Clearly, Out-of-Home advertising and digital signage primarily rely on people going outside. It only makes sense how one might assume they’ll be weak when there is a global pandemic out and about ravaging practically every industry in the world. But as we grew accustomed to living in the middle of a pandemic in the (finally) past year, so did digital signage. Even with it getting crippled in spring of 2020, it is still a perfectly viable and beneficial solution for any business out there, including yours.Â
If you haven’t already, below you’ll see why 2021 is the ideal time to invest in digital signage, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic which is very likely to remain with us for some time to come. Interestingly, while it may have halted the industry at first with its emergence, it brought one beneficial effect with it.
A fresh start
January is the month of new beginnings, both when it comes to personal and business decisions. With businesses, it’s the ideal time to try something new, to experiment, because this is the time when change is anticipated. Countries push out new laws, particularly with the COVID-19 pandemic in mind. Businesses roll out new products and adjust prices. If ever there is a time to do so, January is the month.Â
This is also what makes it a perfect time to take on the challenge of mastering or even upgrading your digital signage setup. We have talked about the variety of its uses in the past. It always comes down to the fact that digital signage is surely going to help you grow your business when you find the right strategy of using it. As you plan which other changes you’ll roll out, keep the platform of digital signage in mind and how it might help you in achieving your plans for 2021.
Digital signage and COVID-19
Sadly, the pandemic doesn’t appear to be reaching its end just yet. For a year now we’ve gotten accustomed to hearing news about COVID-19 on a daily basis. However, this unfortunate circumstance has pushed technology in a certain direction, including digital signage.
As the pandemic began to expand in early 2020, safety announcements and information spread with it. By this point there are a variety of PSAs and reminders ideal for sharing via digital signage. This can help remind everyone what needs to be done to turn the daily battle against COVID-19 in our favor. Another thing businesses had to get used to is occupancy management. Digital signage can help with this, too, by displaying the occupancy rate and also limiting access to customers in order to manage it at the desired level. Overall, digital signage in 2021 will help handle the impact of the pandemic in more ways than one.
People notice Out-of-Home home
Prior to 2020, it was evident that, each day, people spent more and more in the online world. Everyone was texting, scrolling through Facebook, and posting on Instagram and Twitter. The time spent online heavily outweighed the time we spent outdoors. We passively stopped appreciating what the outdoor world offered. But as 2020 forced us to spend nearly all of our time online, we started viewing life a bit differently. The sensation was similar to consuming too much sugar at once. In the end, that special treat of going online no longer tastes as sweet as it did before.
People now appreciate the outdoor world more. There’s even statistics to back this up! 70% of UK consumers say they pay more attention to the outdoor world, especially in local areas. Meanwhile nearly half of American adults said they notice outdoor advertising more than they did prior to the pandemic. At the very least, the pandemic has made us slow down a bit and look at the world around us more.
Fitness and Digital Signage
Gyms are a great example of January being a month of new beginnings. So many of us make the new year resolution to go to the gym more often. We’ve written about it last year, so be sure to check out the benefits digital signage brings to gyms and fitness centers. Sadly, this year, things are just a little bit different.
Gyms and fitness centers were among the first to suffer the crippling blow of the pandemic in 2020. It also doesn’t help that training with a mask on makes breathing, an important technique in high intensity training, more difficult and soaks up sweat. Because of this, in parts of the world where they are allowed to operate, fitness centers must take social distancing very seriously if they want to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Digital signage can help in this task as it provides several methods for occupancy management.
Apart from the regular benefits digital signage can bring during the pandemic, keep in mind a few other uses specific to gyms and fitness centers. Customers schedule their individual attendance to ensure there won’t be too many people at the gym at any given time. As they visit the gym, a display will show when they might schedule their next exercise session in the week. Sadly, this puts group exercises out of play. PSAs are also one option, but perhaps even more important is the casual reminder that the exercise equipment is cleaned and disinfected frequently.
2021 is going to be a good year for digital signage
Projected to be a year of recovery, 2021 will unlikely bring us any shocking trends or exciting new tech experiments. As it already has, the industry will push out new solutions to cope better with the pandemic. For as chaotic as 2020 was, the year ahead will be that much calmer as we see that the path ahead is a steady road to healing and recovery.
One of the anticipated events in this year is that outdoor advertising will become more intertwined with its online counterpart. With that in mind, digital signage software will face greater challenges to satisfy consumer expectations. And similarly, consumers will see the value software can bring in managing their content and freeing up a lot of time and energy. If you’re looking to invest in digital signage, try out what some of the software providers have to offer through their free trials. You can try out OnSign TV for 14 days for free, no credit card required!
