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Round Two of COVID safety is here - with many states already administering booster shots to high-risk populations. Is your retail health clinic positioned to meet distribution demands for a second time? Digital signage effortlessly streamlines your vaccine logistics management by (1) providing customers the most up-to-date information about booster availability (2) attracting and training enough staff to administer the booster and (3) keeping your employees informed so they provide your customers the best possible service.
Knowing that customers will continue to turn to retail health clinics for disease prevention presents an opportunity for locations to expand their patient base; however, these locations must prepare accordingly.
Due to the COVID variants, the country is already experiencing an increased demand for boosters, as well as flu shots. By using digital signage to inform customer and staff, you stay a step ahead of the needs for when the boosters become widely available.
Retail health clinics who excel at vaccine logistics management do so by broadcasting the number of available appointments each day, encouraging patients to schedule appointments and managing the flow of customers to maintain social distance. In-venue screens use custom QR codes to book those appointments by bringing customers into retail apps (and by default the care+commerce ecosystem). App downloads allow for even more communication opportunities that mirror the in store experience: your clinic’s after-hour times, booster availability and calls to action so shoppers take advantage of offers. All of these communication tools help further underline the value add of your retail experience.
Last year, NPR’s Marketplace reported the industry would require another 15,000 pharmacy workers to help with the distribution of vaccines. Since then, the shortage of pharmacy workers has remained just as extreme, if not gotten worse.
Place your retail health clinic ahead of the curve with smart vaccine logistics management. Appeal to the widest audience of applicants possible by using in-store digital signage to communicate job opportunities. Vaccine technicians do not require a formal degree, so many current customers may be eligible to apply. Custom QR codes allow interested customers to apply for a position directly from their phone; creating much needed job opportunities for the community in a depressed economic environment. A larger applicant pool provides your clinic with more opportunities to select qualified candidates, ensuring the best patient experience.
Technicians need clear, up-to-date information for your retail health clinic to operate productively; digital signage optimizes your employee communication. Broadcast required training for all employees, and allow them to sign up for any session directly from their phone with a custom QR code. Keep all employees in the loop on new booster developments and safety procedures so that they operate with best practices at all times.
Booster availability may fluctuate from day-to-day. Leverage displays to show the number of boosters in-stock at your location and distribution counts each day. Ensure that risk and disease spread stays at a minimum by displaying cleaning procedures and safety protocols. Display shift availability on-screen, allowing workers who feel unwell to easily trade shifts with healthy employees, and for recovered employees to make up for lost shifts by picking up more when they are well.
With digital signage retail health clinics will communicate and handle this upcoming need better than most traditional care providers by offering a wider variety of hours, allow for walk-in appointments and provide a convenient opportunity to consolidate shopping. Make sure to prepare your clinics with the tools they need to provide a satisfactory experience and drive revenue.
The companies that are most effective at marketing their products and services rarely rely on a single channel to do so.
Instead, they take full advantage of the many different methods and platforms that businesses have access to reach their target audiences.
Digital-out-of-home advertising (DOOH) is a prime example of this. It’s an under-utilized strategy that can help companies unlock more of their marketing potential.
But what is DOOH advertising? And why is it a better option than traditional outdoor signage? We’ll answer those questions and tell you everything else you need to know about DOOH marketing in the article below.
DOOH advertising is a specific type of out-of-home (OOH) advertising. OOH advertising refers to any type of communication that takes place between a customer and a brand outside of the home setting. For example, when you see a billboard, that’s a type of OOH advertising.
DOOH is distinguishable from this by the fact that it uses digital mediums of communication to connect with an audience. These include digital billboards, digital signage and any other channel that shares messages digitally.
DOOH advertising is taking up a bigger and bigger chunk of the total OOH advertising market each year, with brands investing in it more because of its effectiveness.
One study from the UK found that companies saw an incremental return of 46p for every pound spent (that’s around $0.63 for every $1.38 spent) — an excellent ratio for an OOH advertising campaign.
Analog signs are a traditional method that brands use to reach consumers while they’re out of their homes.
Any type of outdoor advertisement that you don’t display digitally is analog — for example, posters, billboards and static public transportation ads are all different types of analog signs.
While analog signs are losing market share to DOOH because they can’t provide the same impact as digital signs, there are still some benefits to using this type of marketing strategy.
Most importantly, you will typically pay less to advertise on an analog sign than you will on a digital one. So, if your company is working with a strict budget and doesn’t plan on creating a dynamic, digital advertisement, then an analog sign may be a good option.
Nowadays, the cons of analog signage definitely outweigh the pros. Here are some reasons why companies are starting to move away from this marketing method in favor of other options:
There are tons of reasons why DOOH advertising can be a superior advertising choice to analog signage in the vast majority of situations.
In this section, we’ll cover seven reasons why DOOH ads are often a better solution for companies that want to reach their target audience while they’re outside of the home.
DOOH advertisements are generally much better at capturing the attention of passers-by than analog signs. That’s because these are dynamic, high-resolution displays that are simply better at catching the eye and holding a person’s focus than static analog signs.
Even if you don’t take many additional steps to make your digital displays interactive and engaging, they will likely still do a better job at capturing your audience’s attention simply because they’re being displayed on a digital screen.
One of the best reasons to choose DOOH advertising over analog signage is that this channel offers many additional opportunities for your brand to make an impact. With a digital display, you can get extremely creative with the type of content that you share.
Companies can use animations, various types of text and high-resolution imagery to create DOOH marketing campaigns that are truer to the feeling they wish to impart upon their audience. The options for doing this are much more limited with analog campaigns.
DOOH ads are also much easier to update than analog ones. With a digital display, you can manage the content that you share on it remotely from any internet-enabled device. The same isn’t true for an analog sign, which needs to be physically changed — in-person — when it’s time for an update.
This feature helps companies be more dynamic and adaptive with their advertisements. If you realize that a campaign isn’t working the way you want it to, then you can quickly change it to a better alternative if you’re using a DOOH advertising method. This ensures that your business can quickly make the changes that it needs to get as much out of its campaigns as possible.
Another cool feature of DOOH advertising is that you can use it to swap between multiple screens at a set schedule.
This can be really effective because it lets you tell more of a story with your ads. It enables you to build a narrative into your marketing, which can help you hold your audience’s attention for longer periods of time.
But you can also just use this feature to share multiple ads for different products on a single screen. For example, if you run a clothing company, you could advertise multiple items without having to pay for space on an additional billboard.
Companies can also integrate their DOOH ads with various technologies, which helps to make them more interactive and engaging.
For example, you could use your DOOH ad space to share trending news stories while advertising for your brand. This can be an excellent way to grab more of the public’s attention.
Similarly, you can tie your DOOH campaigns to your social media accounts. For example, you might choose to display social media posts of anyone who uses your company’s hashtag. This can be an excellent way to tie your online and in-person advertising campaigns together.
Life is very busy nowadays, with many people tending to ignore advertisements while they’re on their electronic devices working or socializing.
OOH advertising helps you to reach consumers during the brief parts of the day when they’re not occupied with other things, and are most open to your messaging.
Analog signage allows you to do this as well, but since it’s not as effective as DOOH ads, it limits the methods you can use to attract and hold your audience’s attention.
Interactivity is another huge benefit of digital out-of-home advertising that analog signage simply can’t match.
There are various strategies to explore here, each of which could be an effective way for your company to boost its engagement numbers.
For example, you might try using your DOOH ads to share games that your customers can play (in-between ads for your company, of course). You might also do things like share a map of the area that the public can use to find their way.
The key here is that by allowing the public to interact with your DOOH ads, you make it more likely that they engage with them and form a connection with your brand. This simply can’t happen with analog signage.
DOOH ads are also perfect for sharing QR codes with your audience. These codes are a fantastic way to take an offline lead and get them into your digital marketing funnel. You can tie the QR code to an app download, an email list signup form or whatever your preferred method is of getting new prospects into your funnel.
DOOH advertising is a powerful way to help your company reach its marketing goals — but you need to choose the right digital signage software to get as much out of this method as possible.
That’s why you should seriously consider partnering with UPshow. Our digital signage software is full of templates, customization tools, dynamic content scheduling features and more. You can use it to quickly and easily optimize your DOOH displays to help your company get as much out of its marketing budget as possible.
Don’t believe us? Try UPshow for yourself to get a first-hand look at exactly how much you can benefit from using our platform.You can visit this link to schedule a free custom demo with us today.
88% of marketers say that interactive content helps them stand apart from the competition.
However, to get the best results from this strategy, you need to take advantage of the right channels for sharing interactive content.
That’s why digital signage should absolutely be on your radar — it’s the best way to share interactive content that will help your company stand out from the crowd.
Digital signage is a type of electronic signage that uses LCD, LED and other display technologies to display digital images and videos. Companies and organizations frequently make use of it for marketing.
With the right screen and software, you can make your digital signage interactive. This is essentially the same thing as digital signage, with the crucial difference that it allows people to interact with the content through touchscreen controls.
Interactive digital signage is worth investing in because it helps companies engage their audiences in more compelling ways. It can help you increase the amount of time that your target audience spends engaging with your brand, increasing overall engagement and potentially prompting increased sales.
Interactive digital signage is highly customizable. Many people keep it simple and use a single screen to display their interactive content, but you also have the option of getting creative by linking together multiple small screens and playing around with how the content moves throughout them.
Ultimately, with the right software, you can make virtually any type of interactive digital signage that you want. It’s why partnering with UPshow can be an excellent decision for your company.
The biggest way that interactive displays can make an impact for your company is by opening up the scope of what you can do with your digital signs.
With interactive digital signage, you can display a wide variety of interactive content types. This can help you increase the amount of time that your audience spends engaging with your brand.
Interactive digital signage can also be an excellent way to attract more attention from passers-by. If you display interactive content out in public, you significantly increase the likelihood that someone views your display and makes a connection with your brand. This is because people naturally pay more attention to content that they can interact with.
The possibilities for interactive digital signage are practically endless! In case you need some suggestions to get you started, here are seven different ways that you can use UPshow’s digital signage software to increase customer engagement with interactive digital signs:
Interactive digital signage can be especially useful in healthcare clinics. You can use it to set up interactive kiosks that allow patients to check themselves into their appointments.
This is often worth doing because it can free up your staff’s time significantly. If an administrative team member doesn’t have to spend as much time on checking patients in, then that means they have more time to focus on the other important tasks they do to keep your facility running smoothly.
Patients often appreciate self-service options, too. When you give them the option of checking themselves in, it often reduces their wait time since it gives your staff more time to focus on the other administrative tasks that impact how long a patient waits to see a doctor.
You can also use interactive digital signage to share more in-depth information about the products that you sell. There are a few different ways to do this and the right strategy for your company will usually vary depending on the industry that you operate in.
For example, maybe you run a retail clothing store. If so, you could set up interactive digital signage that customers can use to look up more information about the products they see in your store.
By providing this information to customers, you decrease the chances of them leaving your store to do more research at home and increase the chances that they make a purchase on the day.
This can also be an excellent strategy for restaurants. You can use your interactive digital signage to share more information about the ingredients that make up each of your dishes. Doing this can help customers with various eating preferences or food restrictions feel more confident about dining with you.
You might also use your interactive digital signage to allow customers to demo your products. This strategy can be especially effective with companies that sell software and video games, but it can also be useful for many other types of businesses, including those that sell consumer goods.
For example, you might load up a digital version of your product on an interactive display and allow customers to interact with it in various ways. You could allow them to look at the product from different angles and explore some of its features, among other things.
Games can be an excellent way to increase the amount of engagement that you get from your customers. People tend to tune out advertisements — but if you hide an advertisement for your brand in something like a trivia game, then it becomes more likely that the customer interacts with the ad and forms a connection with your brand.
Interactive digital signage is a great way to share entertaining games with your customers. There are tons of different options here, including catching floating items, moving around game pieces, trivia questions and whatever else you can think of.
This is a strategy that can work for nearly any type of company that uses interactive digital signage. But it can be especially impactful for bars, fast-casual restaurants and other places where people go to gather and have fun.
You might also use your interactive digital displays to run contests. These can be another fantastic way to boost engagement for your company.
The idea is pretty simple. Start by advertising a contest for something valuable on your digital display. This might mean a free meal, free drinks, a free product or something else.
Then, use the interactive features of your digital signage to let customers give you their information to sign up for the contest. And just like that, you’ve got the customer into your marketing funnel and can retarget them later using the information they just gave you to enter the contest.
Interactive digital signage can also be an excellent way to help customers get where they’re going. This is a use case that’s best for large establishments, conventions and other similar locations.
For example, maybe you have a store that’s located in a mall. You can place an interactive digital sign near your store’s entrance to attract the attention of passers-by. And as more people interact with the sign and look at your store while they do, you’ll likely see an uptick in the amount of foot traffic that you get.
Social media is one of the most effective ways for a brand to engage its audience and capture consumer attention. That’s why your brand may want to consider turning one of its interactive digital displays into a social media wall.
The idea here is to allow customers to browse your company’s social media accounts by interacting with the digital sign.
You can even use this as an opportunity to get more traction for your company online. For example, you could promise to display a customer’s post in your store if they use the appropriate hashtag.
This strategy can be effective because it helps to bring together your online and in-person marketing efforts. It’s a single method you can use to both capture more attention online and engage more with the customers that are in your store.
We hope this article showed you exactly how effective interactive digital signage can be as a means of increasing your engagement with customers. But if you really want to get the most out of this type of in-venue marketing, you may want to invest in digital signage software that makes it easy to bring your vision to life.
UPshow is perfect for this. It’s an all-in-one tool that you can use to power your entire digital signage network. With UPshow, you can create your own customized interactive digital displays and choose from some of our pre-built templates.
Our software also allows you to manage the way you display your digital content from any internet-enabled device. This makes it super easy to ensure that your interactive displays are always playing on the right schedule.
But we don’t expect you to just take our word for it. Sign up for a free custom demo today to see exactly how beneficial UPshow can be for your brand.
The companies that are most effective at marketing their products and services rarely rely on a single channel to do so.
Instead, they take full advantage of the many different methods and platforms that businesses have access to reach their target audiences.
Digital-out-of-home advertising (DOOH) is a prime example of this. It’s an under-utilized strategy that can help companies unlock more of their marketing potential.
But what is DOOH advertising? And why is it a better option than traditional outdoor signage? We’ll answer those questions and tell you everything else you need to know about DOOH marketing in the article below.
DOOH advertising is a specific type of out-of-home (OOH) advertising. OOH advertising refers to any type of communication that takes place between a customer and a brand outside of the home setting. For example, when you see a billboard, that’s a type of OOH advertising.
DOOH is distinguishable from this by the fact that it uses digital mediums of communication to connect with an audience. These include digital billboards, digital signage and any other channel that shares messages digitally.
DOOH advertising is taking up a bigger and bigger chunk of the total OOH advertising market each year, with brands investing in it more because of its effectiveness.
One study from the UK found that companies saw an incremental return of 46p for every pound spent (that’s around $0.63 for every $1.38 spent) — an excellent ratio for an OOH advertising campaign.
Analog signs are a traditional method that brands use to reach consumers while they’re out of their homes.
Any type of outdoor advertisement that you don’t display digitally is analog — for example, posters, billboards and static public transportation ads are all different types of analog signs.
While analog signs are losing market share to DOOH because they can’t provide the same impact as digital signs, there are still some benefits to using this type of marketing strategy.
Most importantly, you will typically pay less to advertise on an analog sign than you will on a digital one. So, if your company is working with a strict budget and doesn’t plan on creating a dynamic, digital advertisement, then an analog sign may be a good option.
Nowadays, the cons of analog signage definitely outweigh the pros. Here are some reasons why companies are starting to move away from this marketing method in favor of other options:
There are tons of reasons why DOOH advertising can be a superior advertising choice to analog signage in the vast majority of situations.
In this section, we’ll cover seven reasons why DOOH ads are often a better solution for companies that want to reach their target audience while they’re outside of the home.
DOOH advertisements are generally much better at capturing the attention of passers-by than analog signs. That’s because these are dynamic, high-resolution displays that are simply better at catching the eye and holding a person’s focus than static analog signs.
Even if you don’t take many additional steps to make your digital displays interactive and engaging, they will likely still do a better job at capturing your audience’s attention simply because they’re being displayed on a digital screen.
One of the best reasons to choose DOOH advertising over analog signage is that this channel offers many additional opportunities for your brand to make an impact. With a digital display, you can get extremely creative with the type of content that you share.
Companies can use animations, various types of text and high-resolution imagery to create DOOH marketing campaigns that are truer to the feeling they wish to impart upon their audience. The options for doing this are much more limited with analog campaigns.
DOOH ads are also much easier to update than analog ones. With a digital display, you can manage the content that you share on it remotely from any internet-enabled device. The same isn’t true for an analog sign, which needs to be physically changed — in-person — when it’s time for an update.
This feature helps companies be more dynamic and adaptive with their advertisements. If you realize that a campaign isn’t working the way you want it to, then you can quickly change it to a better alternative if you’re using a DOOH advertising method. This ensures that your business can quickly make the changes that it needs to get as much out of its campaigns as possible.
Another cool feature of DOOH advertising is that you can use it to swap between multiple screens at a set schedule.
This can be really effective because it lets you tell more of a story with your ads. It enables you to build a narrative into your marketing, which can help you hold your audience’s attention for longer periods of time.
But you can also just use this feature to share multiple ads for different products on a single screen. For example, if you run a clothing company, you could advertise multiple items without having to pay for space on an additional billboard.
Companies can also integrate their DOOH ads with various technologies, which helps to make them more interactive and engaging.
For example, you could use your DOOH ad space to share trending news stories while advertising for your brand. This can be an excellent way to grab more of the public’s attention.
Similarly, you can tie your DOOH campaigns to your social media accounts. For example, you might choose to display social media posts of anyone who uses your company’s hashtag. This can be an excellent way to tie your online and in-person advertising campaigns together.
Life is very busy nowadays, with many people tending to ignore advertisements while they’re on their electronic devices working or socializing.
OOH advertising helps you to reach consumers during the brief parts of the day when they’re not occupied with other things, and are most open to your messaging.
Analog signage allows you to do this as well, but since it’s not as effective as DOOH ads, it limits the methods you can use to attract and hold your audience’s attention.
Interactivity is another huge benefit of digital out-of-home advertising that analog signage simply can’t match.
There are various strategies to explore here, each of which could be an effective way for your company to boost its engagement numbers.
For example, you might try using your DOOH ads to share games that your customers can play (in-between ads for your company, of course). You might also do things like share a map of the area that the public can use to find their way.
The key here is that by allowing the public to interact with your DOOH ads, you make it more likely that they engage with them and form a connection with your brand. This simply can’t happen with analog signage.
DOOH ads are also perfect for sharing QR codes with your audience. These codes are a fantastic way to take an offline lead and get them into your digital marketing funnel. You can tie the QR code to an app download, an email list signup form or whatever your preferred method is of getting new prospects into your funnel.
DOOH advertising is a powerful way to help your company reach its marketing goals — but you need to choose the right digital signage software to get as much out of this method as possible.
That’s why you should seriously consider partnering with UPshow. Our digital signage software is full of templates, customization tools, dynamic content scheduling features and more. You can use it to quickly and easily optimize your DOOH displays to help your company get as much out of its marketing budget as possible.
Don’t believe us? Try UPshow for yourself to get a first-hand look at exactly how much you can benefit from using our platform.You can visit this link to schedule a free custom demo with us today.
COVID has had an incredibly large impact on the world, stopping us in our tracks and restarting many parts of society in new ways. The retail healthcare industry is one great example of how COVID can change the direction of an entire sector.
Retail healthcare is a term that’s used to describe healthcare clinics that exist in retail stores. For example, if you’re shopping in Walmart or Costco and you see a healthcare clinic, that’s an example of retail healthcare.
Retail healthcare clinics provide a wide variety of health services, including:
The retail healthcare industry was already growing before the pandemic began.
Major players began entering the space in 2019 when Walmart opened its first Walmart Health Center. CVS created an expansion plan for its HealthHubs around that time, and Amazon piloted a retail healthcare program for its employees in Seattle.
Most experts anticipate that the retail healthcare industry will continue growing due to the convenience and accessibility that these clinics offer.
If a consumer needs to visit the doctor’s office for a vaccination or treatment for a minor injury, they have a few options. One is to make a special trip to a traditional healthcare clinic. Another is to simply see the doctor at the retail healthcare clinic where they already do their shopping.
Some patients in rural locations may need to drive a very long way to see a doctor. However, they may have a retail shopping center considerably closer to home. This level of accessibility is one of the reasons why we can expect retail healthcare to continue to grow in the future.
Virtual healthcare is becoming increasingly popular. The number of consumers that use telemedicine jumped from 15% in 2019 to 28% by April 2020. What’s more, 80% of these consumers said they were likely to have another virtual visit with a doctor.
This data suggests that not only are more people giving telemedicine a try but that those who do so are keen to continue using it.
Data from Deloitte shows that consumers are using wearable technologies for health monitoring more often in the post-pandemic world.
Deloitte also found that these consumers are more willing to share data from wearable health technologies than they were in the past. This trend suggests that patient data collected through wearable devices will likely become an increasingly important part of an individual’s healthcare in the future.
Retail healthcare clinics that embrace this trend by offering support for health monitoring technologies may begin to stand out. And once that happens, providing this type of support may even become an essential part of operating a retail healthcare clinic.
Data collected by Globe Street found that just 16% of patients believe paper signage is valuable in the healthcare process.
The implications of this are clear: the vast majority of consumers want — and expect — to use technology throughout their healthcare experience.
However, only 21% of retail healthcare providers currently use digital communication tools to interact with their patients. This data shows that retail clinics aren’t quite there yet when it comes to embracing healthcare technology — even though most patients seem to prefer it over traditional methods of communication.
The retail healthcare industry is growing primarily because of how convenient it is for patients to visit these clinics. That means we should expect to see retail health providers continue working to make their facilities as convenient for their patients as possible.
One of the most obvious ways to do this is by bringing together the pharmacy and retail healthcare clinic within a store. Shopping centers that do this will provide their patients with an even easier healthcare experience.
This type of focus on convenience is likely going to become more and more popular in the post-COVID world. That’s why it can be a smart idea to get a head start thinking about how you’re going to make your retail healthcare clinic more convenient for your patients.
Digital signage — and its myriad benefits — are likely to become an even greater part of retail healthcare clinics in a post-COVID world. Not only does digital signage offer an increased level of convenience by allowing patients to check themselves into your facility, but it can also be utilized for both healthcare education and marketing purposes.
This is not only great for consumers but also good for your bottom line. Adding digital check-in kiosks to your facility can give your administrative staff more time to focus on other tasks.
Additionally, you can easily cycle through multiple displays on your digital signage screens. For example, you might dedicate one screen to advertising your new mobile app. Then you could use the next screen to inform your patient population about the latest healthcare trends in your community.
It’s this type of versatility and functionality that makes it highly likely that digital signage will become more widespread in retail healthcare facilities in the future.
COVID had an undeniable impact on the retail healthcare industry. Clinics that want to thrive in the post-pandemic world will likely need to adapt their services to reflect the impact of COVID-19. Here are three key ways to do just that:
If there’s one trend to watch for retail healthcare in the post-pandemic era, it’s the influx of new technologies.
We talked about how much patients value telemedicine and digitized healthcare services in the previous section — that makes now the perfect time for your retail healthcare clinic to invest in the technologies of tomorrow.
What does it look like to invest in technology for my retail healthcare clinic?
First, it likely means building out a strong telemedicine capability, in addition to creating digital methods for your patients to fill out forms, share information and stay in contact with their doctors.
Combined with effective digital signage, you can increase patient engagement in a post-pandemic world in which technology continues to play a greater role in community healthcare.
Deloitte runs a survey that polls the preferences of U.S. healthcare consumers. In 2020, they found that the top factors patients cited in a positive healthcare experience were almost all about the quality of their interactions with their doctor.
Patients talked about how much they value:
If you combine these factors, it becomes clear that what patients value is a strong relationship with their physician. That’s why your retail healthcare clinic may want to focus on creating real relationships with its patients.
You can do this by encouraging your doctors and medical staff to:
The COVID pandemic forced many healthcare providers to quickly digitize their services. This provided patients with a level of convenience that they’ve come to expect from their treatment.
That means part of adapting to a post-COVID world may be to continue to offer whatever methods of patient convenience you were forced to adapt during the pandemic. This could mean continuing to make telemedicine a priority or expanding digital communication channels to keep your patients in contact with their healthcare providers.
As we move into the future, retail healthcare clinics that embrace a patient-centric approach are likely to excel as convenience and accessibility continue to be top priorities for consumers.
Digital signage is an easy way to get your retail healthcare clinic set up for the post-pandemic world. You can use it to make your patients’ experiences more enjoyable and convenient thanks to its capability to help with:
If you’d like to add digital signage to your healthcare clinic, UPshow has you covered. Our digital signage software is a convenient all-in-one solution that will let you hit the ground running with your digital signage strategy as quickly as possible.
Want to learn more? Schedule a free custom demo with us today.
Approximately 154 million people watch live sports in the United States at least once per month. If you operate a sports bar, you likely already know exactly how big the demand is for this unique form of live entertainment.
But what you may not fully understand yet is how big the appetite for sports betting in bars can be. Americans bet an estimated $100 billion on sports each year. Bar-based betting is becoming a widespread part of that industry. Here's how your venue can take advantage of the fad.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about virtual sports betting through your sports bar TV system. Let’s get started.
Virtual sports betting is a term that can mean two different things. It’s often used to describe betting on standard sports leagues that happen on screens, such as mobile devices and televisions.
But virtual sports betting can also mean betting on virtual sports leagues. These are essentially simulated computer games with outcomes controlled by algorithms and random-number generators.
For this article, we’ll be using the first definition, and talking more about virtual betting on non-virtual sports.
In the US, Sports betting is only legal in some states.
A recent Supreme Court ruling created the opportunity for states outside of Nevada to legalize sports betting for the first time.
Residents of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and 10 other states can now legally bet on sports. Other states (and the District of Columbia) are also in the process of legalizing sports betting.
Each state has a slightly different set of rules that an establishment needs to follow to make its sports betting operation legal. So be sure to check in with the specifics of your state’s legislation before getting started.
Casinos are often large, flashy establishments that most consumers only visit on special occasions. Bars tend to be more laid back than casinos and offer the public a heightened version of the way that they would spend their time at home.
This makes betting in bars a much more comfortable and enjoyable experience for many consumers.
If someone enjoys watching sports and betting, they might go to their favorite sports bar a few times a week to do it. However, they might be unlikely to visit a casino this often — this is why many analysts believe that the market for bar-based betting is getting ready to explode.
Bars are the perfect place for virtual sports betting because many consumers already love going to their local bar to watch sports.
If you run a sports bar, you already have a direct connection with the target audience you would want to reach if you were launching a new sports betting service.
This means you don’t have to spend a lot upfront on advertising to get a virtual sports betting feature up and running. Instead, you can focus on getting your existing clientele to try out the new service. Doing some in-venue promotion through digital signage may often be enough to make this happen.
Of course, you still can advertise your sports betting service through external channels, and doing so could help you find new customers. The point here is just that you don’t necessarily need to do that right out of the gate if you’re concerned about costs.
Adding virtual sports betting to your list of services will provide your sports bar with another revenue stream. And when you set up the feature through digital signage, you’re unlikely to even have to hire additional staff members to run the service either.
Getting started with virtual betting can also help you bring in new customers. It opens up a new line of branding for you to explore through your existing advertising channels, which could help you entice a new audience.
Adding virtual betting to your bar is also a fantastic way to bring your business into the virtual world. Companies like MGM are using their online sports betting services to stay in direct connection with their customers even when they’re not on one of the company’s premises.
Your bar can do something similar by adding sports betting to its list of services. In addition to potentially making more money with sports betting, you can also use it to forge tighter and more loyal relationships with your customers.
With UPshow’s digital signage solution, you can turn your TV screens into virtual sports betting terminals that allow customers to bet on all major sports leagues, including:
Of course, you will get the final word over which sports leagues you allow your customers to bet on. For example, if you want to specialize in a particular type of sport, you can decide to only allow your customers to bet on that. This is one way that a sports bar can carve out a niche for itself.
The idea of building a virtual betting service in your bar from scratch might sound daunting - but it’s not that complicated when you use digital signage to get it up and running.
In this section, we’ll give you a set of easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for doing so on your sports bar TV system.
The first thing that you need to figure out is which screens you’re going to use for sports betting.
It’s often a good idea to have a dedicated sports bar TV setup that are just for placing bets. Otherwise, you would need to turn off whatever content you’re displaying on a screen for a customer to place a bet on it.
Touchscreens are often the best solution for this, as they enable customers to place bets directly on the screens instead of having to use their own device to do so.
That being said, it’s possible to make this work without investing in touchscreens. You could do so by displaying a QR code for your customers to scan, which takes them to a website or app that lets them place their bets on their own device.
Using this strategy will let you save some on upfront costs since you won’t need to purchase extra screens just for bets.
Once you have your screens set up, you need to choose your content management software, as this is what’s actually going to power your sports betting system.
This software will allow your customers to place their bets and what will pay them out if they win.
UPshow is an excellent solution for turning your bar into a virtual sports betting hotspot. Our content management solution makes it incredibly easy to integrate sports betting into your existing services.
You can design your own sports betting platform from scratch and integrate it into your broader digital signage use-cases to unlock the full potential of your bar.
Once you have your screens and a content management system, the next step is simply to choose which types of sports betting you’re going to offer your customers.
You might want to give them access to as many different leagues and types of bets as possible. Or, you might prefer to limit your betting service to a more manageable subset of offerings.
The choice is entirely up to you. Just keep in mind that you need to follow the legal mandates set by your state while doing this.
At this point, you’re ready to begin advertising your virtual betting service to your target audience.
In-venue advertising is a great place to start with this. In fact, if you use UPshow, the screens that you set up for customers to place bets can double as dynamic displays for your sports betting ads.
You may also want to advertise your betting service externally. Many people who bet at home do so with their mobile devices, so running geographic-targeted ads on channels that customers frequent primarily on mobile devices may be your best bet.
Social media platforms, for example, are a great place to advertise your bar’s new sports betting service.
Setting up sports betting at your bar could be just what you need to unlock the additional revenue that you’ve been searching for. And with UPshow’s dynamic digital signage platform, the hard work is done for you.
Ready to experience the UPshow difference for yourself? You can do so today by signing up for a free custom demo here. We look forward to hearing from you!
The most effective companies utilize multiple channels to advertise their products. When you do so, you reach out to your customers wherever they are. This is much more impactful than only reaching out to them in one or two ways.
That’s why it’s unfortunate that so many companies fail to take advantage of digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising. Keep reading to learn why that’s true and to find 7 interactive ways that digital signage will help you leverage DOOH to its full potential.
Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising is a marketing channel that companies use to advertise their products to people while they’re outside of the home. It enables a business to reach its target audience during the parts of the day that they’re not reachable through in-home channels like television commercials and internet advertising.
It’s important to distinguish between out-of-home advertising (OOH) and DOOH advertising. OOH ads also target people while they’re outside of the home. But the methods are different. OOH advertisements exist on non-digital mediums, such as billboards, bus benches and public transportation.
DOOH advertising brings the benefits of digital ads into an outdoor space. They exist on digital billboards, digital signage and other types of screens that a customer encounters on the go.
DOOH advertising is worth paying attention to for a few key reasons:
This is perhaps the biggest reason to make DOOH advertising a part of your broader marketing strategy. If you rely on traditional channels alone, you’re often only able to reach your target audience when they’re looking at a screen. But people don’t usually do this for their entire day.
With DOOH advertising, you can form a connection with your audience when they wouldn’t be reachable otherwise. This enables companies to become a more persistent presence in their audience’s lives and creates new opportunities to drive engagement.
DOOH advertisements can also provide incredible levels of reach. For example, Times Square in New York City is home to some of the largest and most-viewed digital screens in the world.
Investopedia suggests that companies that advertise on digital screens in Times Square receive roughly 1.5 million impressions every day. It would be incredibly difficult for your company to reach the same number of people through other channels, such as social media and email.
The more people you target with your campaigns, the more potential customers you’ve formed connections with. That’s why businesses that want to maximize their reach should seriously consider utilizing DOOH advertisements.
DOOH ads also provide numerous opportunities to connect leads to your other marketing mediums. For example, things like QR codes can instantly take an off-line prospect and put them into your marketing funnel.
Companies also constantly integrate their DOOH campaigns with their social media accounts, customers’ mobile devices and email. The point is, when you run a DOOH ad, you don’t have to leave the opportunities that you create offline. Instead, you can bring them wherever you want to take them with the right ads.
DOOH advertising is also great because you can update the ads that you run easily. Doing so is often as simple as using a digital signage solution like UPshow.
With UPshow, you can make changes to the content that you display on any internet-enabled device. Once you’re happy with the changes you make, you can publish them immediately across all of your channels -- including your DOOH advertisements.
DOOH ads also enable companies to share imagery with much higher resolution than traditional OOH ads. This can be crucial for brands that operate in spaces like fashion, in which the difference between a good photo and a bad one is often the difference between earning a customer or not.
The goal with DOOH is to get people engaged with your company. QR codes are one of the best ways to make this happen. A passer-by can scan your QR code and instantly connect with your company exactly the way you want them to.
This is especially helpful if your goal is to get more people to download your app, sign up for your email list or visit your website. But you can link the QR code to whatever you want.
Many people who see an outdoor advertisement will unconsciously tune it out. But you’ll get significantly more eyeballs on what you have to say if you combine it with information that the average person will find useful.
For example, you might combine your ad with real-time weather updates. Or maybe you could display trending news stories alongside your ad. Either way, you’ll get plenty of people to stop and look at your display than you would otherwise. And when people stop to look, they’ll also connect with your company.
Data shows that customer testimonials are one of the most effective ways to target customers. So why not use that strategy on your DOOH advertisements?
Sharing real stories about customers that you’ve helped in the past promotes increased engagement with your company. On top of that, people are more likely to take your advertisement at face value if it’s in the words of a customer instead of expressed through carefully worded copy.
DOOH ads are also an excellent place for exclusive deals. You can use them to share limited-time offers that are only available to people who interact with your signage in a certain way.
It often makes sense to use QR codes for this. You can display them on the advertisement and any passer-by that scans the code can register where you want them to so that they can receive the deal.
This is a great way to get information from customers that you can use to feed your marketing funnel. For example, you might place the discount behind an email wall so that you can target the person with email advertisements in the future.
You might also try this strategy to get more out of your DOOH advertisements. For example, you could share people’s social media posts on your sign if they use the correct hashtag.
People will like the opportunity to get what they have to say featured on a digital screen. And when they post about your company to do that, you’ll benefit by getting a signal boost that broadens your brand’s presence on social media.
You can do this with whatever social media platform you want to grow on. But you’ll likely see the most engagement with Twitter and Instagram campaigns.
Another way to get people to engage with your DOOH ads is to challenge them to do something when they pass by it. The specifics of this will depend on the industry that your company operates in.
For example, a zoo might advertise on a DOOH at a bus stop. They can use an ad that shows the height of a certain animal along with a challenge for individuals to see how tall they would be next to the animal.
People who are waiting at the bus stop will stop to see how they compare. And when they do, they will engage with the zoo and form a connection with the brand.
Another way to get people to form a positive connection with your brand is to share inspirational quotes through DOOH advertising. People will appreciate the fact that your company is using some of its marketing budget to make the world a little brighter.
But you don’t even necessarily have to share inspirational quotes. You could also share quotes that are relevant to your industry in some way. Or you could even tell a joke.
DOOH advertising is one of the very best ways to reach your target audience when they’re not in front of a screen at home or work. It could be precisely what you need to do to start expanding your customer base.
If you’re ready to give DOOH advertising a chance, then consider partnering with UPshow to do it.
UPshow is a digital engagement solution that makes it incredibly easy to manage your campaigns, automate your display scheduling and make updates to the content you share with the world.
So why wait? Take the first step towards everything that your company stands to gain with DOOH advertising by reaching out to UPshow today. You can sign up for a free custom demo of our software.
As any gym that provides classes will likely know, you need a way to quickly and conveniently share scheduling information with your members.
You may also want to have an easy way to keep your members updated about other important events that are going on in your community.
To save on the hassle of printed timetables or displays, it can be a smart move to build a gym virtual calendar that updates your members in real-time.
The definition for real-time updates lies in the term — these are updates that occur in real-time, or as the application receives the information.
For example, apps like Robinhood provide real-time stock price updates to users. They achieve that through a system called long polling, in which servers are set up to regularly transfer data to the application whenever it changes. It’s a bit like telling someone to come over when they’re ready instead of texting them periodically to check in.
Real-time updates matter because they can provide more value to customers and clients than other types of updates do.
When you provide real-time updates to your customers, you tell them exactly what’s happening right when it happens. This enables users to make more informed decisions about how they interact with your product or service.
For example, if we continue the Robinhood scenario, it’s easy to see why real-time updates are essential. Without them, a user has to buy and sell stocks at prices that are no longer accurate, which would make it very difficult for them to make a profit on their trades.
A virtual calendar is another tool that relies on real-time updates to function. These are basically just calendars that exist online. They enable companies, groups and individuals to keep everyone updated about important upcoming events. Adding real-time updates to the events on a virtual calendar is a great way to ensure that information is always up to date.
Some of the most popular examples of virtual calendars are
There are many different ways for both individuals and groups to benefit from using virtual calendars.
An individual that uses one of these will enjoy being able to access their calendar across multiple devices. Additionally, individuals can use virtual calendars to create recurring events and set up reminders.
But sharing a virtual calendar across a team can be even more beneficial. Teams that used shared calendars enjoy the following benefits:
Gyms can benefit even more from using a virtual calendar. A fitness center can use a shared online calendar to ensure members always have an easy way to access the latest information about group classes.
But even better than that, you can use a virtual calendar to automate a big chunk of your scheduling process for things like personal training.
With a tool like UPshow, you can create, share and display a virtual calendar that allows your members to schedule themselves for the services you offer. The calendar will update automatically to reflect your new availability whenever someone edits the schedule.
This can be incredibly useful because it frees up your employees from having to focus on scheduling. Once your customers are able to do this themselves, your team will be free to perform other tasks that enhance the value members get from being part of your fitness center.
Creating a virtual calendar for your fitness center will be a decision that benefits both your business and your customers. In this section, we’ll provide an overview of the steps you need to take to do this.
The first thing you need to do is determine exactly what your intentions are with your new virtual calendar. Do you want to use it to give your members an easier way to schedule time with personal trainers? Or do you want it to be an easy source for information about upcoming classes?
You could create virtual calendars for both of these things or bring your own ideas into the mix as well. The key here is to just determine what’s going to provide the most value to your members so that you can start building around the concept.
Once you know what your calendar is meant to accomplish, it’s time to get working on it. You can use consumer-facing options like Google Calendar, but we recommend that you go with a tool that can provide a fitness center with a more targeted solution.
Typically, this means using your gym management software. This software helps fitness centers with everything from processing payments to improving internal communications. But you can also use your gym management software to create a valuable virtual calendar.
There are lots of great gym software solutions out there and the best fit will probably depend on your business needs. But here are some of the most popular options so that you can start doing some research on your own:
Now that you have your calendar it’s time to begin putting it to use. UPshow makes it easy to get your members started with a new virtual calendar. Our digital signage solution makes displaying your calendar inside of your fitness centers a breeze.
For example, you can use UPshow to show the upcoming availability of personal trainers on some of your screens, or to advertise upcoming classes.
UPshow is a centralized tool that allows you to make scheduling changes in one place and quickly share them across your entire organization. With our tool, you won’t ever have to worry again about leaving some of your guests in the dark after making a schedule change.
One of the coolest ways for a fitness center to use a virtual calendar is to let clients schedule themselves for your services. That might sound complicated if you’ve never done it before, but it’s actually pretty simple. Here’s what the process might look like for your gym.
You begin by allowing members to connect their external calendars to yours. They can do that by visiting your website and accessing the calendar or through links that you send out to your customers’ email addresses.
After a member connects their individual calendar to your centralized one, they will instantly be able to see what your availability looks like. They can then look through your different time slots and select the one that makes the most sense for them.
Concerned about cancellations? You don’t need to be. Most virtual calendars are really good at notifying you when any scheduling changes occur.
For example, imagine someone had scheduled a session with a personal trainer but ended up needing to cancel or reschedule. In that scenario, they would be able to access your virtual calendar online and make the change themself. Then you would receive a notification exactly when the change took place.
This feature ensures that you’re able to respond to various scheduling situations in real-time. It essentially gives you all of the responsiveness of a manually updated schedule along with the convenience of automation.
If you’re ready to begin leveraging the benefits of virtual calendars with real-time updates to help your gym, hop on over to UPshow to discover our unique engagement platform.
Our digital signage solution makes displaying scheduling information with real-time updates across all locations a breeze.That being said, we don’t expect you to just take our word for it. Instead, let us show you exactly what UPshow can do for you by signing up for a free custom demo today. We look forward to hearing from you.
More and more tools we use in our daily lives are becoming digitized.
Whether we’re utilizing contactless pay, ordering food online or managing bank accounts on mobile, nearly every business has incorporated digital functions to make the consumer experience more convenient.
Businesses have always used wayfinding to guide customers through their stores.
Just as digital tools have become increasingly present in our personal lives, they’ve become more and more important to businesses, too. Businesses are using new, digital tools to make finding products simpler for their customers. Let's take a closer look at how digital wayfinding can enhance the customer experience.
Just like when customers use Google Maps to arrive at your venue, you can use digital wayfinding inside your venue to direct those customers more efficiently.
For large retailers and restaurant venues, wayfinding is an essential element of structural design. End caps, kiosks, hanging traditional signs and in-venue screens all work together to help customers find what they’re looking for.
Digital wayfinding uses visual displays to showcase important information that visitors can use for directional support. The displays can be signs that get mounted on the walls, be accessed on a smartphone or tablet, or even via a freestanding, touchscreen kiosk that's large enough to get your attention when you enter a venue.
From a higher level of consumer engagement to an increase in customer satisfaction, offering digital wayfinding assistance results in perks and benefits that any company would have a hard time ignoring. Let’s dig into some of those perks.
Digital wayfinding can communicate more than just directions — it also enables variables that you don't get with basic static signs.
For example, digital kiosks can be programmed with key information relating to providers and services, in order to guide people to exactly what or who they are looking for. The menu for a medical center, for example, could include various search options such as bathrooms, exits, examination rooms, or medical departments.
Highlighting accessible routes and elevators, for example, can also make wayfinding as easy as possible for users with limited mobility.
There are many ways that a business can present relevant information on their digital signage. A 2D floor plan or a 3D map can easily provide searchable directories and event listings.
With a change in class schedule at a gym, or a change in room venue for an event, digital signage can be quickly and universally updated without the fuss of reprinting signs or maps, or having to continually redirect confused customers.
With options to organize information alphabetically, by date, floor, department, or in any way that best suits your needs, digital signage has the potential to provide a flexible overhaul to your existing systems.
Personnel or layout changes are a hassle no more - simply update your signage once, and have it take effect throughout the entire building immediately.
If you arrive at a place and you're unsure of where you're supposed to be, it can be stressful, especially if you have small children in tow.
With digital wayfinding, it's instant assistance — and it's interactive. Customers can find their way at their own pace. This can help make the customer feel like they're in control, rather than relying on others for directions or support.
Let's be honest: most people are on their phones all day, every day.
Whether they're booking flights, scheduling business meetings, ordering food, looking for information or shopping for clothes, they expect to be able to find almost everything online.
Companies that want to evolve with the times and generate or retain customers may be wise to conform to these internet-oriented expectations.
Providing digital signage that can be accessed via a kiosk, wall-mounted display or even on your customer’s own smart phone or device provides customers with a comfortable and familiar method of accessing information.
Printing out posters that need to be updated constantly is not only less eco-friendly than having digital signage — it’s also less cost-efficient.
While the costs will be higher upfront as you install your digital wayfinding devices, in the long run, you'll save more money. Unlike traditional, paper signage, these screens can be updated immediately, without cost, whenever you need.
Wayfinding techniques drive a better customer experience.
Businesses that leverage in-venue screens create the smoothest transition possible from door to destination for the customer. Not only does this decrease friction for your customer, but it tells them that your business cares about them and appreciates their patronage. Consider using your in-venue screens to direct customers to other parts of the store. For instance, a customer who enters looking for cold medicine may want to know where they can find tissues.
Wayfinding signage involves picking suitable materials, structures, colors, and technology. It should be attention-grabbing and beneficial to the customer. Functional doesn't equate to fun or creativity — the company must bring those elements to life in their wayfinding designs.
Incorporating company branding, taglines, or even mascots can be a fun way to personalize your digital signage. Targeted advertising, local news, or company-specific prize draws or competitions can also create a fun and community-oriented feel.
While any business could stand to implement digital wayfinding, certain establishments may benefit more than others, since they are intrinsically difficult to navigate without them.
Universities and colleges often use digital tools to assist visitors, students and vendors to get around the campus more efficiently. That is undoubtedly helpful for first-year students that are still getting used to the new environment.
Digital tools can also be a great asset for the various visitors to campus that may not be familiar with the layout. Everyone can locate dorms and teaching halls with ease by using digital signage and kiosks.
Hospitals with large campuses can utilize digital wayfinding to allow providers, patients and visitors alike to locate departments, wards and rooms.
This can be particularly useful when people need emergency medical assistance or have limited mobility — the last thing they want is to get lost!
Airports are usually large and convoluted to navigate, with long stretches between terminals.
By implementing digital wayfinding, airports can reduce the stress associated with finding your flight. This may reduce the number of passengers missing their flights.
You'll find that many large retailers or shopping malls have freestanding digital wayfinding kiosks for assisting their customers in locating restaurants, stores or services that best suit their preferences.
Through employing wayfinding tools, customers can adjust to a mall or department store’s layout seamlessly. They can locate things that they need faster, which leads to a better experience and increases the chances that they will return.
Buildings owned by the government, such as DMVs and courthouses, employ digital wayfinding to help people easily locate the correct building or room in which they are supposed to be. This can avoid long queues at reception areas, and streamline the process for visitors and government officials alike.
UPshow provides businesses with a high-quality in-venue interactive wayfinding, entertainment, and marketing platform that allows businesses to use their existing TV screens to offer an engaging digital experience for employees and customers alike.
Getting started is easy. We'll ship you a powerful and innovative device that will operate all of your content. All you have to do is plug the device into your TV, log in to your UPshow manager platform, and you're ready for business. To get started with facilitating digital wayfinding today, check out UPshow.
Healthcare organizations in public and private sectors are re-strategizing their patient engagement and retention methods.
Since patients who are actively involved in their treatments have better outcomes and incur lower costs, now, more than ever, health organizations are looking to encourage, educate and involve patients in their healthcare.
Patient engagement combines the principles of patient activation with necessary interventions.
It promotes positive patient character and improves the patient’s ability and willingness to care for their health. Basically, patient engagement is a strategy that recognizes the differences, needs and values of each patient.
Improving patient engagement is as simple as incorporating technology into your pre-existing systems. Many patients have also shown better health care behavior in a digitalized hospital environment. In fact, a study by Accenture showed that 60% of the respondents prefer using technology to communicate with their health providers.
Merging technology with your patient engagement strategies is one way to keep them coming back to you, while also helping your patients to heal quickly!
Patient engagement is the practice of encouraging patients to get involved in their health care.
Not only will proper utilization of this strategy drive more significant health outcomes, but it’ll also drive excellent patient care and reduce the cost of treating people.
Patient engagement and its strategies are not limited to the patients. It also encompasses their families, representatives, health team, organizational governance and policy-making.
For patient engagement strategies to work well, all stakeholders must communicate effectively and show commitment. Patients must actively collect facts about their health and bring them to their health providers, and ask questions concerning their health information and how it affects their lives.
Doctors, nurses and health providers, as a whole, need to try to encourage healthy habits, answer questions expansively, and provide varied treatment options to patients.
You can consider patient engagement as a form of partnership between patients and clinical professionals, where both groups interact extensively about health issues.
The first step to identifying an engaged patient is to identify their patient activation level. To do this, health professionals use the Patient Activation Measure (PAM).
PAM is a 100-point scale that determines the level of involvement patients have with their health treatment processes. PAM covers different patient characteristics including:
Primarily, the Patient Activation Measure test assesses whether:
After this test, clinicians can make informed decisions about their patients and the engagement strategies to use. For less activated patients, health professionals may wish to use simple engagement strategies to influence a successful treatment, which will help them to activate further.
Whether through static or digital signage, leaflets, flyers, website or portal, ensuring that your patients have access to up-to-date, relevant health information can be a great way to encourage patient engagement.
Patient activation — a crucial subset of patient engagement — measures a person’s understanding, competence and willingness to involve themselves in medical treatments. Patient activation emphasizes the desire and capability of patients to take active steps concerning their health.
Developing robust patient education tools can be one way of improving measures of patient activation and ultimately patient engagement.
Early results of the research conducted on patient engagement — specifically patient-clinician communication — suggest that it’s a positive strategy for improving patient health outcomes.
In one study, respondents were divided into two groups.
The first group received the usual form of medical support and treatment. Their interaction with the health coaches was minimal and reduced to the corners of the doctors’ office.
However, the other group received more comprehensive treatment. They frequently communicated with their health providers via telephone, email and social media.
The result? Those who received enhanced medical support were better health-wise than their counterparts. Not only that, but they healed faster when compared to their peers who received the ‘usual' mode of treatment. They experienced the following benefits:
Enabling patient-clinician communication outside of the clinic, whether that’s online, over the phone, or on social media, can be a great way to increase patient engagement and ultimately drive better health outcomes.
One way to hit both of the previous two points — education and communication — is through the creation of an online medical portal which can provide patients with key health-related information, allow them to provide feedback or make suggestions for improvements, and provide a space for communication between patients and clinicians.
To keep patients really engaged in the process, health professionals may want to focus on the patient instead of the metrics of the patient. While the data provides the patient’s feedback, it can ‘robotify’ the patient’s voice.
By meeting with patients and speaking to them directly, health professionals can collect extensive data and keep the patient engaged in the decision-making process.
Support groups are an intense method of involving patients in the medical process.
While not every patient may want to participate in a support group, these can be a useful tool. Whether in the form of social media hangouts or weekly meetings where patients can share their problems with each other and with a certified professional, support groups can be a great way to increase patient engagement.
It is difficult for patients to engage extensively in health management if they are not familiar with their conditions and options. However, as discussed above, with the provision of relevant information around conditions, treatments and health advice, patients can show positive patient activation levels.
Many online users want to find information concerning health-related issues. If you are looking to invite more traffic to your site, posting health videos, wellness tips, or blogs can be a great step to increase patient engagement and cultivate informed decision-making.
However, another key way to provide this information is to do so in your waiting room.
With many providers already having waiting rooms TVs or devices, it can be an easy switch to begin using these to provide health-related information, to allow check-ins to appointments, or even to provide feedback on a medical visit.
While attending an appointment, a patient is likely already in the right mindset to learn about their medical condition or to consider making positive changes to improve their health. Waiting room digital signage can be a great way to maximize this.
Ideally, the language used should be simple, clear, and informative, in order to facilitate patient understanding and engagement.
In addition to waiting room TVs, healthcare digital signage in general can help hospitals and health centers create an effective and efficient means of communication with patients.
It’s a technology that’s relevant, immediate, and specific to patients. It educates and informs the patient on what they need and where they need it. With many of us increasingly used to using digital devices in our everyday lives, it also reaches patients where they’re at.
Digital signage allows the patient to easily check-in and submit a profile while doctors get through this information quickly. It can enable the patients to maneuver the entire process comfortably while providing them with relevant information about their conditions, treatment and options — ultimately empowering the patient and improving patient engagement.
To learn more about the digital signage options that UPshow provides through their unique engagement platform — and how it can take your patient engagement to the next level — check out UPshow today.
A sumptuous digital menu can mean the difference between good sales and excellent sales. Gorgeous pictures entice diners to try something new — or add an additional menu item to their order. But figuring out how to create a sales-driving digital menu board can seem daunting, especially since you need to regularly update your digital menu boards. This is where digital menu templates come into play.
Digital TV menu templates allow you to tap into the numerous benefits of digital menus, regardless of whether you’re running a restaurant, bar, or cafe. In this guide, we cover essential tips you need to know before creating a digital menu board template that will have your customers salivating. It will even be a menu board that blends with your top-notch brand.
Walk into any restaurant these days and you’ll likely gaze on a digital menu board. Digital menus are catching the foodservice industry by storm for a simple reason: they, like other forms of in-venue digital signage, successfully drive revenue.
Simply put, a digital menu is any display or screen that shows off your restaurant’s food items together with daily specials and promotions. You could be presented with a digital menu display through an iPad in a fast-casual or family-owned restaurant. You might also see this if you’ve ordered at a digital menu station in a quick-service restaurant such as McDonald's.
But you’re also likely to see a non-interactive screen that displays menu options in an enticing, HD fashion. That said, the type of digital menu board that suits your restaurant depends on many different factors. These include, but are not limited to, budget, size, customer appeal and other priorities that will boost your brand.
Many passersby enter a bar or restaurant because of persuasive signage. So to maintain a competitive edge, you need outstanding visual appeal.
While some people argue whether or not digital menus are more influential than their non-digitized counterparts, it’s crucial to figure out which one will resonate with your brand. However, choosing between the two can be a challenge.
Traditional, static menu boards still play an essential role in most restaurants. They inform customers about various menu items and available offers while doubling as decor if well designed. Think of a vintage bar or restaurant that wants to maintain its authentic appearance ‒ traditional menu boards can be a great option.
The same is true if you want to maintain an authentic, retro outlook for your 1950s-inspired establishment. A traditional menu board can be a thrill with its uniqueness, longevity and meager operational costs. What’s more, a traditional menu board is relatively easy to design and install.
Digital menu boards are a collection of tv screens that rely on a central computer. Most restaurants prefer digital menu display boards for their sleek appearance that blends with the decor.
While static and digital menus both play a key informative role, digital TV menu boards are quickly becoming a game-changer when it comes to brand recognition strategy and customer engagement.
At a glance, digital menus:
The best way to thrive in a highly competitive market and establish a strong brand is through customer trust and loyalty. Equally, the best form of advertising is word of mouth from a satisfied customer. In short, thrill them, and they’ll tell everyone.
Customers will be more inclined to visit if you catch their attention and offer them quality and speed, which you can achieve via digital signage technology. With digital menu displays, you can present information on bright screens with clear text for easy readability. These can also entertain customers as they wait for service, distracting them from inevitable wait times.
What’s more, by using interactive screens, you’re certain to boost efficiency. If you have a touchscreen digital menu display, your customers can easily make selections without waiter intervention. This speeds up the lunchtime rush or smooths over a busy dinner service. Not only will tables turn faster, but this flexibility increases check size, helping your restaurant maximize revenue and table turnover more easily.
With a digital menu, you can smile knowing you won’t have recurring materials costs for new menus. You can also sync a digital menu with a point of sale (POS) system. This means your employees are able to accurately track inventory in real-time, enabling quick decision making.
Looking at economies of scale, you’re bound to save hefty sums of money in the long term by leveraging digital menus.
By eliminating static printing costs, maximizing seasonal opportunities and increasing sales margins through a digital experience, you can positively influence your return on investments (ROI).
You can also achieve higher sales through a corporate nudge, which you can implement via digital menus. A digital menu board can indirectly suggest upsells, attracting your customers to purchase more without feeling pressure from an employee. In effect, digital menus improve overall sales.
Even after restaurant hours, an outdoor digital menu display can advertise your products to future customers as they pass by. All you need is digital signage software to tailor messages for after-hours. Think about promoting a breakfast special to encourage consumers to come back in the morning.
As your restaurant grows, digital menu display boards allow you to maintain consistency in appearance and operational practices in many locations. Imagine being able to schedule and update your menus seamlessly!
It may sound too good to be true, but it’s not. A digital menu allows you to change menu items and prices remotely, all at once, whenever you need to. All you need is an internet connection and suitable digital signage software.
Besides, centralized control allows you to eliminate errors and inefficiencies while enhancing a dynamic branding image and marketing strategy.
Here’s what to consider before adding a digital menu board to your business:
You need a screen (LCD or LED type), a compatible digital signage player, mounting gear and connection cords. If you have a POS system, you could integrate it into digital menu displays.
Converting a regular TV into a digital menu board requires software. You could opt for digital signage software provided by your signage company or leverage cloud-based platforms such as SignPresenter and ScreenCloud.
Whether you are an experienced designer or have a freelancer working for you, chances are you need digital menu board templates for customizing display content on your screens.
A digital menu board template is a pre-designed model that you can edit for your various menu board preferences and updates. Your digital menu boards should be professionally designed to have a high impact — and be easily customizable.
If well selected, you can adjust text, images and other items before uploading remotely to your screen. A good template makes use of:
The following are tried-and-true design principles you should keep in mind when designing a compelling digital menu template:
Different companies sell customizable templates for various digital menu boards. You may not want to pay for templates, but paid materials are more likely to be professional and meet industry benchmarks. Let creative experts do all the heavy-lifting for you.
If you can land user-friendly menu board apps or web-based software and trust your TV menu design skills, you’re good to go. Most of these have simple drag-and-drop interfaces that can take your skill to a whole new level and create professional templates fast. These include:
It’s easy to design a great menu board when you keep basic design principles in mind.
You can easily customize your digital menu from existing PowerPoint templates. It will save you considerable time and money, and there are plenty of video tutorials online to learn how to do it.
Just be sure to select a 16:9 aspect ratio that most modern TVs display. Here are the steps:
Do your business hassle-free by having a freelancer design beautiful digital menu templates on your behalf. You could land an experienced designer on Fiverr or Upwork at reasonable rates.
Type “digital menu board templates download” in Google and you’ll come across countless customizable digital menu templates for free from places like Canva, Apple Keynote and even Google Slides, etc. The Keynote app comes preinstalled on Apple devices so you can create gorgeous digital menus.
Not only will digital menus give your business a classic outlook with extra polish, but they also win customer hearts to your business and potentially drive up sales. As opposed to static directories, menus, maps, and in-store advertising, digital menus are relatively affordable in the long run.
There are plenty of solutions for your business, most of which you can integrate with your current POS system. And like our happy clients, you too can take your brand to greater heights. Feel free to explore our proven solutions and get started.
Digital signage helps companies get more out of their in-venue marketing efforts. You can use it to advertise new products, connect with your customers and make your facility a more entertaining place to be.
If you’d like to get started with digital signage, you’ll need a media player to do so — and Google Chromecast is a popular choice.
In this article, we’ll explore why that’s the case and provide you with step-by-step instructions for setting up your digital signage using Google Chromecast.
The Google Chromecast is a media device that’s similar to other popular consumer products such as the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Roku devices.
It’s a small device that you plug into the HDMI port on the back of a TV. You can use a Google Chromecast to quickly and easily stream a wide variety of content to whatever television you connect it to.
Google Chromecast is popular for the same reasons that other media players like it are. The device enables consumers to watch a wide variety of content on a television screen without having to subscribe for cable or pay for a costly media device. For example, you can purchase the latest edition of Chromecast for under $30.00. One of the Chromecast benefits is its affordability and ease of use.
One of the biggest misconceptions about Google Chromecast is that it is a standalone media player. It’s not. Instead, you need to use another device in combination with the Chromecast before you can stream content through it to your television.
To set up Google Chromecast, you download the Google Home app on whatever phone, tablet or PC you want to use to stream the content. We’ve included instructions for doing this in a later section.
Chromecast connects to your TV screen through its HDMI port. The latest edition supports up to 1080p resolution, 60 frames-per-second and features micro-USB power. It also supports all wireless networks in the WiFi 802.11ac (2.4GHz/5GHz) range.
Google Chromecast works on all major operating systems, including Android, iOS, Mac and Windows. Google designed the product to be as usable as possible across many different devices. So you really should be able to use this almost regardless of whatever TV you might have.
Google Chromecast is for more than just consumers — it can also be an excellent digital signage media player for companies. In this section, we’ll explore why that’s true, how it works and what types of benefits you can expect from using Chromecast for digital signage.
It’s important to keep in mind, Chromecast is a device that facilitates the transfer of content from one screen to another. It doesn’t actually store content or process it in any intelligent way.
A company that wants to use Chromecast as a digital signage tool will need another device to “cast” content to the TV. This is typically a phone, tablet, or PC. So you need to have a second device ready to use in combination with Chrome to unlock its potential for digital signage.
Using Chromecast for business your digital signage is worth doing for a few key reasons.
First, it’s extremely cost-effective — Google Chromecast only costs about $30. But it also enables you to take advantage of the capability of your existing device for media streaming instead of having to purchase a new, dedicated one for each of your screens.
Additionally, Google Chromecast is a small, simple device that doesn’t take technical expertise to use. Simply plug it into your TV, connect it to the streaming device you want to use, and let it work. Since you know how to work Chromecast now, you won’t even have to pay for any professional installers for this. The Chromecast dashboard can help you manage your digital signage content effortlessly.
First thing’s first: you need to unpack your Chromecast from the box it came in. When you do, you should see each of the following:
After you’ve verified that you have everything you’re supposed to, it’ll be time for you to connect your Chromecast to the television. This is a straightforward step.
Start by plugging the HDMI cable into your device and an HDMI port on your TV. Then use the USB-C to USB-A cable to connect your Chromecast to its power adapter and plug it into an outlet.
Next, turn your TV on and change the channel to the correct input source. This will depend on which HDMI port you plugged the cable into during the previous step.
Now it’s time to download the Google Home app on whatever device you plan on pairing with the Google Chromecast to stream content to your TV. Once you do, make sure that you’re connected to the same WiFi signal that you’re using on your Chromecast.
Google Home will tell you how to do the rest. It prompts new users to follow a series of self-explanatory Chromecast setup steps. It is important to note here that Google Home will not be your digital signage app. However, after you’ve completed this setup, you will be able to begin using digital signage software to broadcast displays through your television.
Chromecast can be an excellent digital signage solution — but it isn’t the best fit for everyone. Let’s take a look at some pros and cons of using a Chromecast for digital signage to figure out whether it’s right for you or not.
Google Chromecast is one of many different options that companies can use to display digital signage on their screens. It’s a simple, cost-effective solution that’s a good fit for businesses with simple digital signage goals.
But if you want to optimize your digital signage, then you will get the best results from investing in software that was specifically made to help a company reach its digital signage goals.
For example, a tool like UPshow includes features like:
You can also manage the content that you share with UPshow on any internet-enabled device. The changes that you make will instantly broadcast across all of your screens. This can be a huge time-saver for companies with large venues that have multiple screens with digital signage content.
But UPshow isn’t the only digital signage option you have. Here are some other alternatives to Google Chromecast.
Amazon Fire Stick 4K is perhaps the most popular alternative to Google Chromecast. The two devices are very similar to one another. However, the Fire Stick is easier to transfer from one screen to another than Google Chromecast.
It’s a small dongle that plugs directly into your screen’s HDMI port. It also stores your data, unlike Google Chromecast. That means you won’t have to set it up from scratch or use an app to manage it each time you want to use it.
Android boxes are very similar to Google Chromecast. But the main difference is that you can’t use Chromecast offline while android boxes don’t have the same limitation. This makes them a great alternative to Chromecast especially if WiFi is sometimes an issue in your location.
Chromebox and Chromebit are two other digital signage solutions that are worth considering as alternatives to Chromecast.
Chromebox costs about $200, which makes it a pricier option. However, you do get extra value for that higher price tag. It’s a larger box that essentially gives you all of the functionality that you need for a wide variety of digital signage solutions.
Using Chromebit for signage purposes can be tricky because it is a bit older than Chromecast. This means that it doesn’t have any updates available to take advantage of new innovations. However, it saves all of your progress, even when it goes offline. That makes it a good Chromecast alternative for some business owners.
If you know how to work Google Chromecast, then it becomes a very affordable digital signage option. Unfortunately, implementing digital signage using Chromecast will never offer you the best returns on your effort, time, and money. But, realistically, if you want to get as much out of the time and energy that you invest into creating digital signage content, you want a more powerful tool. UPshow is that tool.But don’t just take our word for it. Sign up for a free demo today to see exactly what UPshow can do for you.
Experts say that out-of-home advertising (OOH) drives more engagement per ad dollar spent than any other traditional media. But seeing value in OOH advertising and building a successful OOH channel from scratch are two entirely different things.
Digital signage software helps simplify the channel creation process so that businesses can enjoy the fruits of their strategy much faster. Below, we’ll tell you more about what OOH advertising is, why it matters, and how it will help your company reach its goals.
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is a fairly broad term. It encompasses any type of advertising media that exists outside of the home. For example, each of the following is a type of OOH advertising:
Spending on OOH continues to grow in the United States and beyond. In 2020, companies spent nearly $29 billion on OOH across the globe.
This is one point of distinction that’s worth making as you build your company’s OOH strategy. Digital OOH ads are dynamic. They exist on smart screens like digital billboards, digital posters and even televisions.
Companies that use these ads have more control over how they change over time. They can track which ads perform well and make changes to underperformers faster and at a lower cost.
Static OOH advertising can be effective too, however, it is tougher to change a static poster, traditional billboard, or painted sign if it isn’t performing up to expectations.
Advertisers spend money on OOH ads because they are effective. Here are three reasons why that’s true.
Ad blockers are the scourge of online advertising. Nearly 30% of Americans use ad blockers and 46.2% of users between 16 and 24 years old use one too. That’s a significant portion of a company’s intended audience that they won’t reach with standard online ads.
But there are no ad blockers in the real world. When you display an OOH ad on a digital billboard or a smart screen, all of your intended audience will see it, instead of just 60-70% of it. That’s a significant difference to have a meaningful impact on the effectiveness of your campaigns.
OOH ads are also fantastic for building familiarity with your audience. You can then leverage this brand familiarity to improve the effectiveness of your campaigns on other marketing channels.
For example, Nielsen found that 46% of adults conducted an online search after seeing a product in an OOH ad. Similarly, research from Ocean NeuroScience shows that consumers are 48% more likely to click on a mobile ad after seeing the same copy displayed as an OOH ad first.
Smart companies can take advantage of this. By adding an OOH channel to an existing in-home campaign, your business could see significant growth in the engagement that it gets.
There’s never been a better time to get started with OOH advertising. The government has eased COVID restrictions and people are taking advantage of it by getting out of the house more often.
As people spend more time in public places, the opportunities available for forward-thinking companies grow larger. Many more people will see your OOH ads now than in late 2020 and early 2021.
Digital signage software makes OOH advertising much easier. It simplifies each phase of both the channel creation and deployment processes. For example, with digital signage, you will find it much easier to:
The bottom line is that digital signage software makes it much easier to create compelling, dynamic OOH content and share it with the world. When you invest in digital signage software, each phase of the OOH marketing process takes up less of your time and money. That ultimately often leads to increases in profits and productivity for your company.
Now that we know why OOH advertising matters and why digital signage is the best solution for your strategy, it’s time to delve into the process of creating your digital signage platform.
In this section, we’ll provide step-by-step instructions you can follow to select the best OOH advertising plan for your company’s unique concerns.
The first thing to do is pick which digital signage software you’ll use. The key is finding a solution that offers you each of the following:
UPshow provides you with all of these functions and more. Our solution comes with a robust suite of analytics tools so you can determine exactly what your ads need to reach their full potential.
We also make it incredibly easy to integrate value-adding features like QR codes, users’ social media posts and more into your campaigns. You can even use UPshow to stream more than 500 channels of entertainment to your audience.
With UPshow, you get everything that you need to optimize your OOH campaigns and drive the increase in revenue that you’ve been working towards.
Reach out to us to learn more about what we can do to help your company reach its goals.
Once you’ve selected your digital signage software, it’ll be time for you to create your campaign. Many solutions allow you to choose from numerous templates to simplify the design process. But you also have the option of importing a custom design from an artist that you’re already working with.
This stage of the process is when the benefits of digital OOH advertising over static OOH advertising come into their own. You can create complex digital ads with animations, videos, and high-resolution imagery. These types of ads are more attention-grabbing than static printed ads and could help to drive more engagement for your campaigns.
Once you’ve decided what you want your OOH campaigns to look like, it will be time to combine them with your existing campaigns. Digital OOH ads make this much easier to do.
For example, you can add QR codes to your digital ads with links that direct your audience to existing channels. You might send a customer to a sign-up form for your email list. You could direct them to the app store to download your application.
The flexibility of digital signage opens up countless possibilities like these for your company to interweave its campaigns with one another and create a more complete web for trapping new leads.
Next up is deployment. This is when you send your ads out across the various screens in your OOH network.
This might sound complex, but it’s actually fairly straightforward if you have the right software. For example, you can use UPshow to manage your entire OOH ad deployment scheme on any internet-enabled device. This makes it incredibly easy to make updates and changes the moment you identify a need for them.
As your ads run, you will be able to track their performance with whatever metrics matter most to you. That being said, the most popular metrics for tracking the performance of OOH ads are:
You might also have an in-house metric that you prefer using. Regardless, as data comes in about the effectiveness of your ads, you can quickly and easily make as many updates as you need to until you get them right.
This is one of the biggest reasons why most companies prefer digital out-of-home advertising (DOOH) to static OOH ads. The channel gives you a level of control over your campaigns that can be tough to find elsewhere.
If you’re ready to make OOH advertising a part of your broader marketing strategy, then UPshow is here to help. Our software helps companies generate millions of impressions with customized and dynamic OOH campaigns.
You can even use UPshow in your venue to broadcast streaming entertainment, engage your guests with fun games (trivia night, anyone?), and promote the products that you want to sell more of in whatever ways you think will make it happen.
So why wait? You can take the first step towards embracing the OOH advertising revolution today by filling out this form for a free demo. We look forward to hearing from you.
