be enticed by it? Here, we’ll take you through this process, and explain how you can use digital signage as an effective marketing tool.
Digital signage
Imagine you’ve positioned a digital sign outside of your practice, perhaps displaying the Varilux X series lens, with the goal of getting potential customers interested in it. What would encourage someone walking by to stop, pay attention, and, most importantly, make the decision to walk inside? With any method of promotion, there are a number of important factors that play into getting customers interested in what you’ve got to offer. You’ll need to make sure the visual imagery is strong enough to stop someone in their tracks, and that this is accompanied by additional information, like key facts or benefits of the product, that draws the person in once they stop and look. The overall message, though, has to be about a solution to a problem that the person has and cares strongly about — strongly enough to pause as they walk past. This means that you need the content to focus on the benefits to the person.
Think back to the Varilux X example. In this instance, you could demonstrate a person reading their phone at close range, whilst also looking at the train times in the distance. This conveys the message of the product, whilst offering a visualisation of how the consumer could benefit. It allows them to relate to the message.
Getting the message across
Along with the imagery and video, your signage should also take advantage of brand recognition — be it through logo placement, or hashtags. It takes several views of a message for most people to take action: seeing the logo for a new product, such as Varilux X, in your online advertising might make one impression, but it could take seeing it again in digital window displays, and also in-store, to lead the consumer through the door, or to the reception to ask about that product. So with this in mind, consider placing a logo at the start and end of your window display, with the addition of a hashtag on the bottom right to provide a subtle prompt to take action and search for more on platforms like Twitter and Instagram. You can also include a QR code which the person can scan with their phone and be lead directly to the relevant page on your website.
Importantly, a digital window display doesn’t need to be sales-y. At this stage, it’s more important that the content is engaging and entertaining in order to catch someone’s eye and keep them watching than it is to just sell them something right away. So think about the length of your content: how long does it take someone to walk past your store? Where will they start being able to view the display screen in your window? You may have just 5 seconds to capture their interest, so it’s vital to be engaging in demonstrating the benefits and genuine usefulness of whatever you are advertising.
Think like the patient
One final thing to consider is how your consumer will feel walking past your sign. Take that walk past your own store, think about whether the sign entices you, and whether it gets the point across. Also consider the signage used by other stores: are their signs enticing, and if so, why? What attracts you to stop and take a closer look? You should weigh up how others use words versus images, images versus moving pictures, and so on. How much content can someone take on board when walking by a display screen? It might be best to use relatively few words to convey your message, whilst also making sure they’re large enough for those with poor eyesight to see, and to be easily recognisable.
In addition to yourself testing the sign, ask people in your store what brought them to it, making sure you record their answers. You can also compare sales data for those who have come in as a result of digital displays, and monitor whether the behaviour of this group is different to your other clients. Gauging effectiveness will give you an insight into what works and will allow you to optimize your digital signage to meet your practice’s needs.
The bottom line
Ultimately, though, your digital signage should show your potential consumers what genuine benefits your products and services can offer. It’s best for this to be simple, visually appealing, and clear, and should take advantage of recognisable logos and hashtags, providing the consumer with a name they can recognise and remember. This can still be confusing though, and there are a number of areas surrounding the process that add to this. If you need more information about this process, our Bespoke service offers expert advice and access to digital technology, staff training, and business consultancy. Specifically, it offers access to three years of digital content with no subscription fee, access to digital units, and advice from consultants who can help you to locate areas where the digital side to your practice can be optimised.
If you want to find out more information on consumer behaviour, then head over to our Optical Industry Advice.