Holiday digital signage affords unique opportunities to you and your business. The holidays in Chicago are big business. It’s not just about buying presents, it’s about the experience of being out shopping and eating with friends and family.

You want to push deals that get people in the store, yes, but you also want to convey a certain experience that makes them feel warm and comfortable in your store. It’s biting cold out there, and everything’s snow and salt. People want to come in and have memories recalled by holiday displays, by sights and smells they associate with the holidays:

Make your digital signage festive. Iconography from the season is popular. It doesn’t all have to be religious, either. Snowmen aren’t part of any church, but they communicate to everybody a sense of the season. The same goes for sledding, snowball fights, skiing, winter snows capes, hot chocolate, and hockey. They all communicate activities that many can take part in, and invite every customer into the store.

Feature images from multiple holidays. Make sure your iconography is respectful of each religion (a Christmas tree is OK for advertising; a crucifixion image isn’t). Be inclusive. Far more people who are out shopping favor sharing their holiday at peace with the next person’s holiday. Younger shoppers especially are comfortable with religious tolerance in their shopping experiences, and have more favorable opinions of places they know are comfortable with this.

Share space with nearby businesses. Holiday digital signage is premium advertising territory. If there are nearby stores that would like the digital signage sales boost, but don’t have a digital sign of their own, rent out some time on your sign. This is a good way to directly monetize your digital signage. Rotate in their ads with yours. You can offer different rates for different times of day when traffic is higher.

Remember to celebrate. Find good news that’s out there in the community. Feature it on your digital signage. Maybe a local high school team did well, or someone local won an award. Maybe an employee just had a marriage, or a baby. Maybe someone set a local fishing record. Ask for permission where appropriate, but celebrate the news on your digital signage. People are in the mood to celebrate. You’ll remember to put your deals up and promote your loyalty program, but remember that people want to celebrate the holidays in Chicago. If you can encourage that, people will want to come into your store.