Article
A single resource for screens
When building your network, look for integrated services.
May 11, 2008
John Melillo is president of Diversified Media Group.
This commentary and others appear in the guide "Digital Signage Project Planning." Clickhereto download.
Whether your business is marketing banking products, entertainment venues, sweaters, cars, or the newest breakfast cereal, digital signage could be in your future.
If you answer yes to any of the following questions, then sooner or later you will need to deploy point-to-multipoint marketing techniques via digital signage:
• Are you responsible for the up-sell of new products or new options to existing products? • Is your department leading the overall brand enhancement efforts – including the in-store experience? • Do your goals involve moving 300,000 yellow cotton sweaters by Labor Day?
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The benefits of using digital signage are many, but it comes with an important list of responsibilities. From content strategy, hardware types, software capabilities, deployment logistics, to support services, it is an involved process requiring a myriad of skills. As the leader of a managed network company, I can tell you that without a skilled partner at your side, what began as a forward-thinking business decision could become a morass very quickly.
You have two choices: Build a coalition of resources to handle various parts of your network. (There can be three to six different entities.) The alternative is to select a single organization with integrated services to help define the network, manage design, coordinate deployment, and provide ongoing support.
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Diversified Media Group's headquarters in Kenilworth, N.J. |
Your signage partner should be an expert in its business, so you can focus solely on yours. Your marketing agency is your trusted partner for branding and sales. I would suggest that your digital signage company must also become a trusted partner – your guide into a world of hardware and software considerations, systems configuration, deployment and support, content strategy, and auditing.
A solid managed network company will also have a team that understands marketing and production. Poor content execution is the main culprit in unsuccessful digital signage networks. Translating your goal into a point-of-sale message is different than creating TV commercials. However, a managed network company is not your creative team, but they should be able to work with your agency or marketing department to optimize usage of this technology.
A good partner must be able to work with your IT and facilities departments as well as your architects. The firm should have its own senior IT team able to address concerns within your own IT department and manage software and IP-network details. If they are buying that knowledge from a subcontractor, this could be a major point of service failure.
Deploying your new marketing network on an existing data network is a sensitive subject in most companies. Your partner should be a key resource in recommending the most secure solutions.
Another major factor is mechanical. Does the installation meet ADA standards? Are there special needs? Your partner's team must include construction-savvy experts. Depending on the situation, you could require a simpler "hang and bang" (industry euphemism) solution, or it can be quite complex.
We tend to use the words scalable and flexible regarding software and networks. You should also ask, "How scalable is my network partner?" Many networks start out modestly with a few displays scattered among several locations – easy to deploy and manage. In fact, many networks begin as "sneaker-nets" with DVDs or USB drives. What happens when you decide to expand? Can your provider offer you the ability to compete on a larger scale?
Options that you eliminated from consideration early on may prove to be essential as you expand. You may choose a limited-service firm at the outset, but this could have serious consequences later. The most important phase of any network deployment is in the initial planning – when you account for a phased rollout with a keen eye for the future.
A good partner will recommend solutions that may be beyond your early needs, but will be exactly what's needed as you build out. This is also true of cultivating the "customer experience" as well. It is amazing how initial client needs are very basic – utilizing a single type of display device. Then the retail visual design team sees the possibility for special construction at a key location. The network quickly develops into a combination of varied displays across multiple platforms. This is where knowing how "scalable" your partner is really comes into play.
The skills required for deploying and servicing LED screens – indoor and outdoor, seamless rear projection cubes, DLP projectors, large screens, and end-cap displays – are quite different. If your resource is subcontracting unfamiliar equipment, there's another point of potential failure.
Basically, I would caution any size organization from dismissing the need for a full-service company because "we're only going to build a very small network with limited needs." This could end up being the most costly decision of all.
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