Digital Signage, Need to Know: Cheap is, as Cheap does.

One evening this past week, as I prepared to click over to Netflix to watch a movie, the old sitcom “Leave it to Beaver” was on.  Wally, played by Tony Dow, the older of the two kids who star in this American classic, was lamenting the fact that his sarcastic and hard-headed friend Eddie Haskell, played by Ken Osmond, could never change his behavior and he said something like this:

“You could slug him a thousand times and he’d never get the message- Eddie is Eddie!”

Well, that is exactly the attitude of some sign companies who still sell LED Signs on price alone, cheap price alone!

We’ve slugged them and slugged them with information. Heck, they “slug” themselves each day with unhappy customers, repeat service calls, and technical issues: LED signs that dim after a few months for example, but some never seem to “get the message”.

Many LED sign companies have gotten the message, but sometimes when their customer  screams “Price!” they run back to those importers who advertise their product on “price” alone- those importers who steadfastly deny all they know, hear and see to be true when they advertise that “All LED signs are alike!”

Really, there is never a reason to sell on price. I know, I know… you are thinking “that one guy across town said he’d only spend $8,000, so I had to import a ‘burner’ to make him happy!”

Let’s try to shift your LED sign paradigm a bit! Shall we?

When you buy a watermelon that is an expendable item, right? When you buy an X-Box or a TV set, for example, those are items that have value because they entertain you. These items are commodity items, or consumer items. Other items such as a refrigerator or a kitchen range have value because they help you live comfortably as we can store and process our foods effectively.  They have utility value.

Sometimes a person can save money by “going cheap” on commodities or consumer items. A cheap range may be all that is required if a person only cooks once a week. Or if a refrigerator is for occasional use in a vacation home, then you can argue that a basic model may suffice because it’s not relied upon daily. 

An LED sign is not a commodity no matter how determined the ad in the magazine declares that it is!

An LED display is called upon frequently to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is the “face” of the business that is projected to new customers and the community. It is the “pitchman” always promoting the business. 

Here is how you show the customer that they can afford a quality LED sign having it paid for from the increased sales the new LED sign provides.

You’ve heard it before but here again is the process:

• Determine what life-span you wish to assign your LED sign installation. For the sake of argument, be conservative and say “5 years.”

• What is a realistic interest rate for commercial financing,"8 percent”?

• Assume a percentage increase in the customer’s business from the new LED sign,“15 percent”.

• Assume a gross margin percentage for the business, “25 percent”.

• What is the current sales level of the business, “$600,000”?

Do the math:

The finance cost of $20,000 at 8% interest for 5 years is about $405 per month.

If sales increase at 15% from the current $600,000, at 25% margin, how much new income is there available to pay for the LED sign?  ($600,000*.15*.25) = $22,500 per year or $1875 per month.

So the sales increase from the LED sign should cover the cost of the financing and add an additional $17,640 to the business’ annual income ($22,500 – ($405*12 months)). It's a "free" sign!

Why go cheap? Why suffer with poor, cheap software? Why project the face of your business or non profit concern with an LED sign that operates intermittently?

Customers have a belief that “X” dollars is all they can spend or that's all the project's worth. It is your job to dispel that myth stuck in their head. Slug 'em with some information, or an example to keep them from buying an LED sign they'll regret for years.

Other considerations when selling LED signs:

What do you do when you have a non-profit? How do you make the return on investment point?

Each new member of the church’s congregation, or each new member of the Elk’s Club (for example) adds to the success of that non profit. Ask the question:

“How many new faces will the LED sign attract?” Or, if that question is too precarious, ask how much money the non profit spends on bill board or TV advertisement that will not longer be required.

A local church had suspended it’s billboard ads, and then suddenly a new LED sign popped up at the church! Someone was on their toes at that LED sign company!

Another suggestion is to challenge the customer and have them drive around the town and look at the LED signs that don't work! Who makes them? No-name Nellies... imports. Show them the LED sign carcasses that litter the sign poles in your town.

On premise advertising works. That is an undeniable fact. 

It works better for all parties concerned when the product is a high-quality,  and domestically engineered and manufactured. Say it… “USA, USA, USA!”

All I've needed to know in life was learned from Wally Cleaver, "Golly, that sure is neat!"

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.  - Mike Prongue

Power of Communication for Non-Profit Organizations

When you step-back at look at the incredible transformation of our world in the past 20 years, there is one component of change that cannot be ignored- communication. Communication is messaging, data, financial, voice, and any other exchange of information that can be thought of. This driving force is behind everything from the establishment of a cadre of billionaires, to the emergence of China as potentially the greatest economic force in history. 

Without communication, the networks come down, the Internet goes dark and we revert back to campfires and scratching on cave walls.

Meanwhile, few people would argue, that non-profit organizations are the back bone of our communities. They help raise our children, support the less fortunate and provide spiritual direction. They are important, however you slice the proverbial pie you must acknowledge that they do help people and society benefits from having a strong non-profit presence.

Most non-profit organizations seem to operate with:

• Budget constraints
• Reduced staffing
• Restricted hours of operation
• Lack of other resources that for-profit organizations take for granted

Knowing this, it would seem obvious that every non-profit organization would strive to increase efficiency and do everything in their power to improve communication:

• Operate in a cost-effective manner at all times
• Maximize productivity of the staff they do have
• Communicate at light speed and keep all those with a vested interest in their affairs informed.

How can a non-profit do this, with reduced money to spend?

SMART is always the acronym for any solution:

S- Strive to accept technology

M- Make every dollar count

A- Act rather than delay
R- Realistic expectations

T- Timely implementation

Since our business is LED signs (or you would not be reading this) and the LED sign industry (few would disagree), it’s paramount to realize that what we represent fits nicely with what non-profits require. Who are the largest consumers of LED signs? This is an anecdotal statement but schools, churches, government institutions buy a lot of signs. Is this an accident or do they realize that LED signs make them more efficient, reduce the need to say the same thing over and over again, and save them time (which is money)?

It’s a perfect marriage, a perfect fit- non-profits with quality LED signs and advanced control software and network control systems to make them work. Save money, improve operations, keep those involved informed all with an LED sign. Yes, Virginia, it is just that simple.

The opportunity is waiting for every Sign Company. Establish a relationship with your non-profit customer, and discuss their options. If they can’t afford that LED sign, suggest crowdfunding, financing, leasing, and other options to help them raise funds for it. Take your non-profit customer into 2014 with not only a competitive bid, but a way to easily afford the solution.

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.  - Mike Prongue

Digital Signage Sales 101: SignVine Crowdfunding- How It Works!

My last blog entry introduced the idea of SignVine's online fundraising efforts to help non profits raise funds to purchase a changeable message sign for their facility. Now this entry will describe what a campaign looks like, and what SignVine does to make the campaign a success.

A key benefit of using SignVine is that all the information regarding the campaign is at a central location where everyone can learn, participate and donate. It will contain the organization’s name, their story, their sign drawing, and funding goal. It will also feature how many " Viners" have donated, amount pledge to date, and how many days are left on the campaign along with two ways to donate:

•  Give & Receive A Gift is the most popular which requires the donor to become a part of the SignVine community as a Viner where they can pledge support to your campaign, leave comments, and register their address for their “Thank You” Gift.

•  Quick Donation are for people who solely want to support a campaign and are content not to receive a gift.

Both donation choices will have the option for the donor to remain anonymous, otherwise the donor will be listed on the Viner's tab.

Tell The Story
The Gardener leads the charge into the campaign from the very first day by working with SignVine to craft the online story. The history, cause, and drive of the organization must be outlined with purpose showing their heart to the world! Every campaign must have a purpose bigger than itself. If a church needs an outdoor LED sign to advertise the Christmas Tree sale, the story is not the sale, but what good the money collected from selling trees will bring. They sell the benefit, not the activity. Whatever narrative a Gardener creates, it will become the reality for his organization.

Support The Story with Pictures and/or Video
Factual, but creative video content, along with dynamic pictures of the Non Profit
organization is crucial. A picture (and video) truly is worth a 1000 words. Non Profits are encouraged to seek help from SignVine but also use their own internal talent. Until you ask, you may not know that the son of one of your Deacons is an expert in video production!

Working With SignVine
Unlike other crowdfunding sites, SignVine will stay involved. You are not just renting space on their website. The team at SignVine works with you to help achieve a successful campaign.

All monies raised (net fees) are given to the Non Profit Organization. This is not an “all for nothing” campaign- they end the campaign wealthier than when they started.

What SignVine Does To Help:

• Work with the Non Profit to Plant the SignVine Campaign on their and with a  unique link, ex: www.signvine.org/yourorganization

• Provide suggestions and help with writing the narrative story about your organization.

• Provide help to produce the video for the organization

•  Provide online resources that the Non Profit can use to organize and mobilize their team, track results, and spread the word to the community.

•  Write and distribute a press release concerning the campaign and efforts.

•  Contact local media, like radio, TV, and newspapers asking for support.

•  Additional marketing support in the community based on need.

•  Provide a dashboard to track progress and provide updates to the pledging Viners.

•  Stay in contact with the Non Profit.

The Benefits SignVine Provides:

• Expert help to stage, promote and market the sign project to raise the necessary funds.

• SignVine.com is a place where the Non Profit's voice can be heard and people can catch a video glimpse of the story 24 hours a day.

• A default SignVine gift system associated with the campaign, and they'll automatically ship them to your Viners.

• A financial system to process donations (Cash donations can still be accepted and entered. Ask them how).

• An organization with vast experience in the Sign Industry and partnerships with reliable sign companies.

• Real people to assist the Non Profit and provide overall guidance.

The Role of the Non Profit
The role of the Non Profit is all about execution and passion. The Gardener is the person who is actually in the "garden" each day tending to the SignVine Campaign. The Gardener measures progress and adjusts the processes day-to-day. It is a big job. SignVine advice is to choose a Gardener wisely for it’s through their leadership with the help of SignVine that a campaign will succeed.

The Gardner is the cheerleader, coach, and quarterback all rolled into one.

Next step is to build a team within the Non Profit group to execute the campaign. A campaign can be a lot of work. This online donation campaign will require online effort. It will be tough, it will worry you at times, but done with spirit and determination it will be fun and successful.

Whatever the game plan requires- everyone plays the game differently. Perhaps the plan is for each person to call businesses in the area. Perhaps the plan is to send an email to everyone in the church with the unique SignVine link to your campaign and ask them to post it to their Facebook or Twitter account.

The Non Profit owns the Campaign. SignVine provides the tools, the visibility, and the online resources for a Non Profit organization to have a successful campaign. The SignVine goal is to coach and encourage an organization and provide the guidance for success, but most of the actual day-to-day hard “gritty” work is the responsibility of the Non Profit.

SignVine knows the crowdfunding model works, but it’s not a guarantee. The true elements for success lie within the Non Profit organization. If the campaign does not fund, the cause is more than likely based in execution of the actual fund raising effort- the feet on the street.

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. 

- Mike Prongue

Digital Signage Need To Know: Helping Non-Profits Purchase LED Signs

Every retail sign company, whether they have one storefront or a thousand, have customers whose need for an outdoor messaging sign is larger than their allotted funds. Many of these customers are non-profit organizations such as churches, civic groups, or community-focused clubs. They need to be able to share their message, reach their congregations, and promote their events and services, many times without the bank account to “make it happen”.

Until now, many have relied upon donations, bake sales, car washes and raffles to raise funds,  but no longer! The days of volunteers counting nickels and dimes on the home kitchen table are finally over.

Crowdfunding, also called crowd-financing or crowd-sourcing, is the collective effort of individuals who network and pledge their money, using the Internet, to financially support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. In the case of SignVine™, they are specialized in raising funds for important changeable messaging signage, such as LED or reader board, for deserving non-profit organizations within the community.

Paul Martin, Project Director, and Mike Prongue, SignVine™ Campaign Director, provided feedback regarding the SignVine™ launch and the mission of the website.

“This Internet crowdfunding phenom has existed for about 15 years,” stated Mike Prongue, “We’re just the first to adapt it to charitable fundraising to provide outdoor message signs for deserving nonprofit organizations.”

A church, for example, needs a LED display to replace their old  monument sign. A church representative would enroll on SignVine.org and initiate an electronic fund-raising campaign to capture donations by supplying details about themselves and their outdoor messaging sign requirements. The church then works closely with a local sign company, part of the SignVine™ Builder network, to define the costs and technical requirements of the project.

“Our sign company partner will provide a quote,” Prongue said, “And that dollar figure will be the target for the campaign."

The specifications for their sign project are entered into their online profile, a financial fundraising goal is set and the campaign begins. The church promotes the SignVine™ website which provides visibility to the donation campaign locally, on social media, and other venues to raise the required money. Monies are pledged by interested parties and their fundraising goal is met and their sign project becomes a reality.   

“Using the SignVine™ website and by providing a little bit of information, a church or club can make it’s wishes come true by accessing its greatest resource- it’s people,” Prongue said, “Once they connect to people and tell their story, electronically or otherwise, people rise to the occasion and support them with donations.”

“Contributors are motivated by more than just altruism,” Prongue said, “Each donation level has a reward associated with it. It could something like a commemorative e-medallion or a T-shirt or a more substantial gift at higher donation levels- that’s pretty cool!”

SignVine™ will provide donors many “thank you” rewards from a “Golden Shovel” to the previously mentioned online medallions for proud displaying on the donor’s Website. The non-profit organization enriches the SignVine™ rewards with their own offerings to say “thank you” to every donor.

“We want to have fun with this,” Paul Martin, Director of Marketing for SignVine, Inc. commented, “ We employ a ‘Garden’ theme, and state that we’re ‘growing’ a sign. The campaign coordinator for the non-profit is a Gardener and all contributors are “Viners”.

“Also, we will work with individuals and companies who are benefactors contributing money and services to promote the success of our overall efforts,” Martin  said, “We call these people or groups ‘Patrons’.”

The first Patron that has pledged to support every campaign is Spectacular Media, an Austin, Texas based digital signage cloudware company - pledging a Copper-level content creation subscription of their SM Infinity™ cloud-based software residing on the internet, allowing their clients to securely login from any PC or MAC connected to the internet and request content for their display. Spectacular Media will provide free Copper Level service to any LED sign purchased through the SignVine™ donation campaign. This means free professionally produced content to the non-profit. You can review the Spectacular Media™ company at their website- www.spectacularmedia.com.

The SignVine Website and campaign efforts will debut in March 2014 but several non-profits organizations have volunteered for early beta-testing and are currently working with SignVine™ to refine financial collection systems and procedures.

"We’re excited to launch this SignVine™ service,” Martin declared, “It’s an efficient and easy system for deserving community organizations and we feel it’ll be a fantastic solution for them.”

For additional information on outdoor messaging  sign campaigns currently being funded, or for more information on SignVine please visit their Website at www.signvine.org.

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. 

- Mike Prongue