6 Reasons to Use an Industrial Panel PC in Your Facility Industrial computers with a touchscreen are a very popular piece of equipment to have in manufacturing or on your shop floor. However, many companies remain stuck in the past and use consumer-grade computers that include a keyboard and mouse. Not only is that computing option more likely to fail and cause disruptions in your operations, there are many reasons where using an industrial panel PC (IPC) can save you time and money in the long run. Here are six of those benefits. 1. Efficiency: When personnel are operating a PC and using a keyboard, they are constantly looking up at the screen and then down at their fingers if frequent data entry is required. Using a touchscreen, everything is in front of their face. They are not turning their attention from the screen, which increases productivity, and is safer as less mistakes have the potential to be made. 2. Versatility: Panel mount PCs can be placed almost anywhere; they can be integrated into equipment and machinery, or into walls and control panels. Industrial computers use software that can be updated as needed, allowing you to tackle more complex tasks if your application calls for it. 3. Ruggedness: Industrial touch panel Pc is built to last. They can withstand vibration, shock, and heavy use. This is especially important if multiple employees are going to be using one unit. 4. Easy Clean Up: Since many work environments are not going to be the cleanest, panel PCs are designed to be wiped down with water or cleansers. Most of them have an IP65 rated front bezel, which means the screen is dust and waterproof. Using a touchscreen eliminates the need for a keyboard or mouse. These two items are especially prone to dirt and dust build up, so getting rid of them makes the system a lot more hygienic. 5. Fanless Cooling: Industrial touchscreen PCs usually have fanless cooling systems to protect the unit from sucking in dust that can damage internal components. Eliminating this common problem can dramatically improve the life of your equipment. 6. Simplicity: Keys and commands aren’t fixed on an industrial touch screen computer. Depending on your application and software, you can show only functions that are completely necessary, and it can be easily configured. The keyboard interface can be included on the screen to further consolidate process functions. This also increases efficiency in a distracting environment. Display Ads A type of online advertisement that combines text, images, and a URL that links to a website where a customer can learn more about or buy products. There are many ad formats. These ads can be static with an image or animated with multiple images, video, or changing text (also called rich media ads). An ad campaign can have different goals, and some display ads educate about the product while others are designed to entertain and engage through simple games or puzzles. Banner ads are a common form of display ads that are frequently used for awareness campaigns. Digital advertising is changing the face of the marketing industry. Data suggests that digital ads will make up more than half of the total ad spend in the United States by 2021, compared to just 40.5% in 2017. Video ad spending passed $9 billion in 2017, and advertising technology budgets are continually increasing. Remaining competitive in this evolving market requires a strong grasp of digital marketing in all its forms. One of the easiest ways to start is with display advertising. What is display advertising? You've seen advertising display before, even if you didn't realize it at the time. Display advertising appears on third-party websites and uses video, image, or text elements to market products or services. There are many types of display advertising. Banner ads are an example of display advertising. So are desktop and mobile leaderboard ads. Most ads are rectangular or square in shape, and the content they contain is typically designed to align with that of the host website and the selected audience preferences. Display advertising campaigns can be run through advertising networks such as Facebook advertising or Google ads that provide powerful audience targeting features as well as advertising formats (that you can also combine with search ads). Types of display ads Display ads vary greatly in terms of who they target and how they work. Here’s a breakdown of the different display ad options and what they do. 1. Remarketing ads Most display ads you see today are remarketing ads, also known as retargeting ads. Thanks to the trend toward ad personalization, retargeting campaigns have become widespread. According to Accenture Interactive, 91% of consumers prefer to buy from brands that remember their interests and provide offers based on their needs. Retargeting ads do just that, and they're easy for brands to implement. Here's how they work. To start, place a small section of code onto your website that collects information about visitors' browsing behavior, including when they navigate to a category or product page. From the information you collect, develop lists of customer types and what kinds of advertising messages would most likely appeal to them. Then create and place display ads based on the different categories of interest you have observed. A dynamic remarketing campaign is an effective way to keep your brand present in the minds of shoppers who have already shown interest in what you have to offer. 2. Personalized ads Google considers remarketing to be a subcategory of personalized advertising. Personalized ads target consumers based on demographic targeting and the interests they have shown online, that you can use to set a custom audience. In addition to remarketing, Google recognizes 4 distinct types of personalized ads. Each incorporates general user behavior and preferences rather than interactions with any particular brand as a targeting option. Affinity targeting Affinity targeting shows your ads to consumers who have demonstrated an active interest in your market. These affinity groups can be relatively broad—like “car enthusiasts” or “movie lovers”—letting you reach large numbers of people. Custom affinity groups Smaller custom affinity groups like “long-distance runners” and “orchid growers” let you get more specific about the interests you want to target. Bear in mind that when you use narrower groups, you’ll reach smaller audiences. Custom intent and in-market ads Custom intent and in-market ads target consumers who are actively searching for products or services like yours. You'll reach fewer people than with either affinity or custom affinity targeting, but the people who do see your ad will be closer to making a purchase. Similar audience ads Similar audience ads target people who have interests or characteristics in common with your current visitors. To create lists of new but similar audiences, Google compares the profiles of people on your remarketing lists with those of other users, then identifies commonalities. 3. Contextually targeted ads Instead of displaying your ads on advertising display screen to people based on their user profiles, contextually targeted ads are placed on websites according to certain criteria, including: Your ad's topic and keywords Your language and location preferences The host website's overarching theme The browsing histories of the website’s recent visitors You can let Google make these determinations, or you can take an active role in it yourself through topic targeting. Topic targeting Google allows you to pick from a list of topics and will match your ad to relevant pages on the Display Network or YouTube. It also lets you specifically exclude topics that are underperforming or unrelated to your message. Topic targeting is a lot like affinity targeting, except that your ads are matched with websites rather than users. 4. Site-placed ads If you'd prefer to hand-pick the websites that will host your ad, website placement targeting is your best bet. You can select entire sites or individual pages within sites. You can even combine placement targeting with contextual targeting. With this approach, you choose a site and let Google select the most relevant pages for your ad. Display ads versus native ads If you count offline as well as online ads, display advertising is as old as business itself. The internet’s first ever display ad was a 1994 AT&T ad, and they've been increasing in prevalence ever since. Display ads are still popular, but a new strategy called native advertising has begun to take some of their market share. Native ads are designed to blend in with the other content on a page. These are especially common in social media news feeds. These ads look like regular user posts, although they are legally required to display the word “sponsored” to minimize deception. Native ads are less obvious than display ads and can sometimes reach users who have ad blocking software enabled. They can be a great way to engage potential customers as most people respond better to content when it’s not an obvious ad. But there's always the risk that when they reach the end and find out that the post or article they just read was advertising, they'll end up feeling tricked. Native advertising marketers also risk hiding their brand logo and information too well. There’s a chance that readers might not notice it, let alone remember it. They might remember the message—but that's not worth much if they can't recall who posted it. Pros and cons of display ads No form of advertising is perfect for every company. Before you decide whether or not to invest in display ads, consider the benefits and drawbacks. Pro #1: Display ads lead to better brand awareness. Unlike native ads that mimic editorial content, display ads are clearly advertisements. While that sometimes means that people will ignore them on principle, it also means that audiences immediately recognize that they’re seeing a message from your brand. Pro #2: Display ads convey your message quickly. Most display ads are based on visuals, not text. Your audience doesn’t have to read all the way through an article or infographic to get to your brand message the way they do with content marketing or native ads. Even when people scroll past these messages, they still make an impression. Pro #3: Display ads are easy to create and place. Compared to other forms of digital advertising, display ads don't require complex integration with publisher sites. They can go up on almost any site that's part of the participating ad network without much technical expertise. Pro #4: Display ads reach customers at every stage of the funnel. A well-thought-out digital advertising campaign can help you reach your target audience at any stage of the decision making process, from need awareness to purchase readiness. All you need is a knowledge of targeting methods. For example, if you sell home appliances, you could post custom intent ads to reach people who have been searching for new models of stoves or washing machines. You could then cast a wider net by posting a contextually targeted ad on home improvement sites, real estate blogs, or even parenting forums. Why Self Ordering Kiosks are Becoming the Secret Weapon for Successful Restaurants In the past few years, self-ordering kiosks have become a staple at fast food and fast casual chains around the world. But while the McDonald’s and Paneras of the world went all-in on kiosks early on, independent restaurants have been much more hesitant and slow to adopt this kind of self-serve technology. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the way independent restaurants think about ordering kiosks. What was once seen as costly and impersonal technology, is now considered a cost-effective way to reduce face-to-face contact and keep guests safe from the spread of the coronavirus. Even in full service restaurants where kiosks may not seem like a natural fit, restaurants are using the technology to streamline their takeout orders and reduce face-to-face contact with servers. And safety is not the only benefit. Self-ordering kiosks have also helped restaurants reduce wait times, improve order accuracy, and, most importantly, boost check sizes – benefits that just about any restaurant can enjoy.