Daypart Scheduling: Not Just for TV, Radio and QSRs

Blog060818_880x440TV and radio stations understand the importance of knowing who their audience is at different times throughout the day. And they schedule their programming and advertising accordingly, to engage the right people with the right content at the right time.

QSRs schedule their offerings by time of day with menus that, if on digital signage, change instantly. If there’s not much of a menu change after lunch, they can add small graphic animations later in the day to “suggest” particular items, offer special pricing and cross-sell.

With digital signage, daypart scheduling is a fine strategy for making sure your content is targeting specific demographics that are most likely to be patronizing your business at specific times, or for highlighting offerings relevant for the time of day. All while providing a better, more personalized customer experience.

Let’s say you have a large home improvement store. You know that your early morning customers are mostly contractors, so you can target your content to those trades. In the afternoon it’s home owners and retirees, and on weekends plenty of do-it-yourselfers – great times to promote your home repair classes and seasonal sales.

Maybe you’re a hotelier. Your lobby is a perfect spot for dayparting and you can do it all on a single display. In the morning promote your coffee shop, airport transportation and local attractions. In the afternoon switch to lunch info, spa services and happy hour. In the late afternoon and early evening feature the restaurant (with mouthwatering hi-res images). After dinner the cocktail lounge and local entertainment.

We see dayparting in numerous businesses. It can be very effective in shopping malls, retail stores, financial institutions and just about anywhere digital signage is used.

With astute observations, creative thinking and good content management you can use dayparting to knock your digital signage ROI out of the park. Here’s a great opportunity to involve your employees as you ponder these questions:

  • Who is your typical customer in the morning? Afternoon? Evening?
  • How many demographic groups can you identify?
  • Does anything change on the weekends?
  • What products/services are most appealing to those demographics at those times?
  • For each demographic, what do you want them to do?
  • Based on the particular demographic, what is an appropriate message?

Use your answers for inspiration then create your content and run it on schedule. There are many digital signage content management software solutions that enable flexible daypart scheduling, or you might prefer to partner with a content provider. Whichever you choose, choose carefully based on your needs, goals and working preferences.

And don’t forget – digital signage content can be tweaked, rearranged or changed completely as often as you wish. Nothing is set in stone (or print).