Your Business’ TV is NOT a Commodity: Make the Most Out of Your TV

Your business’ TV is more than just a box on your wall, in your waiting room, or over your bar. Depending on how you utilize it, your TV can be a key player when it comes to generating repeat visits, promoting your marketing messages, and gaining more followers on social media. However, most business owners treat TVs as commodities because they can’t achieve these successes though cable. In order to get the most out of your business’ TV, you need to do some exploring. Specifically, you’ll want to start by searching online for custom TV networks, or digital signage solutions for businesses.

Commodity or Not? Knowing the Difference

When you think of the word “commodity,” what sorts of things come to mind? The coffee you might have had this morning is a commodity. Commodities are basic goods that are bought and sold for convenience, and consumption. That being said, it’s more accurate to label a “television set” as a commodity – but what’s playing on the TV itself is an entirely different story.

Let’s compare your TV to your morning cup of coffee.

That coffee you had this morning, was it generic? Or was it from somewhere like Starbucks? When a commodity stands out amongst its competition, it becomes a luxury; meaning that it’s higher-priced for its quality, or popularity. Cable TV is the generic “coffee“ in this case; whereas custom TV networks that are tailored to your business become the name-brand coffee.

When it comes to a business’ TV, the brand of the television doesn’t matter so much as what’s playing on it. For most people, it doesn’t matter if the TV is a Samsung, or Sony; it’s a TV – what’s important for your business is what you decide to put on it.

Your Business’ TV can do More

No longer treating your TV as a commodity is the first step; getting rid of cable, if you have it, is the second. The third, and final step, is investing in a TV service that works for your business. A simple online-search will land you a long list of options to choose from. However if you’re looking for a feature-rich TV solution with the best content, start your search with It’s Relevant TV.

Best Channel For Your Business TV is NOT on Cable

Looking for the best channel for your waiting room or lobby TV? Cable TV is starting to move away from Business TV; making room for other companies with more compelling, and less expensive, products to come to the forefront. If you’re still using cable in your business, it’s time to consider alternatives to cable TV; especially if your business is one with a waiting room.

Read: “What’s the Best Cable TV Replacement for your Waiting Room?“

Settling on the Best Channel for your Waiting Room TV

For starters, it isn’t Spectrum’s Business TV. Shoveling out an additional pile of cash each month in order to turn your cable + phone package into a Triple-Play bundle might seem convenient and cost effective at first, but these packages have a tendency to jack-up in price after the initial trial period ends. Then what are you stuck with? Just hope that you’re not under contract if this happens. If you can, call up your provider and cancel if the surprise increased rates are too much for your budget.

Settling on the best channel for your waiting room TV means finding the best waiting room TV software for your business. For a more in-depth look at the elements that make up a great business TV, check out the following article: “Top 3 Things To Look For In Your Business TV Software.” In the end, you want a solution that is engaging/entertaining, easy-to-use, and most importantly, inexpensive.

Unbundling Your Cable TV Triple Play

Cable companies are moving away from TV. They still offer TV services; but the major companies, like Spectrum for instance, are offering up really attarctive internet and phone bundles to businesses for the first time. The telecom company that boasts superior internet, phone, and TV services, has launched a cable + phone package for businesses that’s under $69.00. Compared to how much you might spend on other media bundles from other companies, $69/mo is actually really good.

What many business cable customers don’t realize is that the TV portion of their cable bill was likely the largest part of it. With these new offers, you can remove the TV and keep cable for your internet and landline phones.

This is great news because there are much better TV services out there for businesses that can run off the internet connection. They cost less than cable and do a lot more for visitors and the business itself. What you choose to put on your business TV is important, as is budgeting your monthly spending. The best waiting room TV solution is one that is cost effective; but also and one that satisfies the role of entertaining visitors-in-waiting.

The Best Waiting Room TV Software is It’s Relevant TV

The best business TV solution on the market is It’s Relevant TV. It’s Relevant provides you with the best combination of channels your marketing dollars can buy; one that lets you effortlessly control what’s on your TV. The software transforms your TV into a fully-customizable, personally-branded marketing tool that continues to feature TV programs while also highlighting promotions for your business.

It’s Relevant TV is the way to go if you want a cable alternative that is tailored to you business, and one that serves your customers. When it comes to medical office waiting rooms, bars and restaurants, car dealerships – or any business with a television; using cable TV is a thing of the past. Explore what’s out there, but start your search here.

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.

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.

Competitive Ad Block® for Customer Retention and Business Loss Prevention

What’s on Your Business TV?

Televisions are becoming a fixture in businesses throughout the United States. While many business owners have decided to buy TVs, not many put much thought into what is displayed on them. TVs can help visitors pass the time but they can also draw customers away from you, and to competing businesses and products.

Block Out the Competing Ads with Competitive Ad Block®

It’s Relevant TV blocks out all competitive ads from your television. In a car dealership, you will never see another car dealership message on your screen. In a restaurant, It’s Relevant TV will not show any other dining establishments. IRTV’s proprietary technology takes care of the blocking automatically and infuses your TV with more relevant TV programming in place of lengthy ad breaks. It’s Relevant TV shuts off ads that could be harmful to your business, while reducing the number of overall ads significantly to make your customers happier viewers. The average hour of cable television includes between 16 and 22 minutes of advertisements. It’s Relevant TV limits ads to 3 minutes, making sure that the focus of the television is on the satisfaction of your customers. You can learn more about the differences between cable TV and It’s Relevant TV on the official site.

Blocking Competition in Car Dealerships

Imagine you are sitting in a Ford Dealership getting your car serviced. You may be waiting a few hours and have a TV in front of you. The television, like many, is tuned to a local news station. In the time you are there you will not only see the TV programming that the channel offers, but also countless ads for other car dealerships. Chevy, Kia, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota, Mazda… all appearing on the screen as you wait. Catchy Ads showing happy customers, great lease specials, low financing rates, credit guarantees– all much more attractive than the car you are waiting to get back.

This is a real problem for the business. As you certainly know, cars are big ticket items. They are generally the second largest purchases people make in their lives. If only one or two people in the service center are pulled towards another brand over the course of a year, the negative impact on the dealership is in the thousands of dollars.

Blocking Competition in Restaurants

Now imagine you are in a restaurant eating your meal. On the TV, you see an ad for a competing establishment offering great prices and appetizing food. While the ad may not keep you from your current purchase, it could very well give you an alternative idea for your next meal, instead of coming back to the restaurant you are in.

As silly as the quick video we prepared above may seem, the effect is very real. Regular TV exposes customers to competitors when they are most impressionable. As a business owner, you would never welcome a competitor to walk in at your business location to hand out their coupons, offer better deals, or speak directly to your customers. So why allow it to happen through your TV?

The answer is simple: Up until now there wasn’t much of a choice. If you wanted to entertain customers with your TV you had to deal with the ads. But with It’s Relevant TV‘s Competitive Ad Block®, you block the competing ads, and keep great TV programming.