There is a widening gap between what I'll call Old School Business (OS) and New Media Business (NM). It's a gap enjoyed increasingly by NM and dangerously ignored by OS. From an outdoor media perspective, it's hard to argue against the effectiveness of digital signage.

With digital signage, you can run an endless number of messages. Utilize spectacular graphics. Change your message with a couple of clicks on a computer. Once up and running, Lighthouse digital signage is both more flexible and easier to run and manage than static signage. And Lighthouse digital signage is a huge factor separating the NMs from the OSs of the world.

OS is everywhere. Painted or lighted signs. "Big Sale" announcements painted on the window in day-glo colors. Individual black letters posted cinema-style on a white sign announcing early bird dinner specials or that week's band lineup or karaoke night. No website or a very basic site designed by the company's owner.

NM is everywhere, too, in much smaller numbers but with much higher visibility. LED video screens running flashy graphics. High-end, clean websites with solid SEO speaking volumes to the potential customer's subconscious about the business' modernity and flexibility. Digital signage in color or monochrome announcing an infinite number of specials, features and information.

And that's the thing. Consumers and potential business prospects do not make decisions logically. They make decisions using the non-speaking, "gut-level" part of their brain. How many times have you decided something because it just "feels right"? If you're like the rest of the world, almost all of your decisions are made in this manner. Well, guess what. That's how your customers and prospects are making decisions. The question is, how do you inform the "guts" of your target audience?

The answer: You inform the primitive, decision-making part of your target's mind with how you say something, not with what you say. And how you say it has everything to do with the quality of your website, the quality of your advertisements (print, outdoor and web) and the quality of your signage.

The ease and effectiveness of Lighthouse digital signage is difficult to overestimate. By upgrading your signage (and your website and your print ads) to that of the NM, you immediately are a player to be reckoned with in the marketplace. Most importantly, you speak directly to the reptilian core of your prospect, where your prospect makes decisions. With few exceptions, customers will pay more for higher perceived quality or better service. Lighthouse digital signage speaks before your message speaks. It speaks the subtext of your business: We are modern. Our products are high quality. Our service is professional. We are successful enough to advertise in the most visible and tasteful method currently available. These silent statements that digital signage and professional design convey are priceless to the success of your business.