F rom in-store advertising to a café menu board, digital signage offers a way for businesses to connect and communicate with people, whether that’s customers in the waiting line, or employees in a meeting.

No longer the exclusive domain of high-end global retailers or giant, multinational corporations, innovative software has helped to significantly lower the cost of entry for small businesses, and enable them to leverage the true potential of digital signage.

The humble poster is now competing in a world where the screen dominates the lives of consumers, and employees. And the number of digital natives, younger people who have grown up in the information age, engaging with your business and brand is only going to increase.

So if you want to get content out there that really resonates and makes an impact – from your latest menu to the most recent sales figures – you need to create and share digital content that’s engaging and dynamic.

But does it pay to invest in digital? And what exactly are the benefits of digital signage to small and medium sized businesses? Here’s our top five:

Engagement

You could promote your latest deal, a recent win, or your latest customer success story, with a poster pinned to a wall. People might see it. But will it engage them? And will they remember it?

Digital signage gives you a means to reach out and share high-quality content with your target audience, in the same way that you might do on social media. It provides a digital yet physical presence, not only bridging the gap between generations, but meeting user expectations around accessing information via screens.

Usability

If you’re a tech entrepreneur or start-up used to having online admin tools to take care of your day-to-day business, then a cloud-based solution to digital signage makes a lot of sense. For those less tech-savvy business owners, digital signage could be a nice idea in principle, but having an additional layer of technical complexity might seem a little off-putting.

Thankfully, just as the cost of entry is now significantly lower, there are solutions that make digital signage simple and easy to use. Using the cloud and a browser-based solution means you can quickly and easily update content such as pricing and figures with a few taps or clicks from a range of connected devices. Now you have the potential to respond quickly to feedback or make adjustments to your content in real-time.

Versatility

Digital signage offers endless possibilities for communicating with your target audience. There are numerous ways to use digital signage to give smaller venues greater reach. That could be anything from menus or special offers in a café, or coffee shop, to navigational information in an airport.

Going digital levels the playing field with larger organizations – enabling SMBs to compete for customer or employee attention by delivering the right content at the right time, and keeping it fresh and updated. Still not convinced? Take a closer look at the world we’re living in, and you might be surprised! Find out more by reading our blog on Digital Signs Everywhere.

Scalability

Whether you’re a hairdresser looking to promote your latest product or service whilst clients are in the chair, or a multinational company synchronizing key messages across various office locations around the globe, when you need to get content in front of your target audience digital signage gives you the flexibility to scale.

Desquare offers a simple monthly subscription service based on the number of screens, giving you the flexibility you need to scale up or down each, making digital signage much more affordable.

Accessibility

“We democratize digital signage. And what I mean by that is we make it available to any size enterprise. It’s not exclusive to the big players, and you don’t need an IT department, or a marketing department to get started. It’s so easy to sign up and to get started.”
– Peter Brauner, founder and CEO, Desquare

For a customer, the cost of digital signage now comes down to two things: the screen or screens, and the software needed to display the content. In the past, these two requirements may have locked customers into a prohibitively expensive proprietary software and hardware deal.

Desquare’s solution works a little differently. Being both cloud and browser based, DESIGNAGE is compatible with virtually all major brands of screen – which enables a ‘bring your own device solution’. And if your hardware is not supported, like an older television, an external media player usually solves the problem.

Digital signage gives smaller businesses the ability to up their offering to match bigger players in a competitive market. Combine a screen with a simple software solution, and you have a powerful and easy-to-use digital communication channel for your business.

Maybe it’s time to unpin that poster? 😉