At this point you probably have heard something about “Automotive Digital Signage”, but you may not have a firm grasp on how you can use it at your dealership to increase sales and service.

By a show of hands, how many of you have a clear understanding of Automotive Digital Signage? Let’s see if we can give you some digital signage basics by answering a couple simple questions that I have heard from dealers like yourselves.

First, what is digital signage? Marketers have given it many names like Digital Out of Home Marketing, Narrowcasting, Screen-Media and so on, but a rose by any other name… Digital Signage is simply an electronic LCD, LED or Plasma TV-like display that allows you present your advertising, information, or other messages in a visually-dynamic and appealing way to your customers. Businesses use digital signage to bring attention to special offers, and even control traffic patterns in their facilities.

Where does the visually-dynamic and appealing content that is presented on the digital display come from? Sometimes it comes from content providers, or you can do it in-house. Your ad agency can provide it, or because we have dedicated a great deal of time to understanding it, we can provide it too. Also, the very system that is providing your ABN TV programming is the perfect platform for delivery of these materials. Your system can be expanded to meet the specific needs of your dealership. Your Dealer Relations Manager at ABN can walk you through the process of assessing how you can best use it in your facility.

We have been using posters and cardboard signs in automotive retail for years, why change?  Evolution!  Our car dealer industry has, at times, been slow to adopt new methods or change. Today, your customers have a different set of expectations in both their cars and their dealer. They expect their dealership to be technologically savvy and up-to-date in all aspects.

Isn’t evolution a theory popularized by Darwin? Yes, he certainly made a compelling argument for it in the 1850s. Paraphrasing of course, he stated simply that the stronger, smarter, and more adaptive members of a species would thrive while weaker and less adaptable creatures are eliminated. In recent history, we saw a “culling of the herd”, so to speak, within the auto industry. Plus, no dealer has ever asked me to explain Darwin’s theories really. I added that for my own amusement.

How and why is automotive digital signage more effective and is it really more efficient? To deliver ten unique, and informative messages you would have had to have ten static displays, and you would have to hope that people take the time to view them. This takes up valuable space and looks ratty over time. With automotive digital signage, you can use one screen to deliver those same messages with vibrant color, motion, emotion, and you do it in the high traffic areas of your dealership so that you know people will view it! Digital signage can be updated with a few keystrokes, while static images need to be reprinted, redistributed, and remounted at the store.

What makes good content for Automotive Digital Signage? All content should have moving elements so that it grabs the attention of the eye. Text should be clear, clean, and easy enough to read for the average viewer. You can have multiple messages per screen. How many is typically based on the average dwell time of the person you are targeting. For example, the dwell time of a person at the F & I department waiting area is significantly different than that of a person in the service drive. Also, the message itself is very important. While I would gladly place the current incentives in front of customers in a service waiting area to entice them to look at a new car, I might not place those same incentives in front of the customers in the F & I waiting area so as not to interfere with the transaction that is taking place. Again, your Dealer Relations Manager can assist in developing your content loop. Tools are in place to walk you through the process in an organized fashion.

EVOLUTION!