Outdoor Digital Signage – Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance

Using an LCD screen in an outdoor location is a natural evolution for anybody already involved in Dooh marketing (digital out of home). However, outdoor digital signage is a different animal to using indoor screens and requires proper thought and planning if you wish for your campaign to be a success.

There are plenty of advantages in going outdoor such as higher audiences and less competition, but there are challenges too: keeping the screen dry and protected from the elements, designing appropriate eye-catching content, and finding the right location.

It is therefore, essential that before embarking on an outdoor digital signage project, proper aforethought and planning goes into the campaign otherwise the investment of an outdoor campaign may never pay off.

There are several aspects of the campaign that should be properly planned beforehand and these include:

Location

Perhaps the most fundamental aspect of any outdoor digital signage campaign is to find the right location for the screen. Any outdoor location needs to as visible as possible with any screen erected outdoors facing an oncoming audience.

The height and angle of the screen can be used to make the display more noticeable but really the outdoor locations needs to be in a high footfall area to ensure the investment is worthwhile.

The screen

Outdoor screens need not only to be brighter than indoor displays to ensure they can cope with the brightness of the sun, but also they tend to be larger to ensure maximum exposure. People can view outdoor screens from farther away and often they are not just viewed by pedestrians but also by commuters on buses, cars and taxis.

Protection

Another aspect that has to be given proper planning is protection. An ill-protected screen will soon fails so consideration needs to be put into weather protection, physical impact protection and protection from extreme temperatures.

Outdoor LCD enclosures are perhaps offer the most all-round protection for outdoor digital signage and as also the most cost effective solution.

Content

Another aspect that needs to be properly planned is the content. What works indoors may not necessarily translate to outdoors so consideration should be put into colours, fonts, images and text that work outside.