Whether you want to advertise a special event like a garage sale or your child’s art exhibition, create a digital sign might be the easiest and most effective way to get your message across. In fact, digital signage is now being considered as an alternative to traditional print advertising as it is easy to adjust continually based on customer feedback. The digital signage or interactive display can be seen in different locations like cafes and malls. But if you need to create a display for your store or business, digital signage software will do the trick for you.
In this post, we will go through everything you need to know about creating digital signage with a digital signage dashboard tool.
OptiSigns
Offers some of the best digital signage software features starting at $10.00/month.
OptiSigns enables users to display branding in retail locations, offices, and other public spaces with free and paid versions of its solution.
It is widely praised and loved for supporting many images, audio, and video files.
The software is compatible with Windows, Linux, Android, ChromeOS, Mac OS X systems.
It also offers support for a wide range of devices such as TVs and projectors and various web browsers, including Safari on iPhone or iPad; Firefox on any device; IE11+/Edge on Window Phone; Opera Mini on Android platforms.
The mobile app lets you upload your digital signage content from anywhere, so it’s great for events or when your team members are on the go. It also offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface which makes customizing campaigns a snap.
Additionally, its easy-to-use interface allows you to create customized content without having advanced knowledge of HTML or CSS.
The software is best for marketers, digital signage providers, and businesses owners looking to create a digital advertising system on lower budgets.
OptiSigns Pricing
OptiSigns has three main pricing plans you can choose from. It also offers a free trial on each plan, so you can decide to buy after testing the respective plan’s features.
The Standard plan is the cheapest plan going for $10 per screen per month. In addition, this plan allows you to enjoy a myriad of interesting features, including:
- Unlimited cloud storage
- Free templates
- Offline work
- Documents, Images, and Videos
- Remote screen management
- Access to all apps, etc.
The Pro plan is the next affordable plan at $12.50 per screen per month, and it comes with its fair share of benefits and features, including:
- All the features and benefits in Standard
- A branded portal
- Secure folders
- Achieving advanced roles
- Ability to remotely view and troubleshoot device’s OS, etc.
Finally, the Pro Plus plan is the highest, charged at $15 per screen per month. However, it offers the following key features:
- All the features and benefits in Pro
- Dashboard login
- Single Sign-On (SAML)
- Security logging
- Monitor and Alert
- Dynamic data mapping, etc.
If any of these plans isn’t enough to meet all your digital signage needs, you can always settle for the Enterprise plan, which has all the features in the Pro Plus plan. The sales team offers more light on this plan to interested persons.Visit OptiSigns
News Feeds
Keep your customers engaged and your employees informed on breaking news. Source relevant industry blogs like Wired, The Wall Street Journal or ESPN and stream their RSS feeds to your displays.
Use an RSS-to-HTML tool to show the latest news as a web page and stream it to your screens, or use Enplug’s built-in News App.
Weather
Nothing beats weather for a conversation starter. It’s also content that as we your employees and guests check at least once a day. Display the current forecast from anywhere in the world and give your guests a look into next week’s conditions as well.
Many digital signage solutions like Enplug offer a built-in Weather app or scrolling weather feed. You can also use a web url to display a weather website for your location.
Interactive & User-Generated Content Tools
Dynamic Interactive Videos
Wirewax’s YouTube page has exciting examples of interactive video content
Although these require a touch screen enabled display and compatible software, interactive videos are popular marketing tools. Give the viewer control over what happens in the video and show how the action unfolds from their perspective. It’s an innovative way to engage your audience with your brand storyline while showing off your products.
Bonus Tool: Interactive Video
Polls
Poll your employees on workplace preferences or your customers on their favorite products. Sharing polls with your audience demonstrates that their opinions matter to you and offers specific insight into what your customers need or like most about your business.
Bonus Tool: Polling Platforms
- Twitter: Twitter’s native polling capability lets you get started composing polls right away.
- Poll Everywhere: A more extensive tool that offers features like “text to vote”
Review Sites
You likely work hard to manage positive reviews for your business. Get more from that investment by sharing accolades on digital signage throughout your workplace. Highlighting positive reviews can encourage customers to buy more in store and also show your employees that their hard work is paying off.
Share review site content through a web page display or a direct integration with one of the more popular review sites. For example, Enplug has apps for Yelp and TripAdvisor. While either method works, apps will give you the advantage of being able to pre-approve only those review you want to highlight.
NoviSign.
Best For Professional Signage Solution
NoviSign is a digital signage software that can help different sectors (healthcare, education, corporate, etc.) create customized digital content and improve the way they communicate with their target audience.
The tool offers seven templates, segregated by sectors, and you can choose one depending on your industry and requirements. From social media posts to employee communications, NoviSign offers unique, customizable solutions designed to run on all operating systems.
Besides, it contains RSS feeds, widgets, and other apps that facilitate the seamless integration of information into displays. It even comes with a drag-and-drop feature through which you can add HD videos, slideshows, playlists, event listings, and more to your digital signage board.
Features:
NoviSign is a beginner-friendly tool and offers useful features like an interactive touch kiosk, widgets, multiple templates, and more.
Let’s take a look at some of the key features of NoviSign:
- Simple interface
- Compatible with Windows, Chrome, and Android
- Versatile templates
- Almost 20 drag-and-drop widgets
- Real-time monitoring dashboard
- Media storage
- Content scheduling
Pricing:
Like most digital signage software, NoviSign offers a 30-day trial period for your evaluation and then has separate plans for small businesses and enterprises. The free trial provides features such as scheduling, reporting, file conversions, and so on.
The Business plan is available at $20/month and offers 500MB storage, unlimited support, and regular performance reports. However, the brand does not disclose the pricing for enterprises and multi-screening on its website. You will have to get in touch with them for more details.
TruDigital Signage
The best digital signage software for optimizing communication with customers and employees starts at $35/month.
TruDigital is a cloud-based exceptional digital signage solution that was founded in 2011 to empower small businesses and startups. The software is compatible with PC and Mac devices as well as Android and iOS phones.
The software also offers more than 300 professionally designed templates and apps to make your work easier when creating your digital messages.
The digital signage player device comes ready to use as it is already pre-activated and ready to plug and play once you take it out of the box.
TruDigital has an easy-to-use interface that makes your work easier. All you have to do is connect the sign player, customize features, and deliver the desired output to your target audience.
You don’t have to worry about your industry of specialization as the software works with any industry. The software is fully customizable and can be tailored to suit your business needs.
Unlike other digital signage systems that do not come with a live demo version, the company provides you with free access to its full-featured product, so you can test it out before purchasing it.
It also offers outstanding customer service, which will help you with any of your questions.
This package is the best digital signage system for non-technical people. Unlike other options requiring deep technical knowledge to be configured correctly, it is easy to set up and use.
The software also requires low maintenance thanks to its robust design and a powerful yet simple configuration engine which helps take care of all the technical details.
TruDigital Pricing
There are three pricing plans available for TruDigital signage users.
The basic and cheapest one is the Bronze plan which goes for $25 per month per player. Since this is the cheapest plan available, you can only enjoy a few special features, including unlimited training and support, unlimited user accounts, and storage space.
At the intermediary level, you’ll enjoy the Silver plan, which goes for $39/month per player. With this plan, you’ll have one more feature unlocked to make your digital experience even better. In addition to the features available in the Bronze plan, you get access to professionally designed apps when using this plan.
The highest-priced plan is the Gold plan, which goes for $49/month per player. The plan unlocks the last available feature to give you the full advantage of using TruDigital signage software. Above all the features in the Silver plan, you also get to enjoy 10+ categories of AP News.
If you need a customized plan for your employees or team, they offer customized plans to fit your business-specific needs.Visit TruDigital
10. Fusion Signage
Offers the fastest digital signage solutions at affordable costs starting at $9/month.
Fusion Signage is the best software for individuals, small businesses, and large enterprises that needs quick and easy digital signage solutions.
The software is built for simplicity and offers the best features for digital signage software users. You’ll not need any extensive training and knowledge of programming to use this software.
Fusion Signage offers a variety of signage solutions for individuals and businesses, including:
- Digital Menu Boards
- Media Players
- HDMI Support & TV Outputs
- Whiteboards & Interactive Touch Screens (iPad) Options
You’ll also be able to manage your business and brand through:
- Cloud or web-based Control Panel
- Social Media Integration
- Mobile App (iOS & Android)
Since privacy is a major concern to many users, Fusion Signage helps business owners protect the privacy of their content through single sign-on (SSO) capabilities. You can rest easy knowing that all content is fully encrypted, and only authorized users can access files via SSO.
Fusion Signage allows you to create controlled sessions where specific information about your business or brand will be shown on the screen; these screens can be customized to fit your business’ needs.
In addition, the software has a variety of features that allow you to advertise multiple screens at one time without any hassle.
The mobile app is an excellent choice for businesses on the go and who need instant access; this way, there are no extra steps or downloads required when clients want to find your location.
The current features keep evolving by the day, and the innovative team always welcomes new ideas to keep users ahead of their competitors in business.
Fusion Signage Pricing
You can pay for Fusion Signage on a monthly or annual subscription basis. The pricing varies depending on the number of screens you need, your location, and if you want to receive automatic updates.
Their pricing is simple, transparent, without any hidden costs or charges. Best of all, you’ll get unlimited features for your business needs!
There are three pricing tiers, including the basic, the advanced, and the Pro.
The Basic plan goes for $9/month per screen, and it allows you to enjoy incredible features, including:
- 1 GB storage space
- Playlist management
- Zone editing
- Online/offline screen tracking, etc.
The Advanced plan goes for $12/month per screen and comes with the following features:
- All the features in the basic
- Media item scheduling
- A million free stock images from Unsplash
- Screen grouping, etc.
The Pro plan goes for $19/month per screen and offers all the incredible features you can find in Fusion Signage software. The outstanding ones include:
- Ability to replace media items
- Advanced integration
- Single sign-on (SSO)
Screenly OSE.
Best Raspberry Pi-Based Software
Screenly OSE or Open Source Edition is a Raspberry Pi-based digital signage platform that allows users to upload, manage, and schedule content on their digital screens. Launched in 2012, it powers 10,000 screens around the globe.
With this software, you can create, upload, and manage content on your signage boards. Besides, it allows you to display web pages, slideshows, videos, and pictures in full high-definition resolution.
Whether you want to display digital menu boards or keep users updated about the latest product range, Screenly OSE will come to your rescue.
I should point out here that Screenly OSE is different from the paid Screenly software. While OSE is a free software that is ideal for running a single screen, the paid version is recommended for multiple screens.
The brand offers a free 14-day trial, and then you can opt for a subscription if you need to monitor multiple screens. To gain access to the software, you must download it from GitHub and create an online account.
Moreover, you can curate customized playlists and run screens in offline mode. Further, you can scale the software to work on multiple screens, as per your business demands.
Features:
Screenly comes with a prebuilt media player and can support multiple scheduling spread across different time zones.
Here’s a list of Screenly’s essential features:
- Full HD display
- Automatic software updates
- Two-factor authentication
- Priority playlists for time-sensitive content
- Facilitates file sharing
- Supports wired and wireless connectivity
- Offers cloud storage
Pricing:
Screenly OSE is mainly for single screens, but if you want to use Screenly for Enterprise purposes, you can get in touch with the brand’s customer support team for a customized quote. The Enterprise package offers features like granular access controls and bulk player orders.
Yodeck
One of the best digital signage software products on the market today with both paid and free plan options (starting at $7.99/month).
Yodeck is a digital signage software solution founded in 2015 by a group of 3 tech-savvy entrepreneurs and software developers and has since been a leading digital signage platform.
Yodeck’s goal has been to provide customers with an innovative way to promote their brands and business through engaging digital signage content at high resolutions while also making it cost-efficient for any budget size or need.
The company’s flagship product, Yodeck, is an all-inclusive piece of digital signage and meeting room software. It provides customers with everything they need for displaying dynamic content in HD resolutions across multiple screens using ultra-high-speed streaming technology.
Yodeck also offers enterprise-grade security and advanced cloud management tools for easy handling of live events anywhere you are around the world.
You can make any screen or TV a digital sign with an easily operated powerful digital signage platform.
I want to note that this doesn’t have any mobile app yet (a few future updates should address this), but it offers widgets that can be used on both your desktop and mobile devices.
The software is highly customizable and can be used for a wide variety of purposes, but it is best if you need to save money or want a free digital signage experience.
Yodeck Pricing
Yodeck offers three different monthly pricing plans for their digital signage software alongside the free plan for one screen users. This is to say that Yodeck is completely free if you’re using only one screen.
The Standard plan is the easiest and cheapest ($7.99/month) option for small and large businesses. With this plan, you can upload documents, PDF files, images, audio, and video files. You can equally enjoy using live streams, web pages, and YouTube alongside free videos and stock images.
The Pro plan is best for users with a lot of content. With $9.99/month, you’ll be able to enjoy everything in Standard Plan and additional features like tag-based playlists, sub playlists, and playback reports, among others.
The highest plan, Enterprise, is ideal if you’re looking for grade security and full control. It goes for $12.99/month and offers everything in the pro plan and more. Besides what’s available in the pro plan, you can restrict login IPs and passwords, enjoy single sign-on (SAML), audit logs, etc.Visit Yodeck.
Conclusion
This digital signage content creation software makes it easy to create such applications. Whether you want to simply display a graphic on your screen or you want to intersperse some texts and videos in between, this program will allow you to do so. It is as simple as dragging and dropping the desired graphics and texts onto the screens or streams of your choice.