There was a recent article in The Birmingham News about social media being the key to marketing in today’s economy.  While I am a certainly a strong proponent of social media marketing, it is not for everyone or every business.  The fact of the matter is that social media marketing is not as simple as creating a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account that is updated every few days.  This strategy simply does not work.  Likewise, spending a couple of hours per day on social networking sites with no real purpose is a waste of time. 

 There are people who know what they are doing and then there are those who do not.  Social media is a strength of some and a weakness of many.  How much is your time worth to you?  Could those two hours you spend staring at your Facebook page everyday be better spent doing something that is going to increase sales?  If so, either hire somebody to teach you how to effectively use these sites or do not use it at all.

 Stop wasting your time on developing your weaknesses and focus on making your strengths even stronger.

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The Arbitron studies focused on two metro areas (Cleveland, OH, and Los Angeles, CA) where digital billboards operate. Through telephone surveys, researchers found “the vast majority of commuters (more than four out of five) feel digital billboards provide an important community service.”

More than seven out of ten people said digital billboards help the community with emergency information, and the majority said they were attractive. Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman described digital billboards as modern and tech-savvy.

Among younger demographics, digital billboards are even more popular. The Arbitron studies found high percentages of those 18-34 consider digital billboards attractive, while a majority agreed digital billboards help the community by providing emergency information. More than three quarters of 18-34 year olds said digital billboards are a “cool way to advertise.”

These dynamic tools for advertisers and communities represent a small fraction of the total number of billboards in the United States. There are an estimated 400,000 billboards faces in the United States; about 2,400 of those are digital, or one half of one percent. Yet the communities which have digital billboards have come to rely on them.

Small business owners turn to them as an affordable way to reach a large number of customers with a dynamic message. Public safety organizations rely on them to help bring fugitives to justice and provide emergency information. The news media use them to give up to the minute news and information to an increasingly mobile audience. The uses for this exciting technology are as varied as the places they serve.

As with any new technology, there are questions about how best to incorporate digital billboards into the existing body of regulations and aesthetic fabric of an area. The following pages give a broad overview of how communities have answered those questions and why virtually every state and hundreds of municipalities welcome digital billboards.

Because digital billboards can be updated remotely and instantaneously, they are ideal for quickly pushing emergency information to the public. In 2008, NCMEC (which operates the national AMBER Alert system) signed an agreement with the outdoor advertising industry to display AMBER Alerts on digital billboards. Since then, hundreds of abducted children were displayed on digital billboards within minutes of the Alerts being issued. Almost all of those children were quickly reunited with their families.

The FBI uses digital billboards to track down wanted fugitives and crack difficult cases. In August, 2010, agents activated digital billboards nationwide to identify and arrest a suspected serial bank robber who was wanted in a dozen states. Agents had been investigating the case for almost two years, yet it took just nine days to identify and arrest the bank robber after his image was displayed on digital billboards. The FBI credits digital billboards with generating the tip leading to the man’s arrest.

Typically, law enforcement agencies are given access to digital billboards for free. AMBER Alerts preempt paying advertisers and the outdoor advertising industry maintains a sophisticated computer network to instantly notify operators in every state with digital billboards of every new Alert at no cost to the government. The FBI uses a similar system at no cost to taxpayers.

To date, the FBI credits digital billboards with directly leading to more than 35 arrests. When local fugitives are added to that total, the number is even higher. Law enforcement officials agree digital billboards make communities safer.

Test, test, test

Did we say test? Running a smaller buy as a test is an effective method to determine what  placement, creative, SOV “share of voice,” etc. will be best for a larger advertising campaign.

Ad design

It’s always easier to critique than to create, but here’s what’s working, right now:

• The simpler, the better: Keep your ad simple because you have less than three seconds (or even less time!) to grab a website visitor’s attention. Use that time wisely by clearly communicating a key idea, in an uncluttered, and easy-to-understand format.
• Fresh bananas sell better than old stinky ones: Keeping your ad creative fresh is critical for longer campaigns because website visitors who see the same ad over and over and over again eventually become “blind” to the ad. Hellooo? Anybody home? Continuously monitor your campaign and adjust it as performance warrants.
• Go with the flow: Editorial designs work well with units below the scroll. The vision thing: Large ad units are excellent platforms for rich media, video and animation.

According to the announcement, the project ensures that customers will be engaged and entertained rather than distracted by the random content and competitor advertising available on regular television. While many individual dealers or dealer groups have some form of digital signage in place, Subaru said it is among the first manufacturers in Canada to pioneer digital signage on a national level and has spent the past year sourcing or developing enough 1080p high-definition content to make this experience unique.

In May, Subaru Canada and partner 10net Managed Solutions began deploying a network of 42- and 52-inch Sharp LCD displays to its dealers across Canada. Powered by a highly-customized Dell media server running Scala Player software, Subaru is driving unique content to distinct sales and service programming channels, which will be available in English and French. In addition, dealers running Aristo by PBS Systems Inc. and its integrated Media Suite will be able to display the status of vehicles in their service area, reducing traffic to the service counter. Subaru will be working with other DMS providers to offer similar integration.

With two-thirds of its rollout already completed, dealers and customers will be able to enjoy unique HD content like the recently produced five-minute sneak peek of the new 2012 Subaru Impreza, which is on track to be released this October.

“We didn’t want this to be another boring menu-board-style deployment cycling through advertising specials and promotions,” said George Hamin, director of eBusiness and Information Systems, in the announcement. “We wanted to make this seem like network television … just without the competitor advertising.”

With this in mind, Subaru is in discussions to secure nationally-syndicated content like news and sports.

Learn how to take on – and get ahead of – the changes that are driving new challenges and opportunities for B2B marketers. See how leading thinkers and practitioners are capitalizing on new measurement techniques, new technologies and new ways of reaching and engaging buyers to profitably build their businesses.

This is the one B2B event of the year that senior decision makers can’t afford to miss.
 
 
 
Event Date and
Time Wednesday October 19, 2011
8:30AM to 4:00PM
 
 
Event Venue Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library
Epic Hall
 
 
 
Location:
City Toronto
State/Province Ontario
Street Address 789 Yonge Street
 
 
Contact Information:
Contact Name Andra Thurton
Phone 416-644-3748
Fax 416-441-4062
E-Mail events@the-cma.org

Mounted at the checkout counter,  Saab/Revel POS makes it much easier for you to promote value-added products and services, and easier for the customer to make purchases.

Benefits for Retailers

• The colour displays are touch-screen enabled for both customers and employees for easy interactivity.
• The attractive aluminum housing is durable and easy to clean.
• Viewable from a distance with a wide viewing angle.
• Long-term economic benefit over traditional signage.
• Units can function independently or as a group.
• A new-generation system with ergonomic design, ease-of-use, and easy maintenance.
• Promote featured specials.
• Promote extended warranties.
• Up-sell particular items.
• Introduce new products.
• Allocate co-op advertising space to suppliers

Benefits for Customers

• Participate in the checkout transaction.
• Choose an up-sell or promotional offer.
• View your latest marketing messages.
• Ask market research questions

Unique Benefits to Advertisers

• Direct response: the ability to activate direct response to advertising content, turning messaging into immediate sales.
• Flexibility: the ability to dynamically update and change messages throughout the day by location, keeping branding fresh and relevant.

In retail and brand channel networks, a Mintel report showed that on average customers visited stores with digital media twice as often as stores without it. Furthermore, customers spent an average on 5% more in stores with digital media, and impulse purchasing was twice as high as normally expected.

Part of a unique integrated POS/Menu Board/Digital Advertising Solution, Saab Media offers a web-based Media Player for in-store Digital Advertising.

The customer benefits

• Innovative and eye-catching content
• Provides a more enjoyable shopping experience
• Entertaining and informative
• Time-sensitive alerts can be displayed in real time

Media Player Features

• Multi frame wide screen LCD monitors
• Real-time feeds for weather, news headlines, sports, and entertainment
• Multi-media zone plays Flash, MPEG streaming video
• Audio is available
• Retail store information can be displayed
• Detailed reports available for play list status
• Self healing software checks for network and player issues, which are remedied before any are visible on the displays

Revolutionary, adaptable and alluring, digital signage permits you to customize content to your clientele, thereby reaching them when they’re most responsive. Saab Media’s Digital Signage Solutions allows for flawless integration into any environment, while delivering a flexible and conducive product.

Who Benefits from Digital Signage?

Digital Signage enables retailers and brand marketers to use vibrant, media-rich messages directed to the right audience- anytime, anywhere. This method ensures message control while allowing for the delivery of real-time content driven by time, location, demographics, and promotions. The ability to impact viewers and customers is increased by the use of full motion and colour video, interactive touchscreens and a multi-feed functionality that allows for varying images.

Digital Signage can be a powerful tool to increase revenues and decrease costs by:

• Emphasizing specific high margin items, specials and limited offers in real-time.
• Promoting and up-selling featured products at point of purchase.
• Ability to change targeted messages faster, more easily and less expensively compared with printed signage.

Advantages with Saab Media

In addition to cost effectiveness and revenue increase, Saab Media’s Digital Signage provides an aesthetically driven solution while utilizing the latest in technological advances. Digital Signage solutions can further enhance the customer experience through:

• Multi frame wide screen LCD displays available in 15″ to 57″ LCD displays
• Easy to use Media Player
• Real-time feeds for weather, news, sports and entertainment

Digital signage will also prove invaluable in providing timely in-store sales and product education to employees while keeping them up-to-date about the organization and its offerings. Regardless of your target audience, one thing is for certain: Saab Media’s Digital Signage will revolutionize the way your organization communicates and advertises its products.