Overview
The majority of your advertising fees are paid every time it is viewed. Your property doesn't. If you're willing to pay for it or not, thousands of drivers drive by your lot each and every day, and by using an LED display you can communicate with all of them for a fraction of the cost of other channels. Static custom outdoor business signs are an integral part of your building's design, but a sign with an electronic message center can make your exterior facade an active business promotion medium.
The concerns are well-founded, however. Using the wrong pixel pitch will result in your text becoming blurry. A dark sky or animation rule is missed in a city, and the permit is bounced. Purchase unsupported hardware, and it stops working the next time January freezes and thaws. Our real ROI numbers, resolution selection, and what cities in Utah will expect are all covered in this guide along with our turnkey installation. Our services cover areas in both Salt Lake and Utah County, including Salt Lake City, Sandy, Draper, Lehi, American Fork, Orem, and Provo.
The Economics of EMCs: Calculating Real-World Business ROI
A message center is a capital expenditure and needs to pay for itself. How to make sense of the return.
The SBA Revenue Impact:
Data derived from the U.S. Small Business Administration indicates that firms who use on-site, dynamic LED displays as part of their operations can experience sales between 15% and 150%. A very large span indeed, and the performance will vary with traffic, location, and how you use the sign. Even at the bottom of the range, however, this isn't something that's easy to overlook on a busy road.
The Lowest Advertising CPM on the Market:
Most of the time, billboards, local radio, and paid search will cost between $5.00 and $20.00 or higher per thousand impressions (CPM). The EMC is different from the other ones because the audience will keep driving by, and you will only have to make a single payment. With 15,000 to 30,000 cars driving on a Utah road daily, add 10 years to the life of the sign and the costs begin to add up. The effective CPM may be as low as $0.40. There aren't many paid media channels that match.
Real-Time Promotional Agility:
No wait to print and no crew to schedule. A seasonal inventory, a flash sale, financing specials, or a severe weather notice can be activated on your phone or office computer in mere minutes. A dealership has the right to alter a monthly lease deal before lunch. A game-day schedule can be posted the same day at a school.
Pixel Pitch Demystified: Selecting the Right Resolution (6mm vs. 10mm vs. 16mm)
What is Pixel Pitch? The distance between neighboring LED clusters, measured in the center-to-center distance (mm). The lower the number, the more pixels it contains, the sharper the graphics, and the closer people can see the sign. A larger number will be less expensive and will be effective at great distances. The most frequent pattern in which buyers overpay is for the buyer to invest in paying for resolution that they cannot see from the road.
The Viewing Distance Formula:
As a rule of thumb, the optimal viewing distance (ft) is approximately three times the pitch (mm). Setback and speed are just as important, and let's be clear about the common options:
6mm – 8mm Pixel Pitch: This is very high resolution for slow streetscapes, pedestrian zones, and buildings with close setbacks, typically less than 50 feet.
10mm Pixel Pitch (The Commercial Sweet Spot): Delivers excellent text and decent image quality for arterial streets in the 35 to 45 mph speed range and setbacks of 50 to 200 feet. This is where most of our retail and dealership clients come to end up.
16mm Pixel Pitch: It is designed for highway signage, tall signs, and for setbacks that are more than 200 feet.
Looking for diode layout, brightness level, and resolution packages side by side? Check out our commercial outdoor LED digital signs for technical details.
Architectural Integration: Monument Cabinets vs. Highway Pylon Towers
This is only half the battle in the display. Who is going to see it and what the sign is going to look like depends on how it is mounted.
Integrated Ground Monument Displays
In this example, a brick, stone, or stucco base supports a low-profile digital LED cabinet placed at eye level to give you street-level curb appeal and complete styling. This method is appropriate for corporate campuses, civic centers of municipalities, private academies, or medical centres. Combine a dynamic digital message with our custom ground monument signs to create an architectural statement that adds value to your property.
Elevated Pylon Sign & Multi-Tenant Integration
If your customers are in a moving vehicle on the interstate, height wins! Lift your message center 20- 40 feet below your primary tenant sign, and you're in front of the I-15 traffic driver enough to get them to take action. Ideal for auto malls, high-volume retail, and regional entertainment complexes. Your promotions will be seen from half a mile down the interstate by mounting an electronic display on our heavy-duty commercial pylon sign structures.
Navigating Utah Digital Sign Ordinances & Night-Sky Codes
Many projects gain momentum until this point, and then they stall. City to city, there are some recurring themes in rules:
Automatic Ambient Dimming (Photocells): Several cities in Utah have night-time EMC limits of approximately 0.3 foot-candles above ambient light. Our displays are constructed using photocell sensors which read the light level surrounding the display and will adjust the output in a smooth fashion. The screen can be run at approximately 10,000 nits in full sunlight. It goes down to below 500 after dark, allowing you to remain legal and keep your neighbors happy.
Static Hold-Time Restrictions: Typically, each message will have to stop and wait for a minimum of 8 or 12 seconds, or no full-motion video, scrolling, or flashing. The rules have been put in place to eliminate driver distraction, and a sign that fails to comply can lead to citations. Our schedules are programmed from the very start to comply with local code.
Turnkey Permitting Services: Paperwork and public hearings are a lot to take on while you're running a business. We process municipal zoning reviews, line-of-sight safety audits, and planning hearings for you and present the application fully prepared and defensible.
Frequently Asked Questions About Commercial EMCs
How much power does a commercial outdoor LED message center consume?
New EMCs employ low-voltage LEDs which consume significantly less power than their predecessors, such as neon or metal-halide lights. The cost of a standard 4' x 8' display is around $1.00 to $2.50 per day, based on your utility charges and hours of operation.
How difficult is it to update and schedule content on an EMC?
It's easy. Our systems are linked with secure cloud software or a local wireless bridge. Create schedules, upload graphic templates, and publish promotions from your smartphone, laptop, or desktop in seconds.
Can an existing static monument or pylon sign be retrofitted with an LED message display?
Yes. If the existing structural uprights and foundation meet local wind-load engineering requirements, we can remove the old static readerboard or lower cabinet and engineer a custom digital LED cabinet directly into the frame.
How do commercial LED screens perform during freezing Utah snowstorms?
Quite well. LEDs operate cooler and more efficiently at lower temperatures. The cabinet is conformal coated, rated, and weather-proofed for IP67 protection, which helps prevent the accumulation of ice and condensation inside the cabinet.
Unlock Greater Revenue with an Outdoor Digital Sign
If an opponent signs out every day from your corridor on a busy corridor, you lose out on customers you never knew you had. Enhance Your On-Premise Communications with a Commercial Electronic Message Center Engineered, Permitted, and Supported locally in Utah.
Starting up involves three steps:
- Provide your commercial address, setback distance, and main messaging objectives.
- Our engineering team conducts an on-site visibility audit and provides the modelling of pixel pitch recommendations.
- Complete 3D mockups, permit blueprints, and easy financing choices.
Call (801) 212-9987 or Schedule an EMC Site Survey & ROI Consultation
Commercial digital LED displays are installed and serviced throughout Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Sandy, Draper, Lehi, American Fork, Orem, and Provo.