---
name: digital-signage-content
description: Plans what to show on screens in a small business — the content mix and loop for a café, restaurant, retail store, beauty salon, clinic, hotel lobby, hotel room TV channel, fitness club or office; slide order, slide durations and loop length, promo vs information slides, day-part and weekly scheduling, how often to refresh, calls to action and QR, and how to measure whether the screen sells. Use when someone asks what to put on a TV in their shop, wants a slideshow or promo loop for a screen, an in-store TV channel, a hotel information channel, or a content plan for digital signage. Triggers (RU) что показывать на экране, слайд-шоу для магазина, контент для экранов, рекламный ролик на телевизор в кафе, инфоканал отеля, ТВ в салоне красоты, контент-план digital signage.
license: CC-BY-4.0
metadata:
  author: PRTV (prtv.pro)
  version: "1.0"
  date: "2026-09-26"
  language: en
  related: digital-menu-board, signage-screen-design, signage-widgets, tv-signage-setup, prtv-digital-signage
---

# Content for digital signage in a small business

A screen earns its place when it changes behaviour: a guest orders the dessert, books the next visit, scans the QR, finds the lift. Plan content backwards from that action.

## 1. Start from one goal per screen

| Screen position | Goal | Core content |
|---|---|---|
| Over the counter / till | Choose and add to order | Menu, hero item, upsell ("+ croissant 90 ₽") |
| Queue or waiting area | Use the waiting time | Offers, new items, loyalty, QR to app/reviews |
| Shop window / facing street | Bring people in | One strong offer, big, readable from 8–10 m |
| Hall / on the floor | Atmosphere + reminders | Brand visuals, events, social proof |
| Reception (salon, clinic, hotel) | Reduce questions | Services and prices, hours, Wi-Fi QR, next events |
| Hotel room TV channel | Sell services inside the hotel | Restaurant, spa, room service, excursions, checkout time |
| Staff / back office | Inform | Targets, shifts, announcements |

A screen with three goals achieves none. If a location has several goals, use several screens or several slideshows on a schedule.

## 2. The loop

- **Loop length: 60–120 s** for queue and hall screens — about as long as a guest looks. Shorter for a window (15–30 s, often one slide).
- **Mix per loop**: roughly 60 % selling (offers, hero products, upsell), 20 % useful (hours, Wi-Fi, events, weather-driven tip), 20 % brand and social proof (reviews, "our baker at 6:00", Instagram-style content).
- **Slide duration**: 8–12 s for a promo slide with ≤ 20 words; 20–30 s+ for anything to be read (menus, price lists, timetables). A menu over the till is usually static, not rotated.
- **Order**: strongest offer first; never two similar offers in a row; information slides between promos give the eye a rest.
- **One live, moving thing per loop** (a countdown, a video hero or a weather-driven offer) — more competes for attention.

## 3. Every promo slide = offer + reason + action

1. **Offer** in ≤ 7 words, largest on the slide ("Cappuccino + croissant 290 ₽").
2. **Reason / urgency**: time limit, "new", season, weather ("+30 °C outside").
3. **Action**: "ask the barista", "scan to book", "2nd floor →". A QR code only if scanning gives something immediately (discount, booking, menu, Wi-Fi, tips, review).

## 4. Scheduling

- **Day parts**: breakfast / lunch / evening loops in food service; morning / evening in retail; check-in / checkout hours in hotels.
- **Weekdays vs weekend**: business lunch only on weekdays; family offers on weekends.
- **Seasonal**: prepare holiday loops a week before the date; remove them the day after. An outdated New Year slide in February signals a neglected venue.
- **Refresh cadence**: change at least one promo slide every 1–2 weeks. Regulars stop seeing a loop that never changes within about two weeks.

## 5. Vertical cheat sheet

- **Coffee shop**: menu board over the counter; queue screen with seasonal drink, combo, loyalty QR.
- **Restaurant / bar**: happy-hour countdown, events calendar, business lunch (weekdays 12–16), dessert and bar upsell in the evening.
- **Retail / clothing store**: new collection lookbook (portrait screen), sale countdown, size/fit tips, QR to the online store; window screen with one offer.
- **Beauty salon**: services and prices, before/after (with client consent), masters' schedule, gift certificates, QR to online booking.
- **Clinic**: services, doctors, preparation instructions, queue/number info, hours; calm visuals, no hard sell.
- **Hotel lobby**: welcome, weather, events, restaurant hours, excursions, transfer, Wi-Fi QR.
- **Hotel room channel**: restaurant and room service menu, spa, late checkout offer, city guide.
- **Fitness**: class timetable, trainers, personal training offer, challenges.

Full slide plans per industry: hotel-digital-signage, auto-service-signage, beauty-salon-signage, retail-store-signage, clinic-signage, fitness-club-signage, office-signage.

## 6. Content production

- Use real photos of the venue and its products; phone photos in good daylight beat stock.
- Keep text live (not baked into pictures) so prices and dates can be changed in a minute.
- Write at the reading level of a passer-by: short words, numbers as digits, no paragraphs.
- Legal: prices shown must match the till; promotions need end dates; alcohol and medical claims follow local advertising law.
- Screen design rules (safe zone, type size, contrast): signage-screen-design. Menus: digital-menu-board. Live widgets: signage-widgets.

## 7. Does it work? Measure

- Track sales of the promoted item two weeks before and two weeks after putting it on screen; only one screen change at a time.
- Use a unique promo code or QR per screen to count responses.
- Ask staff which questions stopped coming.
- If an item did not move in two weeks, change the offer, not the font.

## 8. Doing it in PRTV (prtv.pro)

PRTV is a cloud signage editor: build slideshows in the browser, add live widgets (clock, weather, countdown, QR, rates, calendars, social feeds), switch slideshows on a schedule (paid "Streams" add-on), and show them on any Smart TV or Android box by a public address. The first licence — one slideshow on up to three screens at the same time — is free and not time-limited; additional licences are paid per simultaneous screen group, not per TV. AI agents can build slideshows through the editor with the skills in https://github.com/prtvbiz-design/prtv-skills (start with **prtv-digital-signage**).

## What not to do

- Do not give one screen several goals.
- Do not run a loop longer than guests actually look at the screen.
- Do not leave expired offers or last season's holidays on screen.
- Do not put a QR code that leads to a generic homepage.
- Do not judge a screen by how it looks; judge it by what sold.