This article is an excerpt from John Ryan’s upcoming “Bank Marketer’s Guide to Digital Signage.”

Why digital signage?

In a word, it’s about communication. Digital signage provides banks with a way to communicate with customers with more frequency, relevance and efficiency than ever before.

Don’t panic…it’s only marketing!

For bank marketers who have worked primarily with traditional media, the prospect of moving into digital signage can be daunting. Admittedly, there are many new concepts and technologies that need to be understood and the learning curve can be steep. If put in the proper context, however, digital signage can be demystified, understood and harnessed.

Simply put, digital signage is just another point-of-sale (POS) marketing tool for bank marketers to use in furthering their retail marketing objectives. It may be new and apparently “high tech”, but in fact it operates on the very same principles that traditional POS marketers have been practicing for years.

Making the case for digital signage

Most people will agree that digital signage looks good and may believe intuitively that it works better than paper-based signage. But where’s the proof? Where’s the evidence that digital signage can help bank marketers do what they’re already doing…but better?

More effective than paper-based POS communications

For starters, digital signage is more powerful in attracting “eyeballs.” According to the 2007 Digital Out-Of-Home Media Awareness & Attitude Study conducted by Online Testing Exchange and SeeSaw Networks:

• 63% of adults said digital signage catches their attention — the highest level reported across all media surveyed including billboards, magazines, TV, the Internet, newspapers, radio and mobile phone advertising
• 53% of survey respondents found digital signage to be the most interesting medium
• 51% of 18-24 year olds reported taking an action as a result of seeing ads on digital signage

A more fully featured POS communications tool

While eye-appeal is important, the true potential of digital signage becomes apparent when one looks at the new capabilities it enables. Unlike paper-based signage, which requires costly and time-consuming production and distribution of “one-size-fits-all campaign materials, digital signage allows for nearly infinite variability, which results in:

• More relevant messaging through tailoring/localization – right down to the branch level
• More frequent refreshes (more messages per customer visit) resulting from more “shelf space”
• Greater speed to market through the use of messaging templates and near instant message distribution
• Greater timeliness of messaging with dynamic messages that are responsive to local business conditions

Digital signage performance in the bank environment

Positive metrics from our own installed base of 4,000 sites and 15,000 screens under management help to drive home the value of digital signage in banking. In recent years, we have seen digital signage results that include:

These metrics certainly help to make the case for digital marketing in the bank branch environment. However, bank marketers who are making the case to their higher-ups will need to set realistic expectations.

A way forward

Unlocking the potential of digital signage requires some up-front diligence on the part of marketers. Depending on the choices that are made about hardware, software and other network components, marketers run the very real risk of ending up with a digital signage network that does not support their needs. Choices that might seem perfectly reasonable from a budget or technical standpoint could actually result in not being able to communicate with customers with the level of sophistication that they envision.

The key is for marketers to be clear and specific about their goals for this new medium and how they expect it to help them better communicate with their customers — and then use those goals to guide planning, purchasing and implementation decisions.