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One of the most important aspects of running a business, one that is often overlooked, is promotion. Without effective, well targeted promotion, a business will not have any potential for growth.

With the advertising world being hugely oversaturated, businesses are looking for ways to make their promotional material eye-catching and unique. By making a small investment in some high definition screens and a PC with a video graphics card, businesses can take advantage of the latest advertising trend – digital signage.

Digital signage is an extremely flexible and versatile advertising solution. There are three main types of digital signage that companies can take advantage of:

Digital Out Of Home

Digital out of home refers to large LCD screen or video walls placed in highly visible areas outdoors. There are normally found in areas where you would otherwise see billboards, for example high traffic areas or areas with a lot of footfall. They can easily be controlled from a remote central location.

Indoor Digital Signage

Indoor digital signage, or digital posters, are becoming increasingly popular, being found in many shopping centres and retail stores. Smaller than outdoor digital signage, these single or multi monitors can be used to display information and special offers relevant to the shopper, and can even be interactive.

Mobile Digital Signage

Digital signage is now being found in public transport, like buses, taxis and trains. These displays showcase ever changing content, providing information about everything that’s going on in the city they are serving.

Digital signage and video walls are extremely versatile and vibrant advertising solution that can completely change the way you promote your business. However, they require some initial investment, including some high quality LCD screens and a powerful PC. But even if you purchase the best hardware that you can afford, your digital displays won’t be able to reach their full potential without good video wall software. Here are some features good digital display software should have:

Easy to Use Interface

Digital signage software will, more often than not, be used by people who are not necessarily computer experts. Therefore, the software solutions that you use should therefore be easily usable by anyone. Good digital signage software should let you easily arrange pictures and text in any way you like, and you should be able to preview your display before committing to it.

Simple Media Importing

Imported media like photographs, text and videos play a big part in digital signage. Media should therefore be simple to import into digital signage software. Ideally, software should have a ‘drag and drop’ interface, where media can simply be placed where you want it on the page, and the software recognises it.

Templates

When you are creating a digital signage display, you may not have time to spend researching and planning an effective layout. Good digital signage software should come with some preloaded templates that you can simply change for information about your own company. The software may even include some copyright-free photos and videos that can be used.

Spectacular shows, involving dazzling lighting, multiple big-screen displays (or video walls), and compelling audio, are now an established part of our cultural landscape. For instance, some 17 million people tuned in to the X-factor final in December 2010, nearly 30 per cent of the UK’s population.

These viewers will have experienced a flawless display of the latest hardware that underpins such large-scale public entertainment events. Of-course, not all public events are on such a vast scale. However, in all cases, the entertainment would not be so rich, colourful, synchronised, and immediate without making use of powerful video and manipulation hardware, as well as software to pull it all together, and help controllers get the best out of their cherished kit.

Take for example display wall controllers. These devices enable a single broadcast feed to be projected out on to multiple large screens. The screens can be joined together to create a video wall, or perhaps strategically placed around a large auditorium to give audience members a better view, and more immersive experience. Industry-standard wall controllers, such as those produced here at Datapath, can output to multiple screens at a consistent resolution, and even upscale image quality to give a consistently clear impression around the whole auditorium.

Another example of such technology is dual link video: our devices support “dual link” cables which enable an even higher quality of high definition video display than on, for instance, a domestic HD TV.

Such devices and technologies, whilst not featuring regularly in the gossip pages of our daily newspapers, are at the very heart of the modern entertainment industry.

It is not an unusual to walk in to the foyer of a large scale arts centre or a multi-channel broadcaster, and be greeted by an array of screens on a wall, usually displaying different video content on each screen.

Such a multi-screen display is known as a video wall.

Video walls can be potentially enormous – the world’s largest is run by AT&T at their Global Network Operations Centre in New Jersey, and consists of a staggering 141 screens. However, more usually video walls tend to be somewhat more manageable four or nine screen installations.

Video walls offer two primary advantages over, possibly unwieldy, single-screen public displays.

First and foremost, they are flexible: multiple videos streams can be broadcast simultaneously or a single video stream can be shared across multiple screens. For instance, an air traffic control centre might want to make efficient use of multiple monitors, whilst a fashion show might use multiple monitors to display a single live stream to audience members who can’t get close to the catwalk.

Second, using a video wall setup could well be more economical than hiring or purchasing a massive single screen. These large scale public display screens can, after all, be prohibitively expensive.

Getting the best out of a video wall does, however, require the most reliable hardware and software. Here at Datapath, we can provide you with a superb industry-standard video wall controller. We can also supply you with matching video wall software to enable you to manage the video output to your satisfaction.

If you’ve visited a fast food restaurant recently, you may have noticed that things are changing. More and more restaurants are choosing to use video walls to display their menu offerings, creating a more dynamic display that’s always up to date and relevant.

On one of these digital menu boards, everything that a restaurant offers is displayed on a series of LCD screens. These high definition screens are controlled by a computer with a HD graphics card, and can be manipulated in a variety of different ways. They can display animations, cater to individual customers and display offers relevant to the day and time.

If you’re thinking of implementing a digital menu board system in your restaurant, you should thoroughly plan how it’s going to be used. Here are some tips to maximise your system:

• Make sure any images you use on your digital menu boards are of a high resolution to take advantage of the quality of your high definition multi screen monitors.

• You can use multiple boards around your establishment. A screen by the door could display your latest special offers or new menu additions, whereas a screen over the counter could display the menu listings.

• Use the boards to display offers that are relevant to the time of day. For example, you can show the breakfast menu in the morning and any ‘happy hour’ offer you may have later in the day.

• Consider using social media integration on your digital displays, for example showing your company’s twitter feed on one of the boards.

Public confidence in banks is at an all-time low. Many people are suffering from financial insecurity, partially fuelled by the feeling that their bank is not keeping them well informed. One step banks can take to better inform their customers is to use digital signage.

These displays require a small initial investment in some computer accessories and software solutions, and can be used to offer real time information to customers in branches.

Digital displays can be used to provide better customer service in bank branches. It can be customised in real time to provide customers information about products and services that may interest them. Interactive displays can be used to provide answers to customers’ questions without them having to wait to speak to a member of staff. This is an excellent way to keep customers satisfied while keeping employee productivity at maximum.

What you use your digital signage for is only limited by your imagination. You could create a display using one large LCD screen, or put a number together to create massive video walls. Customer feedback can be used to create content that is most useful to them, such as real time stocks and shares, mortgage interest rates, or even how long they will have to wait to see an advisor.

The signage can also be used to ensure that staff are up to date on the latest financial developments. The beauty of this technology is that it’s completely adaptable and can be changed to meet the needs of the customer at any given time.