Digital signage is one of the most effective ways for business owners to drive awareness and meaningful business results with their target audience.

By using this software, businesses can create custom content, manage digital signage content, and measure the success of their digital signage campaigns with whatever metrics mean the most to them.

Street with lots of digital signage

In this blog, we'll outline how to choose the best digital signage software and discuss some key factors that we think should be a consideration for every business that chooses this type of advertising.

Regardless if a business is looking to increase customer satisfaction, increase branding, or measure engagement with said digital signage campaigns, this blog will help with many of those goals and more.

What are the benefits of using digital signage software for business?

There's no doubt that digital signage has become a powerful marketing tool. But regardless of how powerful it currently is, there are still businesses out there that have yet to realise its potential (although that is slowly changing!)

It can help any business drive traffic and conversions to its website or eCommerce store utilising brand awareness, but it is likely to be more effective when it can prompt the target audience to visit the physical store.

In fact, did you know that 80% of customers choose to enter stores after seeing digital signage? Those numbers are significant.

In addition, digital signage software can be used to manage customers' interactions with your business. A study back in 2020 found that 64% of digital signage users cite increased customer engagement as the main benefit of digital signage. 

Again, this is another glaringly obvious statistic that conveys the effectiveness of digital signs for businesses.

Choosing a digital signage media player

Now that we've discussed some of the benefits that can be afforded a business when they use digital signage as part of their advertising strategy, it's time to turn our attention to choosing a digital signage media player.

In short, choosing the right digital signage media player is essential for success. There are a few things to take into consideration including the needs of the business and the features of the player itself.

We believe the four factors we have featured below should be at the forefront of the minds of every business owner once they have made the decision to choose digital signage as a form of advertising for their business.

Deployment & Setup

Once the digital signage software & player have been chosen, your next point of consideration will need to be deployment and setup.

When deploying any digital signage software solution, you will need to take into account the following:

• Size
• Case
• Mount display
• Theft protection
• Remote management features

The latter two are more relevant to those businesses that are likely to have a remote management setup.

Remote management is a great way to keep an eye on digital screens from afar, without having to be physically present in an office.

This can be particularly useful for those businesses with high traffic volumes, or those that rely heavily on automation.

Digital signage software should also come with built-in theft protection features. If you're not using remote management capabilities, make sure the player comes complete with security measures such as password protection and encryption.

Remote Management

If there’s one key advantage to using digital signage as a form of advertising, it’s that it can be managed literally anywhere.

There’s no need to be sitting at your office at all times when needing to make a change. Digital signage software has reached a point in its evolution where managing your campaigns from wherever you are, and regardless of where the advertising screen is located, is a breeze.

Price & Availability

Despite its wide-ranging reach, digital signage advertising isn't nearly as costly as one might think. In fact, depending on the provider, this form of advertising can be cost-effective; especially in comparison to other avenues such as digital or traditional advertising.

Media Player Features

The quality of your media player, and its features, is an important consideration with digital signage advertising campaigns.

If you get something that is clunky, heavy, can’t be remotely managed, and is a tech nightmare, then it doesn’t bode well for a seamless & effective campaign.

Ideally, you want a media player that has the following features:

• Lightweight
• Quick and easy to install
• Support for intended media types (4K, HD etc)
• Operating system that supports a digital signage CMS (Android, Windows or Linux)
• Creative platform integration - Canva etc. 

What digital display screen is best?

With regards to digital signage display screens, businesses may think that their only options are giant screens in Piccadilly Circus or those large screens found at airports.

Thankfully, these aren't the only options available. In fact, every business has a variety of display screens available to them regardless of their size. These include:

• Tablets & iPads
• Monitors
• Non-smart TVs
• Smart TVs
• Video walls
• Self-serve kiosks
• Pylons

Obviously, the best screen for a business is the one that will best suit its needs & requirements.

For example, a shopping centre may not need tablets or iPads, but they'll certainly benefit from a video wall or smart TV hanging from a wall.

An eye for the future

Finally, businesses need to think long-term about how many digital signage screens they will need in one or five years' time. Can the signage software they are considering meet, and possibly exceed their goals? If not, they may need to look elsewhere.

If they choose the wrong player and associated screens, they may run the risk of having to repurchase later which could be a financial disaster.