Measure! Measure! Measure!

"If you don't measure it, you're not serious about it."  I heard Tony Robbins say that, and I believe, oh yes, I believe.

BUT, what you spend your time (and money) on measuring is a critical distinction.  So many are focused and measuring eyeballs, footfalls and what-all other traffic-related metrics.  Fine and dandy.  Those will possibly do you some good when trying to sell to agencies.  But you will not convince me (or them) that those metrics are all you need in order to steer their placement dollars your way.

That's the same school as those enamored of "page views" and clicks.

Big deal.  Is there value to know that?  Sure.  Will it help you sell more?  Possibly.  But once again, I mount my hobby horse and ride across the digital landscape sounding the alarm, waking the sleepers to the critical task at hand:  "ROI!  ROI, ROI!!!"

More and more, companies are prioritizing action and transaction based metrics.  This is why "engagement" has become so popular, but it too, can be a mere siren, luring the unsuspecting DOOH investor and network owner onto the rocks of wasted investment and even business failure due to insufficient ROI.

Action, and better yet, transaction is highest and best.  If all you can manage is traffic, then measure as much and as deep as you can.  But if you can create a metric for action and transaction related measurement, which is more of a marketing/sales related function, then that is where the investment in time and money are better spent.  Develop trackable campaigns and messaging.  Promote engagement via mobile, tactile or best of all POP purchasing action.  Be sure, when you can to propose dedicated selling propositions, something which can only be attributed to the action coming as a result of seeing your visual deployment.

Carefully tracking those actions and their financial value is paramount.  Dollars always compare favorably to digital increments like impressions or views.

"15% off all women's left shoes" placed only on your screens, is a message that is trackable.  The only way anyone asks for that, you know, is if they saw it on your screen, since it is a unique message.  This is what is meant by a "dedicated offer".

Always use dedicated offers whenever possible and ensure that your tracking system is sound (that you have a reliable way of capturing that data.)  That is where you gain the edge in selling (advertising, and more displays) with your DOOH displays.

Projecting the Future

Projected Digital Signage has been around now for sometime, and companies throughout the world are taking advantage of night time hours to continue to promote their businesses and and message in provocative and effective ways.

Projected Digital Signage uses projection to transform window space into a digital screen for advertising and display purposes.  People are only just starting to scratch the surface of this powerful, flexible, and affordable signage option.

In the past, there were technical issues making such displays less effective, but today most of those issues have been or are being addressed with better performing screens, projectors and management systems.

The real issues now are more mundane and practical in nature:  who the heck is going to integrate all this stuff and manage the content?  Who is going to strategize?  Do we have to hire someone to run this?  Do we have to train someone to be able to use this?

At this point in time, these issues are not fully answered, except through companies that are integrators with more marketing expertise and familiarity with the medium.  (Looknglas Window Video Systems would be an example.)  But we're getting closer.  And the power to leverage images to move products and people, to connect, to integrate brick and mortar retail sales with online sales and marketing, is rapidly coming to fruition via DOOH, and in this case, projected digital signage.