ONQ Digital - ONQ Digital - The Latest Digital Signage Trends
There are few communication platforms as effective and innovative as digital signage. Digital signage has been adopted by a wide variety of sectors and industries including advertising, healthcare, retail, and hospitality. You may be considering investing in digital signage to help improve some areas of your business, or you might want to expand and evolve your current digital signage strategies. Achieving either of these goals requires a firm and relevant understanding of the current digital signage landscape, including any new or growing trends. To help you stay informed and updated, we’ve compiled this brief guide to some of the most noticeable trends in the digital marketing industry in 2023.
What Are The Latest Trends in Digital Signage?
Digital signage is a constantly evolving field, and there are always new trends and technologies emerging. Whether it be for marketing and promotional purposes, to streamline corporate communication, or to enhance aesthetics and attract attention, the capacity for innovation is immense. The trends below apply to various businesses and sectors.
Some of the latest trends in digital signage include:
Interactive Displays
Many digital signage displays now come with touchscreens or other interactive features, allowing users to interact with the display and access additional information or perform specific actions. Touch screens convert your statements into a conversation with the viewer and dramatically boost user engagement in ways that traditional screens can not. Interactive displays have been used in public spaces for wayfinding or to provide viewers with other crucial information. Touch screen kiosks as well as hotel and hospitality lobbies to facilitate guest check-ins. Interactive displays can also gather precious user data and provide analytics on viewer behavior and habits, which can be used to optimize any business’ content, campaign, and rollout strategies.
Personalization
Digital signage can be tailored to the specific needs and interests of the audience, using data such as location, time of day, and user behavior to deliver personalized content. Content scheduling is a vital part of any rollout strategy, and digital signage screens can provide businesses with suggested times for content rollout based on user data. Digital signage offers a powerful Content Management System (CMS) that allows businesses to customize almost any visual aspect of their display designs. The CMS can also be accessed remotely to allow users to upload, and manage any visual media or other content. These types of strategies can maximize the effectiveness of a business’ communication strategies and also offers businesses a healthy amount of operational flexibility.
Augmented and Virtual Reality Experiences
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR): AR and VR technologies are being used in digital signage to create immersive experiences and engage audiences in new ways. Both AR and VR technologies can be leveraged to enhance product displays and demonstrations, to generate virtual tours or wayfinding guides for complex spaces. Naturally, these kinds of experiences give industries like advertising, gaming, and entertainment a tremendous new scope for innovation. AR and VR units have even been used by education and training facilities to provide a more engaging level of training to students, particularly in technical and hands-on trades.
Video Walls
Large displays made up of multiple screens can create a dramatic visual impact and are often used in public spaces or retail environments. Thanks to their high level of customization, the capacity for these display layouts is massive. Digital display screens can even be configured in curvature and other unique configurations to create truly immersive visual experiences for viewers. These configurations combined with digital displays' startling image quality are a powerful tool in the hands of innovative products and set designers, advertisers, and retailers alike.
Mobile Apps and Integration
The majority of our day-to-day communications are dependent on mobile devices. Mobile apps help to streamline and uplift various elements of consumers’ lives, and the world of digital signage has found ways to leverage the technology as well. Digital signage can now be integrated with mobile devices and apps to provide a seamless experience across different platforms and devices. Businesses can use this innovation to drive consumer engagement through consumers’ social media, QR code links to their content, or by directing them directly to their products and online links. Integration with apps also allows businesses to receive and analyze precious user metrics surrounding consumer habits and any growing or struggling areas of their marketing strategies.
Improved Sustainability
It has become increasingly important for businesses to mindfully manage their carbon footprint. Digital signage can be more environmentally friendly than traditional printed materials, and many companies are using it as a way to reduce their carbon footprint and promote sustainability. Several companies have traded in traditional static signage for digital signage, as their primary benefit is that they can be updated without replacing any hardware or textiles. This factor alone drastically reduces the costs and labor of manufacturing, distribution, and - most importantly - disposal. Digital signage units are also constantly being upgraded to improve their overall power consumption to ensure that they are as eco-friendly as possible. Screens can also be recycled and repurposed when they surpass their lifespan.
Increased Use of Analytics and Data:
As digital signage has become more sophisticated, the ability to track and measure the effectiveness of messages has also improved. Digital signage systems can now collect data on viewer engagement, allowing businesses and organizations to gain valuable insights into the performance of their messages. Businesses can then use these metrics to improve their media rollout strategies or improve and adjust their display content accordingly. In the past, this type of data would have taken considerable amounts of time and costs to compile and analyze. Through digital signage, this information is precise and practically instant.
Final Thoughts
As digital signage continues to evolve, new trends and developments will likely emerge, further enhancing the capabilities and reach of this powerful marketing and communication tool. It is a very exciting time for the digital display landscape, as new possibilities for innovations appear at a near-exponential rate. Perhaps you’re drafting a new ad campaign, trying to streamline your corporate communications in-house, or simply need a reliable means to display safety and emergency procedures. Digital signage offers a myriad of solutions and benefits to a myriad of businesses and industries, and it shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
