5 Ways Digital Signs Can Make Your Hospital Fundraiser a Success

As medical costs continue to skyrocket many hospitals are stepping up their fundraising efforts to meet annual budget goals. Fundraising events can bring in significant funds, raise awareness in the community and provide an opportunity to thank supporters. However, they also require significant resources to plan and execute. Digital signage can help take an event to the next level and create a greater return on investment for the fundraiser.

Use Outdoor Digital Signage to Promote Event

Many large event venues have digital signage outside the building. The venue management may charge a fee for advertising the event on the marque, but this may be an excellent investment if the venue is on a main street with a lot of vehicle and foot traffic. While the majority of ticket purchasers for an event are usually current supporters, one of the benefits of an event over another fundraising tactic such as direct mail is the opportunity to raise awareness of the organization and gain new donors.

Tell Patient Stories

Any professional fundraiser will say the most important part of raising more money is telling your organization’s story. And who better to tell a hospital’s story than the people whose lives have been saved by its physicians? Having a speaker on stage makes an impact on the crowd, but consider having additional patient stories taped and playing on a loop on digital displays throughout the venue. That way guests can hear personal stories about how important the hospital’s work is from the moment they enter the event.

Show Inspiring Footage

Some of the most dramatic and impactful moments in a hospital happen where the public cannot see them, such as the operating room or the rehabilitation center. Engage the hospital’s media department to put together some footage of these moments and stories prior to the event. Use digital displays to play a video of a complicated surgery and an inspiring recovery with a personal story. Seeing what your hospital is capable of when given the right resources can be a powerful motivator for people to give.

Display Sponsor Information

Corporate event sponsorships are typically the main source of income for fundraising events. Increase sponsor funds by offering them excellent exposure during the event. Simply printing sponsor names in the program has nowhere near the impact of showing their logo on the big screen throughout the event. To really raise the bar, create a top-tier sponsor level that includes the option to show a brief promotional video on the displays during the event.

Promote Auction Items

A live or silent auction is an excellent way to boost the overall income of an event. One of the advantages of digital signage is that it can be changed in an instant, making it ideal for managing auctions. As the event program moves ahead on stage, digital displays around the room can show a loop of auction items and the current bids on them. If a guest has their heart set on an autographed football, they can keep an eye on it and increase their bid to stay on top. Reading a list of the auction winners out loud can be a serious time waster in an event program, especially if there are hundreds of items. Use digital signage to post a list of the winners once the auction closes and use the stage time for additional speakers or award presentations.

How To: Market Your Business for 2013 Budget Planning

The holiday season isn’t just a busy time for retailors. Companies across all industries are planning their budgets for the 2013 fiscal year. Now is the time to ramp up your visual communications to stand out as the best choice in a sea of requests for pricing, quotes and pitches. Take a look at five ways to increase your brand presence during this essential time of year.

Vehicle Graphics

Whether your business has a single van or a fleet of trucks, vehicle graphics can help raise awareness of your products and services mile after mile. According to the American Trucking Association, vehicles can get 16 million impressions each year. A small business with a single personal vehicle may want to create a vehicle magnet. This removable graphic can include the business name, logo and brief contact information to raise awareness of the brand. Larger companies might consider entire vehicle wraps. These are a great way to showcase visually appealing products and drive impressions everywhere the vehicle travels.

Sponsoring Local Events and Teams

Providing support to a local non-profit or children’s sports team is rewarding in and of itself. However, as an added incentive, these sponsorships often come with recognition within the community. Special events typically have many different kinds of promotions such as banners, radio ads and event signage, all of which can feature sponsor names. Team t-shirts often feature the team sponsor on the back, which provides all kinds of local exposure as the players run around town. Who knows, when it comes down to your business and one other the fact that you sponsor the vice president’s son’s baseball team may tip the scales in your favor.

Signage on Current Projects

One of the best ways to promote a construction, leasing or property management firm is to have excellent on-site signage. A construction company can gain a number of impressions by placing an attractive, branded banner on the work site fence, especially if the site is on a busy thoroughfare. Leasing and property management firms can place large displays around a new building site showcasing what the finished residences will look like to entice new buyers and renters. Ensure that any visual communications on a building site includes clear contact information for the firm or company.

Creative Business Cards

A business card with an edge may stay around a decision-maker’s desk a lot longer than a standard one. Consider working with a visual communications professional to create a business card in an unusual shape or material. Including a QR code on the card allows a contact to find out more about your business with a simple smartphone scan. Someone may hang on to an unusual business card because they enjoy the design, and remember to fish it out when the 2013 budget calls for that company’s product or service.

Preparing Businesses for Small Business Saturday

First there was Black Friday, then Cyber Monday. But did you know about the new Small Business Saturday? American Express founded the movement in 2010 to help small businesses get more exposure during one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. In 2011 more than 100 million people shopped at independent businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (according to the official site). Read on to find out how to take advantage of the free marketing materials available to promote your small business.

How To: Attract Tenants with Visual Communications

First impressions always count. A professional and attractive building or monument sign should clearly identify the property. Proper maintenance should be performed to ensure the sign presents the property in the best light. This includes annual cleanings, replacement of broken bulbs and landscaping upkeep.

Residential leasing properties should ensure building signs and banners include contact information for the management office. Many apartment hunters drive around the neighborhood’s they are interested in to look for buildings that are leasing. With this in mind, design all yard signs so the building and contact information can be seen clearly from the road. Keep messaging simple, as all potential tenants need to know up front is that the building is “Available Soon” or “Leasing Now” and how to get in touch. Signage for building open houses also helps bring in potential renters. Many people make the mistake of only posting the sign during the event, but posting in advance with the date and time gives the event much more exposure and will maximize attendance.

In areas where there is a lot of foot traffic, also consider printing a QR code on For Rent signs. Apartment shoppers can scan the code and explore the website to learn more about the available units. Don’t forget the low-tech (but still effective) printed fliers highlighting building and apartment features.

Large residential and business complexes should also consider signage directing people to the leasing office. The last thing a property manager wants is for a large potential tenant to get lost on their way to the initial meeting. This signage should reflect the look and feel of the management brand and integrate seamlessly with other visual communications on the property.

Consider these tips when revamping or upgrading your property’s visual communications strategy and watch your empty units disappear.

How To Create the Perfect Museum Exhibit

100 Years of Vehicle Graphics

Full vinyl vehicle wraps are a relatively new product, but the concept of advertising on a vehicle goes all the way back to ancient family seals on horse-drawn carriages.

The modern age of vehicle graphics began in the 1800’s when companies began painting graphics on the sides of train cars. These cars helped raise awareness of the brands as they traveled thousands of miles across the country.

In the 1950’s German advertisers took advantage of the large surface area on the Volkswagon Transporter and made them into mobile billboards. They also took the opportunity to mount a replica of the product on the roof, an advertising technique still seen 60 years later.

In the 1970’s NASCAR advertisers realized the value in placing vehicle graphics on racing cars. For many years the hoods of NASCAR vehicles were reserved for beer, tobacco and motor oil companies, but in the mid-1980’s Proctor & Gamble placed logos for Crisco, Tide laundry detergent and Folgers coffee prominently on cars. After these products saw a sales boost many other brands hopped on the track. Today primary sponsorships generally cost between $10 and $25 million a year and usually include a spot on the hood and visibility on the driver and pit crew’s uniforms.

Full vehicle wraps were available as early as the 1990’s but they took hours of labor to apply. Each color had to be applied individually and the use of photographic images in graphics was not available.

Today vehicle graphics can be designed with almost any image and in any size thanks to advances in digital printing and materials. The food truck explosion has created a whole new market for customized vehicle graphics. Aaron Noveshen, co-founder of Mobi Munch, predicts that 10 percent of the top 200 restaurant chains will have a mobile food truck presence in the next two years. Many of the custom graphics on these trucks take advantage of other modern technology, such as QR codes. These custom codes can be scanned by a smartphone app and direct a user to any website. Food trucks can include QR codes on the vehicle wrap to direct customers to the website that details the truck’s route and stops. Social icons on vehicle wraps also encourage customers to get engaged with the brand on Twitter and Facebook.

Outdoor Advertising Magazine said that outdoor mobile media billboards have a 97 percent recall rate and the American Trucking Associations noted 91 percent of the target audience noticed the text and graphics on truck advertising. With success like this it’s easy to see why vehicle graphics have continued to evolve over time.

FASTSIGNS Helps Promote Perfect Attendance With Signs and Graphics

Spelling, school and signs all go hand-in-hand…especially for FASTSIGNS® of Victorville. Dick Freeborg, the owner of the Victorville FASTSIGNS, and his team have once again partnered with “It’s a Gas to Go to Class” for the promotion’s second year. It’s a Gas was dreamed up by Victorville Motors before the 2011-2012 school year as a way to increase the enthusiasm students had for coming to school every day amid budget reductions, limited supplies and crucial programs being cut.

How To: Keep Patients and Employees Safe with Signage

Hospitals need effective visual communications systems more than almost any other facility. In an environment where lives are saved every day, hospital staff, patients and visitors all need to be able to quickly identify directions and safety signs. Hospital administrators should consider all of the following when updating visual communications in their facilities.