IN THIS POST
It’s a fact that 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual. Almost 76% of American buyers have decided to enter a store simply because of what they see on signage
Digital signage are the future of communication and with no doubt are going to play a very important role in the marketing and advertising landscape.
Be it corporate, retail enterprises, small shops, restaurants or any other business for that matter, signage are needed to market and gain momentum. Electronic signage are one of the most modern ways with which a right connection with the target audience can be achieved.
That said, the first question any business considering digital signage would face is how much of the cost/investment they are looking for here?
One would normally Google things like the average cost of having a digital signage or how much is the price of digital signage, however the cost depends on specific needs, so the information on average costing might not quite be right for you.
There are several factors like the kind of hardware, the electronic signage software , the support and the content that come into account for this. For a person who is very new to signage, this might sound a bit daunting.
The hardware – Smart TV or an Android TV can start with $100 and could go to $2500 or more in case of commercial TVs depending on the brand.
The Amazon Firestick could cost between $30 to $40.
The Software – You can either go with $12 per screen monthly or $120 per screen annually.
Digital signage costs can be averaged by factoring components, a few of them we listed above. Here is an elaborated list for your understanding:
Hardware procurement is one part and a major investment that you need to make at the start. Once done, you can expect the hardware to stay with you for at least three-four years or even more if used properly.
Take care of the below things before deciding which hardware to go for:
Make sure you go with a screen/TV that is sturdy, has a nice brand standing, offers relatively a price-worthy warranty and has good credibility in the market. Going for cheap hardware is tempting but if they do not offer a long term warranty, its money’s gone to waste.
The kind of content that is going to be played on the screen as well will play a role in determining the hardware. Make sure that if you have high resolution images and videos, the RAM capacity in the hardware is able to handle it.
The supporting hardware as well needs to be taken into consideration like the cable or wifi-connecting router. Make sure to add the cost of digital mounts as well that would be needed to handle the hardware.
The cost part for all of this could come from a few hundreds to a few thousand dollars. First make sure to take note of the budget and then go on to adjust your purchases accordingly.
Recommendations for display screens:
1. Samsung business QB55R 55 inch 4K UHD LED commercial signage display for business with HDMI
Price – $1005.64
Features
Available on: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W7L7HDP/
2. LG 55SE3KE-B digital signage display – 55″ LCD – 1920 X 1080 – LED
Price – $1405.61
Available on : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K12YVL8
3. Samsung 43-Inch BE43T-H Pro TV | commercial | easy digital signage software | 4K | HDMI | USB
Price – $338.59
Available on : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08656YC39/
4. ViewSonic CDE4302 43″ 1080p Commercial LED Display with USB Media Player, HDMI
Price – $298.99
Feature
Available on: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0169RW7A8/
A media player will be needed to steam your content across screens. It acts as a bridge between the content and the display screens.
The kind of media player you choose will depend on your budget, the hardware that you go for, the kind of software that will work on the media player as well as the operating system that you might prefer to use.
Recommendations on Media Players:
If the software that you are going for is an Android based solution, the best option is Amazon Fire Stick. You can go for Android Box as well.
Android Box link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z6NV23R
Amazon Fire Stick: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079QHML21
Amazon Fire Stick Lite: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YNLBS7R
An Android box will cost you between 60-80 USD and a firestick will cost you only 39 USD. There are many other plug-n-play media players as well in the market that you can select based on your preference.
Again the cost of installation is one time and once done, this won’t be recurring. The cost might vary based on the size of the screen. If it is a normal sized screen you might need to spend a few dollars to get it installed. However if it’s a huge wall mount, the cost will definitely go on a higher side.
Make sure to choose an installation company that is well-versed in getting the right installation done. Wrong installation process could lead to the damage of your hardware so make sure this is right. The best way to ensure this is to choose the right installation partner.
Installing cost could start from 130 USD for an average sized screen and could go to 500 USD. If you are looking to have large sized screens installed the cost goes to a couple of thousands times the number of places you are planning to have the installation done.
This is one of the most crucial decisions to be made just like that of a hardware. The software preferably should be cloud-based and be easy to use. It should be easy to navigate and quick to implement.
When it comes to using any software, people who are opting for them for the first time will feel they cannot handle it. So if you opt for a software, make sure they have a quick support team who is available to answer all the questions you might have at any point of time.
A lot of software providers offer a monthly payment option for you to see if your team is able to manage updates with it easily. With this kind of flexibility, life gets easier. In market some softwares offer the pricing of as low as 9 to 15 USD per month for you to check out the best suit. For a year it could go about 99-300 USD which makes sense since you get everything right from menu updates/edits to new menu uploads onto the TV.
The cost for this depends on the frequency of updates you are going to make on your screens. If it is going to be constant, you need to hire a designer unless you can create and manage the design edits yourself.
If the updates are not as frequent, you might need to spend on freelance design services. These services could start with 15-25 USD/hour.
Our digital signage template editor offer ready made templates that can be put to the right use and can as well be edited as you need. Be it restaurants who want to edit their menus or be it huge corporate office who want to put up an event banner, it offers different kinds of templates that can be used easily and tweaked as needed.
One most important thing that you need to consider while taking Digital signage into picture is the kind of content that will be displayed. Make sure you go with one that has everything right from images, html as well as videos that can be played onto the system.
So to put it down, the one time cost for the digital signage will include the below:
The ongoing costs will include the below:
With competitive software available in the market, the cost is easy to bear. The content creation becomes an easy task for simple updates with customisable templates available for several occasions on DotSignage software.
Only if your organisation is into major media solutions where the digital signage play a major forefront, a professional designer is needed.
Make sure they are used daily for any kind of content you feel the viewers should see
To make the most use of the digital signage once you have got them is to make use of them daily. This might sound bizarre however it is often the case that many businesses if they have opted for a single screen might even forget to use it daily.
For businesses that thrive on digital signage, it won’t be an issue since they would take note of keeping the signage up to mark.
Ensure that the content is updated regularly on your signage
This is again a very important part of the process. To make the best use of a signage is to make sure that its content is updated regularly so it stays more engaging for the viewers.
With in-built templates of our system, you can simply tweak them to your liking and use them. The best part is you have a variety to choose from which makes it easy for you to update the content on the TV screen easily.
Use all the features of the software to make the most of your signage
A digital signage software has many things to offer like pre-scheduling your content well in advance, the ability to custom-design templates on screen, divide your screen into different sections to display a variety of content or using videos or HTML in the content. This is just a part of it, actual software will have a lot to offer.
Software service providers always have a strong support team that will answer all your queries/questions. One can reach them out as needed to ensure the best use of the software.
After all this, can we conclude if digital signage are worth it?!
If put to right use, digital signage are definitely worth it. The best part is, they are so easy to use and manage. Below are some of many reasons why having digital signage for your businesses is definitely worth it:
If you are seriously considering having impactful marketing campaigns, digital signage are definitely worth the time and effort.
Reach us out today for a quick demo on info@dotsignage.com and get your queries answered or you can try our 7 day Free Trial
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Dot Signage is a cloud-based digital signage software to display multimedia content across remotely placed screens.
