Easy Steps to Increase Brand Awareness in Small to Midsize Businesses

In order to be successful every business must market their product or services. This can be accomplished though the use of an effective brand marketing awareness strategy. In simple terms, this is a strategy that helps businesses find the best advertising method for them. While most companies go the traditional route and advertise on television or the internet, for many small to mid size businesses these brand strategies are simply too expensive to take part in. That is why many are turning to digital signage.

What is Digital Signage?

Digital signage is a kind of electronic display that shows advertising and other information. As you might have guessed, they are not really signs but rather LCD, LED or plasma display screens that are often found in places like shopping malls, movie theaters or the grocery store. While digital signage is also found outside like normal billboards, the cost of advertising on huge outdoor screens is often too expensive for small and midsize businesses.

The primary reason that digital signage is such an effective brand marketing awareness strategy is simple: it helps businesses deliver the right message to the right people at the right time. These brand strategies have also proven to provide a superior return on investment when compared to traditional advertising.

Find your Audience

The key to any digital signage campaign is to identify your targeted audience as well as the places they frequent. This may be shopping malls, retail stores or even grocery stores. Once a company has made these determinations, they must then decide on a message. Every consumer can quote a number of their favorite slogans or jingles that they identify with a particular company, and it is this message that is essential to brand building. The message may take the form of a catchy slogan or simply a convincing argument as to why a consumer should avail himself of your services.

Benefits

Though it is a relatively new marketing strategy, digital signage has proved to be one of the most effective brand strategies for small and mid size businesses. In fact, many companies who have chosen it as their primary brand building strategy have seen a substantial increase in sales that can be directly attributed to in-store messages. What this means is that shoppers that belong to their target audience saw their message, responded to it, and then decided to purchase their product. It also means that the company made sales that they would not have otherwise made without the help of digital signage. We know this because many people who watch digital signage messages admit to making unplanned purchases. That is one of the reasons why it has proven to be such an effective brand marketing awareness strategy for smaller businesses.

In conclusion, while digital signage may not turn your company into Pepsi Cola overnight, it has proven to be an effective brand building strategy for small and mid size businesses. It not only allows them to reach their target audience for a relatively modest sum, but it also gives the opportunity to speak to them while they are shopping.

The Best Approach to Brand Awareness Problems

One of the challenges for any small to mid size business is how to increase brand awareness. While a thirty second spot during the Super Bowl is probably out of your price range, there are still a few inexpensive brand building strategies.

First things first-what exactly is brand awareness? As you might have already guessed from the simplicity of the term, brand awareness means making sure that the public knows who you are and what your company does.

But brand awareness is not something you can simply order over the phone or hope to receive under your Christmas tree-historically, it has taken decades and often a huge marketing budget for companies to create brand awareness. Honestly, do you think McDonald's became McDonald's simply be selling salty French fries? No, they became a worldwide phenomenon by creating a brand and an image that people have come to rely on.

So what is a new business to do?

Though television and internet advertising can be extremely expensive and difficult for any small or mid size business to afford, technology has given us other options. One of the hottest new advertising options is digital signage.

Sure, it may sound a bit strange, but digital signage has been called the brand building strategy of the future. What exactly is digital signage?

Digital signage is a brand marketing awareness strategy that consists of using electronic displays to show targeted information and advertisements. Digital signs may take the form of LCDs, LEDs or plasma displays. They are often found in public building like shopping malls, retail stores or movie theaters. They may even be found in the grocery store.

What you must know

Before you get involved in digital signage it is imperative that your company perform a good deal of product and market research. You may even want to compile a brand marketing awareness strategy that lets you know exactly what course of action you should take. If one of your brand strategies turns out to be digital signage then you will want to learn everything you can about this new marketing technique.

Benefits

Even though it is an extremely new form of advertising, we do know that digital signage is both versatile and personal. It allows you to create specific messages and deliver them to your target market in the right place and at the right time. And studies show that that is one of the most effective brand strategies to help you build brand awareness and increase repeat sales.

Tips

Just like in real-estate the key to digital signage is location, location, location. You have to know who your target market is and where they will be. Once you discover this you have to know exactly what to say to them. This is the all important brand building message that should stick in people's heads like a catchy pop song. This message may take the form of a witty slogan or simply a convincing argument, but it must be brief and it must be memorable.

In the end, a good brand marketing awareness strategy must aid you in locating your target audience and telling them what you think they need to know about your product or service.

Education's Best Communication Tool; Digital Signage Systems

I have served in the education field for 18 years, nine years as a building principal. Through my 18 years in education serving on numerous building committees and district strategic planning committees, I have identified the number one problem in education; lack of communication, both internal and external.

In the classroom, I have supported teachers use of smartboards as an educational tool. Outside of the classroom, I am supporting building principals and other educational institutes use of a digital signage display to increase and improve both internal and external communication. Communication is one area in which public education schools and other education institutions are likely to face further pressure to improve their performance.

The demand placed on public education schools today is outrageous. Get the standardized scores, increase positive behaviors, teach responsibility, assess, assess, assess...It's not unlikely to read how public school education is failing, but the reality is, public school education is performing now better than ever. However, the problem is people have no clue what is going on in the schools, and how well public school education is today.

My greatest public school education concern has a potential solution and I am excited to tell you that digital signage displays is the answer. Digital Signage systems are changing the mode of communication at education institutions. They are making life easier for both faculty and students, and also saving time and money. Get rid of the wall trash filled with those flyer's and thumbtacks and keep an eye out for a sleek, flat-panel digital screen where that bulletin board used to be.

Digital signage presents a number of significant benefits for schools. It is a way of communicating information instantly across an entire campus setting, replacing existing noticeboards with dynamic, eye catching screens that can show everything from lunch menus to pupils' work and details of after-school clubs. I have found it easy to publish digital signage content for general announcements, daily news, lunch menu, and sporting events. Digital Signage is an ideal solution for classrooms, hallways, auditoriums, gymnasiums, libraries, assembly halls or anywhere educators rely on audio and/or visual systems to convey a message.

As a result of my never ending schedule and the simplicity of my digital signage system, I am able to assign volunteer parents with no special computer skills to maintain my information displayed on my digital signage system. What this means is that existing content can be scheduled and displayed immediately, without any delay.