B2B Marketing – Digital Signage for Business

B2B Marketing – Digital Signage
Comment from Technical Director at Plasmanet, Mark Hopgood

Question 1
Q: With the arrival of flat panel TV technology more retail outlets seem to be using this technology to entertain and inform their customers. The B2B market is also now using this technology. Could you outline how and where you think the best digital signage is being used today in the B2B sector?

A: Within the B2B market, businesses are increasingly using digital signage for internal and external communications. It is important to recognise that both applications would require front-end support rather than a simple screen (e.g. linked to a PC displaying a PowerPoint presentation or video, which is a common application in the retail or B2C space).

By leveraging the power of corporate intranets for internal B2B communications and extranets for communication with other companies, suppliers, partners, customers etc, companies are able to keep those receiving the messages or content displayed by the signage fully informed and engaged. With the right platform and infrastructure (i.e. networked screens across a broadband connection), internal B2B communications can include multiple sites, business unit to business unit or even country to country.

A good working example of how this has been applied internally would be the trading floor, where enterprise digital signage combines market data (e.g. from a business news service such as Reuters) with live television (e.g. BBC News 24) to assist traders in making critical decisions. Or perhaps even consider a large UK supermarket chain that has employed digital signage in employee areas with high footfall, incorporating content from internal sources, such as goals and targets, alongside order information from partners or external suppliers.

Question 8
Q: Digital signage needs to have an infrastructure behind it to update the messages it displays. Networked signs that are connected over the Internet can offer this easily. What key features should a company in the B2B sector looking to use digital signage for the first time look for in the back office support for the digital signage solution they are thinking of buying?

The most important considerations to make before implementing a digital signage solution for B2B are the front-end applications and of course solid remote back office support for rapid resolution of issues. Though widely used in B2C or retail, employing traditional digital signage (i.e. one-way communication relaying the same information through a front-end application such as PowerPoint) provides little or no return on investment for many B2B companies. In order to maximise the benefits, communications teams need to ensure that the front end will support each of the key areas of content (for either internal or external communications applications), which can be categorised into six main areas of messaging: systems (real-time data from existing business applications, such as calls waiting in a call centre); team (team-specific messaging, e.g. weekly rotas); response (alerts for teams or individuals if systems data matches a certain pre-set parameter, e.g. if service levels dropping below 80%, the display turns amber); improvement (live performance figures, e.g. sales conversion rates for field teams); project (status, progress change and completion of a campaign or project) and enterprise (targeting and tailoring of corporate messaging, sometimes depending on location, e.g. CEO address or regionalised target figures).

Any business considering a digital signage solution for B2B use should ensure that all these areas are carefully addressed when creating and distributing content, to maximise efficiency and return on investment.