You already know that digital signage in schools saves you money during the academic year – no more costs for printing and distributing material, or paying someone to take it all down once the message is no longer valid, plus all the time it saves your teachers and staff so they can focus on the students. But you can also leverage your digital signage during the summer break to continue to bring income in to your organization.
Think about all the things you have on hand that you use during the school year that now sit idle, or empty, while the students are away. There’s a reasonable chance that someone in your community could use them. You have buildings with classrooms, gyms, athletics fields, auditoriums, libraries, maybe a theatrical performance space – all of these places can be rented out to other organizations in the community.
- Local sport teams and summer camps
- Local businesses who need meeting or conference space
- Special events for business associations, or local restaurants
- Adult education programs
You can use your digital signage to sweeten the deal by promoting events or summer programs on your screens, letting people in the community know that there’s still something happening on the property, despite school being out. You can even provide wayfinding to rooms and events that are happening on your campus.
Now look at your parking lot. It doesn’t have to remain empty – you can rent out parking spaces for the summer, or for special events occurring on site. An entire parking lot can even be converted into a food festival or carnival put on by local organizations. There’s usually a lot happening around town in the summer, and many events planners are looking for places to hold their events.
Again, your electronic signage can be used to promote a pay-to-park scheme or a special happening. Interfacing with queuing software could allow you to display available parking spaces in real time on your electronic screens.
If there’s a sporting event, or a local theatre group is using your facilities for the summer, you can not only promote their event, but offer profiles of participants as part of the promotional package. QR codes or short URLs can make going to a ticketing website an easy matter.
Your teaching professionals probably know a lot more than just the subject they teach during the year. In addition to adult education, you could also host certification courses – training for Emergency Medical Technicians or even more specialized things for specific industries. And there’s always a chance one of your faculty has some additional knowledge they wouldn’t mind turning into extra money for a few specialized classes each week – anything from expanding what they teach during the school year to preparation for the State Bar exam or a completely different subject they are also knowledgeable in.
If your school facility becomes a community-focused center of activity in the summer, you can add revenue by offering advertising on your digital signage to local businesses. Talk to the local chamber of commerce and maybe you can turn your school digital signage into a job board for summer jobs, as well as advertising scholarship opportunities, study abroad programs and more.
The possibilities are endless. You’ve already paid for your property and your digital signage system. Why not turn those down months in the summer into a profitable time for both your school and your community?