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What is a digital blackboard? 462 260 Linda

What is a digital blackboard?

WHAT IS A DIGITAL BLACKBOARD?

Digital blackboards are the perfect alternative to conventional information terminals.

In this article: 

  1. What are digital blackboards?
  2. Digital black board software: How does it work?
  3. Virtual blackboard: The advantages
  4. Best industries for the digital displays
  5. How much do digital black boards cost?
  6. What’s the difference between digital blackboards and digital signage software?
  7. Conclusion
  8. FAQ

 

Digital Blackboards: An important step towards digitalization

Many people see digital black boards as some kind of terminal to get further information about something. Others associate it with a bulletin board in a kitchen. Both perspectives aren’t wrong, speaking from an analogous point of view. In the following article, FRAMR gives you answers regarding how digital black boards work, their advantages and the costs you should consider.


Digital boards as a flexible source of information

 

What are digital blackboards?

Again, speaking from an analogous point of view it makes sense to say it’s a bulletin board. However, you shouldn’t take it too literally. Digital blackboards are an electronic solution to display video- and picture content (as well as PDFs). The color is significant – the more known whiteboards show content on a white background, the casing or the background of blackboards on the other hand is black.

The contrast in color comes with an advantage for companies. Especially in brighter shopping malls digital displays are almost invisible because of the same accent in color. A black board on the other hand is more recognizable.

The goal with digital displays is to reach more customers and because of the outstanding color contrast, companies even have advantages for their marketing as they gain more attention.

 

Digital blackboard software: How does it work?

Basic requirement for displaying content is compatible software. Through the connection to a device, software displays content. Reproduction can be configured so that contents can be shown for a specific period and then be replaced easily.

That creates flexibility in the content creation and the possibility to reach out to the target group. The connection to a cloud makes the device work without a permanent internet connection (only required during the data transport).

 

Virtual blackboard: The advantages

Modern technology meets stunning design to display digital content. Digital blackboards aren’t just a pragmatic solution to provide information (although that’s one way to use it), because their design makes them a real eye-catcher.

Speaking from a marketing related point of view, communication with customers gives companies a big advantage. Virtual blackboards serve as a source of information, inspire for an exciting shopping session and provide important safety notices. Thanks to this diversity, companies benefit and market their products as well as their services effectively.

Digital blackboard advantages overview:

  • Vandalism prevention
  • Remote access
  • Cloud based solution to display content
  • Made for continuous use
  • Design by own preferences

Content is short lived because the own target group wishes for variety and the growing competition on the market requires companies to regularly come up with new ideas. Conventional banners reach many people but design and printing takes long and is expensive. Digital black boards come with many advantages in that case because all you need to do is to create content and then display it on the board. Besides that, companies don’t produce personnel costs because they don’t need staff to exchange advertising banners.

 

Best industries for the digital displays

In the age of digitalization all industries benefit from mobility solutions. The use of blackboards is not limited to display advertising or information because every company is free to show the content they want.

Shopping malls show exciting advertisements and the administration of a company displays industry news. Restaurants even have a double advantage because a digital menu looks good and is informative.

Therefore, it doesn’t matter which industry your business belongs to. More importantly, businesses need to know their target group and what they want. The number one question companies should ask themselves is: What are the interests of my target group and how do I reach them with my content strategy?


Know your target group to make your advertising more effective

 

How much do digital black boards cost?

Virtual blackboards (display only) start at 1.000 €. But even more important than a display is a high quality and compatible software to display content. Companies make the best choice by buying software that includes the desired use.

FRAMR offers attractive solutions with all important features and modules for a monthly fee. Our products promise maximum performance, high flexibility and customer satisfaction. We adjust to the needs of customers and therefore only offer products that promise high quality and high technological standards.

Feel free to contact us to get to know our products better.

Overview to our products: https://framr.tv/en/products/

 

What is the difference between digital blackboards and digital signage software?

Digital signage solutions are digital-visualized screens that display pictures and videos in a compact form. Therefore, digital signage software is the general term for all screens that show content. What makes digital blackboards special is their color – as already mentioned, pictures or videos are either displayed on a black casing or a black background.

-> Article: Digital Signage Software: The future of communication?

 

Conclusion: A must have for companies

Digital blackboards aren’t only beneficial for shopping malls. Even smaller businesses such as doctor offices, property managements or restaurants take advantage. That underlines the biggest benefit of digital marketing methods: No matter the industry or company size, businesses reach customers with digital signage solutions. If you know your target group and their interests, then you will use digital boards successfully.

FAQ

A screen is connected to software or a player to show pictures or videos. Content-collection happens in the background through software and the digital display shows the content.

FRAMR offers packages with all kinds of integrations for digital signage solutions. The unlimited number of content is one of many advantages which improve the overall performance of your digital displays.

Pictures: © Canva

Online webinars 994 537 Linda

Online webinars

FRAMR – Digitale Signage and it's functions

Fr. Jan. 27th 2023

11.00 a.m. – 12.00 p.m.

Seminar leader: Lukas Aumair

Seminar Management

Lukas Aumair

Lukas Aumair – Founder FRAMR & CEO Megatechnik Multimedia Professional GmbH

 

FAQ

Who are the online webinars suitable for?

The online webinars are suitable for anyone who wants to digitize and automate their work and communication processes. It doesn’t matter whether you have already had contact with digital signage or are looking for an introduction to the application.

 

Which tool do I need to participate in the webinars?

Participation in the webinars takes place via Google Meet. Therefore, you don’t have to install any additional tool.

 

What content do the online webinars cover?

Our goal is to show the benefits of digital signage and help you get started with the application. We also see the online webinars as an opportunity to interact with companies that are already using digital signage.

 

How long does the webinar last?

Our webinars last between 30 and 60 minutes. In terms of content, we try to finish after 30 to 45 minutes to allow time for questions.

 

How many people can attend per webinar?

We don’t commit to an exact number of participants, so we welcome anyone who wants to attend!

 

What are the first two online webinars about?

In the technical webinar “Digital Signage and its Functions”, we provide exclusive insights into the advantages and functions of signage software and how companies can benefit from it. In the second webinar, “Content Marketing in Digitalization”, we will discuss the influence of digitalization on advertising and strategic marketing processes. In addition, you can expect valuable impulses on trends and future developments. The webinars do not build on each other, but move thematically in a similar direction to provide a coherent overall picture.

 

FREE REGISTRATION Digital Signage and its functions

Software marketing: 6 simple steps to generate more sales 994 537 Linda

Software marketing: 6 simple steps to generate more sales

SOFTWARE MARKETING: 6 SIMPLE STEPS TO GENERATE MORE SALES

Marketing is one of the most difficult hurdles for IT companies. We therefore show you the six most important steps for successful software marketing.

Table of contents:

  1. Software marketing is not rocket science
  2. 6 simple steps to successful software marketing
  3. Example of a 6-step-plan: How to implement it successfully
  4. Ideas for your software marketing
  5. This is how much marketing budget you need
  6. Conclusion

 

The most important things in a nutshell:

  • Marketing is first and foremost a strategic process
  • Always align your software marketing with the desires of your target audience and identify your strengths relative to competitors
  • Use the strengths of different marketing channels to create content dispersion

 

Software marketing is not rocket science

Innovative ideas pay off and secure you a strong position on the market. That’s one of the reasons why software development has surged in recent years, especially in the area of mobile applications and business process automation (e. g. in accounting and marketing). But just like with any other product or service, software companies first have to find buyers / clients, and this is where one of the biggest challenges becomes apparent.

→ Marketing is the be-all and end-all in any industry, because without buyers even the greatest ideas remain undiscovered and the software sector is no exception. 

With this article we follow the goal to help IT businesses develop their marketing strategy. Many companies fail to win Clients because they make fundamental mistakes in the marketing process. And we are not talking about too little financial investments or choosing the wrong marketing channels, but about an insufficient strategy, poor positioning and wrong communication with the target group.

Many people think of marketing in terms of search engine optimization, social media or web design but these areas follow only after strategy development.
First, there are six important steps to follow to lay the foundation for successful software marketing. These steps will not only help you target the right audience, they will also save you resources.

 

6 simple steps to successful software marketing

To develop a good marketing strategy, you need to answer the following six questions first:

  • What are my strengths compared to my competitors?
  • Who is my target group and how do I address them?
  • Which communication channels do I use for my marketing?
  • Who is responsible for implementation?
  • What is the best way to spread our marketing presence?
  • How do I measure the results of my software marketing?

The implementation only takes place after you have worked out every single aspect of your strategy. A good marketing strategy will not only help you to plan your resources and approach, but will also give you a better overview of the required effort and the time buffers that need to be planned for implementation.

 

Position yourself

Every software stands out from its competition in its own way but your target audience may not be aware of these advantages. To use channels like social media or blogs effectively, you need to recognize your strengths in order to communicate them. But being aware of your weaknesses also has its advantages because it allows you to recognize potential for improvement and what possible objections your target group raises or what possible disadvantages they see in your software.

But don’t only focus on objective advantages of your software but also on how it meets the challenges of your target audience and what subjective needs your company addresses with its marketing strategy. When analyzing weaknesses, you should ideally consider the opinion of your team because it is often difficult for you to remain objective and even identify possible weaknesses in your own software.

 

Know your target audience

Many software businesses make the same mistake and explain any technical terms on their website or via their social media channels. But why? Your target audience probably are people who are familiar with the application areas of your software.
There are benefits of using a good glossary or encyclopedias to explain certain terms, especially if they are very technical, but don’t treat your audience like clueless people who need a primer on the subject first. Instead, communicate the advantages and which use your software promises. Also, creating informative as well as unique content should help position your company. 

This “I first need to explain everything” mistake is due to poor target audience analysis. Every company has an idea of its persona but still commits communication mistakes. As a result, it’s not uncommon to miss the mark, which means no sustainable growth and no leads will be generated.

Depending on your target audience, you need to consider different criteria when communicating. In the case of a B2C target audience, information regarding price or characteristics such as motives or personal preferences play a primarily role. In the B2B sector, on the other hand, solution-oriented approaches, industry and return on investment matter the most.

It should also be mentioned that every company has several target audiences which in turn are segmented into different subgroups – therefore, you should never focus your software marketing on only one group of people.

buyer persona

Buyer Persona: Profile of a fictive customer who represents the target audience

 

The right communication channels

It’s well known that social media and blogs belong to the best marketing channels. However, this does not answer the question of which exact channels should be used, how often and with which content. It makes a big difference whether your company is targeting a B2B or B2C target audience, as channels need to be selected accordingly.

The following table shows which (social media-) channels are particularly well suited for each target audience:

 B2BB2C
Blog
Facebook
Instagram
TikTok
Twitter✗/✓
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Reddit

Consider that the industry plays an important role as well. For example, Twitter is not bad for B2B businesses but it hardly offers any advantages for software companies. On the other hand, the platform “Reddit” has proven to be an insider tip because millions of people search there everyday for advice on different topics – with knowledge of software development, you can position your business extremely well.

But choosing the right channels isn’t everything, because that doesn’t answer any questions about posting frequency or the type of posts. In order to create a working content strategy, you should therefore clarify the following questions in the team:

  • Which channels do we use?
  • What content do we post?
  • When do we start with social media postings and blogging?
  • How often do we post on social media or our blog and what time buffer do we allow ourselves?
  • What are potential challenges? (e.g. copyright in image use for blog articles)
  • How do we achieve broad content distribution through different channels?
  • Are our blog articles and website aligned with search engine optimization (SEO) criteria?
  • How do we use your content to generate leads and retain them?

Are you looking for an exclusive content format that guarantees competitive advantages and triggers a lasting “wow effect” with your target audience? Then you should take a look at the advantages of digital signage!
Our software offers you a wide range of functions, starting with image playback and ending with interesting additional features such as the display of Facebook postings or YouTube videos. Of course, you can also use FRAMR as a presentation medium to communicate the benefits of your software. We promise: Your target audience will be stunned!

 

Internal vs external expertise

Blogs, social media, SEO, SEA (Google ads) – with all the given possibilities it’s difficult to find the necessary expertise internally, even when specifically choosing marketing channels. But that’s not necessary either, because through freelancer portals and Google research you can easily find a freelancer or even a big agency for your software marketing.

Both internal as well as external production of marketing content have advantages and with the following table we draw a comparison:

Strengths internalStrengths external
Faster communicationAgencies/freelancers know best practices
CheaperMore effective
Quicker access to knowledgeSpecialization
Staff is easily availableCan take on more tasks
Change of direction within the strategy is fasterStrategies can be worked out more purposefully

External labor requires good delegation. Don’t get it wrong, you don’t have to control every process in detail but working with freelancers or agencies is only purposeful if good framework conditions are created. For this, the first step is to clarify the following questions: 

  • Who is responsible for which activity and what is the goal?
  • Which deadlines do we set?
  • Which information and materials does the freelancer or agency need?
  • How well does the cooperation work and what can be improved?

 

Scattering

In the third point we have already mentioned content distribution – but why is this important at all? The answer: Many companies fail with implementing their marketing strategy and end up rearranging everything or plan all over again.

For successful software marketing, you have a variety of channels at your disposal, be it social media, SEO, SEA, PR or blogs. But just because you have so many options doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use the advantages of the different channels. Instead it’s better to set up multiple channels right from the beginning to see what content resonates best with your target audience and what content format gets good results. 

But make sure to ask yourself to what extent a good and broad content distribution is possible with the available resources because it doesn’t make sense if you have one person available for marketing, but you want to play ten marketing channels at once.

Content scattering

 

Metrics for measurability

Every company wants to achieve goals but surprisingly, this part of the marketing strategy in particular is treated quite superficially. Common goals are “growth” or “reach,” but no one mentions exact numbers or what metrics are used to achieve them. 

To measure the success of software marketing, you have several metrics at your disposal, be it website traffic, Google Analytics stats, social shares, newsletter signups or number of purchases or bookings. However, don’t make the mistake of focusing too much on the number of website visitors because even if high reach is an indicator of good marketing performance, it says nothing about the quality of your visitors.
Our recommendation: It’s best to use two metrics to evaluate the success of your marketing, for example website traffic and number of newsletter signups.

Don’t forget to use the results as a foundation for further development of your strategy. For example, if Facebook insights show that your target audience is mostly active between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m., these numbers should guide the time of your future posts. Similarly, you should remove content types from your strategy if the metrics show that they are performing poorly.

 

Example of a 6-step-plan: How to implement it successfully

Below, we give you insights into FRAMR’s marketing strategy so that you can get a feel for how to implement the 6-step plan.

  1. Positioning: At FRAMR, we focus on speed and agile processes. This is because the Linux operating system starts even when power is lost and does not require a license. In addition, no complex installation is necessary and our cloud service guarantees permanent availability ofthe services. This flexibility also ensures constant expandability and good runnability on all platforms. We see potential weaknesses in the established market position of our competitors. Since we are competing with big companies like Sony or Panasonic, we have to position ourselves with good content and address our target group effectively.
  2. Target group: We specifically address B2B customers with our digital signage solutions. We don’t discriminate on industry or company size, instead our marketing agenda aims to convince the target audience with the benefits of digital signage and position ourselves as innovative pioneers in entrepreneurship.
  3. Communication channels: Besides our blog, we primarily use B2B channels because they best fit our target audience. We communicate via LinkedIn, use cases, workshops, and the FRAMR blog.
  4. Internal vs. external expertise: We rely on both internal and external expertise. With internal strengths we ensure fast communication within the team and with external marketing support we “buy” the necessary know-how to do so.
  5. Distribution: Two up to three articles are published on our blog every month. In addition, we post one LinkedIn post per week, publish guest posts on other websites for link-building, have already published case studies and regularly participate in knowledge-sharing events.
  6. Metrics: To measure the success of our software marketing, we consider website traffic, number of purchases, and completed subscriptions.

What are use cases? Definition and examples

Ideas for your software marketing

  • Blog articles on industry-specific topics
  • Use case studies to show results of your work
  • Explainer videos
  • Google Ads campaigns with keywords targeting the search intent of the target audience
  • Free use of your software for a certain period of time
  • Live webinars to explain your software
  • Postings on Google MyBusiness
  • Digital brochures

Looking for more sustainable ideas? Then be sure to read our blog article on the best content formats – you’ll find valuable tips and tricks for implementing your software marketing strategy and which tools will help you do it.

 

This is how much marketing budget you need

The cost of good marketing has skyrocketed. Before digitization, people were less able to get information and it was correspondingly easier to sell products or services. But in the information age, different rules apply and your target audience has several touch points with your offer before they even develop interest. This is partly due to the growing competition, but also because access to information through search engines like Google is now available and your target group uses this offer. Because of that, you need to provide your audience with good content to spark curiosity, answer important questions, and get them to interact with your business.

How much budget you need to allocate to your marketing depends on several factors, including which channels you use or whether you cooperate with a freelancer or agency. Experience shows that the set-up phase with strategy development, setting up social media profiles, web design with texts and logo creation already costs well over 10,000 €. In addition, there are monthly costs for content, SEO and social media, which costs between 2,000 € and 5,000 €, depending on the factors mentioned.

 

Conclusion: Software marketing unfolds your potential

There is no question that marketing is one of the most important areas for the successful implementation of a business idea. There are high investments involved, but the long-term goal is a positive return-on-investment and most companies achieve this by working out a good strategy in the first step.

But that’s exactly the point: The first step requires a good strategy to set the stage for successful software marketing. The six steps from this article will help you establish your innovative idea on the market and set you apart from your competitors.

Pictures: © Canva.com

Content formats – Reach your target group with this advice 994 537 Linda

Content formats – Reach your target group with this advice

CONTENT FORMATS – REACH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE WITH THIS ADVICE

Content is king, every company is aware of that these days. But how do you use content formats to reach your target group?

In this article:

  1. How content rules the world of marketing
  2. Why businesses should expand their content strategy
  3. Which content formats are there?
  4. The versatility of content using the example of digital signage
  5. Important questions for a goal oriented content strategy
  6. The best content marketing tools
  7. Our final advice
  8. Conclusion 

 

The most important facts about content formats summarized:

  • There are a wide variety of content formats that combine their strengths
  • Which content formats companies use best depends on the target audience
  • Special marketing tools help to implement the content strategy

 

How content rules the world of marketing

Different trends dominate marketing depending on time and the circumstances. For a long time, print advertising was considered the best marketing method and every company took advantage of beautifully designed posters and flyers. This trend then was followed by TV commercials as the best advertising medium. Especially on TV shows with high audience ratings, businesses wanted to place their commercials to get more attention. Then there are the timeless advertising methods, such as word-of-mouth or trade fairs. However, during the times of the corona crisis, a rethink took place and trade shows in particular were not possible for about two years or could only be implemented under strict conditions. For a few years now, a new trend has been emerging as a result of digitalization, namely content marketing and because of the pandemic, more companies than ever before are relying on the strengths of dynamic online content.

Sign

Content: Part of every successful marketing strategy

No matter if social media or websites, businesses provide their platforms with content on a daily basis and use different kinds of content formats. Classic marketing methods such as trade fairs and print still belong to their portfolio but in the past years the trend developed in a different as well as clear direction. Blog articles, videos, designs, podcasts – good content has many faces and we will show you how you present content to your target audience.

 

Why businesses should expand their content strategy

A good content strategy has developed into a relevant competition factor in the past years. Companies with a strong online presence, be it through blog articles, podcasts or videos, benefit the most from the advantages of digital marketing. One of these advantages is the desired first page of google and other search engines. For many years it is known that google prefers websites which regularly post new and high quality content. But this rule doesn’t only apply to search engines, even the algorithms of platforms like YouTube prefer channels which regularly publish long and high quality videos. Content isn’t only about regularity, but especially about quality. 

Laptop screen which says

The right strategy ensures versatility when using different content formats

The steadily growing competition makes it kinda hard to establish a business in the digital world. Only about ten years ago there wasn’t any competition on keywords / google search terms and advertising content through paid ads (e. g. facebook) was much cheaper. But that belongs to the past because what matters in 2023 is a good strategy, variety, unique selling propositions and regularity. Businesses are in the position to provide their target audience with innovative content and not only to rely on proven strengths.

Moreover, content is the motor for automated marketing processes. Newsletter subscriptions or bookings for online courses always require content in the first step to build reach and to gain your target audience’s attention. Lead generation without the right content is impossible.

 

Which content formats are there?

Claims of the target audience are growing and businesses are in the position to think about innovative ideas to not provide generic content. The different content formats ensure variety to win over the attention of the target audience and to expand the online performance of your business.

 

Visual content

Nothing sticks in the minds of the target group as well as images or videos. They communicate emotions and the learning effect of informative content is bigger than with texts. The biggest advantage is that pictures are almost always used in combination with  different content formats or are at least useful – only through visualization social media posts unfold their effect, when reading blog articles the target group is provided with viewing material and even boring statistics get a nice optical makeover. The disadvantage of pictures is that content, which requires explanation, can’t be displayed. This is why we recommend a combination of text and pictures to combine the strengths of both content formats.

Videos come with a completely different disadvantage: The effort. Appealing videos require a good set-up, high quality equipment, safety in front of the camera and a final editing.

Advantages of visual content

  • User friendly
  • High learning effect
  • Emotionalizing

 

Disadvantages of visual content

  • Not barrier free
  • Displaying complex content almost not possible in picture format
  • Videos are very time consuming

 

Blog articles and text

When reading about the term “content” most people think of blog articles. That’s no surprise, because especially texts improve performance of a website, thus ensuring a good google ranking. That’s actually the reason why many businesses hire copywriters or even create jobs for that. Blogs are known for being the strongest medium to expand reach because the integration of the right keywords increases visitor numbers on websites and businesses win more customers through that.

An often overlooked advantage of texts is the accessibility of videos and pictures – web builders like wordpress come with the function to enter an alternative text as picture description which is read out in the event of charging difficulties or in the event of impaired vision.

Disadvantages appear with very extensive blog articles with poor content structure. Although search engines like to see informative blogs with good SEO, usability often gets lost when the table of contents is missing or there is no option left to go directly to the desired section. One example for that are websites with cooking recipes: Many bloggers expand recipes to holistic articles but don’t add a table of contents. Readers have to find the recipe by themselves and have to read through the complete text. This increases dissatisfaction with the blog, which in the worst case increases the bounce rate and worsens SEO performance.

Advantages of blog articles and text

  • Informative
  • Barrier free
  • Detailed presentation of complex content is possible

 

Disadvantages of blog articles and text

  • Not emotionalizing without pictures or videos
  • Bad navigation when table of contents is missing

 

Podcast

In comparison to the other content formats, podcasts were added relatively late, but are still part of the marketing portfolio of many businesses. At first, we want to clear up with a prejudice: Podcasts aren’t only good for storytelling or for freetime-stories because they communicate important information and knowledge on a very personal level. The speaker appears to be reachable for the target audience and through interviews listeners gain additional insights and hear different perspectives to a specific topic.

Podcasts are captivating and communicate knowledge in an almost entertaining way but for business growth they are less appropriate. There are exceptions as well but in most cases, a podcast isn’t part of a content strategy because listeners only rarely go from a podcast to the website and take advantage of a company’s offer.

Advantages of podcasts

  • Listeners build up a personal connection
  • Podcasts are entertaining
  • High learning effect
  • Longevity of content

 

Disadvantages of podcasts

  • Bad for conversions
  • High reach primarily in entertainment niches

 

Social media posts (engagement posts)

Social media combines the content formats text, pictures, videos and audio. On the different channels there is one separate content format which promises additional attention, namely so called engagement posts. The goal of these posts is to win the attention of your target audience through interaction. The social media channel instagram, for instance, makes it possible to ask surveys or to let subscribers participate in quizzes. Engagement posts signalize the target audience that you are interested in hearing their opinion. Other than that, you increase the engagement rate which has a positive impact on the social media performance and you get further insights into the wishes and desires of your target audience.

Advantages of social media engagement posts

  • Target audiences recognize that their wishes are considered
  • Good basis for market research
  • Provides for variety and more interaction

 

Disadvantages of social media engagement posts

  • Your target audience might recognizes that you only use engagement posts to collect more information about their user behavior

 

The different advantages of content formats

You shouldn’t start producing content right away, you should rather first think about which target audience you speak to. Blog articles, videos and freebies all work for most businesses but the desired goals are different. Blogs build reach in the first step, freebies on the other hand are for people who have already been in touch with businesses.

With the other content formats, you have to carefully weigh up to what extent they are worthwhile. Live events or webinars are primarily for B2B customers and podcasts are more interesting for a younger audience which place high value on variety in content.

 

The versatility of content using the example of digital signage

How dynamic and varied content is, can be shown on the example of digital signage. The technology of digital billboards ensures the display of different content formats, no matter if it’s audio, video, picture or text. Applications differ and depending on the target audience, there are different opportunities. Restaurants show contents of a menu, clothing stores advertise their products and administration offices provide their staff with information. What matters at the end is the target audience – therefore, it’s less about which content format a business uses, but which persons they target with it.

Important questions for a goal oriented content strategy

  • Who is my target audience?
  • Is the goal of my company to expand reach or to generate leads?
  • Which content format normally works for my niche?
  • Which personnel do I need for the implementation?
  • With which costs do I have to calculate?
  • Which content marketing tools are used
  • How big is my team and what are its strengths?
  • What are current trends and how can I consider them for my strategy?
  • Does my content strategy consider eventualities and possible changes in trends?
  • How often do we post new content?

 

The best content marketing tools

To provide your target audience with good content, the right marketing tools are necessary. The palette reaches from design tools to applications for keyword research. The diversity of applications is growing and promises businesses the opportunity to execute their plans in content marketing. Following, we have listed the best marketing tools and how they can help you to execute your marketing strategy.

content marketing tools

 

Overview of the best content marketing tools:

  • Canva
  • Photoshop
  • Illustrator
  • Ahrefs
  • Audacity
  • Later
  • Vegas Pro
  • Asana
  • Google Drive

 

Canva: The design tool for everyone

Most design tools require specific knowledge and pose a great challenge, especially for beginners. The developers of the service Canva had an innovative idea: To transmit the concept of a website builder to the creation and design of content. Canva doesn’t require installation and you don’t have to create designs out of nowhere – instead, the application works directly through the website and there are thousands of design templates available for inspiration.

The best thing about the tool: Canva is user friendly and intuitive. Designs for social media posts are provided in the right format and can be shared directly through canva.

 

Adobe illustrator and photoshop: The design tools for pros

Canva is known as a solution for everyone who doesn’t design a lot. The modular format expands regularly, but finds its limit when creating certain content (e.g. logos). The programs of Adobe still count as the biggest challenge for designers and give a lot of space for creativity. Photoshop is mainly used for picture editing, illustrator for logos and vector graphics. At first, these applications require some practice, but once you are trusted with the programs of Adobe, you will create stunning and unmatchable designs.

 

Ahrefs: Keyword research made easy

Experienced texters know that nowadays it’s not enough to choose a topic and work on its content, because it is the keywords which matter the most. Ahrefs is a good solution for that because it’s a user-friendly and professional tool for keyword research. During research you are suggested many different keywords and W-questions, furthermore the tool offers the opportunity to analyze websites and their integrated keywords and to compare the performance of your own website with the one of your competitors.

 

Audacity: Editing audio files uncomplicated and for free

Podcasts inspire people – they communicate emotions, are accessible from everywhere and listeners can expect exciting content about specific topics. There are many programs to edit audio files but one of them has particularly proved itself: Audacity. The application is for free and ensures fast as well as uncomplicated editing of audio files. And don’t you dare to think that a free-to-use program can’t be good – Audacity provides you with all needed functions, no matter if it’s changing volume or reducing background noises. The only weakness lies in editing the details of an audio file (e.g. frequency settings or sound features). Those who don’t want to miss that out rather use a chargeable software such as Adobe audition.

 

Later: Plan your content

A good editorial plan is especially helpful for businesses with a long term and extensive content strategy. To ensure that you don’t lose the overview, a planning tool such as Later is recommended. The application allows precisely timed planning and sends reminders, so that you won’t forget to upload a post on social media channels. The biggest advantage is automation because with a membership you’re provided with the advantage to upload social media posts without having to do it by yourself.

 

Vegas Pro: Videos with style and quality

Among free-to-use software for video editing there is not a lot you can choose from. The well known Windows Player isn’t part of the integrated programs on microsoft computers anymore and doesn’t provide any mentionable editing functions for videos. With Vegas Pro it’s a different story. At first, the tool might cause you some troubles because of all the different things you can do. However, once you get familiar with the program, you don’t want to use a different one to edit your videos.

 

Asana: Organize your team

Complex content strategies involve many different parties – you need someone for design, social media texts, blogs, SEO and websites. To make sure that there are no overlaps, centralized organization through a project management tool such as Asana helps you. The main advantage is that all involved parties can easily communicate with each other, have access to all to-dos and get a precise overview of all the deadlines to meet. For a team of two or three, tools like Asana aren’t really helpful but for bigger projects it’s almost a must.

 

Google Drive: Save your data uncomplicated

Cloud storages such as Google Drive make working in a team easier. Before the times of cloud services, the parties involved in a project had to send the content to each other and save it on their end device. When there were problems with the device, content was gone as the worst case scenario. Thanks to cloud services like Google Drive this isn’t a problem anymore because the content is stored in an area freely accessible to all involved parties and can be accessed from everywhere.

 

Our final advice: Consider the details

Creating content and using the right format is not everything. To produce good content, you need an eye for details – the wrong picture format leads to a loss in quality and if you choose the wrong color channel in photoshop, you show your social media audience group a faded picture. We recommend you to double check your content before you publish it. Not only optical mistakes cause problems, grammar mistakes or maximal lengths of videos might cause trouble as well. It is best to deal with the requirements in advance and finally check everything again.

 

Conclusion

Without content you limit your chances of performing successful marketing. Through social media and the variety of websites, users get in touch with different types of content everyday, which wins over their attention and delivers added value. Businesses are in the position to provide new and innovative content, also to save a better position in search engines such as google and bing. But even in different areas, digital signage for instance, different types of high quality content are the key to win over your target audience.

 

Pictures: © Canva.com

What is monitoring? Advantages, requirements & more 890 593 Linda

What is monitoring? Advantages, requirements & more

WHAT IS MONITORING? ADVANTAGES, REQUIREMENTS & MORE

Monitoring is becoming increasingly relevant for the supervision of business processes. In our article you will find out more about the advantages, data protection and co.

In this article:

  1. Monitoring: Supervision of business processes becomes increasingly relevant
  2. What is monitoring?
  3. How does monitoring work?
  4. Overview of the different types of monitoring
  5. What does remote maintenance mean?
  6. Digital signage monitoring: What are the opportunities for businesses?
  7. The advantages and disadvantages of monitoring
  8. Which monitoring software is available?
  9. Data protection: The legal situation
  10. What should be included in a maintenance contract?
  11. Conclusion
  12. FAQ

 

The most important information in a nutshell:

  • Monitoring describes a process of documentation, guarantee of safety and evaluation of data
  • Supervision of these processes is an important indicator to figure out key numbers in business
  • There are different types of monitoring
  • To avoid possible misunderstandings in data security, a maintenance contract is recommended

 

Monitoring: Supervision of business processes becomes increasingly relevant

Thanks to the given possibilities of digitalization, working processes of businesses become more efficient. For example, software automates processes and saves costs. But the advantages don’t only become visible in the usage of modern working methods but in their measurability too. FRAMR gives further insights into the advantages of monitoring and what businesses have to consider when choosing the right methods.

Software monitoring

Not only interesting in the blockchain sector: Software monitoring | © Behnam Norouzi

 

What is monitoring?

The term “monitoring” pretty much means “supervision” and describes all processes to measure and evaluate specific data under use of technical tools.

The controlled processes depend on industry and area of operation. A common goal of monitoring is to capture, measure and observe business related working processes to provide safety and quality standards. Aspects of safety are especially important because a detail oriented supervision of technical processes provides the possibility to prevent software failures and execute updates fastly.

Almost every industry is provided with advantages of monitoring and the possibilities of supervision are broadly diversified. Monitoring is used in the industries of medicine, digital signage, search engine optimization and finances. Usage and goals depend on the industry. Monitoring provides many attractive options in online marketing because businesses get further insights into relevant KPIs and therefore can optimize their processes successively.

 

How does monitoring work?

Basic requirement of monitoring is the connection between software and network infrastructure so that the desired processes can be measured. To guarantee flawless functionality, modern and foremost high quality technique is required.

Through the usage of monitoring software, businesses are given the possibility to collect and evaluate specific data. But in the foreground is not necessarily the evaluation of KPIs but, for example, the supervision of hardware and network infrastructure.

In most cases businesses claim services of third parties of the IT industry. In exchange for money they receive a license which allows them to use monitoring software. As monitoring programs are hard to operate, an induction phase or internal workshop is necessary. Alternatively, there remains the option of remote maintenance, whereby the entire monitoring infrastructure is provided by an external provider.

 

Overview of the different types of monitoring

There are different types of monitoring. Mostly, monitoring is divided into three categories: Business, customer and market monitoring. This separation can be further specified (for example, website monitoring). Following, we will give descriptions of the most commonly used methods.

 

Application Performance Monitoring

The goal of application performance monitoring is to check functionality of applications and programs to improve user experience. Different options are available to achieve this goal. The used tools help to determine flaws and attain important information about data transmission speed.

 

Business Transaction Monitoring

As the name reveals, business transaction monitoring is all about supervising business processes. The goal is to optimize these processes which are directly connected to business transactions. A good example for that is the ordering process of an online shop and online payments.

 

System Monitoring

The goal of system monitoring is to review performance of a computer. Important measurements are determined in the first step, for example the performance of a network or the available amount of storage space. Under consideration of these aspects, the evaluation follows in the next step.

 

What does remote maintenance mean?

In connection with monitoring, another term is often mentioned: Remote maintenance. That means the administration of monitoring software is provided by a central location and external access to software as well as hardware is possible. Good and reliable hosting is essential because technical difficulties and required updates may lead to failures. 

An often used method of remote maintenance is cloud monitoring. The centralized data backup through cloud based solutions comes at lower risk because software and other technical applications work without internet connection as well. Other than that, cloud computing provides high safety standards because administration is provided by a professional protected data center.

Cloud computing

Cloud computing: A meaningful method for businesses – safety and regular updates are guaranteed! | © Caspar Camille Rubin

 

Digital signage monitoring: What are the opportunities for businesses?

Digital signage is often used in marketing and for good reason. The screens, assuming they are used as digital billboards, enable fast reaction times and the flexible customization of displayed content on a changing target group (in shopping malls for example). That creates potential for optimization in marketing based on KPIs.

But the amount of advantages reaches even further: Providing information through a central station and regular updates on a server expand the functions for all screens.

Remote maintenance is particularly useful for digital signage because digitized business processes require flawless functionality. The worst case scenario occurs when someone, for example, uses an information terminal and it doesn’t work or a player / signage device is offline and nobody notices that it’s not provided with new content. Cloud computing eliminates problems like these because regular updates and maintenance are provided by an external supplier who controls the events.

FRAMR. – The easy and intuitive digital signage solution
FRAMR is THE solution for easy and intuitive administration of digital content. Our offer fits the needs of all businesses which want to expand their digital processes and set an unforgettable customer experience as priority.

 

Our products convince with the following advantages:

  • Maximum performance
  • High flexibility
  • Independency
  • Safety
  • Storage space
  • Connection with leading hardware brands

 

But that’s not all! Our subscriptions promise a huge diversity of functions and modules. Administration and maintenance is provided by a strongly performing as well as GDPR compliant cloud. Updates, troubleshooting and other important changes is what you receive with a license. High quality is guaranteed and you can concentrate on your business.

 

What are the advantages of monitoring?

The advantages of monitoring are better quality and more safety of supervised processes. Other than that, monitoring provides a fast reaction to sudden failures as well as to maintenance and updates. Using monitoring for marketing comes with many advantages too because relevant KPIs are easier to evaluate.

Overview of the advantages of monitoring:

  • Providing safety
  • Evaluate marketing KPIs
  • Recognizing potential for improvement
  • Execute updates
  • React fast on software failures
  • Providing important functions
  • Prevention

 

Provide safety

With targeted monitoring, necessary maintenance work is carried out while maintaining high safety standards.Monitoring prevents the disruption of internal business processes and ensures smooth processes.

 

Evaluate marketing KPIs

Digitalization creates measurability. Evaluated data and results can be analyzed directly thanks to the usage of monitoring. Measuring relevant data has a significant impact on following events within a company and decision makers can determine important economical steps based on evaluated data.

 

Recognizing potential for improvement

Optimization not only concerns economical factors but also aspects of safety. In fact, businesses have the advantage to optimize all processes, no matter if it’s documentation, expanding technical systems or response time to possible problem fixes.

 

Execute updates

Updates provide better performance of technical processes as well as they ensure keeping up with required standards. For software, functions can often only be used to a limited extent if important updates are not carried out.

 

React fast on software failures

Software failures can’t be prevented completely. Targeted supervision ensures fast reaction and people in charge can get the system running again.

 

Providing important functions

This advantage concerns remote maintenance. When the portfolio of functions is updated, an uncomplicated expansion takes place through a central location. This means that updates do not have to be carried out independently or by an internal team – this is done by an IT service provider.

With remote maintenance, businesses take advantage of financial relief, because there are no additional personnel or training costs for hosting the monitoring software.

 

Prevention

More important than problem fixing is prevention of possible disruptions or obstacles. Problems or shortages in resources should not get fixed when they appear. Businesses rather recognize these problems early and react directly. Problems or failures are often a result of a row of incorrect processes and monitoring provides enough transparency here.

Monitoring

Measurability: One of the most important reasons for monitoring | © REEET Jank

What are the disadvantages of monitoring?

Data security is an important topic to consider and the number of warning letters because of personal data breach has increased in the past years. Monitoring is no gray zone as long as you use personal data responsibly. But that’s exactly the point: To prevent data privacy violations, a maintenance contract is necessary (keep reading!). In many collaborations it is exactly this aspect which is disregarded and ultimately leads to warnings or similar problems.

Another disadvantage is to keep yourself too busy with numbers, data and facts. Evaluations and measurable results are important but if businesses are too focused on determining KPIs and with documentation of relevant numbers then business related decisions might take too long.

For many people this doesn’t make sense because measurable results and numbers normally make decisions easier. But take a look at this from a different perspective: Imagine you have all the relevant data for your business processes and at the same time your team collects different ideas to execute or to improve business structures. The selection is big and that makes the decision harder. Information and measurability are good but too much information slows down the decision making process.

 

Which monitoring software is available?

There are many different variants of monitoring software available on the market and mentioning all of them would take too long. Therefore, we will take a closer look at three types of monitoring: Software as service (SaaS), proprietary and open source.

 

Software as a service (SaaS)

Software as a service is defined by external administration of monitoring software through a third party provider. A subscription allows customers access to specific functions. The biggest advantage of SaaS monitoring is the potential money saving for businesses because it’s a remote maintenance through which IT services providers take care of updates, maintenance, installations and safety.

 

Proprietary monitoring

In case that monitoring is not carried out to an external IT service provider, license based options offer a good alternative. Proprietary monitoring means that businesses get access to monitoring software in exchange for a monthly fee. Required updates and problem fixing are ensured by the licensor.

 

Open source monitoring

Open source monitoring is similar to proprietary monitoring but with one significant difference: The provided tools are for free. However, less costs also means less quality. Necessary updates need to be done by businesses themselves and hosting might cause a problem when there is no qualified expert hired. Remote maintenance is highly recommended. That costs money but all in all it’s still cheaper than SaaS monitoring.

 

What is the difference between monitoring, reporting and controlling?

The terms monitoring, reporting and controlling aren’t synonyms although they sound similar.

Monitoring: Monitoring describes supervision of technical processes. It’s actually like a general term for all measurements and observations of processes within a system.

Reporting: Reporting prioritizes collecting and processing business related data such as KPIs. Companies record this data in so-called “reports” and use them to optimize processes. These reports don’t only consider economical factors but general information about a company.

Controlling: Controlling is part of business administration and deals with planning as well as with coordinating a company. It’s distinguished between strategic and operative controlling. Strategic controlling deals with market analyses and potential development of the market whereas operative controlling deals with organizing budget and makes decisions based on determined numbers to use resources more efficiently.

Basically, monitoring describes a general process. The goal is to get access to relevant numbers with support of technical devices. Reporting is more specific which collects information about a company. Controlling on the other hand is all about figuring out economically relevant numbers and making decisions based on that.

 

Data protection: The legal situation

Remote maintenance and connecting technical devices with external IT systems raises the question of data protection. The actual difficulty is that there is no law to specify that.

To prevent possible misunderstandings and data protection breaches, a maintenance contract is recommended. Such a contract not only regulates and determines rights and obligations but data protection aspects as well. The parties are free in creating the contract but some clauses should consider the legal situation and clarify the processing of personal data as well as secrecy about it.

 

What should be included in a maintenance contract?

A legally secure maintenance contract shouldn’t give any space for interpretations and clarifies the most important questions about the collaboration between companies.

These are the most important components of a maintenance contract at a glance*:

  • Maintenance item
  • Rights and duties of the contract parties
  • Contract period
  • Cancellation
  • Scope of services
  • Liability for defects and warranty
  • Maintaining

The components of a legally secure maintenance contract should be determined individually and based on the interests of both parties. There are templates to create such a contract but more efficiently is to talk to a lawyer. Violations against the GDPR cost a lot of money and legal consulting will clear things up. The risks reach much further because the majority of actions on the internet provide consent. With good legal consulting you are safe.

What is data management? Strategy, tasks & advantages

 

Our final recommendation: Use backup software

Using software always comes with risks even when developing teams keep up to high standards and qualified software testers check the end result. Still, we highly recommend performing a backup when using monitoring software. Backup software is an additional storage medium which creates a safety copy of existing data. Especially in monitoring, saving data can be an important factor because many evaluations (KPIs for example) are relevant for economic development of a business.

 

Conclusion

Monitoring makes working processes of companies easier and allows them to focus on their key business. Potential for saving money is especially possible in evaluation KPIs, although businesses shouldn’t focus on these numbers too much. Central administration makes it possible that business required applications are used safely and get updated regularly. In case of remote maintenance, a contract is highly recommended to clear up any misunderstandings regarding data protection.

 

FAQ

Lastly, we will answer frequently asked questions about monitoring and remote maintenance.

There are many different types of monitoring. The three most common ones are business, customer and market monitoring.

Monitoring software helps companies to figure out business related numbers such as KPIs but also to measure technical processes and to prevent risks.

*Legal notice: All information in this article is for general information purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice in individual cases and cannot and should not replace such advice. 

 

Sources

https://www.acronis.com/de-de/articles/monitoring-tools/
https://www.juraforum.de/muster-vorlagen/wartungsvertrag

 

Pictures: © Canva.com

How to find the right advertising media and use it purposefully 994 537 Linda

How to find the right advertising media and use it purposefully

HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT ADVERTISING MEDIA AND USE IT PURPOSEFULLY

When choosing the right advertising media, a wide variety of factors must be taken into account, whether strategically or in terms of design.

In this article:

  1. What is advertising media?
  2. How do I choose the right advertising media
  3. Design tipps
  4. Usage in a targeted manner
  5. Our final advice
  6. Conclusion
  7. FAQ

 

The most important information summarized

  • The choice and design of advertising media depend on your target audience.
  • The combination of analog and digital advertising methods is purposeful.
  • Take customer needs into account when communicating.

 

What is advertising media?

In connection with the term, one encounters the most diverse definitions and opinions. For many it’s the ballpoint pen or USB stick with a company’s logo, but here we talk about advertising articles or promotion products. “Advertising media” is a general term which describes all actions to convey an advertising message. Promotion products also fall under this category but other actions are also part of this.

Overview of the most known advertising media:

  • Promotion products such as ballpoint pens or flyers
  • Ads (digital or print)
  • Posters
  • Digital signage
  • Banners
  • TV spots
  • Content (Blog, podcasts)
Advertising media

Advertising media: A subcategory of marketing, to communicate messages

 

How do I choose the right advertising media?

The decision depends on many different factors. During the selection of possibilities it’s not that easy to choose the right method but even more important is a good strategy to avoid bad investments.

 

The target audience is the most important factor

In marketing, the focus on one’s own target group is the core criterion for choosing the right advertising media. For example, it doesn’t make sense to choose promotion products such as ballpoint pens when potential clients primarily use digital media and barely have personal contact to a business. On the other hand, crafts, for example, take advantage of promotion products because clients show up at the location.

Through digital ads the opportunity of communicating messages in different ways is given. Use this diversity and speak to all of your interested parties and clients. In the end, a company has many different target groups and you should reach out to all of them as well as considering their different needs. Don’t forget: The benefit does not depend on a product or service but on the needs of the customers.

But it’s not only about choosing the right medium but also how you speak to your target group. Young people wish for different advertising than someone who is in his fifties and that should be clear when communicating with your target audience. Younger people are more likely to consider how innovative or timeless the advantages of a product are communicated, older people on the other hand care more about safety and price.

However, there are also communication channels through which all target groups are addressed. One example for this is digital signage – the greater flexibility allows content to be targeted precisely at different groups of people and this is not just done by manual means, because by using artificial intelligence, sensors can recognize the person in front of the digital screen and target advertising. This flexibility gives companies greater leeway in strategy development and the budget is also used more purposefully as a result.

 

The marketing strategy determines the objectives

A strategy determines the framework and sets the direction. Research, identification of customer needs, setting of deadlines and analyses are the foundation for choosing the best advertising media. If the goal is “customer loyalty”, promotional products are a proven way of expressing appreciation to customers. However, if the focus is on acquiring new customers, promotional items are not helpful; instead, advertisements with discount promotions or giveaways are.

The strategy also defines the timing of the advertising. Many companies finance their ideas via crowdfunding campaigns with a predefined goal and deadline. Here it would be fatal to focus exclusively on the goal but not inform anyone about the timing so that the investment is also made within the deadline.

Ideally, choose advertising materials that fit both strategically and in terms of timing. It doesn’t make sense to hand out flyers for a company anniversary two days beforehand, but it’s just as useless to run ads promoting an anniversary in Munich but addressing a target group from Berlin.

 

The budget question

Companies have a specific budget for their marketing and that is to consider because the target group depends on that. Some businesses create a few thousand euros of marketing costs each month and they use the advantages of outsourcing. This approach is barely recommendable for freelancers or small start ups. They don’t have the opportunities to reach as many businesses as possible with their limited budget.

The available budget determines the type and scope of advertising media as well as the pursued goal. Little businesses with a 1000 € marketing budget per month rather focus on one goal (e. g. expanding reach), big companies with more than 10.000 € marketing budget on the other hand have the possibility to execute a full marketing strategy with lead generation.

Just take a look at your target group again – if you, for example, sell luxury products, your customers will expect more than a pen or a lighter. In determining the available budget not only your business is involved but also your target group and their wishes.

 

Design Tipps

To communicate the emotions associated with advertising, using visual elements is necessary. But a nice presentation isn’t enough to use the strengths of advertising.

 

Consider your corporate identity

Uniformity is essential for the identification of a company and the recognition value for the target group. Don’t use random colors during the designing process but remain true to the corporate identity created. The colors of a promotion product don’t necessarily have to match with the colors of a website, but depending on format and media the colors should be alike. If you represent your website and your logo in a combination of black and green for example, it’s not good to design digital ads in, for instance, yellow.

An unified look also means to use key elements. The logo, or at least the lettering, must be on advertising media to create recognition value. Likewise, the unique selling proposition or a slogan does well to stand out decisively from competitors. Visual elements (placing pictures, form elements etc.) are welcome to differ in order to offer variety but don’t deviate too much from your color scheme.

Corporate identity

Corporate identity: The fundament to create a brand with recognition value | Source: canva.com

 

Communicate a positive feeling

Besides a strong message, advertising is defined by a good strategy. What matters the most is how clients view your advertising. Use your strategy to awaken positive feelings of hope or excitement. Depending on your target group, you can use humor too. In order to strengthen the good impression we suggest to use positive formulations of sentences – nobody likes to read negative words such as “problem”, but rather positive alternatives like “challenge”. You are not necessarily aware of such little details but they have an influence on the overall impression.

If possible, use advertising media to speak to the senses of your target audience. A ballpoint pen should feel comfortable in the hands and create a “wow-effect” when looking at it. The reason why videos work so well as advertising media is because they speak to the human senses and visualizing helps to understand a message much better. Use these advantages for your business.

In terms of visualization, nothing can beat digital billboards. In general, digital advertising is visually more appealing than print media because in the process of creation designers have more possibilities and displaying content on a screen is supported by effects which can’t be used for print media.

Article → What are use cases? Definition and examples

 

Check for completeness

In the first step, the purpose of advertising media is to support marketing. But strong messages and promises alone won’t help your target group when important information is missing. Take care that your contact data is deposited and that important information regarding prices, references or spectrum of services is not missing.

Also, don’t go into detail too much and focus on key information. The goal is to deliver important information as short and “straight to the point” as possible because the span of attention is short.
Here again, the advantages of digital advertising become apparent: For example, digital advertising screens can be set in such a way that the content played out changes by itself after a few seconds. This constant change of advertising messages keeps the viewer’s curiosity alive and makes addressing the target group more flexible.

 

Tailor content to the target group

Your target group is the key factor, the same applies to the design of advertising materials. There is no such thing as a consistent formula, instead the needs of your clients matter. Some place more value on safety, to others good conditions are more important. Exactly this is to consider when delivering an advertising message. Admittedly, it’s harder with promotion products such as lighters or ballpoint pens but it’s easier with advertising brochures to design content in a targeted manner.

What’s also important is to differ between B2B and B2C customers / clients. In B2C marketing, the main focus is to communicate emotions and customers expect lower prices. In B2B marketing on the other hand, innovation and objective facts / data which support the selling of a product or good primarily matter.

Make your target group understand: “You need to do this to contact us” – we’re referring to the Call-To-Action, that is, to perform an action. Many website owners regularly optimize their texts but still aren’t successful. The reason is not necessarily the bad findability or because something is wrong with the texts. Often it’s because the Call-To-Action is missing. Many businesses oversee that interests and customers want to be taken by the hand. The User experience is one of the most important criteria for successful usage of advertising media and especially through the progress of digitalization it becomes more relevant.

 

Consider the visual details

As already mentioned, visuals aren’t everything but under the line they are still important. Brochures don’t look good when pictures are pixelated or spacing from text to edge isn’t enough. Likewise, print mistakes, which are often caused by an incorrectly set color channel of a program, aren’t good either. Pictures are ideally in the vector format (to make sure they are not pixelated), the writing big enough and the spacing unified. You should also consider choosing the right format so that there are no difficulties in terms of size when printing.

 

Store your promotion products the right way

Promotion products such as brochures quickly accumulate dust, even more important is the right storage. Do not store promotional items openly in the basement or in damp areas, this will damage them and make them less attractive or even affect their function (e. g. lighters).

Promotion

 

The targeted use

When it comes to certain promotional items, there are a few little things to consider that many overlook at first glance. It is not helpful to produce a large quantity of promotional items or blindly play out advertisements, because depending on the target group, there are various special features to consider.

 

The occasion matters

Especially in the B2B sector meetings and events are a common thing. To convince their business partners, you better give it all you got and use luxurious advertising materials. It’s better to invest a little bit more money to provide good quality. But don’t only consider the price, but also personal preferences and wishes of business partners.

 

Don’t be intrusive

Many people see advertising as intrusive or bothering. Respect the wishes of all of your customers and that some of them are just not interested in advertisement. That actually gives you the possibility to plan better for the future and to figure out who is actually interested in your advertising and who is not.

 

Our final advice

Take a look at your competitors and consider your experience. News regarding current trends does not always tell you the best methods for choosing advertising media because your own market research is still the most reliable source for information. Taking a look at your competitors promotes creativity and inspires for new ways to do things. Don’t copy content of other businesses but question their procedure during creation of advertising media to expand and improve your own strategy.

 

Conclusion

The right choice of advertising media is based on three factors: The wishes of the target group, the right use and a good design to arouse emotions. If you act without a strategy, you end up investing a lot of money and getting no results – so beforehand, always make an analysis that takes into account the wishes of the target audience and forecast the result.

 

FAQ

At the end of the article we answer frequently asked questions about promotional items.

Digital media provides businesses with higher flexibility. Ads can be optimized easily and changed in real time. Other than that, the success of digital media can be measured precisely.

In terms of digital advancement, objectively speaking, digital ads work best. However, the choice of the right advertising media depends on the target group and the company’s goal.

Pictures: © Canva.com

FRAMR developer Lukas Aumair about Digital Signage 849 566 Linda

FRAMR developer Lukas Aumair about Digital Signage

FRAMR DEVELOPER LUKAS AUMAIR ABOUT DIGITAL SIGNAGE

Digital signage offers new chances on the market and is all about innovation in times of digitization.

Guide for the interview:

  1. What is FRAMR and how was the idea behind it developed?
  2. Which steps were to consider during development?
  3. What about the current demand for digital signage products?
  4. Why do more businesses rely on digital billboards?
  5. Recommendations of Lukas Aumair
  6. Which industries take the most advantage of digital signage?
  7. How can working processes be simplified?
  8. What are the future perspectives of digital signage?

 

Digital signage, software and more – for many businesses it’s the unknown but for Lukas Aumair it’s daily business. In the FRAMR interview, the CEO of Megatechnik professional multimedia GmbH describes how important digital signage will be for businesses in the future and which chances can be used. Other than that, he also talks further about important advantages regarding digital advertising.

Lukas Aumair

Lukas Aumair: Developer of FRAMR and CEO of Megatechnik multimedia professional GmbH

 

What is FRAMR and how was the idea behind it developed?

A digital working environment requires the right solutions but many businesses fail in that area. Digital screens are known to most people, although not necessarily under the Term “Digital Signage”. What most people don’t see on the outside: The processes behind the development of software to display content on a digital screen require detailed programming as well as a qualified team. At the end, everything needs to work properly, starting from the idea through to marketing.

“The content management team of our company looked for a solution to remotely manage content of digital screens in a mall. All solutions on the market were locally installed and therefore only accessible under unsafe as well as complicated conditions and the usability was bad.”

The thoughts of Lukas Aumair to get to the idea make clear which challenges his team had to face. Missing usability and flexibility are common problems in digitalization but FRAMR takes an approach to these challenges.

 

Which steps were to consider during development?

From the beginning the creation and concept of a scalable cloud system was important to offer clients from all over the world a good service. Also, FRAMR should be usable without software installation and be ready within seconds. Competitors partly still don’t make their services work without a team of educated technicians.

Lastly, the usage of Linux over Microsoft was essentially to provide proper system safety. There is no worse situation in the field of digital signage than a “player” which doesn’t work properly after a windows update.

 

What about the current demand for digital signage products?

A growing number of businesses rely on digital solutions because of the corona crisis. That also comes with a higher demand for digital signage. Financial support of states in the European Union fuels this trend.

 

Why do more businesses rely on digital billboards?

In a fast living world and an agile working environment digital billboards offer faster reaction times to new events, a faster display of advertising as well as faster actions and available information for employees in comparison to classic print products. The exchange of content happens instantly whereas print products need to be printed in the first step and then be deployed manually. Other than that, a moving image is always a better eyecatcher than static posters. Lastly, with the right setup it is possible to change the little worlds for visitors / customers within seconds.

 

FRAMR Player

 

Recommendations of Lukas Aumair

Basically, I recommend professional displays with continuous operation in order to provide sustainable and long term usage. For reasons of sustainability, it’s best for businesses to use passive cooling. I also recommend a short usage of extra hardware such as signal distribution and transmission routes – a direct configuration with displays through a player is better – for example with a HTML5-browser or FRAMR player.

→ Find out more about the application areas of digital signage and how your business will take advantage of it. 

 

Which industries take the most advantage of digital signage?

Businesses with many display locations because the speed of digital signage can be used very well.

 

Are there any functions to simplify working processes in order to provide a better usability for customers?

There are many options to support this goal. These are the following:

  • Cloud based solutions with mobile optimization to edit content from all over the world.
  • Scheduling of content enables complete planning of the playout to the point of creation.
  • Drag and drop functionality for an easy and intuitive usage.
  • Monitoring functions to supervise the usage of these functions.

Article → 7 underestimated advantages of business digitalization

 

What will the possible future development of digital signage look like?

Digital signage will be much more interactive and additional add-ons, for example new features, will improve the products. Other than that, it will be possible for digital signage to react to the environment and be controlled by it. Our FRAMR add-on “FRAMR Eye” for example recognizes personas through AI. Based on data, digital signage can locally decide if, for instance, a man or woman stands in front of the display and then can control the display of content.

That comes with the following advantages:

  • Opportunity to personalize advertising
  • Data will only be processed locally and not be saved in cloud based systems
  • GDPR-compatibility

In the future it will be important that Software of a specific digital signage provider will work on many different platforms, no matter if it’s LG, Panasonic, Android or any other provider. It will also be a future challenge to connect one digital signage software with many hardware devices. Today, professional displays offer integrated HTML5-browsers in which digital signage can directly be shown to some extent. Just a comparison to the early days: A player is connected with a display and provides content.