Planning and Quality Content: How Current LED Sign Owners Benefit More From the Holidays - Join The Club, You Can Too.

-Scott Hofheins

One of the greatest times to be an LED sign owner is around the holidays. While many businesses are decorating their store, sending out mailers, and doing their best with temporary signage, LED sign owners are resting easy. They have likely pre-scheduled most of their holiday content earlier in the year, and know the sign is working hard to bring in the shoppers. If you don’t own an LED sign now, you may want to seriously think about taking the plunge and investing in a product that works all day, every day with no overtime pay!

You can’t re-face a traditional sign every time a holiday comes around and changeable copy boards are limited to static text that is difficult to change. LED Signs provide such a great opportunity to communicate often and directly to your audience, it’s surprising to see some businesses not taking full advantage of this.

I’m not just talking about Christmas. Any holiday like Valentines day, Memorial day, Columbus day and Thanksgiving are all great times to communicate specific promotions or events to your patrons. Mike posted an awesome post about being a hero with PSA messages, and Deacon had some great insights on why you should keep your content fresh.

There are many reasons some people may not be using their sign to the fullest extent. One of the biggest is the “Not Enough Time” factor. It takes time to get good solid content created and scheduled for your sign. Most small to medium organizations are already utilizing their staff above capacity. After the initial excitement of a new LED sign installation, the updates tend to become less frequent as the staff re-focuses on their other responsibilities.

There is a solution to this: Pre-Planning. Most LED sign software these days has some sort of scheduling option. Use it! Take some time to pre-program most of your general holiday messages into the schedule. I promise, it will be worth it. With an LED sign you have the ability to communicate one message on Christmas eve, and another Christmas day. You can advertise “fine wine” New Years eve, and “hangover remedies” New Years morning. Direct dynamic advertising has never been easier.

But what if you don’t have time to actually create the content? Pay someone to create the content for you. You may think this is overkill, but you have a very expensive sign that is advertising your entire organization to the traveling public; it’s worth the investment at a reasonable price. Do some research online and look for people who create content specifically for LED signs. It takes a slightly different approach than website design, or print media to be done effectively and utilize the full potential of an LED sign.

If you don’t own an LED sign, and are thinking about getting one, now is a good time to see how effective they can be. Gifts and shopping are at the top of everyone's mind so it’s just a matter of making sure they see what you have to offer. An LED sign can sometimes be like those shelves at the checkout counter, you weren't thinking about the batteries for all the toys you just bought until you looked to your left and saw them hanging right there, conveniently easy to reach.

Do your research (this blog is a great place to start) and make sure you plan ahead and use the experience of others to help you make a good choice. Plan for some of the things I’m talking about here. Look for a company that has software that takes the pain out of content creation and scheduling. If you don’t have a graphics staff, include the cost of a  Content Creation Service in your budget before you buy the sign. This will save you time and money in the long run.

An LED sign is a powerful tool and a solid investment. When it’s used effectively with quality content and planning, you will see a substantial ROI, more street visibility, and ultimately more sales to grow your business.


-SH


P.S. I may not post again until after the new year, so I just wanted to say thanks to those who read our blog and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope you have a great New Year. This year has been great, and I’m looking forward to an even better 2013 where we will continue to post more insights and tips for the sometimes confusing, but always exciting LED sign industry.





I hope this post has been informative and helpful. As usual, I welcome ALL constructive comments. Please feel free to comment and add anything I've missed, or additional tips you may have regarding this topic. Please visit www.vantageled.com for many other resources, white papers, and of course: Great looking LED Signs!

**All posts/thoughts/writings are strictly the viewpoint of me and me alone and do not reflect nor speak for Vantage LED’s beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, etc. unless specifically stated.