In large and dispersed workforces like the manufacturing industry, every team or individual operates to ensure a cohesive, systematic workflow for smooth operations. This means that operational efficiency depends on how well each individual or team performs in sync with others.
This is a challenging task, but it’s the life blood of a successful manufacturer.. However, it can only happen when employees have the information they need to do their work—and to do it well.
That’s not all. It’s more than just getting the right information. It’s also about building a healthy work environment. Truth be told, it doesn’t matter what you do—if employees are disengaged, that spells trouble for your business.
This is where innovative solutions like digital signage come in. With dynamic displays, you can streamline communication and engage employees.
To power these displays, you need the right content strategy. Your content has to be relevant and contextual to work. Everything here matters—content quality, placement, duration, and the whole nine yards. That’s exactly what we discuss in this blog.
Understand your audience
The first step towards building an effective content strategy is to understand your audience. Without this critical insight, you’ll be stumbling in the dark, without a clear path to success.
Generally speaking, manufacturing units have two types of audiences.
1. Internal audience (employees)
This audience includes your workforce across your facility. Commonly shared content for this audience includes best practices, standard operating procedures (SOPs), health guidelines, and environmental regulations.
However, it’s not this simple. Even within internal employees, you have different segments and departments working in tandem with one another. Each will need different kinds of content depending on their roles, responsibilities, and deliverables.
For example: Your shipping department will need real-time relevant information on shipping, receiving, delivery, and return status. On the other hand, your management team will need stock and inventory management, market insights, and sales numbers on BI dashboards.
2. External audience (visitors, clients)
This audience includes your clients and visitors who occasionally visit your facility. The right impression matters, and high-quality content makes all the difference.
You can share company culture videos, testimonials, and welcome messages from management on stunning displays. This gives your visitors a sneak peek into your work culture and creates a warm, welcoming atmosphere.
Outline your objectives
Once you’ve identified your key audiences, the next step is to define your goals. Think of it as charting the course for your journey. Just as a captain sets a destination before setting sail, defining your goals provides the direction and purpose for your efforts.
Here are some actionable steps:
- Define your goals: This includes enhancing communication, improving safety awareness, boosting employee morale, or sharing real-time production data. It could be as simple as one goal or a multitude of them, depending on your current needs.
- Align content strategy with business goals: Now that your goals are mapped out, evaluate how digital signage can support broader business objectives. If your goal is to improve real-time communication, using digital displays to share on-the-spot information like updates, stock information, shipping timelines, and more will help you achieve your goal. This will ensure visibility and accuracy within your manufacturing facility.
- Ask employees for suggestions: Ask your front-liners what gaps they currently face. This will give you hard insights into what’s working and what needs improving, which you can incorporate into your content strategy.
Map out current loopholes
Before implementing any changes in your content strategy or creating another one from scratch, it’s important to identify any existing shortcomings hindering progress. This means scrutinizing your content delivery mechanisms, assessing their effectiveness, and pinpointing areas where improvements are needed.
Ask questions like: Are there inconsistencies in messaging? Is information reaching all intended audiences? By mapping out these loopholes, you pave the way for targeted enhancements.
Here’s an actionable plan of action:
- Conduct a comprehensive audit to understand gaps: In this step, analyze various facts like audience engagement metrics, content relevance, and delivery channels. One type of content format might work for one department but fall short for another.
- Assess the gap between your content strategy and ideal one: Consider your organization’s overarching objectives and whether your current strategy effectively supports them. For example, if your goal is to make your facility more sustainable, replacing posters with energy-efficient LED screens aligns with your goals better.
- Collect employee feedback: Solicit feedback from various departments to get diverse perspectives. Are employees receiving the right information on time? Is the content engaging and relevant to their roles?
- Evaluate resource allocation: Assess whether your current resources — be it budget, personnel, or technology — are optimally allocated to support your content objectives.
Build out content ideas and types
You’ll need different types of content for different audiences. Here are some ideas:
1. Internal communication:
In manufacturing, disseminating information in real-time is crucial for various reasons and scenarios. Here are the most crucial ones below:
- Safety information: This includes displaying comprehensive safety guidelines, protocols, and reminders to promote a secure work environment and prevent accidents or injuries.
For example, rotating messages could cover topics such as “Proper Lifting Techniques” or “Fire Safety Tips” accompanied by infographics or animations to reinforce key concepts.
- Production statistics: Utilizing dynamic data feeds, charts, and graphs, manufacturers can display key performance indicators (KPIs) such as production output, cycle times, defect rates, and equipment utilization.
For example, a BI dashboard can display daily production targets, highlight wins, and share areas for improvement.
- Employee achievements: Using digital signage, you can build a positive work culture by celebrating team and individual wins, reinforcing a sense of appreciation and belonging within your firm. For instance, you can highlight employees exceeding production targets, implementing cost-saving initiatives, completing training programs, or receiving industry certifications.
- Training videos: Training videos can cover a wide range of topics, including equipment operation, safety protocols, quality standards, and compliance requirements.
By incorporating multimedia elements such as animations, demonstrations, quizzes, and even polls, organizations can enhance the effectiveness and retention of training materials and boost employee engagement.
- Company news: Keeping employees informed about company news, updates, and announcements is essential for maintaining workplace transparency. You can feature rotating slides with news updates, event calendars, employee spotlights, and reminders to create a personalized hub for internal communication.
2. External communication
External communication is usually for customers and partners. Here are some signage content ideas.
- Product demonstrations: This involves showcasing a product or service to highlight features, benefits, and value propositions. Utilizing high-definition displays and multimedia content, you can showcase product functionality, use cases, and testimonials in a visually compelling way.
- Company achievements: Communication company achievements externally helps to build brand credibility, trust, and confidence among investors, customers, and other stakeholders. For example, manufacturers can display certifications like ISO, industry awards, and successful product launches to build a solid brand image.
- Industry news: Keeping external stakeholders informed about industry trends, developments, and insights is essential for demonstrating thought leadership and staying competitive in today’s dynamic business landscape.
Design for efficiency and accessibility
The next thing to get right is design. Here’s the reality: . Here are some key things to keep in mind while designing your content.
- Incorporate visual principles: Consider elements like contrast, format, and graphics to ensure your content stands out and effectively communicates messages to the intended audience. For example, use bold text against a contrasting background to highlight safety reminders and critical announcements. Additionally, include animations and pictograms to illustrate production processes or workflow sequences.
- Ensure content hierarchy: In manufacturing, structuring information for quick and easy consumption is key. This is why building a content hierarchy is crucial for the systematic dissemination of information. Remember to prioritize key messages, use clear headings, and employ consistent formatting like text styles, fonts, and spacing to make your content visually appealing.
- Design for accessibility and readability: Whether employees are on the production floor or in break areas, good design ensures content is accessible and easy to read for all viewers.
Note: Choose fonts that are legible and easy to read. Sans-serif fonts like Arial or Helvetica are often preferred for digital signage due to their clarity and readability. Also position screens at optimal viewing angles to ensure content is readable from different vantage points.
Use KPIs to measure success
You know this already, but we’ll say it again. You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Gathering employee feedback, conducting regular content audits, and outlining key performance indicators are just as important for your content strategy as creating content.
Here are some key points:
- Measure KPIs: The KPIs you choose will depend on your business goals. However, some commonly used KPIs for digital signage are engagement rates, productivity improvements, and safety incidents reduction.
For example, if you notice your employees’ productivity levels decrease at noon, play engaging and upbeat content to motivate them.
- Collect and implement feedback: Take feedback on your content strategy from your audience — internal and external. For employees, you can send feedback forms and surveys asking for their thoughts in your current strategy.
If there are any gaps, you can incorporate the changes in your next content update cycle. On the other hand, getting feedback from external stakeholders might be a bit more tricky. However, take note of their comments or questions and incorporate those to fill in any gaps.
Do’s and don’ts recap
Before closing off on this blog, let’s take a quick recap of the do’s and don’ts while building out a digital signage content strategy for your business.
And there you have it! You’re all set to build a killer content strategy for your manufacturing business.
Remember, . It’s made! With the right processes, insights, and mindset — you’ll be on your way to crafting one that’s just right for your needs and goals.
I like this comment and should be used during our Viewpoint Video.
I love this…..way to do….not born perfect, but made!
