Digital Signage, Need to Know: 'Tis The Season To Maximize Your LED Sign's Effectiveness.

The end of year Holiday Season is a prime time to maximize sales for retailers. While the future of the US economy may not hinge on every dime collected, as the media promotes, December does boast at least a 25% increase over the average monthly retail volume. And for some small businesses, strong December sales can be the difference between “ongoing” and “defunct”. Effective use of an on-premise LED sign by the business owner can add that extra boost that everyone is hoping for.

For churches too, the Holiday Season is prime time for LED sign usage- events, information, and spiritual messaging! This is their time to put that LED sign to work and recoup their investment by great communication and information sharing. Churches have different parameters for success than a retail operation but new worshipers, smiling board members, and a spike in Holiday giving makes everyone happy.

Here are five quick suggestions to maximize LED sign effectiveness during the Holidays, or really on any day:

• Show- Don’t Tell.   Drivers have seconds to view your message, that is a very short exposure time.  Advertising is imagery and drivers may have the time to read words and translate them to your intended image. Or maybe they won’t have the time or focus. Just display an image. Attention spans are also short at 45 mile-per-hour, so be efficient and shoot your best shot. I always recommend professionally produced content.

• Color Is Better. The impact of a full-color LED sign is 300 percent that of a single-color display with grayscale shading variations. With the price of full-color LED signs approaching the cost of a single-color display the extra cost is more than worth it. Go color, color is much more effective.

• Brevity- Keep It Simple. In keeping with bullet point "Show- don’t tell", if you are using a text-oriented display message, “less is more”.  If you’re selling hot dogs (for example), leave your creative writing skills at home and opt for “Delicious Hot Dogs .99” instead of “Come on in and sample our delicious hot dogs, only .99”. Like the Geico commercial, everybody knows this, but why do so many LED signs require messages that scroll on and on and on?

• Be Community Friendly. So many LED signs are blinding at night and that can be a nuisance to drivers trying to drive safely. With all the normal Holiday distraction, being momentarily blinded by your LED sign is not the way to attract new customers. I know several LED signs around town like this and why the owners insist on annoying every night-time passerby is anyone’s guess. Also, why waste money when there is no traffic or minimal traffic- turn the sign on and off via your scheduling software.  Use that software also to turn down the LED sign brightness at night. Remote network control is a plus- you no longer need to be at the office computer!

• Political Correctness. And finally- relegate your political opinion, religious beliefs and humor to your online blog, church, or man cave. At best you’ll alienate ½ your customers with your political opinion. Watch your attempts at humor, as well, because you may not really be as funny as you might think and people are easily offended. Everyone already knows what the true meaning of Christmas is supposed to be so if you need to remind them, do it gently unless you are, of course, a church! Your goal is to increase sales and you need all of your customers to do that.

So, if you are using an LED sign to boost your sales or promote your organization- the Holiday Season is a perfect time. Be smart, and follow a few common sense ideas to make it work for you. Remember Santa is “making a list and checking it twice…” and he knows if you’ve been LED sign “naughty or nice”.

This blog post represents my personal perspective and does not reflect the opinion of Vantage LED, Inc. or SignVine, Inc. or any other person or organization. Thank you to Vantage LED for allowing me to pen a guest blog every 3 weeks. If you have constructive feedback please email me at michael@signvine.org.  - Mike Prongue 

Digital Signage Sales 101: The Gold Rush Continues

As a guy, I have to admit that I’m addicted to reality TV shows on the Discovery Channel such as Gold Rush and Bearing Sea Gold.  What red-blooded American male does not want to see if Parker Schnabel , the 18-year old gold mining prodigy will make his season quota? His 93-year old Grandfather has taught him all the secret stuff the “old timers” knew, so I’m sure he’ll win!

The introduction of LED signs to the outdoor advertising industry has been called a modern day gold rush by some due to large amounts of new revenue being driven to independent sign companies. Just look around your town to see those shining golden nuggets going up on walls and poles all across your town!

Gold Rush, the TV show, focuses on several groups of small gold-mining operations, all with their own unique quirks and curiosities but despite the show’s cheesiness it reveals that Murphy’s Law is alive and well. Mr. Murphy said that “whatever can go wrong will go wrong at the worst possible time.”  I restate Murphy Law common knowledge just in case you’re coming back from a “flat earth society” meeting and may be the last person on earth who never heard of Murphy and his "law". 

For the gold miners, bulldozers get stuck in the swamp, large gold sorting machines get knocked over by errant excavators, personalities make it even worse and then you have the “know it all” experts leaning on the mining operation.  For sign companies- LED modules burn out, controllers fail, signs burn down and computers fail. The similarities between the two businesses are real.

Sign Companies remind me of the separate teams of gold miners on Gold Rush. Most sign companies are relatively small business operations, have invested in expensive equipment and have trained personnel familiar with a hands-on job. And, like the Gold Miner in Alaska, many cold climate sign companies have a “season”. Cold weather in the northern parts of the USA makes it nearly impossible to dig a hole in frozen soil. If the ground’s not frozen, then the snow might be blowing so hard that it makes life on the street miserable. So some sign companies have to make 12 months of revenue in 9 months just like the miners in the frozen north or the ones in the jungle facing a rainy season.

The winners on Gold Rush seem to share one common characteristic- they focus on digging and capturing the gold and avoiding mechanical and operational disasters.  The winners win because they’re “in the game” more and they stay as focused as a reality TV show allows!

What are the winning characteristics of LED sign companies “out in them thar hills”? How do the best LED Sign companies make it every day? The top 10 common tactics and strategies:

1.   A solid relationship with a LED sign manufacturer who delivers custom built, reliable product quickly.
2. Product that is differentiated from other brands and models. 
3. State-of-the-art control software that is powerful but easy to use so your customer can take complete ownership for the operation of their LED sign. 
4. Professionally made, exciting LED sign content that can be easily ordered by the end user. 
5. Long-term on-site service with every LED display sold. This reduces out-of-pocket service expenses and makes for happy customers. 
6. Select an LED manufacturer who does not take your sale and then pay you some token amount to install the LED sign sale they grabbed from you. 
7. Customer education- say it, explain it, teach it, help them, say it again and again until they understand. 
8. Keep promises, keep all promises all of the time. Do not make statements that can’t be verified. Write it down, provide written quotes and have any work order additions or subtractions signed by the customer. 
9. Charge fairly. It’s not necessary to retire on one sale. Charge the customer fairly and they’ll use you again. Over-charge them and they’ll be a “one-shot wonder”. 
10. An intelligent, creative, and sustained advertising effort is essential. You are in the advertising industry but that does not mean you don’t have to also advertise!

Whether your company needs to mine 1000 ounces of gold or sell 100 LED signs for a successful season you need a good team, a solid strategy, and a way to differentiate yourself from the other miners. For an LED sign company that differentiation is working with a manufacturer who is a partner, not just a seller of LED signs. Do your homework, ask the manufacturer some tough questions and call others who buy from them.

The LED sign ‘Gold Rush’ is still very young. There are some great claims to stake and millions of LED signs to sell. Go for it!

These comments are my personal perspective and do not reflect the opinion of Vantage LED, Inc. or SignVine, Inc. or any other person or organization. If you have constructive feedback please email me at michael@signvine.org.

Digital Signage Sales 101: The Tech Train is Leaving the Station

When everyone was “day trading” stocks during the hot stock market, back in the late 1990s- I was there. I eventually became a stockbroker but cut my teeth on day trading tech stocks. I was enthralled with emerging technology probably more so than actually the financial technicals of the underlying equity- DSL, communication systems, cellular system evolution and manufacturing the machines that make the machines.

As with any market there was a underground of scallywags who manipulated the penny stock market with false stories and message board posts. A common title might read “The train is ready to leave the station, all aboard!” So foolish investors would rush in to buy, and drive up the price of the penny stock. Then the scallywag sells out, makes a pocketful of loot, the stock price plummets and the late investors get burned. It happened all the time.

But regarding technology, when do you jump on that train? Note that the “technology train” never really leaves the station with you standing on the passenger platform waving goodbye. It’s track is a circle so it leaves the station to the North, just as it’s caboose enters the station to the South. You can’t really miss technology, it just depends when you want to jump on board.

Why would an LED sign end-user not buy today? Why do so many pizza joints and doctor’s offices still stand on the passenger platform in that technology train station and watch the train go by, over and over again.

I think the primary reason is that end-users (and perhaps their sign company) really still fail to see the LED sign as paying for itself with superior, cost-effective advertising, and increased sales revenues. Do you believe it?

Many of you are expecting me to toss that old Small Business Administration (SBA) study that everyone uses down onto the table and quote it verbatim. I could, because it’s correct, but I’ll do my own worse-worse case scenario on revenue generation.

Quoting only one line from that study:

“ Businesses who added an outdoor LED sign enjoyed typical sales increases of 15%-150%.”

Let’s say they only see a 10% increase in their business. Further, another SBA report says that the average sales revenue of a small business (100 employees or less) is $3,000,000. We all know that is very high because so many very small businesses are viable customers. So, let’s divide that number by 10, and say the average sales revenue is only $300,000, per annum.

Math time:

Sales increase of $300,000 x 10% is $30,000.

Assume a margin of 33%, ie- every dollar brought in, 66% is used to cover the cost of goods.

So, about $10,000 of increased income  is coming from those hot ads running on the LED sign.

If a $25,000 LED sign is financed for 4 years at 8% interest, the payment is, about $600 per month or $7,200 per year.

So if you can increase profit by $10,000 for a $7,200 expense, is that a good deal, or what? And, what if this “worst-case” scenario is too conservative?

Think about it. What happens after the 4 year financing period? The display will probably last a lot longer than that assuming the pizza joint doesn’t want to re-visit that technology train early and get a better one. Say it lasts 8 years. Years 5-8 don’t have any payment or interest charges associated with them. “Free Money” so to speak.

My guess is that the sign company either doesn’t show these facts to the pizza joint owner, or the sign company doesn’t believe it. Another possibility is that the sign company estimator is not that used to this simple scenario and could benefit from some role play on improving  his presentation. A simple “fill in the blank” worksheet could help and it’s simple to create.

Somehow you have to convince your customer that now is the time relinquish all fears and  jump on that “Technology Train”. Some manufacturer’s make it easier on the customer by providing professional content and easy-to-use, yet powerful, software.

Remember too that you can overcome customer objections but not excuses. Fear of complex technology is an objection- make it simple for them by doing your homework and finding the manufacturer that is shifting industry paradigms. Professional content and great software is not a promise of the future its out there right now.

Do your due diligence and figure it out!

These comments belong to me, Mike Prongue, and do not reflect the views, opinions, hopes or dreams of anyone else, anywhere else and this includes Vantage LED. I appreciate your constructive opinion which may be sent to me at michael@vantageled.com. 

Digital Signage Need To Know: Test drive an LED Sign (aka EMC) BEFORE buying...

-Deacon Wardlow

When you're out buying a car, it's a good idea to test drive the vehicle. The problem with Digital Signage (DS) systems is we're asking clients to implicitly trust us and our experience over their doubts. We ask them to look at the car, but they can't take it out for a spin until they own it. No wonder people are nervous about making the investment with DS.

We can pull out specifications and numbers to compare systems, but for many people outside of the industry the numbers just confuse the issue. The biggest concerns a client typically has:

1. Support (both on software and hardware): 
Can the techs be reached easily? How supportive are the staff? Can the support team walk the client through issues quickly and simply? How is the company guaranteeing the 5 year parts warranty? If the company goes out of business, how can the customer be assured their on-site warranty will be provided and covered?

2. Reliability (in construction, performance, and current technology):
Is the system built to last and perform (at its best) for the projected lifetime? What things has the manufacturer done to ensure this and how can you demonstrate the manufacturer builds quality and uses the latest technology?

3. Ease of use:
If the system checks out, the display is reliable, the build takes advantage of current technology available (or possibly is pushing new technology), it comes down to use. If a system isn't easy to use, the content will suffer. The end user is often a member of an organization with about 1,000 other things to do aside from their digital signage system. The DS is important to the organization, but they need to take care of their core requirement first and DS sometimes takes a back seat. This is when we see that one message which sticks around for days if not weeks without a change and the DS becomes a background component as it's lost any interest. Follow the 5 minute rule.

My most basic test of a system is often the 5 minute rule. With the DS controls am I able to login, create content, schedule content, and logout in 5 minutes without jumping through hoops and with the content looking decent (if not good)? How easy and accessible is the control for the system? Another concern, am I locked-in to a single PC or can I use my phone, tablet, home PC or Mac to control the system. We live in an age of anytime, anywhere access and it's important to have that same access to the DS system. My next great idea may not be when I'm sitting at my desk. It'll likely come to me at home or when I'm out with a friend and I may want to take advantage of that idea then and there before it's lost. I could take a note, but why bother if I can login to the system remotely and update what I need at that moment.

When you're demonstrating a system, are you confident the solution your using can pass the 5 minute rule for the client? Could you hand them the controls, confident they can make a good piece of content quickly and easily and then schedule it without jumping through a lot of hoops or special training? Do they have options to set conditional messages (content which triggers when an event occurs, like a weather change or something tied-in to sales figures for a particular product their promoting)? 

If you don't feel confident letting the customer test drive the system, are you sure you're using the right solution? Take a test drive and make sure the ride isn't just good, but great. An investment with DS isn't short term (typically you're looking at up to ten years or more), it's important to make sure that ride is smooth and the experience is excellent.

*Please comment here and/or email me directly with requests, questions, or follow-up at deacon@vantageled.com. Vantage LED has white paper resources and more educational material on the website (http://www.vantageled.com), please check it out when you have a moment. Note 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 noted.

Digital Signage, Need to Know: You Deserve to Make a Profit on LED Signs

- Mike Prongue

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. You read the title of this post " You Deserve to Make a Profit on LED Signs" and you asked the snarky question "Really, ya' think so Mike?"

Yes, I do, in fact. But how many of you leave profit dollars on the proverbial table?

Hey, I know it’s a tough environment out there in American business – still! It doesn't matter if you sell mums, straw, pumpkins or LED signs. Is this the new normal? No one knows for sure, but we all know that infinite multi-digit sales growth is impossible mathematically. So, what you do sell must provide profit- makes sense to me.

Competition for many LED sign dealers is intense. There’s a battle going on in the industry of the “imports” versus the “domestics”. However, this competition is not like the one that impacted the US automobile market when Japan produced a high-quality, high-technology, reasonably priced, value intense option with Honda and the Toyota and whacked the market share of GM, Ford and Chrysler.

The current war in the LED sign industry is a curious one where LED sign companies have sampled imported LED sign products and despite a documented record of poor performance and customer unhappiness the cost is compelling low. Never mind that the cost of the subsequent service issues, the loss of trusted customers and the hassle with every element of dealing with the importing process wipes out any net profit on the project.

Sadly, I think that some dealers are content with losing money on an LED sign project, then trying to make up for it on subsequent projects by doing exactly the same thing. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Look, you have a right (if not an obligation) to make money on the sale of an LED sign and allow that profit contribution to enhance the profitability of the overall project- labor, static sign upgrades, permitting, whatever your project entails. If you’re not making some reasonable profit margin, for argument sake say 30% on the LED sign (cost is $7,000, sales price is $9,999) then you need a plan to regain what you are entitled to. 

Oh yes, I have one, a patented 5-step plan for your review:

• Sell a product that works and does not drive your true profit margin to zero, or worse, with service calls and customer hassle. 

•  Sell something that stands out (differentiated for you marketing elite)- technology, simple for the customer to understand and use, or has something that makes the customer want it. An electric seat warmer is one odd example that has sold many an automobile for those customers living in cold weather.  

• Promote your company and stand out from the crowd. Does your office have an LED display outside? You have to “walk the talk”. Many domestic suppliers will offer price concessions for a display on your own wall or pole. Also, what about your Website? Sure it has vehicle wraps displayed prominently on it and that looks great, but what about the LED sign page? Does it need a little work? A better set of LED display images?

•  Do you have a LED sign demo trailer? There are many awesome designs for compact trailers engineered for LED signs. If you email me at Michael@vantageled.com I’ll turn you on to a company I recently ran across that provides a compact trailer with LED sign lift capability for under $8000. There are countless examples but dollar for dollar this is the best one I've seen.

• Promote LED signs in different ways. Participate in charity events, actually go to those Chamber of Commerce meetings, attend regional trade shows and rent a booth (some are affordable). Having a great Website is one way to attract customers, but taking the LED sign to the streets via a trailer or a portable display of some kind, allows you to market the old fashioned way – “eyeball to eyeball”. Not every customer appreciates your e-efforts as much as you do despite the planned upgrades to your LED sign page. They’d rather have the old “touch and feel and inspect” buying experience.

These ideas are not new. Very little is truly new, but rather a rehash or a recompilation of an old idea. But think over these five points.

What am I saying? You deserve to make a profit on LED sign, but if you're not, then you may have to "earn the right" to make a profit. LED signs are not a commodity, at least not yet. There are major differences, but sometimes, not unlike other major purchases, the customer needs a reason to pay more. They are paying as much for many LED sign projects as a new car. How many times have you purchased a new car by going to the Web and saying "okay, I'll take one of those, let me click here"?

You have to figure out what kind of dealer you want to be. If you want to be the “lowest priced kid on the block” then you’ll attract customers with the least money to spend. Not only will they have just $8,000 to spend, but they’ll try to spend only $4,000 of it. They’ll come to you and buy the lowest priced LED sign on the market, work an even lower price than your first quoted price then get you to promise some type of support and hold you accountable each and every time the LED sign hiccups. You know what I’m talking about.

On the other hand, if you are able to prove you have an LED sign product that shows a great return on investment by driving new customers in the door, installed by experts, with a “no fooling around” warranty, you will have proved  you are not just dabbling in the LED sign game. You’ll attract smarter customers who want a quality product and are willing to pay for it… hence, your 30% margin.

Your choice, but it’s your right to make good money on what you sell. If it’s a no-win, “toxic”, request for bid… run away, don’t try to administer CPR to a dead chicken.

These comments belong to me, Mike Prongue, and do not reflect the views, opinions, hopes or dreams of anyone else, anywhere else and this includes Vantage LED. I appreciate your constructive opinion which may be sent to me at michael@vantageled.com.  

Digital Signage “Need To Know”: Exponential Growth for the LED Sign Industry?

“The basic goal-reaching principle is to understand that you go as far as you can see, and when you get there you will be able to see farther.” Zig Ziglar

There are so many quotes on being successful that an entire family of blogs could be written. The one I like the most is paraphrased “The hardest thing about being successful is continuing to be successful.”

Few people would question the impact that LED sign technology has made upon on-premise, and off-premise advertising. Further, timely information sharing by government agencies, transportation concerns and manufacturing (to name just a few) is facilitated by the LED sign. 

Business has been good, growth has been positive, technology has moved on and once tightly-wound, anti-LED sign communities are realizing that “there is nothing to fear, except fear itself,” as rules are relaxed allowing LED signs to be installed.

But where are we? No one knows for sure, but some think that the LED sign industry is ready for exponential growth. Could be, but to understand this phenom, we must know what exponential growth is.

Wikipedia describes exponential growth as “Exponential growth occurs when the growth rate of the value of a mathematical function is proportional to the function's current value.”

Simply said, the growth in the current period is proportional to the number of transactions in the most recent period. It is important to note that exponential growth can’t continue indefinitely as the number of customers on earth is exceeded. But for the near term- exponential growth is a good thing!

What are the considerations of exponential growth? What must be present for exponential growth to begin and to perpetuate?

First-Mover Advantage

Depending how one looks at First-Mover Advantage, either this factor exists in the LED sign industry 100%, or not at all. If you see the LED sign industry as a subset of the existing sign industry, and since signs have been around for thousands of years,  then clearly there is no way the First-Mover Advantage exists. 

If you see the LED sign industry as being a stand-alone industry, totally unique in many ways, with an offering that does not compare significantly to other elements of the conventional sign industry then the First Mover Advantage does exist.

I believe in the later with the analogy that a calculator is really not a manual adding machine any more than a LED sign is a Reader Board.

Product Innovation

The LED sign industry has been “knee-deep” in product innovation since its inception. These innovations do not exist to just be “cool” but rather to answer some consumer need: bright LEDs, longer life LEDs, faster processors, industrial PCs with solid state hard drives, virtual pixel technology, easy system use through simple software and more. Recently some industry plateauing of product innovation seems to have occurred. This is inevitable until a technological breakthrough occurs or consumers demand more from their investment and companies listen to their customer.

Trying to change the dynamic of how an LED sign can function through technology introduction was seen at the recent ISA Expo 2013 as user remote control of LED networks was realized using multiple platforms such as i-Pad, Android tablet, and laptop access using the ubiquitous “Cloud”. Also, conditional programming options for content display was another innovative idea seen that indicates innovation may be picking up.

Innovation will continue improving the LED sign product offering making it more simple, powerful and reliable. These enhancements will drive widespread acceptance, and that acceptance will drive down price as demand increases.

Financial Capital and Demand Changes

So much of our world is dependent and interconnected. So it follows that having sufficient capital must exist for technology changes to occur to drive consumer demand fast enough to create exponential growth.

Looking at the major players in the LED sign industry and the amount of capitalization that exists (domestic and international) it’s clear there's adequate funding to take the industry in any direction desired. But what comes first, investment in engineering and technology through adequate capitalization or explosive consumer demand? With capital investment in advanced machinery, engineering and production comes the newer product with the features and conveniences to create benefits apparent to the customer, increasing demand. 

Already in many markets LED signs are the expectation, not the exception. Further, like what happened in the Television industry, the grayscale LED sign (the black and white TV) is being antiquated by the RGB full-color LED sign (the color TV) as prices have been reduced.

The excitement does not seem to be coming from the “old guard” manufacturers in the LED sign industry as much as with newer companies, the younger companies that see a different future for the LED sign industry. Perhaps they see the LED sign as something other than a metal box with flashy lights and more of a robust data-oriented communications platform capable of a sophisticated functions, yet easy to control and master.

The automobile industry, the television industry, the VCR industry, the PC industry and the Cell Phone industry experienced exponential growth when the above 4 conditions occurred. Looking at a sales chart that reflects this exponential growth there is what appears to be a huge and instant sales explosion. What really happens is that the rate of growth just continues at the same rate from period to period. We are headed in that direction- now.

Are you ready for the exponential growth? When the critical mass of customers is reached, the need for an easy-to-use product is realized and the price/benefit relationship is resolved and the previously mentioned items are in-play the “race is on!”

Get your trucks warmed up, cause there’s “Gold in them LED signs!”

These comments belong to me, Mike Prongue, and do not reflect the views, opinions, hopes or dreams of anyone else, anywhere else and this includes Vantage LED. I appreciate your constructive opinion which may be sent to me at michael@vantageled.com.