Replace the DVD Player In Your Business

If you’re a business owner with a TV in your business, it goes without saying that at some point in time you sat down to consider what to have playing on it. Whether it’s basic cable, a DVD player or Netflix, an Amazon Firestick, or even a regular old USB drive with pictures and a slideshow, sometimes it’s time to revisit old tech and consider newer alternatives.

People say “Don’t fix what isn’t broken.” And this is true – no one should fritter away money on a whim. But at the same time, there’s a risk in the comfort of long standing familiarity. People who are happy with what they have seldom consider alternatives – less out of alternatives being better and more out of avoiding the hassle of change.

Out With The Old

It’s not unusual to want to get the most mileage out something, but it’s also important to recognize when something is worth revisiting. Even if it isn’t necessarily old. DVD players, services like Netflix, and external devices such as Amazon Firestick and USB Drives have broadened the options for ways you can put things on your TV.

DVD Players Are Outdated For Businesses

DVD players are great – at home. When it comes to DVD players in businesses, two common uses rise to the surface: DVDs, and looping slideshows. Regarding the former, playing a commercially available DVD, like a movie or TV show can result in a heavy fine. The reason is that even though you own the copy of the DVD, you don’t own the license to play it in public. The following article delves deeper into the risks involved when choosing to display content in your business without the rights: “Using Netflix in your Business, Don’t Put your Business at Risk!”

Legality aside, throwing a movie or the latest Disney Pixar flick up on the TV still isn’t that great of a solution. Feature-length movies can be as long as 90-120 minutes – built around characters and storytelling. Unless you’re waiting for a car to be serviced, there are few instances where putting something like a movie on for the enjoyment of visitors is going to be relevant. People don’t have the same focus to devote to a movie in a waiting room, restaurant or retailer as they do at home – and there’s no guarantee that people won’t arrive in the middle of story, or walk in on spoilers of a movie they were waiting to see. It just isn’t a good fit for businesses, and it carries the risk of disappointing visitors.

Movies aren’t the only thing that a DVD player is good for. Business owners who know that it’s illegal to show unlicensed videos, or don’t believe in playing videos in general, lean towards another option when it comes to what’s on their TVs – and that’s custom DVDs.

Custom DVDs & Slideshows Get Old Quick

It’s not uncommon for business owners to put together personal videos or collections of pictures for their TVs. While this alternative is certainly cheaper than basic cable, it isn’t without its flaws.

Custom videos loop constantly. Unless the business owner has a dedicated staff member with a lot of free time on their hands to put together a large library of content, people visiting are likely going to see the same things again and again. This can get boring, and depending on the setting in which people are waiting, the comfort of your visitors can have a large impact on their satisfaction and overall opinion of your business.

DVDs and USBs packed with videos and pictures plugged into your Smart TV lack a crutial level of customization. In order to update or make changes to either of those platforms, the devices need to be manually removed – and in the case of DVDs, new ones need to be made or switched out by hand. This is inconvenient, and in an age of innovative technology, shouldn’t be an option you have to settle for.

Another heavy loss at the cost of using custom DVDs or slideshows is the lack of live intergrations onto your TV. Features such as the local news, weather updates, and even recent posts from social media, aren’t able to be streamed and put where people are going to see it. So what else is there?

It’s Relevant TV is the Next Generation, Here Today

It’s Relevant TV is a custom TV service made for businesses. It gives you access to a vast library of short-form content to be played alongside your own videos to get people interested, and engaged. All of the content is licensed for public display, so you can avoid legal issues of playing commercial DVDs. Everything is divided into set categories for you to pick and choose from to keep the programming “relevant”.

The platform is easy to use and fully customizable – you can easily upload videos and images from your phone or computer straight to your TV. And best of all, it’s always fresh. Without you doing a thing, IRTV constantly changes the programming to keep it all interesting for your visitors.

Do away with the old, and embrace the new. It’s Relevant TV will provide your business with so much more than a DVD player can. IRTV is constantly evolving and provides business owners with the control they desire.

Change can be Hard. But It’s Worth it for Your Business.

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but building the new.”

-Socrates

Hesitant to Change Your TV Service? You’re not Alone.

Services like cable and satellite are bought and subscribed to as early as the point of purchasing a TV. From there on out, one’s choice of provider tends to adopt a Set It & Forget It sort of mentality. You’re comfortable with what you have, you don’t ever think to replace it, and you’re “happy“ with it.

But what does “happy” mean here? Are you excited? Does it help your business every day? Or is saying you are “happy” more like a nice way of saying that you’re settling for what you currently have because the alternative is something unfamiliar. Very few business and offices really LOVE or even LIKE the TV service they subscribe to.

Many of our clients hesitated at first to change from away from the TV service they had. Reasons included many false assumptions like needing to schedule an installation, reading long contracts, or having to make phone calls. These can all be avoided.

The single worst feedback we’ve heard is that some business owners don’t care about what’s on their TVs! Even if you don’t care, your customers DO! If you care about them, it’s worth considering what you put in front of them. Our clients find their visitors enjoy the programming more, complain far less, and leave better educated about their business. This can lead to a real return on investment from your TV. On top of the benefits, it’s also quite easy to make the switch. The installation is simple and doesn’t require scheduling an “appointment window”. You can install it yourself in under 5 minutes.

Why Fix what isn’t Broken?

Business owners and office managers should not settle. If there is something that is better and most cost-effective for our businesses we should explore it.

People tend to favor what’s familiar to them, pure and simple. That’s because with familiarity comes a sense of trust, reliance, and security. While there isn’t anything wrong with this, it can leave you blind to alternatives better suited for your needs. It’s less about fixing something that isn’t broken, and more about upgrading to better options.

airplane-open-seats-1

If you were in an airplane, squished in between two people for a flight, and were given the opportunity to sit in a set of seats completely open next to you, would you move? Of course you would! Your seat may not be broken, but it’s just not as comfortable as the open seats will be. The better option is worth taking, and the sooner you make the decision to move the more time you have to enjoy the results of the change.

Fit Your Business with something Made for Business

It’s Relevant TV is a cable alternative that’s designed for the business setting. It compliments the brief time that people are exposed to the TV and is tailored to the casual attention span of your visitors. It’s Relevant’s short-form content is easy to watch. And the diverse library of content gives your business enough categories to choose from, to be relevant to as many people possible.

Why It’s Relevant TV?

With It’s Relevant in the picture, you’re able to explore the ways in which your TV can be used to transform your business. Beyond short-form content that’s family-friendly, IRTV allows you to expose visitors to your social media and educate them about the services you provide. They become interested and engaged, come back more, and spend more on each visit. That’s where It’s Relevant TV excels. It’s built specifically for you, and it’s designed to MAKE your business money.

Generally speaking, when you see something new that you’re interested in, you look into it for more details. You take a closer look in order to see if it’s better or worse than what you currently have, and in the end chose whether or not to replace the old with the new. If you operate a business, office or public space with a TV take a few minutes to explore It’s Relevant TV. You can reach out to the staff for a personalized presentation by calling 855-ITS-RELE or emailing support {at} itsrelevant.com.

iOS 11 Hidden Feature That Will Help Your Business (iPhone/iPad)

With Apple’s release of iOS 11 on Tuesday September 19, 2017 many new features have been introduced to the iPhone and iPad. Most of these features matter mostly to consumers, not to business owners. But there is one feature in particular that businesses should take advantage of.

QR Code Scanning on the iPhone

Apple has made it easier than ever for consumers to scan QR codes while they are out and about. What are QR Codes? They are a lot like barcodes in that they are quick to scan from a compatible device but they are used in much more of an interactive way. QR codes have been used for about a decade now to bring users to web sites while out and about. They are really big in Asia, but never really took off here in the U.S.

What’s different now?

You used to need a dedicated app to scan a QR code on your iPhone. The problem has always been that once you saw a QR codeyou wanted to scan you had to fumble through your apps, find the QR scanning one, wait for it to load and then shoot the code. This long process made it hard to use QR codes in dynamic ways. Now Apple has built the technology into their standard Camera App. The Camera App remains one of the easiest to access apps on the phone, available right from the lock screen.

What are the opportunities for businesses?

Getting customers to access your websites while in your retail locations, or through ads in remote locations are a great way to grow your business. Once users access a link through a QR code, they can fill out a survey, join a loyalty club or even purchase a product that’s not available in the store.

iOS 11 QR Code Scanning App — QR Code Editing Tool inside of It’s Relevant TV

Make the most of this update with It’s Relevant TV

As you’ll see in the video below, It’s Relevant TV has a QR code generator built right into their free iPhone/iPad app. You can design, edit and upload interactive ads right from your phone to all of your business TVs using the service. IRTV puts these QR codes in a place that your customers can see and interact them. Customer awareness will be key to your success.

There is really no quicker way to easily build active links into your business signage. We hope that you’ll take advantage this great technology that is surely to gain usage in the months to come!

If you have questions or want to chat about ways to make this technology work for you, please reach out to us.

Why Customer Retention Should be a Higher Priority than Customer Acquisition

In-Location Marketing vs. External Advertising

Customer retention is key. Most marketing budgets center around getting a company’s message out to the masses. TV commercials, print ads, billboards, sponsorships, direct mail, are all forms of external advertising that are commonly used to attract new customers to businesses. But once you bring someone in, what are you doing to get them to come back?

Companies that have to advertise all of the time in order to stay in business are likely not doing enough to keep their customers happy.

Many business owners focus most of their efforts on attracting new customers in order to make more money. But you don’t only need new customers! If your goal this year was to grow your revenues by 10%, would you care if that increase came from new business, or increasing the average spend from your current customers? Of course not! More revenue is more revenue.

Money earned from new customer vs. existing

They look the same, don’t they? Because they are! An added dollar earned from an existing customer is just as good as a dollar form a new one. But it’s proven to earn that extra dollar from an existing customer than to get it from a new one.

“Research shows that it can cost up to 30 times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep an existing one. It pays to stay very close to your customers, so you know their exact needs, today and tomorrow. Your aim is to be irreplaceable as their supplier.”
–Mike Johnston, The Chartered Institute of Marketing

An Inexpensive Solution

It’s Relevant TV has come up with an easy way to increase customer retention (getting customers to come back more often). Each custom TV network IRTV creates is unique to each business that displays it. Short-form TV programs grab the attention of visitors while the integrated real-time social media and promotional tools help get the business’ message across.

If you own or manage a business and have a TV, It’s Relevant TV offers a free consultation. You can explore various types of programming with an expert and start to craft something that will do much more for your business.

For more information check out It’s Relevant TV’s official site: http://www.itsrelevant.com or call their U.S. Headquarters at: (203) 588-1689

Controlling Multiple TVs Across Your Business or Organization

Easy to Manage One or Multiple Business TV Screens

Do you have a business or practice with more than one location? Many managers, franchise owners, and practice managers have found it to be increasingly difficult to get a consistent message out to multiple locations.

Printing and distributing fliers or emailing announcements often get overlooked, and are hard to police. We’ve found that being able to put the messaging up directly is the best way. But how can you control all of your TVs from one place? It’s Relevant TV makes it easy.

iPhone X (iPhone 10) - Home Screen — iPhone X (Apple iPhone 10)

It’s as easy as accessing logging in to the website or free iPhone/iPad app and selecting what you want to have shown on your screens. The settings can be updated 24/7 from anywhere.

You can control one or multiple screens at once. This gives national brands dual level control. You can design ads, mix in images, change your social media preferences, and upload videos of your own. And best of all, the messages you distribute get seen! They garner more attention by being mixed with TV programs your customers want to watch.

It’s your TV, make it work for you!

It’s Relevant features more than just TV content. Custom messaging and weather from each location’s zip code are easily added and managed. The service gives you the ability to reach out to visitors in ways you can’t with basic cable. IRTV can be linked to your social media feeds, showcasing your most recent posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

It’s Relevant TV’s platform boasts a number of features that make the digital signage/video service an invaluable tool for businesses. Its library of 500,000+ short-form content licensed for public display is the largest of its kind, with the videos are spread across 40+ categories – allowing you to customize your waiting room TVs in ways that just aren’t possible with basic cable. One might expect a system as innovative as IRTV to be complicated, or run the risk of being too confusing to operate – but it’s easy!

You’re Always in Control

One of It’s Relevant’s most handy features, is Competetive Ad Block®. Competetive Ad Block® does what it says, it blocks competitive ads from showing up on your TV. With it in place, you never run the risk of people in your business seeing an ad for a “better” or more enticing deal across the street. Businesses that settle for basic cable have no control over outside messaging.

The most valued feature of It’s Relevant TV is the free ad space which allows you to expose visitors to your brand and promotions. Between, and during videos, you have the option to showcase your brand on the side of the screen and inform visitors of any services or specials you want them to see. New products and services, catering, limited-time offers, members rewards, or even staff highlights, are just a few of the things you can promote.

It’s Relevant TV is found in restaurants, medical offices, malls, retailers, sports arenas, car dealerships, pharmacies, salons, spas, and more.

Are Your Employees Watching TV At Work? A Better TV For Your Business

Employees watching TV at work is frustrating if you’re a business owner, or you’re in charge of managing a business. If you have TVs in your business, you probably put them there for the benefit of your customers. But have your employees become the primary audience instead? If you fear that this is the case, follow this link and check out the solution we recommend.

Today, TVs are a utility that fewer and fewer businesses are without. A growing number of locations with sit-downs or long expected waits have a TV somewhere within sight. With all of the TVs in businesses, an important question comes to mind; who chooses what’s on?

It shouldn’t be your employees!

Where’s the Remote, and Who is in Control?

This varies from business to business. Example: in a setting like a bar or restaurant, the remote might not be available to customers- whereas in a waiting room, the remote might be there for any visitors to control. However in some cases, an employee is the one in charge of the remote. When an employee decides what to put on the TV, he or she might very well put something on the that they want to watch, instead of something that the customers, or visitors, would rather have on.

The TV is a wonderful distraction for visitors. Unfortunately, it can be just as distracting for employees.

One thing is true; the fact that people want to change the channel at all illustrates that even with thousands of channels out there, it is nearly impossible to pick one that everyone will enjoy.

What’s the Perfect Channel?

People and personality types are as diverse as a bag of M&Ms; you won’t be able to please everyone by putting on a channel that only caters to one or two colors. In order to appeal to the interests of all of your visitors, you need an all-inclusive channel that changes between content types. The greater the diversity in content, the more eyes you can attract to your TV.

What Brings it all Together?

A custom TV channel from It’s Relevant TV. IRTV runs diverse short-form programming designed with businesses in mind. In addition to its vast library of licensed content, the platform features space for businesses to promote additional services or specials that otherwise might go unnoticed.

It’s Relevant is focused on customer retention. The service prioritizes the people who are in your business with the intention of getting them to come back more, and spend more. Unlike cable bills that are flat expenses and give nothing back, IRTV is designed to generate revenue through its engaging features and put money into your pockets.

Are your employees watching TV when they should be working? If they’re in control of the television and you’re not around, there’s a good chance that they are. Allowing it to continue is doing a disservice to your business, and your visitors who want to watch the TV. It’s Relevant TV can help you put meaningful programming on the TV to keep customers engaged, and make you more money.

DIY TV – Customize The TV In Your Business

As technology grows and becomes more innovative, more and more business owners are turning to DIY solutions and beginning to explore new ways of doing things. We live in an age where reaching out and connecting with people is as easy as pressing a button – though just as easily, someone is capable of finding you and following you online or on social media – which when it comes to businesses, can be a potential client or customer’s first impression of your brand.

It’s Never Been More Important to Reach Your Visitors

A business wouldn’t be a business without people coming in and giving you their time and money. That’s why any respectable business will always invest in the comfort and consideration of the people who come to frequent their establishment. The most common means of catering to the comfort of visitors is the Television. TVs hang in the lobbies of medical offices, hospitals have TVs in their waiting areas, and bars and restaurants have them so people can watch as they eat.

Medical Waiting Room TV - Doctors Express Television — Medical Waiting Room TV

With customer comfort being the priority it is, it only makes sense for business owners to invest in ways to make waiting areas more inviting. Those who run something other than basic cable tend to settle on one of a few do-it-yourself alternatives. People try things ranging from stiff looping slideshows, digital signs, and streaming sticks, to playing DVDs. While these options have no regular monetary cost, they provide no real value to your business. Certain solutions may be illegal depending upon what you are showing. (See the article: Using Netflix & DVDs in Your Business).

So what’s the solution?

When homegrown DIY alternatives fall short of providing an ideal the answer is a custom TV network for your business. A network that brings the TV programs in legally and lets you message to your customers at the same time.

With It’s Relevant TV, it’s just easy. It’s Relevant gives you access to a living network, which features short-form family-friendly content designed with business settings in mind. The service allows you to customize your TV, giving you control over which categories play and what visitors see. It’s Relevant can also be used to display posts from social media accounts in real-time. This helps you to further positively promote your brand and get people to follow you online.

The “Set It and Forget It” of Business Television

“SET IT AND FORGET IT!”

-A 90’s Studio Audience

Who could ever forget that line? If you watched any infomercials during the 90’s, then chances are you’ve heard of the inventor, salespersona, and founder of Ronco; Ron Popeil. Now if you haven’t watched the video and left to get a mouth-watering rotisserie chicken by this point, let’s take a closer look at that famous slogan.

Set It and Forget It.

The idea of “Set it and Forget it” was a major selling point of the Showtime Rotisserie. We’re all busy people, and the less effort we have to put in to get things done the better. Plain and simple; why would someone slave over the hassle of making a chicken when you had a tool to manage the hard parts for you? Especially when you need to focus other things.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with managing something yourself. If you enjoy doing the hard work, power to you; however if you’re a business owner, time is money.

It’s Relevant TV provides a “set it and forget it” service for your business TV. The custom channel runs on its own and pulls tailored content from a vast media library for viewers to enjoy. It lets you be busy elsewhere doing the things you need to get done. No more paying for cable and worrying about what to put on; the quick segments and broad categories are catered to appeal to a wide audience, and ensures that fewer people are disappointed by what they’re seeing.

But Wait, There’s More!

It’s Relevant does more than put original content on your TV, there’s a whole list of other features that come with it. From sharing and deals you’re offering people, to promoting your social media for all to see; it works for you. You’re in control.

With IRTV, you literally set it and forget it.
Interested? You can call toll-free: 1-855-ITS-RELE
or visit: http://www.itsrelevant.com for more information.

Amazon Fire Stick: Don’t Risk Sticking Your Business

Technology is Changing TV

Amazon Fire Stick, Chromecast, and Smart TVs are steadily emerging over the horizon, more so now than ever. With access to services like Netflix, Hulu, or HBO Go and devices that allow you to stream those services on your TV, cable is on its way out.

TV has come a long way since the 1920’s, and as we get closer to 2020, looking back on the history of television during the last one hundred years and seeing how far we’ve come is pretty amazing. Today, televisions are just about everywhere you go. Everywhere. And they have been for a while. That’s because TVs are a staple of technology – we use them to reach out to one another, stay informed, and keep ourselves entertained.

If you’re a business owner who caters to crowds, or often has people waiting or sitting for lengthy periods of time, then chances are you’ve got a TV within sight for the exact reasons just listed above. Which is great, the comfort of your customers is key – but in this rapidly advancing world of technology, it’s easy to get carried away when trying to build an inviting waiting room experience.

Between all the technology available to business owners coupled with the drive to maintain customer satisfaction, the ease of putting something up like Netflix powered by an Amazon Fire Stick is second nature. So why wouldn’t you do it? The answer is simple. Because it’s illegal.

NETFLIX TERMS:

The Netflix service and any content viewed through our service are for your personal and non-commercial use only. During your Netflix membership, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, license to access the Netflix service and view Netflix content through the service. Except for the foregoing limited license, no right, title or interest shall be transferred to you. You agree not to use the service for public performances.

Using those services with a “set it and forget it” mentality without regard for the licensing terms and conditions can be dangerous for your business. The people who enforce the rules on media licenses take this very seriously. For more information regarding why you should think twice about setting up services like that in your business, check out this article on using Netflix in your business.

Personal Use is Different than Business Use

In the end, the licensing rights tied with those services only applies to personal use. Setting them up in your business is a no-go. But if you think about it, TVs and plug-ins like Fire Stick and Chromecast were designed with the home setting in mind, not business settings anyway.

So you can’t use a Fire Stick in Your business to deliver any real TV content. Up until recently, this left you with only one real choice: cable TV. And while it’s legal to run cable in a business setting, cable TV isn’t designed for the benefit of your customers and your business. It’s Relevant TV is.

Custom TV from It’s Relevant

It’s Relevant TV bridges the gaps between TV, customer satisfaction, and business messaging using unique digital sinage software – creating a more inviting place for visitors. The service provides businesses with content and control that makes for an all around better TV experience. IRTV creates a custom TV network for each business with access to a vast library of original content divided into a number of categories you can pick and choose from. On top of the TV content with more meaningful controls, your business also gets room to advertise additional services, reach out to customers, and share your latest social media posts. It’s Relevant TV turns your television into a tool for your business.

TV Advertising: Traditional Isn’t Cutting It Anymore

The Main Goals of TV Advertising

Branding has long been the First, Middle and Last reason to advertise on Television. If potential customers don’t know about you, why would they buy your products or use your services? Brand awareness creates trust, generates leads, and ultimately creates sales and the growth of your business.

For this reason businesses have used TV advertising to:
• Create brand recognition by reaching the greatest number of viewers.
• Attaining a frequency level that will promote memory retention.
• Demonstrate value through emotion and visuals

And TV ads are great at achieving all three. But TV ads have become more expensive and less effective in the last few years due to a number of changes. Let’s take a closer look at the current state of Traditional TV Advertising.

The Current Characteristics of Traditional TV Advertising

Broadcast TV ads are expensive.
Television advertising is broadly targeted and ad buys usually include a lot of “waste” (the ad reach you pay for that is not relevant to your message).
Clutter Ridden – Television is overflowing with advertising. 25% to 35% of the broadcast airtime is now being filled with commercials
Ads are purchased based on ratings. Ratings are based on a small sample of the population and cannot guarantee how many people actually tune into any particular program.
TV ads are sold on a cost per thousand (CPM) basis.
Audience delivery is impossible to measure, as ratings are estimations and it is impossible to track what percentage of viewers stay tuned during your ad’s playback.
Under-delivery is fairly common
Reporting is horrible and slow. Actual run time/placement is only available by requesting a program log. It is nearly impossible to receive a log in a timely fashion. Especially from a Cable Operator.
Return on investment is very hard to calculate. Direct marketing messages are the only surefire way of seeing true ROI and actual effect on purchases based on the ads

Modern Television Advertising from It’s Relevant TV

It’s Relevant TV allows advertisers to forge brand recognition with pin-point accuracy and benefits. Unlike cable TV that targets channels and times of day, IRTV goes deeper.

1. Reach screens that are located in businesses in specific categories.

2. Market through televisions in specific zip codes.

3. Your commercials are shown in single ad breaks. This means that your ad is the only ad in a break, so all attention is on it.

4. You can target location types that have screens near point-of-purchase, allowing product owners to push their products in areas that they can be immediately purchased.

5. Reliable and immediate reporting. You can see the exact screens and the minute and second your ads have played on them.

6. Affordable at just $0.30-$0.50 per play per screen.

7. Extremely scalable with 24/7 controls. You can concentrate your ads when it makes the most sense for you, and scale back when it doesn’t.

8. Multiple ad messages. You can run multiple video ads at the same time and It’s Relevant will automatically distribute the messages evenly.

9. Ads are associated with family-friendly programming displayed in prominent public places.

For more information on this new advertising platform please contact John Lunghi by emailing him at: john {at} itsrelevant.com or by dialing the main office at: 203-588-1689.