20 years ago or so, Dick Morris reputedly uttered the famous words to a campaigning Bill Clinton, "It's the economy, stupid!"
Something similar, albeit a little more complex, could be said to retailers the world over.
Online retailing has certainly changed the retail game, but brick and mortar retailers still have the opportunity to flex their power over online purchasing via the age-old method: Customer experience.
It's the Customer Experience, stupid!
Hellooo retailers! Are you listening? There are 4 other senses to address, to sell, besides just visual, and sometimes audio (online.) There are taste, touch, smell, and the overall sensory experience of being in the modern marketplace. People still want to have more than just a "virtual experience". That has been proven in spades, vis a vis, Apple stores.
You have the advantage, the upper hand! Use what's at your disposal: DOOH, in all its forms.
Lots of talk is swirling around mobile, and mobile commerce, but DOOH is a medium that can tie other media together, such as mobile and online. It can, and should, all integrate. There is far more than just putting LCD screens, or video walls, or interactive projected displays to work. Far, far more. Use your locations, and your DOOH to drive traffic, to introduce new selling propositions, to drive mobile (QR, and especially text coupons, offers and promos.)
Adoption comes in fits and starts. DOOH must continue to make itself more retail-available. This means both pricing and ease of implementation, management, everyday use.
Being very self-serving, I offer window video systems as a great example. Messages, writ large, directly on the front window, displaying and then offering a sales proposition. Intriguing, and then enticing (text coupons, POS promo offers.) So much is available, so many possibilities. Get with a strategic integrator and get your strategy going. The ability to drive traffic and measurable ROI is here, and it can be very cost effective. The only time DOOH fails in terms of ROI, is when the objectives are not clearly defined, and the method for achieving ROI not executed well.
If you have a great selling proposition, get it up there on DOOH and watch the sales in your brick and mortar store climb! DOOH allows the power and flexibility to create both an intriguing customer experience, and a satisfying purchasing experience as well. Combining the two is the key to the coming brick and mortar retail revival.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Transparency is Power
"Transparency is Power".
Some people might dispute that, and say that secrecy is power, but I digress. What I am talking about is in a Display sense. This video shows a really nice piece of technology by Samsung that is a transparent LCD screen. When place in front of a product it allows messaging about that product while keeping the product itself front and center.
Great concept! Super cool looking, intriguing, and if you put the right information and inducement on that screen, you'll sell a lot of whatever product is behind it.
Of course, this is what projected digital signage does for you as well, except it's more "green" and can go larger than the display screen this video depicts. Probably a lot less money too. But putting your display and sales messages directly on your display window in conjunction with the product display provides a layer of communication and potential interaction that is epic. Display is becoming more and more about interactivity. Interaction is what makes your relationship to customers "sticky". Get in the dialogue. The technology is there, and Window Video Systems (WVS) are very affordable and very available, and very flexible.
Be more transparent. Get the look. Get the content. Get the interactivity. The window of opportunity is here.
Some people might dispute that, and say that secrecy is power, but I digress. What I am talking about is in a Display sense. This video shows a really nice piece of technology by Samsung that is a transparent LCD screen. When place in front of a product it allows messaging about that product while keeping the product itself front and center.
Great concept! Super cool looking, intriguing, and if you put the right information and inducement on that screen, you'll sell a lot of whatever product is behind it.
Of course, this is what projected digital signage does for you as well, except it's more "green" and can go larger than the display screen this video depicts. Probably a lot less money too. But putting your display and sales messages directly on your display window in conjunction with the product display provides a layer of communication and potential interaction that is epic. Display is becoming more and more about interactivity. Interaction is what makes your relationship to customers "sticky". Get in the dialogue. The technology is there, and Window Video Systems (WVS) are very affordable and very available, and very flexible.
Be more transparent. Get the look. Get the content. Get the interactivity. The window of opportunity is here.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Don't Send a Boy to do a Man's Job
There is an old proverb that says that sending a message by the hand of a fool is like cutting off your own feet.
This is equally true when you blindly trust your messaging (digital signage content) to whoever, delegating to a third-party service or a lower-level employee, leaving that all-important strategic job to someone with no vested interest or motivation for the profit-producing necessity of your message.
Your message is what people will think of you.
Your message is all people know about what you want them to do.
Your message (including your display) is the primary information a prospective customer has, in order to make a buying decision!
Why would you delegate that? The classic thing business people do is to neglect their message, in favor of "getting things done". Well, you ain't gonna get much done without customers buying, and they're not going to buy unless you convince them with your message in all its facets.
When I walk through a mall, or surf online, I want to know why I should buy. I want to know what you're offering. I want to know what's better about your product, or offer. I want to know if you know what you're doing or if you're fly-by-night. I want to know what kind of value I'm getting. I want to know what's in it for me.
Too often, when you delegate your company messaging, those questions don't get answered, and then you don't sell as much, or make as much, because you delegated your messaging to someone who doesn't understand or value your priorities.
Digital Signage ISN'T ABOUT THE HARDWARE, the screens, the software, the brightness, etc. Those are all important, but only in that they are a part of delivering YOUR MESSAGE effectively! If you use DS or DOOH, then watch your messaging carefully, measure it, and revise it, hone it, until it performs. Watch it like a hawk, and use it to produce measurable results! Devise a method (I'm not telling you to run out and buy more equipment or software) for tracking, measuring, and understanding the results of your display system. DS and DOOH are money-making machines when properly implemented.
Your DS messaging is a job that, if you do delegate it, you must oversee carefully and demand a result from. DS and DOOH are extremely powerful tools, but make sure they are used to the effect you desire.
We advocate a direct selling proposition and call to action, the result of which can be tracked exclusively to your DS or DOOH display, and measured. For example, if you provide a text coupon, be sure that it is tracked accurately. Don't just throw a video loop on there and forget about it. Make sure that message looks how it is supposed to look, gets where it is supposed to go, and does what you intend it to do.
This is equally true when you blindly trust your messaging (digital signage content) to whoever, delegating to a third-party service or a lower-level employee, leaving that all-important strategic job to someone with no vested interest or motivation for the profit-producing necessity of your message.
Your message is what people will think of you.
Your message is all people know about what you want them to do.
Your message (including your display) is the primary information a prospective customer has, in order to make a buying decision!
Why would you delegate that? The classic thing business people do is to neglect their message, in favor of "getting things done". Well, you ain't gonna get much done without customers buying, and they're not going to buy unless you convince them with your message in all its facets.
When I walk through a mall, or surf online, I want to know why I should buy. I want to know what you're offering. I want to know what's better about your product, or offer. I want to know if you know what you're doing or if you're fly-by-night. I want to know what kind of value I'm getting. I want to know what's in it for me.
Too often, when you delegate your company messaging, those questions don't get answered, and then you don't sell as much, or make as much, because you delegated your messaging to someone who doesn't understand or value your priorities.
Digital Signage ISN'T ABOUT THE HARDWARE, the screens, the software, the brightness, etc. Those are all important, but only in that they are a part of delivering YOUR MESSAGE effectively! If you use DS or DOOH, then watch your messaging carefully, measure it, and revise it, hone it, until it performs. Watch it like a hawk, and use it to produce measurable results! Devise a method (I'm not telling you to run out and buy more equipment or software) for tracking, measuring, and understanding the results of your display system. DS and DOOH are money-making machines when properly implemented.
Your DS messaging is a job that, if you do delegate it, you must oversee carefully and demand a result from. DS and DOOH are extremely powerful tools, but make sure they are used to the effect you desire.
We advocate a direct selling proposition and call to action, the result of which can be tracked exclusively to your DS or DOOH display, and measured. For example, if you provide a text coupon, be sure that it is tracked accurately. Don't just throw a video loop on there and forget about it. Make sure that message looks how it is supposed to look, gets where it is supposed to go, and does what you intend it to do.
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