Reaping the benefits of digital signage isn’t as easy as it looks.

t’s one thing to hear the advice that you should add digital signage to your portfolio.It is quite another task to make that happen. Especially since digital signage can bemore about creative messaging than IT deployment, which makes it a marked departure for manytech providers. Michael Ohren, owner of MacMan, a solutions provider with a digital signage divi-

sion, says there is no easy path for learning about digital signage, but there are some key steps.

Step 1: Know Why You Want To Sell Digital SignageOhren has long been intrigued by digital signage, which he first learned about at a boot camp sponsored by Ingram Microabout seven years ago. However, because MacMan is an Apple shop, adoption was hindered because digital signage soft-ware was initially all Windows-based. Several years later, solutions started to hit the market that allowed the solutionsprovider to pair its Apple products with digital signage, and that’s when MacMan started seriously looking at digital sig-nage. “Because we are a firm believer in using what we sell, we started by getting a display and some software and usingit in-house,” explains Ohren. He says the initial effort around digital signage entailed about 10 months of playing with thesystem to learn its ins and outs, testing the capabilities of the software, and brainstorming about where and how digitalsignage would work for MacMan’s customers. In the meantime, MacMan moved into a new store and used digital signageto enhance its customers’ experience and to share what Ohren calls the company’s “inside reality.” A company’s insidereality is the full range of its services versus the one or two a customer may have an awareness around — their outsideperception. “When you have customers in your store or your dental office or wherever, and you’re struggling with mes-saging about your inside reality, digital signage is a good way to present that information to them,” says Ohren. Like manysolutions providers, MacMan serves as its own guinea pig, so installing a full-blown digital signage presence in its retailstore became a way to work the kinks out of its solution, as well as provide leads for potential signage customers.

Step 2: Learn The Ropes Of Digital Signage InstallationAlong the way, MacMan found that digital signage solutions involve hardware and software — it uses Apple monitors andplayers and Nanonation and ~sedna presenter software — as well as installation, support, messaging, and content exper-tise. “You must do your research with this technology,” explains Ohren. Questions you’ll have to tackle with digital sig-nage include display, software, player, mount, and cable types, each with pros and cons depending on the customer’senvironment and usage situation. From there, as with any technology, you need to study trends in the industry — whatworks and what doesn’t — everything from display tilt to mounting height to orientation of the display. For example, Mac-Man has learned that because most people are used to seeing displays sitting horizontally, mounting digital signage in aportrait mode has a totally different impact. To find best practices, Ohren recommends leveraging distributors such as Ingram Micro and vendors such as Apple.

Conversations with partners and peers are a prime opportunity to move more quickly into the space and to avoid com-mon mistakes others have suffered. Ohren also recommends events such as the Digital Signage Expo (www.digitalsig-nageexpo.net), which is organized by the Digital Signage Federation, an organization that offers education, certification,and vendor recommendations. “You want to start with the basics, make it work in your environment, and then move for-ward and enhance those basic features with options such as automated content.” Ph

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Step 3: Tackle Content Development For Digital Signage Once you’ve worked through the deployment options within digital signage solutions, Ohren says you must focus in on contentand the decisions tied to that important component of digital signage. “Content is king, so IT people may not be a good fit whenit comes to focusing on the message and the presentation of a digital signage solu-tion,” explains Ohren. Don’t be mistaken; if you think adding digital signage to yourportfolio means learning to connect a 60-inch display to a player and then walkingaway, you are leaving the bulk of your margins on the floor. “Digital signage is adifferent business model than regular IT; it is much more about the creative,” hesays. So while your engineers will need to learn to optimize and integrate the hard-ware and software components, someone in your organization will need to offerexpertise around messaging and visuals, or you will not be delivering a full digitalsignage solution. “You will need to hire someone with graphic design background,some sense of sales, and some experience with solution management,” says Ohren.Then layer content management and consultation over the deployment, and turnthe entire package into a services agreement. When looking at potential hires,probe to determine their understanding and aptitude with software such as AppleKeynote presentation software, which MacMan uses to create dynamic slide showsthat are then converted into QuickTime movies, or Adobe After Effects for fullmovie presentations. Other key talents will include solutions management, such as

“It is a totally differentbusiness model. It’s takingan ad agency, a sign per-son, and an IT company androlling them together,”says Michael Ohren, ownerof MacMan.

2010 Sales revenue: $2.2 million

2010 Sales growth rate:122%

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MacMan

Vendors: Adobe, Apple, Barracuda, Canon,Epson, Fujitsu, Hitachi, LG, NEC, Xerox

Distributors: Ingram Micro, Tech Data

www.macmanstore.com

Markets: B2B, education,government, medical, music industry

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balancing and coordinating several elements on each display.For example, a hotel display may include flight updates, theweather, and hotel event feeds, all of which need to be inte-grated and visually effective. For all those reasons, Ohren rec-ommends developing a separate division around digital sig-nage to create the right level of focus. “It is a totally differentbusiness model. It’s taking an ad agency, a sign person, andan IT company and rolling them together. That required a newdivision for us because it was too unique to reuse theresources we had in place.”

Step 4: Educate Customers About Digital SignageTo deliver an appropriate signage solution, MacMan starts byidentifying the customer’s objectives, then determining the

appropriate level of effort needed to meet that objective andfinally determining how, and if, an ROI will be calculated. “Westart by finding out why they want digital signage, and we addour expertise and suggestions to that objective,” says Ohren.That reasoning can be as simple as the “wow” factor, but oftenthe objective is tied to that inside reality hurdle. Many of Mac-Man’s customers are seeking a solution that engages cus-tomers waiting in line or in a reception area and shares infor-mation about the business. For example, a bank may wantdigital signage to offer stimulation to people waiting in line fora teller in order to make the wait seem shorter by deliveringinformation about other services the bank offers, such as mort-gages or investments. “Digital signage educates and enhancesthe customer experience. You need to understand what eachcustomer envisions for its environment,” cautions Ohren. Then, early on, you must talk about ballpark investments —

from the cost of a solution to the ongoing support it will need,either from the customer’s staff or your own. That is where,Ohren says, you discuss the return on effort: Will this digitalproject meet the objective within the customer’s monetary andeffort budgets? “You must tell them how much money they arelikely to spend and how much time it is likely to take to meetthat objective they have articulated to you. Then you need todetermine together if meeting that objective is worth that effortand cost,” he says. Only then can you move on to measuringhard ROI. For that conversation, MacMan uses its own expe-rience. Not only does the wow factor of the digital signage inMacMan’s retail shop draw people’s attention and serve tostart conversations, it allows MacMan to offer metrics. In 2010,the solutions provider’s revenues increased about 122%,which meant the company grew from a $1 million business toa $2.2 million shop. Some of that, says Ohren, was related toa new location and increased customer base on both the retailand B2B sides. However, when that new store opened, Mac-Man invested about $40,000 in digital signage. Ohren says thatimpacted growth by providing a demonstration of the tech-nology, promoting services to customers, and highlightingefforts like the Munch-n-Mac training sessions held over thedinner hour in the store. There is also the element of startingconversations with customers that might have otherwise goneunnoticed. “It is by far our biggest lead generation tool.” Forexample, MacMan had a customer come in to buy a cable andsaw the digital signage displays. Those displays piqued hisinterest, and now that customer has six or seven locations onboard, each looking to spend $10,000 to $15,000 — allbecause of a $30 cable. “Those experiences make this show-room well worth our money in terms of leads and credibility,”says Ohren.

Step 5: Turn Digital Signage Into Services OpportunityMacMan sees digital signage sales as a prime opportunity forextending customer relationships via managed services,because you can layer creative over the IT deployment andthen add custom content development and remote content

Leverage Distributor Relationship To Ramp Up With Digital Signage

One overlooked value of a strong solutions provider/IT distributor partnership is the insightinto market trends that a distributor can provide. For example, Michael Ohren, owner of solu-tions provider MacMan, credits Ingram Micro with alerting him to the potential of digital sig-

nage several years ago. “We first thought about digitalsignage after an Ingram Micro boot camp, but we werea Mac shop so it took awhile before we could takeadvantage,” explains Ohren. Today, however, MacManis deep into digital signage; so much so that Ohren pre-sents at the Ingram Micro digital signage boot camps,offering his advice on adopting this burgeoning technol-ogy to his peers.

Driving the adoption of digital signage systems —which can include plasma and LCD panels, video walls,

projection systems, audio systems, networks, cables, PCs, media players, screen mounts,servers, and software to schedule, create, and distribute content — has been falling prices onflat-screen displays, as well as a shift in consumer expectations around content delivery. “Every-one is so used to instant access to information through a display; this is how we now expectto learn and get information,” explains Ohren. “Everyone wants info quickly, and digital signsare a huge part of that. We are just starting to scratch the surface.”

To support its partners, Ingram Micro offers a line card of digital signage hardware and soft-ware, as well as resources in training and support. The Digital Signage Boot Camps that alert-ed Ohren to the digital signage sales opportunity are held several times each year (May 11-12 in Niagara Falls, N.Y., Aug. 17-18 in Chicago, and Nov. 2-3 in Scottsdale, AZ). Plus, youcan also attend the Digital Signage Interactive Road show on April 28 in San Jose, CA, on July21 in Denver, and on Oct. 6 in Philadelphia.

If you are looking to explore digital signage from your desk, the Ingram Micro website fea-tures archives of presentations and training documents focused on digital signage. Lastly, thedigital signage division offers help with installation, financing, and content development ser-vices, as well as a help desk staffed with expert engineers to support sales and service. Ohrensays that the advantage of a partner such as Ingram Micro is having all the expertise in oneplace — including access to an array of vendors such as NEC, LG, Viewsonic, Samsung, AOpenand Peerless — plus an established relationship. “If you have that relationship with a distrib-utor such as Ingram Micro or a particular vendor, and they have a play in this space, don’t hes-itate to leverage that relationship to gain momentum. It is much easier than you think. ”

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management. “You start with the consulting, build a solutionbased on hardware and software, then content managementcomes into play, and now you are looking at recurring rev-enue,” says Ohren. Key to MacMan’s offering is the ability toremotely monitor and support digital signage deployments, aswell as push and maintain content. If more hands-on supportis needed, MacMan has partnered with other providers, and hehighly recommends that for an IT business with customersinterested in digital signage but no time to add the solution toits portfolio. MacMan also partners to offer specialty signagesolutions, such as those that offer flight information contentand virtual concierge services for hotels. Overall, Ohren says MacMan has found the payback on

digital signage is tremendous; not only is it fun, but it offershigher margins than many hardware-based solutions. He

says the only downside MacMan has experi-enced around digital signage is a sales cyclethat can stretch for months. “This is entirelynew for most customers, and they need the

time to examine the price and think it through,” says Ohren.“We often have customers that think digital signage is greatuntil they see the $10,000 estimate, and that slows theprocess down.” To offset that sticker shock, MacMan has

started hosting lunch and learns to share with prospects howdigital signage enhances business, why they should considerit, and then showcase finished projects. Customers with whom MacMan has had traction are diverse

and include education (way finding, emergency alerts), dentistand doctor offices (services education), sports arenas (sched-ules, tournament brackets, sponsorship advertising), and movietheatres (schedules, way finding). In fact, the solutions provideris currently working on bundled solutions for those target verti-cals. “We’ve learned that building bundles and offering them asa turnkey solution enhances our business when compared tooffering custom solutions for each customer,” says Ohren. He says the company is also developing an online store that

offers digital signage and services in bundles through an e-commerce module, although he says he doesn’t expect cus-tomers to actually buy the solutions online. “It is more like carshopping online; you look at the options and the pricing, andyou are more serious about buying when you come in to talkin person.” Overall, MacMan expects the growing demand forcontent delivered visually via digital signage to fuel ongoinggrowth, especially as solutions providers learn more about howto integrate signage with other technology to meet customers’demands. ●

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