Picture two local businesses side by side: one with vibrant, dynamic digital displays capturing the essence of their brand, and the other still clinging to static, outdated posters. Which one grabs your attention?
It’s no secret that we’re drawn to the dynamic and engaging. As small businesses strive to stand out in a crowded market, digital signage becomes not just a flashy extra, but a crucial growth driver. And with nearly 60% of businesses planning to invest in digital signage soon, it’s clear that this isn’t just a trend, but a transformative shift in how SMBs connect with their audience.
Dive into this guide to uncover:
- Digital Signage Impact: Elevate your business presence.
- Smart Screens over TVs: Why displays trump traditional TVs.
- Top 5 Benefits: Key advantages for your business.
- Video Walls: Transform your space.
- SMB-Specific Solutions: Find your perfect fit.
- Best Picks: Concise, clear comparisons.
Ready to transform how your business engages and captivates? Let’s explore the vibrant world of digital signage.
Why Digital Displays Over Traditional TVs?
When it comes to engaging customers in your small business, the medium you choose to display your message is as crucial as the message itself. Let’s compare two scenarios:
Imagine you’re in a quaint coffee shop. On one wall, there’s a traditional TV playing a loop of generic ads, barely noticed by the customers. Contrast this with another café where a sleek digital display showcases mouth-watering pastries, the coffee of the day, and a real-time social media feed.
The difference? Engagement. Customers are not just looking; they’re interacting, sharing, and most importantly, buying.
Here’s why digital displays are the superior choice over traditional TVs for small businesses:
- Immediate Engagement: 67% of consumers are more likely to buy products after seeing them on digital signs. This visual impact directly influences purchasing decisions.
- Millennial Appeal: Nearly 80% of millennials prefer shopping at stores with interactive features like mobile customer service portals or kiosks, which digital displays can integrate seamlessly.
- Influencing Purchase Decisions: A significant 90% of shoppers find video content on digital screens valuable when deciding what to buy, emphasizing the power of dynamic displays over static TV ads.
- Content Vitality: If your store already uses digital screens, keeping the content dynamic is key. Displaying engaging video content, rather than static imagery, can markedly enhance your brand’s selling power.
5 Reasons to Add Digital Signage to Your SMB
In the competitive landscape of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), standing out is crucial. With 80% of brands using digital signage reporting a 33% increase in sales, it’s evident that marketing trends are rapidly evolving, with technology at the forefront of this change.
Here are five compelling reasons to incorporate digital signage into your SMB’s strategy:
Customizable Content
Digital signage offers unparalleled flexibility in content customization. This means you can craft messages that resonate specifically with your target audience, creating a more personal and impactful experience.
This allows connecting with customers through content and advertising that reflects your brand’s identity and values. The ability to consistently update your messaging across different locations also ensures brand uniformity and recognition, reinforcing your brand’s presence in the customer’s mind.
Real-Time Updates
The power of digital signage lies in its ability to disseminate information in real time. This feature is invaluable for quickly updating content to reflect current sales, special events, or critical news, ensuring your audience is always informed.
Additionally, this agility in marketing allows your business to react instantly to market changes or trends, providing a competitive edge and keeping your marketing strategy relevant and timely.
Interactive Elements
Interactive digital displays transform passive viewers into active participants. This engagement deepens the customers’ connection with your brand, creating more memorable and positive experiences.
Interactive elements, such as touchscreens or augmented reality features, can significantly enhance the customer experience, offering innovative and immersive ways for customers to interact with your products or services.
Metrics and Analytics
Digital signage with analytics capabilities can track how customers interact with the content. These insights are incredibly valuable, providing concrete data on customer preferences and behaviors.
With this information, you can tailor your marketing strategies to be more effective, ensuring your messages resonate more deeply with your audience. This targeted marketing approach can lead to higher conversion rates and a more successful marketing campaign overall.
Sustainability
One of the less obvious but equally important benefits of digital signage is its contribution to sustainability. By reducing the need for printed materials, digital signage cuts down on paper waste, supporting a greener business model.
Additionally, the energy efficiency of modern digital signs means they consume less power, further contributing to your business’s sustainability efforts. This not only helps the environment but also enhances your brand’s image as a responsible and forward-thinking entity.
Which Digital Signage is Best for SMBs?
Finding the right digital signage for your small or medium-sized business (SMB) can significantly impact your customer engagement and sales. It’s crucial to choose a type that aligns with your specific business needs and objectives.
Let’s explore some of the best digital signage options for SMBs:
Standalone Digital Displays
Standalone digital displays are a simple yet effective choice for SMBs. These individual screens can be strategically placed around your business for maximum impact. They work great for showcasing menus, promotional content, or general information.
Their versatility is a key benefit – you can easily move them around to suit different needs or spaces. This makes standalone displays an ideal entry point into the world of digital signage for businesses with limited space or those seeking a flexible digital signage network solution.
Example: Redken Salon Products
Redken showcases its range of hair care products with a sleek standalone digital display embedded within its shelving. The display cycles through vivid imagery and video content, highlighting product features and tutorials. This not only attracts attention but also educates customers, helping them make an informed purchase decision.
Interactive Kiosks
Interactive kiosks take customer engagement to the next level. They allow customers to interact directly with the screen, whether it’s to browse products, place orders, or find information. This interactive feature transforms the kiosk into a virtual customer service agent, offering answers and assistance, thereby enhancing overall customer service.
Interactive kiosks are particularly beneficial for businesses looking to provide a hands-on experience and engage customers more actively.
Example: McDonald’s Ordering System
McDonald’s has been at the forefront of fast-food innovation, first introducing digital menu boards and then advancing to interactive kiosks. These digital systems enable customers to peruse the menu, personalize their orders, and make payments directly at the kiosk — all without the need to stand in line at the counter.
This shift toward self-service optimizes efficiency, slashes wait times, and significantly improves the customer ordering process.
Video Walls
For SMBs looking to make a bold visual statement, video walls are the way to go. They offer a large-format digital canvas that’s hard to miss, making them perfect for high-traffic areas. The immersive experience created by video walls can captivate customers, holding their attention and creating a lasting impression. Furthermore, video walls are highly customizable.
You can tailor their screen size and shape to fit different spaces and design aesthetics, making them a versatile option for businesses aiming for high-impact visuals.
Example: Invicta Watch Stores
Invicta creates an impactful visual experience using video walls to showcase their luxurious timepieces. The large, bright displays draw shoppers into the store, where the motion content keeps them engaged, creating a dynamic atmosphere that reflects the brand’s high energy and premium quality.
End-Cap Displays
End-cap displays are designed specifically for retail stores. Positioned typically at the end of aisles, they are great for highlighting special offers, promotions, or new products.
Their location makes them ideal for targeted messaging, guiding customers’ purchasing decisions as they navigate through the store. End-cap displays can draw attention to specific products or categories, effectively influencing the buying journey in a retail setting.
Example: Auckland Airport Duty-Free
Auckland Airport employs end-cap digital displays in its duty-free shops to promote exclusive deals and product bundles. Strategically located at the end of shopping aisles, these screens grab the attention of travelers with enticing offers, influencing last-minute purchase decisions before they board their flights.
Window-Facing Digital Signage
Window-facing digital signs is designed to catch the eye of passersby, drawing them into your store. These displays are particularly effective for storefront windows, with design considerations ensuring that content is visible and clear, even in bright sunlight.
They are an excellent choice for businesses looking to increase foot traffic by attracting the attention of potential customers who are walking or driving by.
Example: L’Occitane en Provence
L’Occitane en Provence uses window-facing, digital signage displays to captivate passersby with the essence of their brand. The displays, showing serene and natural beauty content, entice potential customers into the store, creating a connection with the brand even before they experience the products firsthand.
Each of these digital signage options offers unique benefits and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your business. Whether you aim to enhance customer experience, increase engagement, or drive sales, the right digital signage software solution can make a significant difference in achieving your business goals.
Top 5 Digital Signage Solutions for Small Businesses
Choosing digital signage software is a crucial step for small businesses looking to enhance customer engagement and increase sales. It’s all about finding the perfect match that suits your specific needs while offering simplicity and efficiency.
Here are the top five digital signage software solutions of 2024:
1. CrownTV
Best for: Comprehensive end-to-end software and service
CrownTV brings technical expertise to the table, providing businesses with an all-in-one digital signage solution that spans from hardware to software, and content management.
This ensures user-friendliness and ease of use, allowing businesses to effortlessly craft, schedule, and refresh their digital content, thereby infusing any commercial space with engaging interactivity and vibrant visuals.
Key Features/Services:
- Global Management & Security: Secure, user-friendly dashboard for worldwide control.
- Unified Dashboard & Content Control: Easily manage and prioritize content on thousands of screens.
- Content Scheduling & Monitoring: Organize displays and oversee all screen activities centrally.
- Analytics & Custom Content Creation: Utilize analytics for insights and create content with a vast template library.
- Powerful Digital Signage Player: Reliable media player with 4K display performance with silent operation and energy efficiency.
- Expansive App Store: A broad selection of third-party apps to personalize communication and display dynamic content.
- Technicolor Display Expertise: In-depth guidance on-screen selection to enhance brand presence in any setting.
Pros:
- Complete service from installation to support for a seamless white-glove experience
- Display advisory to help you choose the proper display for your business needs
- Display mounting, launching, and deployment with ongoing support
- Excellent display clarity coupled with an easy-to-use content management system
- Enables vivid presentation of product variety, enhancing the overall customer experience
Cons:
- Lack of cut & paste functionality can lead to time-consuming content adjustments
- Text truncation issues require starting from scratch if the content does not fit the screen
Reviews (5-star rating): According to a review on Google, “CrownTV is awesome! Period! At Bonobos, we constantly strive to maintain a cohesive brand image across various Guideshop locations, so finding a reliable digital signage solution was imperative.”
2. ScreenCloud
Best for: Businesses looking for a simple interface for managing digital signage content
ScreenCloud offers a practical solution for businesses to turn their displays into engaging information centers. Their cloud-based platform focuses on simple digital signage management businesses to display content effortlessly from any location. This approach makes ScreenCloud a suitable option for businesses across various sizes and sectors.
Key Features/Services:
- Simple Content Creation: Drag-and-drop interface for easy and efficient content building.
- Remote Management: Control and update content on any screen from anywhere in the world.
- Device Flexibility: Compatible with various devices including Chrome devices, media players, and Smart TVs.
- Scheduling: Tailor content display to specific times or days for maximum impact.
- Integrations: Seamlessly connects with Google Apps and other key business tools for dynamic content creation.
Pros:
- Continuous improvement and responsive support over the years
- Intuitive interface and comprehensive knowledge base for troubleshooting
- User-friendly with diverse app integrations like weather and sports updates
Cons:
- Some apps require additional subscriptions, adding to costs
- Limited depth in user options, file permissions, and lack of analytics; not optimal on Android platforms
Pricing:
- Basic plan: $20 per screen/month
- Pro plan: $30 per screen/month
- Enterprise plan: custom pricing
Reviews (4.8-star rating): According to a review, “I enjoy ScreenCloud a lot. It livens up the workplace and is easy to use. The customer service was great and they seem to care about their customers.”
3. Yodeck
Best for: Small to medium businesses looking for an easy start
Yodeck provides a streamlined approach to digital signage, enabling businesses of any size to convert their screens into active displays of communication. The cloud-based solution is praised for its ease of use, offering a range of operational capabilities from remote content management to scalable deployment across multiple locations.
Key Features/Services:
- Drag-and-Drop Design: Create content easily with an intuitive user interface.
- Content Variety: Supports images, videos, social feeds, and live data.
- Remote Management: Manage and schedule content for any screen online.
- Scalability: Flexible for any number of screens, from one to hundreds.
- Free & Paid Plans: Options range from a free basic plan to advanced paid plans.
Pricing:
- Single free digital signage screen/forever
- Basic: $8 per screen/month
- Premium: $11 per screen/month
- Enterprise: $15 per screen/month
Pros:
- Highly customizable with efficient scheduling and tagging features
- Simple setup with hardware included in annual plans
- Excellent customer support with personalized setup assistance
Cons:
- Occasional issues with the platform not restarting after the display device reboots
- Some confusion around date and time settings for content scheduling
Reviews (4.8-star rating): According to a review, “I enjoy that Yodeck is easy to customize and looks professional. I also enjoy the scheduling features, which allow me to display different content at different times and expire time-sensitive content.”
4. NoviSign
Best for: Businesses using multiple devices for digital signage
NoviSign offers a flexible and comprehensive digital signage solution with a focus on user-friendliness and adaptability. It’s designed for businesses in need of a reliable, scalable, and cost-effective way to manage their digital displays. Whether you’re a small enterprise or a growing company, NoviSign provides the tools you need to create, deploy, and manage your small business digital signage content with ease.
Key Features/Services:
- Simple Content Creation: User-friendly digital signage cms for creating engaging playlists.
- Multi-Device Compatibility: Runs on Android, Chrome devices, Windows PCs, and Smart TVs.
- Remote Management & Scheduling: Manage and schedule content from anywhere with internet access.
- Scalability: Flexible for both single displays and extensive digital signage networks.
- Content Delivery Options: Choice of on-premise media players or cloud-based streaming.
Pros:
- Robust customer support and user-friendly software
- Engaging content delivery options to amplify reach
- High value for the investment with fast and efficient service
Cons:
- Limited design tool functionality, lacking modification options and an undo feature
- Lacks device insights and controls
Pricing:
- Business: $20 screen/month
- Business Plus: $29 screen/month
- Premium: $49 screen/month
Reviews (4.9-star rating): According to a recent review, “The help in making sure everything I didn’t know was easily learned so that I had a fully professional platform at my fingertips for success.”
5. TelemetryTV
Best for: Companies that need a versatile and user-friendly digital signage solution that works well across multiple devices and platforms
TelemetryTV offers a straightforward and budget-friendly digital signage display platform. It caters to businesses of any size, streamlining the creation and management of digital signage displays with its cloud-based interface. For organizations seeking to implement digital signage with minimal fuss, TelemetryTV’s platform is both approachable and powerful.
Key Features/Services:
- Intuitive Content Management: Easily craft and organize playlists with a simple drag-and-drop.
- Remote Management: Manage your screens remotely, ensuring your content is always current.
- Cross-Platform Compatibility: Operates across various operating systems including Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Android, and Linux.
- Free & Paid Plans: Start with a free plan and upgrade as needed for more advanced features.
Pros:
- Seamless integration with tools like Canva and easy setup
- Rapid, thorough support response for a hassle-free user experience
- Simple setup and a high-quality display at a competitive price point
- Online and offline capabilities for versatile content management
Cons:
- Lacks automated feed-switching features
- Ad hoc messaging for individual screens can be complex
Pricing:
- Entry: $8 per device/month
- Core: $13 per device/month
- Elite: $16 per device/month
Reviews (4.9-star rating): According to a review, “You can do a lot with Telemetry. I use it for 5 tv screens to keep our employees updated with important information. We have an office in Taiwan and we are able to link it with ours so they stay updated also.”
Top 5 Digital Signage Platforms in 2024: Quick Overview
Here’s a comparison of the features, pricing, and user feedback for the best digital signage software:
| Feature | CrownTV | ScreenCloud | Yodeck | NoviSign | TelemetryTV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | End-to-end service | Simple content management | Easy start-ups | Multi-device businesses | Versatile platform users |
| Content Creation | Intuitive dashboard | Drag-and-drop creation | Drag-and-drop design | Simple content creation | Intuitive content management |
| Device Compatibility | Broad range | Chrome devices, media players | Wide range of devices | Multi-device compatibility | Cross-platform compatibility |
| Remote Management | Global control | Worldwide screen updates | Anywhere access | Anywhere scheduling | Centralized control |
| Scheduling | Advanced options | Specific time/day display | Flexible timing | Scheduling flexibility | Ease of scheduling |
| Customer Support | White-glove experience | Responsive assistance | Included in annual plans | Active support | Quick and thorough response |
| Pricing | From $35/month | From $20/screen/month | From free to $15/screen/month | From $20/screen/month | From $8/device/month |
How to Choose the Best Digital Signage Solution for Your Business
Choosing a digital signage solution that aligns perfectly with your business objectives is crucial. Here are some key considerations to help guide your decision:
- Compatibility and Integration: Your ideal digital signage solution should integrate effortlessly with existing systems. This means checking for compatibility with various media formats and ensuring it syncs well with other business tools for a seamless operation.
- User-Friendly Interface and Ease of Use: Opt for a digital signage solution that features a user-friendly interface, streamlining the content creation process. This should include intuitive content creation tools that allow for effortless scheduling and updating of content, accommodating users regardless of their technical expertise.
- Scalability: Look for a digital signage system that grows with your business. Whether you’re managing a single screen or an extensive network, the system should handle various scales without compromising on quality or performance.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Evaluate the total cost, which includes the software license, hardware investments, and any ongoing service fees. Ensure the solution offers a good balance of cost and functionality to get the most out of your investment.
- Quality and Reliability: Prioritize high-resolution displays and robust technical features that ensure reliable performance. Quality digital signage not only elevates the customer experience but also reinforces your brand’s professional image.
- Customer Support and Setup Process: Good customer support can make a huge difference, especially during the setup process. Choose a provider that offers excellent technical support and guidance, ensuring you can leverage the full potential of your digital signage solution.
Want to Bring Digital Signage into Your Business Narrative?
As we wrap up this journey through the dynamic world of digital signage, it’s clear that keeping up with this technology is not just about keeping up with the times—it’s about taking a proactive step towards future-proofing your business.
Here are some key takeaways:
- A digital sign can transform the customer experience, offering engagement far beyond what static displays can provide.
- Customizable content through digital signage allows businesses to connect more personally with their audience.
- Businesses using digital signage have seen a significant increase in sales, highlighting its effectiveness.
- A variety of digital signage solutions, like interactive kiosks and video walls, cater to different business needs and spaces.
- Digital signage contributes to sustainability efforts with its energy-efficient nature and reduction in paper waste.
- When choosing a digital signage solution, it’s essential to consider factors like compatibility, ease of use, scalability, and quality to ensure it aligns with your business needs and goals
In today’s digital-first world, CrownTV offers effective digital signage solutions to SMBs aiming to enhance their storytelling.
Our approach to digital signage, which combines user-friendly technology with effective content creation, aligns seamlessly with the requirements of modern businesses. Interested in seeing how CrownTV can transform your business narrative? Book a demo today and discover the potential of dynamic digital signage for yourself.
