How to Convince the Boss to Support Your Digital Signage Project

Advocate of digital signage, but your boss is having none of it? Here are some key questions you need to answer to convince your CEO to sanction a digital signage project…

You can be the biggest supporter of digital signage on the planet, recognising the benefits of taking your company in the direction of digital.

However, if the key decision maker doesn’t see the value, there’s no digital signage project. The question is ‘are you answering the questions that your CEO is asking?’ Probably not.

Convincing the boss to commit to a digital signage project requires tact. Simply bombarding them with requests to implement digital signage, because that’s what competitors are doing, will doom any project before it gets off the ground.

If you’ve tried this approach it’s likely that the response has been –

“Well, we don’t want to be like our competitors, Joe.”

or

“Our rivals are just wasting money.”

Digital Signage Project – Questions to Answer

If you want to open doors to digital signage implementation, remove your enthusiasm & think like your CEO. Have you heard their concerns? Can you rebuff those concerns?

To help you on your way, here are 6 key questions you need to answer convincingly to win support for a digital signage project:

#1 – CEO: “How will digital signage steer us ahead of new and current competitors?”

You: “Digital signage gives us a quicker, on-site message delivery system to target our audience. We can launch products/services almost instantly, getting to market ahead of our competitors.”

#2 – CEO: “How does digital signage improve us operationally?”

You: “Like all our IT systems, which help us to implement things more promptly and speed up some of our processes with minimal risk and cost, digital signage serves a similar purpose.

That ‘keeping ahead of our competitors’ I mentioned, well operationally digital signage will reduce the amount of time it takes us to market our new products, services or promote our brand, giving us an edge. We can do everything in real-time, whereas our current advertising methods are costly & cumbersome.”

Note:  When choosing a digital signage provider ensure that they are flexible enough to cater for your requirements. Why not ask Armagard about an on-site assessment?

#3 – CEO: “Will digital signage satisfy and exceed our customers’ expectations?”

You: “Yes! Digital signage provides easy access information about products and services, helping to influence the decision making process and keep them updated about what we’re doing as a business.

The likelihood is that digital signage will move towards mobile interaction, enabling customers to communicate between digital signage and their mobile phone.

We can present content to customers in an entirely fresh way that requires interaction from them and gives them a unique user-experience, not only meeting their expectations, but exceeding them.”

Armagard says: “Digital and mobile can go hand-in-hand to meet customer expectations. Recent research, conducted by the ‘Pew Research Center’ in the US, found that 58% of phone users used them for recommendations, reviews or price comparisons based on messaging displayed by a digital sign.”

Note: If digital and mobile are to co-exist, your digital signage project has to be audience centric right from the start. If it’s of no benefit to them, your customers will give it no attention regardless of how much money you invest in it.

A solution: How can digital signage co-exist with tablets and smartphones? A particular digital signage advertising campaign may feature content with a QR code, which can be scanned by a smartphone, pointing customers to a particular promotion.

This links customer to business and informs that business that a customer is in the vicinity.

#4 – CEO: “Have you researched the technology available?”

You: “Yes. To make sure we increase the ROI appeal, I’ve researched the diverse ways in which digital signage can be used. The technology available allows us to manage our messaging conveniently and remotely.

We can set start and end dates for particular campaigns. We can stream videos, display social media feeds in real time and a digital signage enclosure can help to maximise the efficiency of our displays, allowing us to take screens outdoors to advertise, whatever the weather.

‘A digital signage enclosure can enhance the performance of digital screens.’

With an enclosure we can control temperatures and prolong the life of our digital signage network, cutting costs on maintenance, repairs or replacement. We will also reduce the risk of downtime.

The variety in technology means we can do so many things with digital signage. We can rent out units to generate revenue, we can streamline processes like reaching staff that have no access to emails or a smartphone, and we can cut costs by reducing paper use across our business.”

#5 – CEO: “What are the skills needed to implement a digital signage project?”  

You: “We can assemble our own in-house team or request a supplier to install our digital signage network. I’ve covered everything from connectivity, right through to maintenance once we’re up and running.

IT skills, content creation skills and management skills will be required. I’ll be conducting a project analysis to determine any problems so that we can assign staff to find a solution based on their skill-set. If we don’t have the skills in-house, we can look to outsource certain aspects of the project.”

Note: Showcasing your research will increase the chances of your CEO trusting you with the finance to fund a digital signage project.

#6 – CEO: “What are the risks of investing in a project like this?”

You: “Honestly, a project of this magnitude does have an element of risk, but the risk is outweighed by the benefits. Perhaps the biggest risk is failing to establish relationship with smartphones and tablets, which can help to enhance our promotional efforts.

Getting the digital and mobile balance correct would be a key objective in making our project successful.”

Put them on to Armagard

If your CEO still has doubts about digital signage, put them in touch with Armagard. Ask them to call 0121 608 7226, for professional guidance from an award-winning company with over 20 years of experience in the industry.

Get Involved

If you’re a manager, what objections are you facing from your CEO? Are there questions being asked we’ve not covered? If there is, let other readers know what it takes to get support for their project.

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