How to Buy a LED Display

To boost sales and enhance the popularity of your business, installing a dynamic LED sign can be a great marketing medium in the digital age. However, given the investment required, it is not an easy decision. Selection of an LED sign should be driven by the nature of the organizational goals you are trying to achieve and the finances put aside for marketing. It’s indispensable to find a reputable retailer who can deliver an impeccable combination of image quality, durability, service and cost of ownership. An informed buyer is well equipped with the necessary questions to ask and concerns to mouth when purchasing an LED display. Here’s what you should know before making the big transaction:

LED Sign Authority

1) Survey Your Location

You may be in a quandary about the type of LED display you need. It is imperative to get a feel of your location and its advantages or challenges. Take a look at the signs in your neighborhood and decide how you want to stand out among existing competition. E.g. if monochrome displays are used by neighboring businesses, a full color display will set your business apart. 

Also take stock of the best lanes and streets of traffic in the vicinity, obstacles in the sign’s line of sight, best height, distance of signage from the street and viewing distance. Research the laws for electronic signs in your area. What, if any, are the restrictions? Many towns have specific regulations about the type or size of outdoor signs businesses may erect. If local rules forbid you from putting up a sign, you need to apply for a variance.

2) Determine Your Budget

Your LED sign is your foremost advertising tool. Check your advertising budget and determine you expected return on investment. It is wise to establish the amount you are willing to spend or the maximum monthly payment if you are financing. Leasing options can generally be obtained without having to indicate a specific make or model of sign ahead of time. Also incorporate the cost of taxes, permits, installation and training for your LED in your marketing expenses.

3) Know the Brand

Many companies claim to have the lowest prices and best in-stock LED signs but may end up supplying inferior product with no support. It is relevant to run a background check on the company and determine how long has it been involved in the business of digital signage. 

Another factor to consider is if the company manufactures its own signs or purchases cheap, imported ones and rebrands them as their own. You will often find faster turnaround, higher quality execution, and better pricing when working with a company specializing in LED signs for a commendable period. Always be open with your provider about the size, resolution and type of LED you have envisaged for your business.

4) Ease of Operation

Unless the owner is tech-savvy, operating the LED software for the first time can be daunting. The value of LED message centers lies in the flexibility of the medium and the ability to change messages quickly and frequently. So, it’s important that sign owners can easily create and update messages. Although the provider may claim their software is user-friendly, you won’t know till you use it yourself. Ask to take the software for a test run. Ask what’s included with the software, and take a look at the artwork they offer!

Criteria for Successful LED Sign Advertising

Effective marketing is indispensable if you want to up your business’s reputation and outdo competitors. Investing in top-notch eye-catching LED signage to promote your products and services is just the kind of exposure your company needs and is warmly taken by the public. The big question is: What does it take to make this work? How you choose to represent your business through electronic message boards could have long-term repercussions and goes far to defining it. Before you sprint to splurge hefty amounts on LED signs, here’s what you need to know to make the right decision:

1) Keep the Content Updated

There must always be fresh and updated content on your LED screen, otherwise passersby might get accustomed to it and stop looking. Even basic information, such as the temperature, the weather forecast for the next few days, the fact of the day, the name of the day, and the random quote of the day will amazingly enhance the stickiness of your LED screen.

2) Location

Always situate the LED sign at a strategic location so the audience won’t have to strain up or down or squint up to view it properly. The size and the viewing angle of the sign should be perfect to capture the attraction of the target market. Your best bet is to place the LED sign where people would have to see it, such as near a roadway, or above a doorway. 

3) Quality Hardware

While the market is swarming with retailers, promising the highest quality and color displays of LED signs, only a few come up to the mark. Make sure you do ample research before you decide on the word of a retailer. Color, pitch, resolution, software and where it is manufactured should be considered. You might be tempted to purchase a cheaper LED sign and save money, but remember a top-notch LED sign is worth investing in for long term results.

4) Easy to Use Software

For non tech-savvy business owners, working with an LED display can be intimidating and it is thus imperative to look for a sign that comes with user-friendly software. A trustworthy LED sign provider ensures you comprehend the operating process of your digital display and provides assistance with your first few attempts at content creation and operation. 

5) Keep it Simple

With the advancement in technology, there are a plethora of options to revamp your LED sign, including full motion video LED signs. However, the viewers have about 2 to 4 seconds to view your sign, while video LEDs take 15 seconds to get the message across. It is imprudent to install a video message when moving text displays are way more effective. For messages you want read by people who have only a few seconds to spare, stick to a red monochrome display as it catches the eye and is highly effective.

Red Monochrome LED Sign

6) Content is the King

Lousy and clichéd promotional messages can even ruin an immaculately sophisticated LED sign and deter the trust of prospective clients. It is imperative to fabricate impressive content to capture the attention of public and elucidate your message in a welcoming light. Use the sign's content library to upload well designed messages, or hire a professional help to craft the content for your sign.

Full Color vs. Monochrome LED Displays

Often when faced with the dilemma of choosing the most appropriate LED display for your business, common sense dictates a full color display trumps a monochrome LED in favor of attraction. However, there are many factors which are involved in the decision. You need to take in to consideration your budget, the message you are aspiring to get across to your prospective audience and the nature of your advertisement, before reaching to a conclusion. Afterall, McDonald's restaurants known for their high signage budgets, still finds value in Monochrome LED displays. The question of “what is a better investment?” is presented to many potential LED sign buyers that will have long-term consequences.  Here are a few considerations to take in to account:

1) Budget

Monochrome LEDs are without a doubt, less luxurious and pricey than their full color counterparts. Outdoor Monochrome LED Signs employ a single color of LED to create text and/or graphics. The text can be tweaked to display in myriad options, like sparkle, flash, blink, and scroll, to create a message that will catch the eye of prospective customers as they approach your business.

For businesses that don’t have intimidating competition in the vicinity or are on a limited budget, monochrome LED would serve the purpose without breaking the bank. These can be changed to advertise current promotions or news, without the additional costs and at a fraction of the effort, normally associated with a traditional billboard installation.

2) Location

Look around your business to get a view of where you stand. In the placid world of manual copy boards and static signs, even a monochrome display would stand out and create quite an impact. However, if you are surrounded by high-resolution full color or video LED displays, they would overwhelm the monochrome LED of your business and make it seem rustic. The public is quite picky about where to divert their attention. If you want to deflect their attention back to you, creatively crafted content and a vibrant colored sign would give them the push to look your way.

3) Nature of Message

If the nature of your message is pure data delivery, without incorporating images, monochrome LEDs are a more prudent option. Locations like factory floors, outdoor way-finding areas, stock tickers, loading bays and security checkpoints are all great examples. However, when it comes to demanding the undivided attention of the public, full color signs are the way to go. Supporting graphics and colorful text add more meaning to the LED sign content. Using animated images and vibrant hues, a simple text advertisement is replaced with a fully branded call to action.

4) Nature of Business

There are situations where images enhance the meaning of your message, more than words ever could. E.g. a pizza place would fare better with an enticing image of a pizza slice, oozing melting cheese, than using only words for words to tempt the public. With the additional benefit of complex images via multiple color display options, in full color display, a more awe-inspiring and tantalizing message can be displayed. On the other hand, if you are in the insurance business, a mere picture can’t convince people to stop by and utilize your services, and in that case, a monochrome text display would serve the purpose better.

Research Study Reveals Digital Billboards are Attractive

Owing to the growing glamour of “digital billboards” around the United States and the world at large, the Outdoor Senior Research Architect- OAAA commissioned Diane Williams from Nielsen in 2015 to do an on location survey that would justify to media sellers or advertisers that digital billboards create a positive impact on consumers. Nielsen conducted exactly 1,256 online surveys with residents age 18 and over from five major cities in the US. The study outlined the straightforward benefits of using digital billboards to advertise businesses through benchmark research. The following were the findings of the research:

How Often Do Travelers Notice Digital Billboards?

Nielsen conducted the research in a busy market for a month where digital billboards are widely seen. The researchers mapped the signage in the test market and screened the survey respondents that noticed the billboards.

After the survey, three-quarters of the travelers reported that they recalled digital billboards that they saw in the past month and 6 in 10 respondents recalled seeing those digital billboards in the last week. This wasn’t all. Of the respondents who recalled the digital survey, 55% also also noticed the message displayed on the screen.

Can Viewers Recall Some Specific Ads On Digital Billboards?

According to the research, the answer is yes. For the benchmark study, Nielsen tested about 30 billboard campaigns, in which six brands with regular rotating ads on the billboards for each market were picked. The survey showed that 80%, 77%, and 89% of the local travelers of Atlanta, Phoenix, and Tampa respectively, noticed at least one of the six tested ads in the past months. The ads featured a sports television broadcast, a local casino, and a local lottery in their messages. Other markets were also targeted in the research.

In a nutshell, the findings revealed that the most of the respondents noticed particular messages as opposed to digital billboards that they saw in the last month.

Do Digital Billboards Engage Consumers?

Some of the subjects of the study showed results that weren’t even expected as much as they showed up, or more explicitly, ended up as “Breaking News”. Over 50% of the total respondents were asked about the effectiveness of digital billboards, and they responded with statements such as “cool way”, “good way to learn”, or “visually appealing”. Boom!

As far as consumer engagement is concerned, the study showed that about 36% of the people who noticed digital billboards in the past month either passed the information on to their acquaintances or recommended them after actually visiting the business, restaurant, or store that was advertised. It’s not only that people attended the event or visited the venue but they also followed the suggestion and made a purchase.

The study also showed that although digital billboards are an offline medium from the consumer’s point of view, they actually do prompt viewers to take online action, as around 16-18% of the digital billboard viewers in the last month actually visited the businesses’ websites. This shows that digital billboards are not only trending these days but also bring real-world benefits in the long run.

Sign Codes and Traffic Safety

It is common practice for city planners to use sign codes that are developed by other cities (and therefore do not have real bearing to their own cities) or they make use of extremely strict rules because they believe signs are “eyesores” and will cause injuries and accidents by distracted drivers.

This is really not the case especially when good signage is installed. After all, not all signs are created equal and some are just better than others. There are simply some signs that are built better and designed better so they still convey the right message but are easy on the eyes and never distracting. These signs were made with the city’s needs in mind and are made to direct and grab attention but never distract.

Static Signs of the Yester-year

For generation upon generation, signs have been static. They really only ever displayed one message and some of them would carry the same signs and messages for years. However, leaps and bounds made in technology used for information display in recent years have changed that and business owners and city planners can now opt for digital signs. These signs are particularly useful when used as on- and off-premise signs for businesses. These on-premise signs have the ability to display a wide variety of messages so they allow a business to really “talk” to old and potential customers alike.

These digital signs represent a massive shift and advancement in communication technology that have an impressive ability to deliver valuable marketing information to customers. After all, there is nothing quite like an attractive sign that you can use to convey to potential customers why they need to do business with you. You can use the signs to tell them about new deals and promos as well as advertise brand new products on display and for sale within the hour.

Traffic Concerns and LED Signage

There is no denying that such signs can bring a world of good to business but some groups have their concerns about such signs especially when it comes to traffic safety and business signs that change content in a regular basis. These groups state that drivers might get distracted seeing as they might feel the need to take their eyes off the road and read what new message these business signs have put up for them instead.

These safety concerns are usually addressed by way of local regulations concerning electronic LED sign boards; they might limit or prohibit the use of these on-premise signs. The fact of the matter is that these regulations mostly stem from the local level and there is no scientific research data or national based surveys and research that support the implementation of such regulations.

In fact, what these city planners and city managers fail to take into account is that their static signs might just be doing more harm than good. To put it plainly, signs do NOT distract drivers or cause accidents - it is small or hidden signs that are the real culprits for road accidents among other reasons.

For businesses that are having issues with sign codes in your respective cities, you may pay a visit to the United States Sign Council. They have lots of information that you can use to counter bad sign codes in your city.