The concept of LED signs is fairly straightforward—just install the sign, write some quality messaging, deliver that message quickly to tons of people.
But like all technological advancements, LED signs won’t do you a whole lot of good if you don’t understand how or why to use them.
Many organizations wind up glancing over that second step—the quality messaging—and wonder why their LED sign isn’t pulling its weight.
Your school LED sign is a tool—a very, very effective tool to be fair, but still a tool. But university LED signs can’t do all the work alone.
To help you get the most out of your school signs, let’s take a look at a few pointers to keep in mind while you’re getting your new sign set up. These are some of the most common factors that affect advertising success with LED, so let’s get right to it!
Learn Your School LED Software
Easy-to-use software is a hallmark of a great LED sign. If your manufacturer doesn’t put effort into making their software easy to understand, that means they’re overlooking one of the most important aspects of digital signage and really don’t get their customers.
LED signs are programmable, which means you’ll have trouble getting much of anything done unless you understand how to use your sign’s software. Your LED software allows you to alter messaging, change brightness levels, schedule specific messaging for certain days or times, and much more.
Would you buy the latest iPhone if it took several hours of troubleshooting and reading manuals in order to send a text message? The same goes for digital school signs—fantastic hardware can be brought down by not-so-fantastic software.
Fortunately, many manufacturers do get it, which is why MEGA’s signs are so easy to use. Getting comfortable with our software is easy, which is really great because you can do some really cool things with it!
Make Your Case
Even if you’re a fan of literature or poetry, your digital signboard is not the place for lengthy prose or flowery rhetoric.
No matter what you decide to use your university sign for, the fact remains that LED signs are meant for advertising and delivering information. Err on the side of “dumbing it down” rather than going overboard.
That’s not to say your students and faculty are stupid—it’s just that your sign is a place where brevity and focus pay dividends.
I recently saw a high school with a digital sign out front as I drove to work. Their sign was displaying a scrolling message of every graduating high school senior.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with that. But at first glance, it’s impossible to tell whether you’re reading the beginning, middle or end of the content, or even what the content was supposed to be.
If you make your readers think too much or try to solve a puzzle when they read your sign, it’s going to make them frustrated and they’ll remember to ignore your LED sign next time they drive past.
Whenever you craft a new message for your school sign, be sure to keep it concise. Your message should have a goal, whether that’s to inform, advise, or wish your graduating seniors a safe summer.
Watch Your Language
Do you really know your audience as well as you think you do? What you may find funny or sensational could borderline on controversial or offensive to many of your readers.
While it’s important to come up with powerful messaging that really draws people in, schools and universities have quickly found themselves in hot water for not spending enough time proofreading or testing their sign’s messaging.
Humor is especially difficult to pull off on a digital school sign, since what might be hilarious to 50% of your audience might fall totally flat with the other half.
The fact is that your LED sign can and will reach a sizable chunk of your local community, and negative attention will come back to haunt you.
For your signboard, keep your messaging totally focused on what matters for your organization—whether that’s raising awareness for a PTA fundraiser or advertising an empty faculty position.
Don’t Forget Your Pictures
People wouldn’t watch TV shows if the screen was nothing but scrolling text, so why limit your sign’s messaging to text?
LED signs aren’t just a replacement for traditional signage—they’re a powerful multimedia tool able to display anything from text to HD video. It’s the perfect cross between a billboard and a television, so let’s make the most out of it!
Sometimes LED signs placed in high traffic areas with lots of distractions or near fast-moving roadways can be less effective when your message is long and requires more than a split second to get the point across. That’s where images and videos shine.
Using the right visuals can condense a paragraph of text into one persuasive and memorable flash on the screen of your LED.
School Signs Are Your Tools, But You’re in Control
There’s no advertising medium on the planet that delivers results with zero up-front investment of time and energy. Luckily, LED signs have such a low cost in terms of effort that they’re almost on autopilot, but your sign still needs to be pointed in the right direction.
Pay attention to the four points above and soon you’ll be able to unlock your LED’s true potential, getting big results fast.
And of course, you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment. You can easily change your messaging in a flash!
