Here are five simple tips you should consider before ever building digital signage content.

Content makes or breaks digital signage. Without it, a digital sign is a blank slate. With well-conceived content, digital signage is transformed from mere displays, computers and cables into a dynamic communications medium with an ability to inspire, inform and motivate that is unsurpassed.

Given the importance of digital signage content to succeed, I sought out some advice from an expert in content to find out if it was possible to develop a short list of tips to help guide content development, regardless of the specific message to be delivered. I turned to Brian Bibler, director of creative services for Keywest Technology, for help.

Brian, who has years of experience prior to joining us with helping clients to build successful creative for all types of marketing campaigns, provided me with these five tips on how to make digital signage content that's successful. They include:

1. Lead any and all content considerations with the brand. Follow the goals, initiatives, and objectives. Only then can an effective creative content strategy to deliver the brand promise be developed within any content campaign.

2. Think outside of the box. Technology has redefined the way we communicate, and signage is no different. Each campaign literally begins with a blank digital canvas, and the methods used to execute the vision for the campaign is only limited by what the imagination can conceive.

3. Know your audience. Getting "lost in translation" is a very real pitfall and can derail a well-executed campaign.

4. Remember, less is more. A good campaign delivers a targeted message through an innovative, clean and easy-to-read approach. Strategically guiding the audience through the campaign/promotion will guarantee the brand message will be received and retained. Images should be captivating, text should be concise and dwell times should give audiences enough time to absorb without losing interest.

5. Do your homework. It's no secret we've become an instant gratification society. Take the time to research styles, designs and trends. Find out what is currently getting attention and the methods that are being used to do it. For digital signage, a great place to start is Times Square in New York City.

Digital signage technology can be highly effective in communicating a message, but without properly conceived and executed content not only will it fail to reach its full potential, but it will actually diminish the public's perception of the business, organization or institution using the technology. Brian's first tip -- leading all content considerations with brand -- speaks to this.

Without making all content decisions guided by the brand, digital signage messaging will likely be confusing to consumers and counterproductive in achieving the underlying goal of the communications effort, namely, delivering on the promise of the brand. Leading all decisions about digital signage content with the brand will avoid those pitfalls.

Similarly, keeping all five of Brian's tips in mind before developing content for digital signage will go a long way to ensuring that the messaging delivered communicates what is intended in a way that's fresh and engaging as well as consistent with the larger promise of the brand.

From ubiquitous touch screens on smartphones to directing interactive control with a glance, this dim sum of digital signage delicacies has something for everyone.

This column is a bit of a digital signage dim sum -a tasting of various thoughts, facts and musings that taken together should make for a tasty treat.

Item one; nearly all smartphones will have touchscreens in the not too distant future. ABI Research released a projection in late August that sees 97 percent of all smartphones having a touchscreen by 2016. To put that into perspective, in 2006 only 7 percent of the smartphones shipped had touchscreens. The research firm attributes much of the coming proliferation to the availability of low-cost capacitive touch controllers that can reduce the cost of adding touch-based interactivity by as much as 30 percent.

Question. When touch-screen capability is ubiquitous in smartphones, will interactive touch-screen capability simply be expected by consumers? Will signs without it, leave consumers wondering what's wrong, or worse, simply walking away to a friendlier, more interactive alternative?

Item two; a blending of digital technologies may point the way to the future for out-of-home advertising. Global lifestyle and environmental communications agency Kinetic, said in September that is was launching Fuel, "a response to the increasing scope of Out of Home advertising including opportunities to integrate digital interactivity, dynamic displays, experiential and bespoke design into client brand campaigns."

In announcing the launch, Kinetic's UK chief operating officer said the move "reflects the changing nature of Out of Home media and the huge opportunities that emerging technologies add...."

Question: How long until others notice and begin to leverage complementary interactive technologies with digital signs to produce an even more effective communications experience or more powerful marketing opportunity? What sorts of opportunities will be available when a sign can communicate wirelessly with a smartphone, for example, and vice versa?

Item three; a telling glance can direct a sign. Researchers from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in South Korea in mid-September demonstrated a technology that allows someone to have interactive control over a television -and digital signage is not too far of a stretch of the imagination- by tracking their gaze. The technology, shown at the International Broadcast Convention in Amsterdam, uses a camera to track where one of the pupils of a viewer is directed to give the viewer interactive control. In one demo, a viewer's gaze was used to pull up the vital statistics -age, name and hometown- of various dancers as they performed on stage. Still a prototype, a finished version is years away.

Question: Will the gaze of a digital signage viewer one day replace touch as the gateway to interactivity? If so, what possibilities will this new interactive interface open to communicators and marketers?

That's about all for this digital signage dim sum tasting. I hope this presentation gave you some food for thought. At the very least, I hope it didn't leave you with any digital signage dyspepsia.