Digital Signage Need to Know: Professional Quality Content on LED Signs Benefit Resellers Directly

-Scott Hofheins We all know that quality content on an LED sign can greatly improve the effectiveness of a display, and increase the direct benefits to the end-user (see our previous posts). Good content can make a sub-par sign look decent and a high quality sign look spectacular, but the end-user isn't the only one who benefits. The LED sign dealer has just as much to gain from strong, high quality content on their network of installed signage. Content is an important factor that is sometimes forgotten by LED sign dealers and end-users alike. The focus naturally tends to lean toward the hardware end (which is very important), but the software and content are often downgraded to side notes in the discussion. As I mentioned in my previous post on time and temperature messages, it’s not enough to just have an LED sign anymore. The public's attention has shifted from the LED sign itself, to the actual content on the sign. This content has to “pop” to get peoples attention to actively read the message. Content management solutions can assist greatly when addressing this need. Whether a dealer or end-user hires their own in-house staff or a third party vendor, everybody wins when the professionals do their job right. Content Quality Not all end-users have a design team that can create high quality graphics for their LED display. Good content for LED display must be high contrast, dynamic and readable. The colors should be vibrant and compliment each other. Too many LED signs look faded and weak, not because if the sign itself, but because of poor color management. Small characters are another bane to the LED sign industry with messages that are too long and overly complex. Professional designers do this for a living and have the fundamental knowledge to address these issues and make sure the sign reaches it’s full potential. . Content Freshness LED signs should have fresh and frequently updated content to keep the attention of the audience over time. However, this doesn't mean playing hundreds of separate messages on the LED display back to back. Fresh content is still focused, but the appearance and approach to the messages can be updated and modified frequently. This can be a challenge for end-users to do consistently when other aspects of running an organization or business become higher priorities. Content Scheduling and Targeting Targeting specific groups is important help end-users get the most out of their LED display. Certain types of customers see the sign during specific times of the day. Showing content directed specifically at these groups increases the effectiveness of the LED display. Some software packages and content services allow for conditional messaging that allows certain messages to be played automatically, according to variables like weather or inventory stock. The focus of the viewing public will continue to shift, and more and more dealers will need to make sure the LED signs they sell look just as good on the outside, as they function on the inside. More and more end-users and potential buyers are saying “I want my sign to look better than that guy...”. As a dealer, you need to be able to demonstrate this with confidence, knowing that the sign you refer them to down the street will look better than “that guy”. Everyone wins when the content looks good. The end-user turns more heads to their organization, the public gets better information, and the dealers can refer potential customers with confidence. Make sure you have all your bases covered when selling LED signs and don’t forget about the content, it really does make a difference! -SH

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.

Digital Signage Need to Know: Demand Attention and Target Your Audience With Outdoor LED Signs

- Scott Hofheins

Outdoor LED signs are communication tools. In a matter of seconds, they let the public know about your organization, directly and indirectly through scheduled content. The impression you leave with the viewer will help them understand and answer certain things your organization like your physical existence, what you do, and why it should be done with you specifically. Your content, and the way it is scheduled will play a large role in the viewers response. By targeting both aspects, the content and the scheduling, you can greatly increase the effectiveness of your sign.

The Scheduling

The options you have and how easily they are implemented are often determined by the manufacturer of your LED sign and the software they provide. Unfortunately, many sub-par manufacturers rely on outdated software, or software developed overseas with limited options and is difficult to use. This has been a harsh reality for many end users who paid a lot of money for a sign manufactured by an entity that viewed software as an afterthought. This can make it more difficult, but still worth the effort to make sure your scheduling content that is targeted to your audience.

Fundamentally, you want to reach your audience by giving them information relevant to their situation. Certain types of people drive past your sign during certain times of the day. By scheduling specific messages to play during these times, you can speak directly to them.

Rush Hour

This is the most common, and my minimum recommendation for scheduled content. Every LED sign should have least some content specifically for, and directed to rush hour traffic. This is typically from 7-9am, and from 4-6pm in most locations.

You want to schedule messages that talk directly to these drivers. Do some research, and try to determine the demographics of these drivers.

• Where are most of them traveling too? Tech jobs? Manufacturing jobs? Tailor your content accordingly, talk to the techies, talk to the skilled factory workers, what is important to them?
• How fast are they traveling? If you have a consistent “stop and go” situation near your sign, take advantage of that time, and modify the play length, or quantity of the content accordingly.
• If you have trouble isolating certain groups, you can always go to the one common trait: they are driving. Create content that speaks to them, let them know they can take a break from traffic and pull into your place for coffee and donuts. They can beat the traffic on the way home and join you for happy hour specials. Take some time, and think of some ways you can incorporate their immediate situation, with what your organization has to offer.

Lunch

Lunch time is another consistent time frame you can schedule for. If you're a restaurant, it’s pretty straightforward, let them know why they should come in NOW! Advertise your lunch specials and the reason they should spend their money with you, instead of the competition.

For other businesses, you can still market to this group. These drivers may have some time to stop by your place to do some household shopping, get their hair cut, or attend a midday church service. Remember, it’s not just workers who are out during lunch hours.

School Time

Are you near any schools, day care, or other youth facility? You may have certain drivers dropping their children off in the morning, or picking them up in the afternoon that drive by your sign. What demographic is picking them up, and dropping them off? Who is riding with the parents? Look into your specific location, and let your sign talk to them during these hours.

Conditional Scheduling

Software provided by some manufacturers supports the ability to play certain messages depending on conditions, like temperature or weather. This can be a useful tool to grab the attention of drivers with messages like “It’s cold today! 10% off all coats for a limited time!” or “Looks Like Rain! Tire Safety Inspections Today!”.

Specific Situations

Think about other situations that you can target and schedule content for. For example, local events like music festivals will give you a certain groups to target. Holidays are also a good thing to link your content too. What is going on around you, and how can you incorporate it with your messages?

The Content

This is a well documented factor in the effectiveness of your LED sign, and we discuss it often. Remember, you are fighting for attention against cell phones, tablets, and other forms of communication that incorporate colorful and attention getting graphics. You must adjust your LED sign content accordingly.

The content must be beautiful, readable and relevant. The days of text only LED signs are going away. People just don’t notice them as much any more. They are looking for larger fonts and bright text, with a clean and active colorful backdrop. Animations are a plus, and the advertisement really needs to “pop” to get their attention.

Professional content is becoming more important as consumers expectations continue to rise. This is true for both indoor digital signage, and outdoor LED signs. Hiring a graphic designer, or using a content creation service will save you time and effort, and help get you the results you need to stand out from the other signage in your area. Good, tasteful content is key to turning heads, and will make any LED sign better, and a good sign great.

If you have an existing outdoor LED sign, make sure you're allowing it to reach its full potential by targeting your audience with scheduling, and good content. If you're looking at getting an LED sign, make sure the sign you buy will provide you the tools to schedule and market your organization effectively. As I mentioned earlier, an LED sign is a communication tool for your organization, make sure your voice is heard loud and clear!

-Scott Hofheins

Digital Signage Need to Know: CMYK vs RGB and Other Design Factors for Digital Content on LED Signs.

-Scott Hofheins

There is a reason why we talk about content so much on this blog. Content is the driving force behind your viewers ability to notice your sign, retain the information, and act. You want them to do this quickly and without confusion or delay. This is why investing in a content creation service who specializes in LED signs, or training your own in-house designers on outdoor content is worthwhile. The days of text only signs are going away, making way for full color advertising machines, ready to take whatever you can throw their way.

What is CMYK and why won’t it work on an outdoor LED sign? Why do some signs look great and others look blurry and hard to read? Content for print media is different in many ways than content for digital media. Additionally, content on an outdoor LED sign is different than content on an indoor Digital Sign (LCD Monitor). Knowing how to handle these differences is key to providing a dynamic readable message on an outdoor LED sign.

CMYK vs RGB

This is a common difference that comes up a lot when designers familiar with print media are working on digital media. The bottom line is this: CMYK is for print media, and RGB is for digital media.

• CMYK: Stands for “Cyan (blue) Magenta (red) Yellow and Kent (black)” These are the colors of the ink that printers mix together to created printed media.

• RGB: stands for “Red, Green, and Blue”. These are the colors of light, that mixed together can create all the different colors we see on TV Screens, HD Projectors, and of course outdoor LED signs.

Any content made for digital displays of any type is being converted to RGB in one way or another. CMYK works for print media because you are ‘coloring’ the paper with ink. This ink will reflect light to produce a certain color. However, displays are physically producing this light to create colors, so they work in terms of Red Green and Blue. When mixed together in equal values they create white light. When they are all off, they create black.

In most cases you need to physically change the ‘color pallet’ of any files you send to a digital device from CMYK to RGB. This embeds the correct color information into the file so there is a direct translation value for the colors in the file, and the corresponding Red, Green and Blue light values.

DPI Value

This is another common term used in print media. It stands for Dots Per Inch and measures the amount of data the file contains “per inch” of the printed page. This is an important value in print media because a print with 300 dots per inch is going to be higher resolution than a print with 72 dots per inch.

However, it means absolutely nothing for digital media. Digital media is being displayed directly on a display with a set number of pixels that will not change regardless of how large the display is in inches. Saving content used for digital media with a high DPI only increases the file size, not the quality of the file.

Content Pixel Resolution

Monitors are typically 1024x768 or higher. This means 1024 pixels wide by 768 pixels high. However, outdoor LED signs are much larger and viewed from a distance, so they don’t need that many pixels. They range from 16x48 pixels all the way up to digital billboards that push 200x400 pixels.

Designers who feel comfortable with web design, or print media won’t usually have a hard time with billboard content. However, most outdoor LED signs are not billboards and have a lot less space to work with. Knowing how to use this space effectively can mean the difference between a viewer saying “Wow, that’s a great deal!” or “What did that sign say? I couldn’t read it.”

Font Size and Style

Font’s take up a certain number of pixels depending on their size. Sizing these fonts correctly according to the size and pitch of the sign is important. Fonts that are too small won’t be readable, or appear blurry.

Font style is important as well. The quick readability of a font is important and there are some that are good for LED signs (thick and bold) and other that are not (fancy and thin). Knowing how to use a variety of font styles while maintaining readability is extremely important for LED sign content.

These are just a few of the factors that designers need to take into account when creating content for outdoor LED signs. There are many others including pixel pitch, road speed, color matching, viewer distance, and a host of others that must be taken into account. This is why I feel the investment in a content service or an in-house designer is worth the cost. It’s not enough to just have funny quotes and smart text on an LED display anymore. Viewers expect dynamic, colorful content that is readable and memorable. Let a pro handle it, and give yourself a little more time to focus on what you do best, operating, building and expanding your business.

-SH

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.

Digital Signage Need To Know: The New Expectations for LED Sign Content

-Scott Hofheins

You guessed it; another post on content. I know we hammer on this pretty hard (content), but it is for good reason.  We see too many people using LED signs ineffectively, and we truly want to change that. Let me preface this by clarifying that I am talking about outdoor LED signs, viewed by moving vehicles. Specialized LED signs like indoor wayfinding screens, or stock tickers have their own unique approaches to content.

Today, I’m going to talk about what an LED sign IS, is NOT, and what it CAN be. But first, let’s begin with what an LED sign WAS. The first outdoor LED signs were an evolution of incandescent reader boards that used a matrix of lights to create messages like Time and Temperature, or scrolling stocks. Using smaller, more efficient lights like LED’s were a natural evolutionary step. Their operation is reflected by some of the terms carried over from that era like, Moving Message Center, Scrolling Marquee and Electronic Message Board. Seeing text move across a message center, away from Las Vegas, was a unique experience for viewers who were used to static signs or manual letter boards. If the business could afford a full color unit, it was even better. Text was king, and simple stick figure animations were top of the line.

Cut to 2013/2014. The power of our technology has increased exponentially since the 80’s, 90’s and early 00’s. We hold smart phones in our hand that we watch HD movies on, take calls, level and hang a picture, and play games with flying birds. We get news, media, and updates on our friends in rich full color content. Static signs, neon, and letter boards aren’t even a blip on the radar compared to what viewers expect to see these days. They want their information Fast, Relevant, and Beautiful.

An LED Sign is: An outdoor advertising tool able to demand your viewers attention through colorful, fresh content.

It is NOT: A outdoor wrist watch with a date feature, or a massive temperature notification device.  

This used to get peoples attention, but not anymore. Use conditional messaging instead if your software offers it. That way, your temperature message will only play when people want to see it, if it’s extremely cold, or extremely hot.

An LED Sign is: A place to provide relevant, colorful communication that is direct and to the point

It is NOT: A bulletin board with as many listings of events as possible on one screen.

Drivers have so many other things to focus on, including other LED signs. You must make sure your message is simple, quick, but still colorful and memorable.

An LED Sign is: A dynamic call to action, with regular content updates and real time information.

It is NOT: A Ronco “Set it and Forget It” rotisserie grill.

The content must be fresh and updated to speak directly to your target viewership. Display your message, then tell them what to do next.

An LED sign is: An outdoor display, meant to be viewed from a distance by moving vehicles or cars.

It is NOT: An HD television.

Content for an LED sign must be formatted for the sign size. LED signs may contain thousands of pixels (64x128), but an HD television contains millions (1920x1080). Thats a pretty big difference and it MUST be accounted for to produce readable content.

I believe this last comparison is one of the most important. You cannot scan a business card or event poster and put it on a typical LED sign. It will NOT look good. It would be like taping your business card to a wall 6 ft away, and trying to read it while driving past. .

So what CAN your LED sign be? Content plays a significant role in this. Just “getting the information out there” isn’t enough anymore.

Demand Attention

I don’t mean sign twirling, flashing, or crazy messages. Viewers are smarter than that and those approaches will give you negative attention. I’m talking about demanding attention by classy, professional content. It’s more than just formatting the resolution of an image or typing the right text , you have to format the layout, text size, contrast, colors and shape.

Readable

“Come on in and see our beautiful new bedroom and living room sets, on sale now until new years day” might be just fine for a print ad,  but it’s effectiveness drops considerably on an LED sign, even though it may technically fit on the screen. Your message has to be to the point and readable. Put yourself in the viewers shoes, are they really going to need all that text to get the message? The answer is usually no. Simplify your messages, and make them readable. Grab their attention with “Big Sale!” then follow up with details “ New Bedroom & Living Room Sets” then close with “Sale Ends New Years Day!”.

Relevant

Keep it updated! Talk to your audience directly throughout the day. Schedule specific messages for groups like commuters, lunch goers, families, and tourists. Know your audience, and talk directly to them.

Beautiful

As I mentioned before, viewers demand much more out of their content these days. The content has to look good. Details matter, and will be noticed by viewers sometimes consciously, but often subconsciously. This will determine in the few seconds they have whether they want to pay attention to your sign, or not.

If you don’t have the time to focus on managing your content, then do not be afraid to have someone do it for you. Use a content creation service, or contract a designer who specializes in LED sign content. It will be well worth it.

I challenge you to take a new look at your LED sign, and see what it CAN be. Even older LED signs can be improved by quality content and management. Talk to your sign company, search on google, see what you can find out there to help you utilize the full potential of your LED display.

-SH

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.

Digital Signage, Need to Know: Too Much, Not Enough? How To Create an Efficient and Effective Impression With Your LED Sign.

-Scott Hofheins

Your outdoor or indoor digital sign has something to say, and someone to say it too. How much information is too much? How much is too little? These are factors that any operator has to balance appropriately to generate effective content on a display. I’ll be focusing on outdoor digital signage for this post, but much of this can apply to indoor applications as well.

In order effectively use your display to it’s fullest, you must first define its purposes and prioritize them accordingly. What type of display is this going to be, and why would your viewers be interested in it?

Attention Getter
Do you want your sign just generate “flash” and attention to your existing location or static signage? This means that the actual text of the message isn't’ as important as the movement, colors and general excitement of the content. Some would argue that ALL outdoor LED signs fill this purpose, but I would caution that in most cases this is an auxiliary effect of your display, not the main purpose.

However, in certain situations this may your main goal, and you will need to focus your content on imagery, colors, and moving designs and shapes. In these cases, the “call to action” is the actual image and colors. The more colorful, hip, and dynamic the animations, the more visible your display will be, increasing the chance for the viewers to take a look.

Information Provider
Does your sign provide information to your viewers, like stocks, emergency information, events, dates and times, or statistics? Some examples would be factories, municipal buildings, traffic displays, scrolling stock tickers, and other special purpose applications.

While it is still important to make the information colorful and dynamic, the focus should be on the information itself. Content for these types of displays should still have movement and limited effects for attention, but the clarity and readability of the text should be the number one priority. That may mean using simple backgrounds, and easy to read, bold, and single color text.  

On-Premise Advertising
Most LED signs will fall into this category. Your sign is drawing attention and advertising for your business or organization “On-Premise” (or on the property) and is directing the viewers to stop in, call, or visit your website.

Content for these displays should be colorful, dynamic and attention getting on all levels, while still maintaining the clarity of the message. Effects should be eye catching, but end quickly to allow more time to communication a clear and concise message with the text. The text should still be colorful, but readable, and contain a call to action.

Scheduling the content for these displays needs to be done carefully. You must keep your messages focused, as your viewers have a limited time to view your display. They may only get 1 or 2 messages, or in some cases 3-4. Overcrowding a display with too many messages for separate products or services can sometimes cause viewers to be less responsive to the sign. This is not to say that content shouldn’t be updated, but that it should be focused. Keep the content fresh, and advertise your products and services in multiple ways, but control the quantity of each product or service on the sign.

Off-Premise Advertising
Digital billboards make up the majority of this area, but there are other avenues for this type of sign application like malls, multi tenant offices and shopping centers. These displays advertise products, companies, brands, and services that are not necessarily on the same property as the sign. They direct viewers to visit websites, call telephone numbers, or visit locations “Off-Premise” from the actual display.

Many of the same principles apply as an On-Premise sign. Content should be colorful, dynamic and attention getting. In many cases, these displays are much larger than On-Premise signs, so the content can use more fonts with more options for stylistic designs. However, the message still must be clear and readable. Most of the time, viewers for these are traveling on a busy street, and still have limited time to view the content.

Over-scheduling Off-Premise displays means less views (impressions) per advertisement, reducing the effectiveness for each ad. This in turn can affect the revenue you can generate with each ad, so most operators will limit the display to a certain number of slots per sign to control this factor.

How Much Time?

To maximize the effect your content has on the viewers, you must be very aware of how much time they have to look at your display. If you don’t have a good grasp on this, then take some time to drive by your sign and verify. How many seconds of real viewing time does the average driver, or viewer have?

If your sign is lucky enough to be in a location where viewers are captive, like standing in line at a ticket booth, or heavy traffic and/or traffic lights, then you don’t have to worry as much about overloading your sign. While your marketing should still remain focused, you can have more products or services listed for the viewers to see and react to.

Many signs are located on busy streets or freeways. You sign can be just as effective, but you must manage the quantity of your messages, and keep a targeted approach. These drivers may only have a couple of seconds to see your sign, and you need to make that count. The text of your messages should very simple and easy to remember. Effects and movement should be quick, and make way for the text immediately. Keeping your content fresh is even more important, to continue to grab the attention of the viewers.

Other locations can be a mixture of both. Some parts of day might be fast, and viewers don’t have much time to view the display. Other times can be slower, with increased traffic and slower traveling speed. Take this into account with your scheduling and content and adjust accordingly throughout the day. Good sign software provided from quality manufacturers will allow you to do this quickly and easily.

Call to Action and Relevancy

Make sure your content really counts. While general information is good, information that tells you to do something is much better. When creating content, always be thinking of what you want the customer to do with that information. Should they turn in right now and visit you? Should they call you for a quote? Like you on facebook for a discount? These are some examples of a call to action, directing the viewer to interact with you.

In addition to this, make sure your content itself has a purpose. Time, Date and Temperature messages don’t demand attention like they used to. While there are some locations and situations where these may be important, it’s usually best to spend the time advertising  your organization or products.

Put yourself in your viewers shoes, and make sure you're not overloading them with information. Organize your sign schedule, and design your content according to their needs. Every location is a bit different, but the key is to find out exactly what type of viewer is seeing your sign, when they are seeing it, and how long they have to see it. Take the time to do this, and you will find the balance of information, and get the most out of your digital sign.

-TSH

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.

Digital Signage Need to Know: Make your LED Sign Stand Out From the Pack

-Scott Hofheins

Whether it’s a giant digital billboard, or a small color unit, outdoor digital signage all share a the same goal: Communicate and Advertise to the Viewer. You could be selling cars, promoting events, or listing worship hours. The end goal does not change. Outdoor digital advertising is becoming more common across the US, it will become increasingly important to make your message stand out among the others. How do you do this?

It Matters...Always

During the initial period of an LED sign, owners may be heavily involved in the sign and its content to ensure a return on the investment. However, after the first year or so, this level of attention typically drops as other items appear more important than the LED sign. This leaves the sign working under its potential, outdated and rarely noticed from the lack of new content.

The truth is, your LED sign matters just as much on year 5, as the day it was installed. LED signs are not set it and forget it products, they must be updated and managed just like the rest of your business. If you're too busy, then invest in a content service, or in-house designer.

This can be done effectively without costing you an arm and a leg. Many designers are freelance, and can work on a “per ad” basis, where you only pay for what they produce. Additionally there are online content creation services available that are even more cost effective, without sacrificing quality.

Quality

The quality of the content will be the biggest factor in standing out among the rest. LED signs have unique requirements when it comes to content. Because they are viewed from a distance and a lower content resolution, font size/type, contrast  and timing are absolutely critical to the effectiveness of your sign.

A professional designer with experience in LED sign content knows this, and will be able to produce accordingly. While print media may contain thin stylized fonts, complicated backgrounds and effects, LED signs require very bold text, extremely readable fonts and animated effects that support the message, not done just for it’s own sake.

Animation

When done correctly, animations will provide a base for the message and accent the key points you are trying to make. In a message like “We Offer Free Diagnostics” you want to place the emphasis on “Free Diagnostics” not “We Offer”. A good animator knows this and drives the point home with subtle yet effective animated effects.

The timing of animated content is also very important. Good designers get the animation done quickly, then allow the viewer to read the text immediately. Slowly scrolling text across the screen is the least effective approach, yet we still see it all the time. This is a holdover from the “scrolling message center” days, when text was the only content you had. Viewers see so much more now, and their attention span is minuscule compared to 10 years ago. You must grab their attention, and get your message out as quickly as possible.

Timing and Scheduling

If your LED display plays the same content 24/7, your viewers will forget to look at it after the first couple of weeks. Unless you're in the sign business, you do not purposefully look at every LED sign regardless of the content.

Regular viewers demand fresh and updated content relevant to them.  By targeting specific audiences during specific times of the day, you can focus your advertising and demand attention from your viewers. I’m not talking about trying to find a way to strobe your LED sign, that will leave an extremely negative impression.  What you're looking for is:

• Who is looking at my sign
• When are they looking at it
• What content will speak to them directly.

Some common target groups include, commuters during rush hour, people going to lunch, weekend travelers, Sunday churchgoers, and a host of other groups specific to your locale. Do you have other businesses nearby that may have customers for you? Create messages for them, IE “Getting your Car Fixed? Stop by for a Drink While You Wait!”.

How long do your viewers have to look at the sign? Are there stop lights? Does traffic back up? I always recommend you drive the road and write down the average time viewers see your sign and schedule accordingly.

Get a Good Sign

This seems obvious, but surprisingly not advice always followed. Some think “a sign is a sign, and a message is a message”. If you still believe that after reading this post, then I cannot help you. The quality of a sign is extremely important. It has to work 24/7, and skimping on a sub-par manufacturer will result in negative impressions from viewers in the long run.

An LED sign with missing pixels, poor viewing angle, and dim LEDs will make you stand out...but in the worst possible way. You will look cheap, and your organization will look the same. I’m not saying you need over pay for a gold leafed sign, but you do need to avoid the temptation to purchase a sign with a price tag that’s too good to be true. Avoid this at all costs.

For those already burdened with a sub-par sign, there is still hope. If replacement is not an option. you can usually find at least a few qualities that you can maximize on the sign. In many poorly crafted signs, displaying “white” is a problem, and it looks splotchy. In this case, find the colors that DO look good, and maximize your content to match. Investing in a content creation service, or in-house designer is even more important for you. You may not be able to make your sign look amazing, but great is much better than poor.

Get a Good Warranty

Many in the industry would like you to believe that their displays will never have issues. I promise, they will. Unfortunately this is only realized after the sign is installed and paid for. All of the sudden, the sign warranty becomes THE most important factor of your sign.

A good warranty is at least 5 years. Some manufacturers offer a labor warranty, take it! This will mitigate the cost for repairs, and allow you to minimize the downtime.The difference between a quality manufacturer, and poor one is how often the sign has issues, and how they handle them.

Remember, it’s about Communicating and Advertising to your viewers. You will stand out when you talk to them boldly, tastefully, and directly. Put yourself in their shoes, and never forget the important role your LED display plays in your business. Invest in it, and it will provide for you.

-SH

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.