We have talked elsewhere about how the traditional visitor centers are getting upgraded (or in some cases replaced with) Touchscreen Tourism Information Kiosks. But tourism touch Kiosks are NOT visitor centers and Visitor Centers are not kiosks. The big, big opportunity with touch screen kiosks for visitor (and citizen) information is that it can be placed where your target visitors are. They are cheap compared to opening a new visitor center and operating costs are negative (if you are monetizing these).
Below are some of the locations where kiosks can be highly effective.
Busy Intersections
Even in a small town with a busy-ish intersection, let’s say only 5000 people walk through per day. That over 1.8 Million visits annually. Numbers quickly add up here and hence numbers make sense. The other big benefit is that these also become resources for citizens and NOT just visitors. But the benefits don’t stop there. As the DMO you are worried about making your visitor information activities self-sustaining and busy intersections are perfect for advertisers and businesses who might help you generate revenue in the long run. Retail advertisers will love the potential to reach passerby traffic while people are out and about.
Top Attractions
If you are a first-time visitor to Paris, chances are you’ll be visiting the Eiffel tower. This is another no-brainer. Granted every destination won’t have an Eiffel tower, thanks to listicles like the ones you find on TripAdvisor, etc, visitors will be going to some of your top destinations. That just gives an opportunity for your DMO to influence behavior from that point on. If you are the visitor and have seen your Eiffel tower, the next question is always “what next?” and we want to be there to answer that. Advertising buyers will appreciate the chance to promote any special events or coupon deals for the most popular attractions.
Mixed-Use Developments
Mixed-use communities have been the real-estate development rage to attract millennials these past few years. And they have proven their power in attracting businesses, residents and visitors. And given that, they can be a great host location. Kiosks here are a great way for these development communities to help their businesses get discovered while providing destination marketing organizations with the opportunity to engage citizens and visitors to engage with the destination. Resident businesses will jump at the opportunity to advertise and engage will tenants about the new promotions that they are steps away from.
Parks & Open Spaces
Parks are a fun place for visitors and families to get together. They are a popular destination for new visitors to an area. It’s also a great place to engage visitors who are experiencing leisure or downtime. Consider a family having a nice time at a park with their children. It is very common for the family to cool off with a drink or a snack. This would be the perfect opportunity to engage this family with an interactive touch screen kiosk that can provide a QR code coupon to the local ice cream eatery. Advertisers that appeal more to families will appreciate the family friendly park area in order to promote their products and events.
Transportation Centers
An interactive touch screen kiosk is an excellent addition to any transportation center. When it comes to getting people to where they want to go in a reliable, timely, and accurate manner, an easy-to-use touch screen kiosk is vital to an ever growing connected world. People desire engaging features, including times that can be shown on their mobile devices, easy-to-understand riding information, and recommendations for the local area. One may think that the only use would be to track train and bus times, but there’s so much more they can do. Through the lens of a smart city, putting a touch screen kiosk for anyone on the go, can create advertising opportunities, as well as attractions promotion, that can get information to the user where they are. Advertisers will appreciate the chance to promote food, and other convenience items to commuters.
University Campuses
Students, families, faculty members, and staff can all benefit from a digital touch screen kiosk on campus. Since campuses tend to be large and spread out, using a kiosk for navigation is extremely useful for any person in the area who may not know the layout well. This is also a great way to engage students in an interactive way. With all of the updates to social media, and content creation, students love creating engaging content that shows off their school spirit. Giving them the potential to display this on a mediated touch screen kiosk is a fun way for students to experience college. Advertisers looking to grow their reach with college-aged students will absolutely take advantage of such a solid visual experience with the digital touch screen kiosk.
Breweries and Restaurants
People want to know what the latest and greatest menu items. Traditionally the bartender or wait staff would let everyone know what to expect in terms of specials and what they highly recommend. Though a kiosk is not a full replacement for such an experience, it can definitely add to it. It’s extremely effective to couple their words with the visuals and moving pictures to accommodate what’s new on the menu. It’s also an effective way to promote events, theme nights, or any other fun time that may need some promotion. Beverage and food companies would benefit with advertising through this medium.
Nightlife districts
Imagine a group of friends having a great time dancing and singing. These evenings can create lasting memories, and fun stories. Connecting a group of people to where they want to go next efficiently gets them to where they want to go faster. This means they’ll spend less time searching, and more time enjoying themselves. This is also a great way to introduce people to great late-night dining options that they may not know about via an online search. Advertising dance clubs or live music events, that are promoting time-sensitive events and want engaging visual or video delivering their message, would benefit from this medium.
Convention Centers
Conventions can be very overwhelming. There are usually many speeches, talks, and lessons going on simultaneously, and people need to know where they should be as quickly as possible. By their nature, convention halls are very big and having touch points so that people know they are going in the right direction offers a sense of calm and consistency. This means convention goers will spend less time getting lost, and more time engaging with a more enriching, and focused learning session. People will love the fact that they can engage a kiosk on the floor as well as one on their phone. Advertisers will absolutely love to engage business travelers, especially if they can take the advertisement on their mobile devices.
Hotel Lobbies
A natural fit for an interactive touch screen kiosk is the hotel lobby. These screens can work as a digital concierge for anyone looking to find the recommended spots in the area. This is one of the best ways to create a unique and memorable experience for travelers. You’ll want to ensure they have a great time that suits their needs the best. This will get them going to places that they’ll want to talk about, take photos, and share on their social media. Having the hotel digital concierge as a touch point is a natural fit for engaging a community on the go. Local business that are near the hotel would love a chance to advertise to hotel visitors and business travelers. This will help support the local concierge looking to give the guest the best experience possible.
Visitor Centers
The touch screen kiosk is a natural fit to any updated visitors centers. More and more people are getting out and traveling, and they need to know what’s available to them. That’s why enhancing the visitors center into the digital world is an effective way to provide visitors with a memorable experience. By offering a curated journey by people who know the area, you can ensure that new visitors will get the authentic experience, identify some hidden gems, and create a lasting impression that people will love to tell their friends and family about. Advertisers who wish to partner with the authoritative CVB or local DMO will be given a great chance to bring their business to life via a 55″ touch screen kiosk.
Travel Plazas
While traveling to a popular destination, creating a network of kiosks along a long stretch of highway or interstate is a popular way to engage travelers. Imagine a situation where a family, or group of friends, are traveling to a popular attraction like Universal Studios or Disney World. Many times people will fly. However, there is a significant portion of the county that makes the drive to those destinations in Florida. This creates a great opportunity to engage those users with discounts to those attractions, and to offer them other accommodations to the local area as well. With every top to refill gas, stretch their muscles, and regroup for the next portion of their trip, having an interactive touch screen kiosk to keep them up to date on what to expect on their drive is a popular way to engage users. Advertisers with clients that lean toward food or popular attractions would benefit greatly by offering steep discounts while the people are traveling to their destination.
When deciding on where to place an interactive touch screen kiosk, one can see how many great options there are. The versatility and ease of placing engaging messages and relevant ads gives it an advantage when compared to other forms of out-of-home advertising options. If you want to learn more about touch screen kiosks, visit our YouTube channel, read more blog entries, or subscribe to our content for more informative posts.
