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.

Waiting Room Makeover: Controlled By an iPhone App?

It can take a long time to create a waiting room environment that you are 100% happy with for your visitors. You want people to feel comfortable, to be entertained, and also to be informed about all you have to offer. Buying thousands of dollars of furniture, changing the lighting, updating music and even creating the scents are some of the ways businesses and professionals are altering their environments. But what if there were an easier way to transform your space? And what if major changes could be made inexpensively from a smartphone app? It sounds like a fantasy, but it is now a reality.

The Easy & Inexpensive Solution

Televisions are the focal point of most waiting areas, but until now there was no way strategically integrate one in your environment. Introducing: It’s Relevant TV for iOS. Businesses and their employees can now personalize and control the content displayed on their televisions directly from their iPhones. The new application paired with a $99/month subscription allow professionals to take control. Ideal for hospitality businesses including medical offices, hotels, restaurants, and sports arenas, It’s Relevant TV helps businesses easily take control of the programming displayed on their televisions, while influencing visitor satisfaction, purchasing decisions and social media followership.

“It’s Relevant TV does exactly what our name says. We empower business owners to control the TVs and make the programming relevant to their customers,” said Jonathan Krackehl, CEO of It’s Relevant TV. Waiting is a part of any service business, but it doesn’t have be a point of frustration for yours. “Up until now most businesses have done one of two things: Either they chose a cable television station loosely relevant to their business, or they displayed a video or image loop that became redundant after a couple repetitions.”

Making the “Wait” Less of a “Weight” on Your Visitors

The company, Software Advice, asked more than 5-thousand people to rate how they felt about wait times. 64% said the wait would be more bearable with a TV in the waiting room. Participants in the study chose television over free food and beverages and even access to WiFi. “ TV that shows interesting content alongside a business’ messaging makes both the customers and the business happier,” according to Krackehl.

What Can You Control?

It’s Relevant TV provides simple controls for all aspects of their screen displays. It is simple for you to chose the video content that is relevant to your customers. The company’s experienced editors compile diverse, timely and interesting content and organize it into 40+ categories, ranging from general health, travel, business, kids shows, fashion, sports, comedy, cooking and non- controversial news. Business owners, administrators and facility managers using the service for display, simply choose the categories that match their vistors’ interests most.

Becker’s Hospital Review reports the average wait time nationwide is now more than 15 minutes. Most TV shows last much longer and start at the top and bottom of the hour. IRTV segments are current, timely, engaging and never run more 4 minutes in length. All of the videos are subtitled so even if you prefer a quieter setting people can still enjoy the programming.

iPhone App to Create Custom TV with Wireless Ad Uploading — It’s Relevant TV Ad Builder, Inside the It’s Relevant TV iOS App

In addition to controling the video content, users also control a suite of digital messaging. The app includes an ad builder that allows the user to take a photo, add text and even a QR code before setting it live alongside the TV programming on their screen(s). Users can also control the syndication of their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. With full screen features, It’s Relevant TV displays the user’s most recent posts automatically. It’s Relevant also offers a 5-day weather forecast based on the user’s zip code

Free App Download

It’s Relevant TV for iOS is free for It’s Relevant TV customers. The application includes a demonstration video, accessible upon download. Click Here to access the application on the iTunes Store.