Smartphones have changed the face of mobile communications. Have you noticed how often people look at their phones? This isn’t a trend that will quickly blow over either. As mobile technology progresses, people’s engagement with their phones will invariably follow suit. If predictions are correct, mobile devices could replace using cash by 2016. This has created a huge opportunity for advertisers and marketers.

Adverts can now be sent directly to phones that access the internet, and those adverts can even be tailored to the recipient, based on their browsing history. Mobile marketing also has the advantage of allowing companies to accurately measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. Combine this with a powerful call-to-action, and it’s easy to see how this has some rather serious implications for those using digital signage solutions to market their products/services.

Right now, digital signage can offer some level of interactivity. However, this degree of interactivity is extremely limited as the viewer must register at the sign. This is not very useful for today’s typical digital signage marketing campaigns. Nor is it particularly practical.

But combine digital signs with mobile phones, and interactivity soares. For example, a retailer could enable their in-store signs to communicate with customers’ mobile phones: asking them to scan a QR code or send an SMS to enter a contest or receive a discount.

Not only does this improve interactivity and the shopping experience, but it also enables the retailer to build their database, to understand who was in the store and what level of interest that customer had.

Over the coming years, network operators and digital signage software companies will need to find additional inventive ways of harnessing mobile marketing in conjunction with digital signage marketing campaigns. If digital signage wants to succeed in the long term, it is going to have to become more engaging, demand more viewer interaction and basically tear people’s attention away from their phones.

Stay tuned!