How to Use Digital Signage in Your Restaurant

Did you know 8 out of 10 customers remember information from digital signage? With these numbers, it's hard to ignore the impact of this marketing tool.

Digital signage allows restaurants to embrace technology while connecting with guests. If you want to stand out in today’s competitive market, you have to leverage technology to increase your impact. Digital signs are an excellent way to bring your business into the 21st century by combining relevant information, such as menu boards, with timely information, such as daily specials.

The Benefits of Using Digital Signage in Your Restaurant

When used effectively, digital signage can help your restaurant promote its brand message and connect with customers by keeping them engaged. Your digital signs can share appetizing pictures with guests who may be new to your establishment or share options for engaging in loyalty programs or discount offerings. 

Using a digital menu board means you can minimize the use of printed paper menus, saving you time and money. Most importantly, it offers an affordable method to update your menu offerings quickly.

Digital signage can also display advertisements, specials, and promotions. This helps to build relationships with your customers by making them feel more comfortable and familiar with your restaurant.

Generally, digital signs have three main purposes:

• Selling
• Informing
• Entertaining

The selling purpose is the most common one used by restaurants. Advertise daily specials or promote your lunch or dinner menus.

To inform, restaurants can also use digital signs to show the latest news and weather forecasts. You can also display to-go ordering information, changes to your operating hours, and social media posts or reviews. This information helps to avoid unpleasant surprises for your customers and positions your restaurant as a local authority. 

For entertainment, capture unique content related to your products. Create videos on delivery, customer order, or food preparation. Remember, for the content to be entertaining, you need unique content.

How to Use Digital Signage in Your Restaurant

As an ambitious entrepreneur looking to stand out from your competition, digital signage is the way to go. It's an easy, effective way to advertise your products and services at a low cost.

Digital signage displays various forms of media, such as text, video, still images, and sound, to connect you to your audience in a variety of ways. The displays can be static or dynamic and may include interactive features.

To improve the effectiveness of digital signage in your restaurant, check out the following tips:

Build Out Menus with Product Images 

Menu boards are very important to both your dining experience and sales. If you want to provide customers with the best possible experience, you need an informative and aesthetically pleasing menu. 

A digital menu board is a great way to change up your decor. It displays your food and drinks options in a modern, digital format that is familiar to your customers.

When creating digital menu boards, consider what's most important to your business. If you have a specialty dish that keeps bringing in customers, display it prominently on the menu.

Digital menu boards can be created using digital signage software. It allows you to configure the menu in any way you choose. You can upload your graphics or use pre-made graphics in the software. The menu can be customized in three ways:

• By choosing a pre-made template that fits your needs
• By uploading your own custom graphics
• By using HTML code to format your own menu

You are better off creating menu images using your actual products instead of using stock images. This creates a sense of uniqueness and authenticity that will set you apart from your competition. 

Highlight Promos and Events

Promotions and events increase sales and customer engagement. However, when you have a physical space that's open 24/7, it's impossible to promote an event to each customer at the exact right time. That's where digital signage comes in.

Digital signage is an excellent platform to promote specials, upcoming events, and new menu items. Promotions should be fun, easy to understand, and include some visual elements. The goal is to capture and keep customers' interest.

Create an eye-popping promo image or short video. The capture should include all important details like price, date, and product information. Use a readable font and visually appealing content.

Create Aesthetically Pleasing Signage

Not all digital signage is effective at capturing your audience’s attention. To develop signage that begs to be looked at, you should consider: 

• Your audience demographics - What topics, vernacular, images, and colors will be most appealing to your audience? Use words and images in your signage that are more likely to engage your viewers.
• Your signage placement - A 24” sign placed 10 feet from your viewer will look very different than a 48” sign placed 5 feet from your viewer. Take your sign measurements and distance into account when determining font sizes, color contrast, and other visual elements.
• Your end goal - If you want customers to try the daily special, feature it prominently on a designated slide with an enticing image. If your goals focus more around generating repeat business, use your signage to promote your social profiles or customer rewards programs.

Utilizing professionally designed templates from pre-built content libraries can also help you more efficiently develop aesthetically pleasing content that will resonate with your audience. 

Connect Through Social Media

Social media walls are a fun and entertaining way to engage customers who visit your restaurant. With digital signage, you can curate a list of posts related to the following topics:

• Customer Reviews
• Display social media posts
• Specials and promotions
• Contests and giveaways
• Local events that involve food or drinks

A social media wall will increase engagement with your customers. They’ll see what their friends are saying on social media and people will stop and look up at the wall while dining at your restaurant.

Communicate with Internal Employees

Besides engaging clients, digital signage can also be used to engage your back-of-the-house employees. Effective communication increases productivity and collaboration. In a restaurant setting, this collaboration is necessary to continually reinforce food safety procedures, cleaning, safety, and other important protocols.

How Much Does Restaurant Digital Signage Cost?

Deciding to purchase digital signage for your restaurant shouldn’t be overwhelming. Determining how you want to use signage and the messaging you want to share is the first step.  Review the features offered by software providers.  You want software that is easy to understand and has a suite of features that allows you to scale for future growth.

The cost of investing in digital signage depends on your specific needs. However, the return is well worth it. According to InfoTrends, the average restaurant spends $2,000 on digital signage (hardware and software) each year and can expect to receive a 15-20% return on investment. 

Install Digital Signage in Your Restaurant Today

When digital signage is leveraged effectively, it can be a tool that helps bring in and engage new customers, increase sales, and encourage repeat business. Fortunately, increasing the effectiveness of your digital signage program doesn’t have to be a monumental task. 

Indigo Vizual helps you put your content on display in a way that engages your customers and improves your brand image. Our solution gets you up and running with digital signage quickly - empowering you to manage your digital signage in minutes without the help of a dedicated IT team. In fact, our average customer spends less than 2 hours each month managing signage for their business. 

To explore the best features and solutions for your restaurant, contact our team today for a no-obligation demo.