The following message was paid for by Americans for Digital Signage

The most effective political speeches begin with a personal story or two that invokes emotion and will eventually convince those in attendance they have a personal stake in whatever issue the politician is pursuing. In our lifetimes we’ve seen several masters of this process on the Presidential level. They’re expert marketers of their cause. I can identify.

I’ve been in the marketing game in some capacity or another since I first entered the full-time workforce during my freshman year in college. After writing a piece on local radio stations for my school newspaper, one of the program directors I interviewed offered me a job as a board operator and ‘on the road marketer.’ What that translated to was babysitting their automated music system at night and cruising around town in their rolling billboard/station van during afternoons and weekends. It was a stripped down ambulance with the station call letters emblazoned on each side – More Music, Less Talk Z-108! I’m not complaining, though. The money was good for a college kid and it gave me some valuable experience I still use to this day.

I still recall what the boss told me once when I questioned the point of all that driving: “People listen to the radio most in their cars and you’re putting our call letters and frequency in front of them just as they’re making the decision which station to tune to.”

People do tend to make decisions when signs are in front of them.

In the small town I grew up in, drivers learned the fine art of making U-turns in heavy traffic when the local Krispy-Kreme turned their ‘hot now’ sign on.  And if you were lucky, a half dozen glazed dough-nuts would be enough to convince the traffic cop on duty not to write that ticket.

The first time I saw an indoor digital display that wasn’t just a big TV was at a state fair – a BIG state fair at one of the country’s largest agricultural centers. It hung there, largely ignored, displaying vendor information about quilts and canned pickles until someone put on a Shania Twain video and turned up the volume.  After an initial moment where attendees just stared at the screen in awe, something just short of hysteria erupted. People who’d been milling around outside suddenly flooded into the room – much to the delight of the vendors. There was spontaneous line dancing fer chrissakes! To this day, there’s probably never been a more exciting three minutes for makers of handmade soaps and their customers. I later heard from one of the vendors she did more business for the two hours after that then she had the whole three days she was there.

Thank you, Shania!

Now, the point of this isn’t to extol the virtues of small town radio stations, Shania Twain or doughnuts (even though there’s a place in my heart for all three). But each of those stories underscore the importance of the right shiny beacon at just the right time and place to spur sales and product awareness. An Indoor digital sign can be that beacon.  And, quite honestly, the day will soon come when having such a sign is no longer a luxury.  As more and more businesses discover the inherent CRM and profits digital signage brings, those without them will be left behind.

So, my fellow Americans, I ask you now to explore this vital issue, digital displays.  Do it for your business. Do it for your country!

I’m Joey Davis and I approve this message…