About a year ago my wife’s ‘93 sedan, with its 150K miles, faded gold paint, and malfunctioning engine, was finally laid to rest. For some reason, she shed no tears on behalf of the only car she had ever driven. While I mourned the loss of our “family member” she was already shopping for a new vehicle. A new SUV was looming in the near future.
The SUV was the first new car she had ever owned. To say that my wife was thrilled with her new toy would be an understatement. Why was she so happy with her purchase? Because it had heated/cooled seats, a spacious interior, four-wheel drive, leather seats, satellite radio, and finally a clean white color (she has this thing against rust). I’m sure I left a few reasons out but you get the picture – it was a complete upgrade, in every facet, over her previous vehicle. Most importantly, these features helped my wife feel more comfortable and safer with her driving experience.
I like to compare this situation to our Digital Menu Board product. Most service centers and quick lubes have some sort of plastic menu board on their wall that tells customers how much their services cost. AutoNetTV’s Digital Menu Board on the other hand educates customers as to what specific services entail and how those services will benefit them now and down the road. Certainly, the Digital Menu Board can still list services and pricing, but it allows a location to highlight the benefits, not the price of a particular service: A silent salesman, if you will. Now, one of those menu boards can be compared to a ‘93 sedan (virtually no features that enhance the experience), and the other to a brand-new SUV (every feature imaginable). To me there’s no comparison.
Granted, there are hundreds of digital signage companies across the nation peddling a hundred different digital signage solutions. But the difference comes in what a customer recently told me, “Hey, I can go down to the local high school and find a kid that can program a menu board for me. The difference is your product actually gives me something WITH my digital signage – CONTENT! No one else has the content that you produce and you know what they say – Content is king.”
I guess it all comes back to my wife’s two cars: Both will get you from Point A to Point B, but which one will provide the more enjoyable experience?
Bobby Cannon is the Director of Sales for AutoNetTV Media, Inc.