Shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation, has shared recommendations with their audience in an "Open Letter to Retail CEOs." Their recommendations are on the subject of talent mix. Shop.org recommends that retailers hire/promote based on digital competencies and experience. With digital playing a large role in the future of retail, Shop.org recommends retailers give strong credence to digital talents and creating a digitally focused culture.

What does this have to do with the self service industry, digital signage, and kiosk technology? In-store opportunities to integrate digital technology, websites, and electronic advertisements abound when utilizing kiosks. If retailers hire the right "talent mix," retail marketers will find opportunities to leverage the work they are doing against both offline and online mediums. If retailers integrate, incorporate and leverage digital marketing team members by promoting and hiring for those competencies, digital signage, kiosks and self-service technologies will be a clear path to increase ROI and brand awareness by optimizing the value of a brick and mortar visit.

Here are some of the talent hiring tips outlined by Shop.org:

1. Promote from within, those with digital marketing talent and skills. Build Digital Marketing Advocates in each department.

2. Recruit digital talent from outside of the retail industry and teach them retail.

Self-service and digital signage in a digitally fluent organization

Additionally, Shop.org recommends that retailers create "a digitally fluent organization." Make this a priority. To that end, those of us who are "digitally fluent" and who know digital marketing should be offering training for the retail sector. While digital marketing is clearly not limited to digital signage, self-service technologies and kiosk deployments, it is integral to our industry.  We should provide retailers a clear map from brick and mortar to digital marketing applications by way of kiosks and digital signage.

What other industries could benefit from digital marketing training and education? Where can we best share our knowledge in a way that makes it clear that self-service technologies are the natural bridge between offline and online marketing efforts? We need to make sure that retailers are aware that the self-service industry is where website, social and mobile experiences meet print media and traditional brand messaging. Maximizing their ROI and their digital marketing efforts via kiosks and digital signage will be an obvious extension of marketing efforts, particularly to those that are investing in a culture and hiring practice that focuses on "digital."

Incorporating learning styles into digital signage is not a new topic.  In a separate post, learning styles were identified and methods for incorporating them into digital signage and kiosk displays were discussed.  

An example of this concept in action can be found in the Swedish hair ad display that changes and coordinates images with the arrival of the subway.  

By utilizing environmental factors such as subway-generated wind, the sign is both more interesting and likely more memorable for those that are tactile learners.

Similarly, creating a digital display that is sound responsive will likely appeal to those that learn in an auditory fashion.

Just stick with the subway model for a moment.  There are thousands of companies that could utilize a similar concept (subway wind).  Amusement parks, car companies, skydiving businesses, military recruiters, and wind energy companies are just a few.

What things do you see or sounds do you hear out in the world that could be utilized in a similar manner?  Airlines could advertise with displays that showed a person looking at a plane flying overhead anytime an ACTUAL plane flew overhead.

Weather adjusting displays, crowd responsive displays, and/or traffic responsive displays likely are already in use but could provide great juxtaposition with better technology and appropriately planned ads.  Vacation destinations should be stressing the warmth of the tropics, particularly at a warm location in the midst of a snow storm.  Commuter rails could advertise at peak traffic locations during particularly messy commutes.  Spa business displays could emit lavender scented aromatic smells in conjunction with a beautiful ad at peak stress moments in crowded transit stops or sidewalk routes.

Some of these integrated sound/smell/touch/hear/feel display concepts are already realities.  What are some examples of existing displays that integrate with the external world and are responsive to the environment?

Do website usability rules translate to digital signage?

As hardware providers, software providers, and application developers for digital signage, we sometimes leave the “content” portion of digital signage to our clients.  We assume that advertising agencies and in house marketers have the content piece of their message under well in hand.  While that is often the case, it is particularly important to make sure that the digital signage applications and content are both developed with the end user and usability in mind.  

Digital signage user interface testing and standards seem to be less well researched and defined than those in the website usability/UI/UX industry.  Utilizing some of the learnings from web design, we can extrapolate some digital signage best practices.  Specifically what differences should be considered when designing digital signage for a teenage audience?

According to a study by the Nielsen Norman Group, there are many incorrect stereotypes about teenagers.  Unlike the stereotypes, teens are not “supremely tech savvy”, they don’t “use smartphones for everything” and they don’t “want everything to be social.”  They also don’t “just want to be entertained online with graphics and multimedia.”

Some website usability findings to consider when creating digital signage:

•          Teens perform worse than adults because of insufficient reading skills.
•          Teens have dramatically lower levels of patience.
•          Teens do not like small typeface.

A few web usability tips that translate well to digital signage or are already a part of the digital signage lexicon:

•          Don’t talk down to teens.
•          Teens don’t like the heavy, glitzy, blinking graphics that designers think they like. They prefer clean, modest, but still cool designs.
•          Minimize the amount of text.
•          Interactivity is appealing, where possible.

For more on website usability for teens, and to see if additional findings also translate for digital signage, visit NN/g at http://www.nngroup.com/reports/teenagers-on-the-web/