So, you want to start using QR Codes in your marketing. Great idea! They work well. People love them. It’s like opening a prize from a Cracker Jack box…. there is an anticipation built as you scan the code.
Before you start using QR Codes, be sure to plan your campaign.
Planning how you want to track the campaign is the key to making the work you will do to build the trackable QR codes worth while in the end. You don’t want to be in the situation where you have deployed your QR codes and then wish that you could segment your traffic tracking in a different way.
Think about how you want to segment and track traffic generated by your QR Codes. For now lets assume that the campaign you are running is one in which customers can use the QR code to go to a page on your website where they can sign up for an email newsletter and instantly receive a downloadable coupon. For this example, you plan on using several types of collateral to deploy your QR Codes.
Window stickers on the front door of your stores
Brochures placed at local businesses around town
A magnet stuck on the back of your delivery vehicles
There are many ways we could segment the traffic. Do we want to track how much traffic came from each location or from the window stickers as a whole? Do we want to know which business drove the most website traffic from the post cards? Do we want to know which delivery vehicle (and potentially which territory) drove the most traffic from the QR code? You can be as general or specific as you want; just remember that you will have to generate a different QR code (and have a different QR code printed) for each segment you create.
Article by Tim Zack at blog.redclayinteractive.com
We all know about bar codes, but what about QR codes? They’ve been around a while and are used lot in Europe and Asia. They are codes that you scan with your mobile phone to get more information on what you’re looking at. They sure beat typing on my phone – they are fast! Interestingly,one of the first places that I saw them a year or so ago was in my PADI Scuba Diving magazine. There were several article and scuba vacation advertisements that included them.
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) mobile council has produced a list of the top 10 things it believes markets absolutely have to know about mobile advertising at the moment.
It follows research from the IAB and PriceWaterhouseCoopers that mobile advertising is set to become part of the mainstream marketing mix over the next two years.
It’s an always on medium: Consumers love their mobile phones so much that ness development, AdInfuse.
Social media is driving growth: IAB research in 2009 found that updating social network sites via mobile handsets is increasing with 25% of all social networkers logging on to check or update their pages. 16 to 24 year olds are the biggest mobile social network fans with 44% saying they have updated via mobile, compared to 17% of over 55s. Amy Kean, senior PR and marketing manager, IAB.
It provides immediate interaction: Mobile phones allow the consumers to interact immediately with advertising. Upon seeing an advert the consumer can text, call or download content instantly. It can help maximise the effectiveness of other media, a short code is a great example of this. Rachel Wright, business development director, Phonevalley.
It’s got a lot to offer: Mobile Marketing is much more than banner adverts within internet content; a wide range of formats can be delivered as campaign components from text links in SMS messages through to full screen static or video display adverts within applications or mobile internet sites. Jeremy Copp, CEO, Rapid Mobile Media.
Application crazy: iPhone users have downloaded over 1 billion applications worldwide to their handset since launch. Applications are not restricted to iPhone however; advertisers can create useful applications for consumers for the majority of handsets. David Fieldhouse, mobile manager, MediaCom.
It’s popular: The number of mobile media users in the UK has reached the tipping point with over 30% of all UK adults accessing mobile media every month and a large proportion of those going online everyday according to ComScore. Stephen Upstone, managing director of European business development. AdInfuse
Smartening up: Over the last 18 months the number of UK Smartphone users (iPhone, Nokia N96, T-Mobile G1 etc) has grown from 3.6m subscribers to 6.3m, a 73% increase, and these users are over three times more likely to browse for News and Information on their phones than non Smartphone users (Comscore/MMetrics). Tim Hussain, head of mobile advertising, Sky.
It’s out of your hands: If you’re not sure if your brand should be on mobile, consumers have already made the choice for you. 0ver 4 million consumers are already using their mobiles to search for information on products and services and search volumes are growing 4 times faster than online. Jon Mew, head of mobile, IAB.
It can reach you: Target through to point of purchase – no other medium allows such precise targeting, from location based services like local search through to in-store Bluetooth marketing you can reach consumers wherever they are and provide relevant and engaging advertising. Paul Lyonette, head of mobile advertising, Microsoft.
Consumers like Mobile! The Orange Exposure study shows 70% of mobile media users find innovative ad formats appealing. In an ad funded games trial 89% said they liked or were neutral to advertisements appearing on the Orange World portal and 88% said they were happy to be exposed to advertising in exchange for free or discounted content. Alex Kozloff, media research manager, Orange.
NOTE FROM STRATEGIC GROWTH: Worldwide sales of smartphones increased 24% to 172.4 million units in 2009 according to Gartner, Inc. In the fourth quarter of 2009 alone, smartphone sales surged 41% from the year-earlier period to 53.8 million devices. The proportion of adult U.S. subscribers owning smartphones jumped to 17% last year from 11% in 2008 and 7% in 2007, according to new data from Forrester Research. The number of total mobile phone subscriptions worldwide has reached 4.6 billion and is expected to increase to five billion in 2010, according to the U.N. telecommunications agency.
Should you be interested in learning more about mobile marketing and how it can help grow your business, please review the additional mobile marketing articles within this blog, or contact us directly via the website or email at info@strategicgrowthconcepts.com for a FREE initial consultation.
Singapore, December 28, 2010 – The Mobile Marketing Association today announced its annual top 10 industry predictions for mobile marketing. As 2010 comes to a close, MMA provides a guide to new and existing technologies that will dominate the market in the coming year.
“Recent industry reports from InMobi and Synovate have revealed that consumers are showing a greater inclination towards receiving mobile advertising and marketing messages,”said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, MMA Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. “The global mobile advertising market is expected to grow to $13 to $14 billion in 2011 and Asia Pacific is expected to bring in the majority of this revenue followed by North America and Europe. As the market continues to grow, we hope to continue to provide insights that we believe should to be on the radar screen of every organisation when deciding on their mobile spend for the region.”
MMA’s top ten for 2011
1. Personalisation and privacy will increase effectiveness and credibility of the mobile media as a marketing channel: As mobile technology continues to evolve, mobile marketing messages will become increasingly personalised / relevant. Additionally, the adoption of transparent, permission-based marketing along with the introduction of regulations and applications for blocking unwanted content will help overcome the perception that mobile advertising is nothing but spam. Mobile will be the only truly conversational and measurable medium that can lead to an actual, real-time increase in business-to-consumer transactions.
2. Over the top services will drive data usage – On-deck operator ad revenues will be overshadowed by over the top application-based value-added services revenues. These services will help create mobile inventory and enable greater mobile ad spend. Operators should take a step back from establishing their own app stores and concentrate on enabling more converged devices like tablets. Telecom service providers will be forced to review their publishing business investments and plans.
3. Free SMS/free video/free phone calls will be available across devices – Applications like WhatsApp and Viber are already allowing free SMS and calls from mobile devices. More such applications will be entering the market making these basic mobile features available free of cost across devices. We will also keep seeing an increase in mobile video consumption. The introduction of new ad units, including interactive and partial screen, will subsidize free content.
4. The re-birth of Windows 7 mobile – The new and relatively strict hardware specifications introduced by Microsoft are geared towards providing a universal user experience much like Research In Motion (RIM) and Apple. Based on prior experience with the availability of too many phones variants, Microsoft is focused on restricting the use of its new operating system by phones that are not compatible. The re-birth of the Windows 7 mobile will further fuel the growth of mobile Internet and advertising.
5. New winner in the HTML5 vs Apps war – A lot has been said about how apps are expected to peak in 2013 and have already shown signs of slowing down. Though the new HTML offers great opportunities, apps and app stores continue to rule mobile content. The availability of basic functions of an app even without an active or stable data connection combined with the high level of usability and engagement offered by app stores make it a much more appealing option for customers. However, the fact that apps are device specific and limit penetration offers opportunities for experimentation that might lead to a decline in their popularity over the coming years.
6. Location-Based Services (LBS) + Augmented Reality (AR) will be the leading integrated mobile technology in the market – The proliferation of GPS phones with digital compasses has already given rise to a series of location-based AR software platforms and applications. The combination of AR with LBS allows for graphic content related to the position of the user to be overlaid in real-time onto camera images taken by the phone. This makes for one of the most intuitive user interface currently available on mobile and also makes the consumption of location-based information a lot more fun. Such specific targeting will not only fuel ad spend but also transactions.
7. Mobile micropayments will allow customers to pay from their ‘electronic wallets’ rather than ATM cards - The electronic payment industry is growing rapidly and provides significant opportunities for all electronic payment channels including those on mobile platforms. In developing countries, mobile banking services can address a service gap that is critical to their development. The key advantage of the introduction of mobile payment will be quick transactions. There are no credit card readers, no paper slips and more security than written forms. It will be like an electronic wallet that a customer will always have access to and will provide them with relevant purchase opportunities while they’re on-the-go.
8. The re-emergence of mobile blogging – As mobile phones become more sophisticated and feature-rich, they are increasingly being used as a replacement for computers. With the introduction and adoption of tablet devices, the consumers now have greater speed, connectivity and battery life in their mobile devices. Several writers/bloggers are already using these devices to pen down their thoughts. With processing power that allows for editing and upload of content in various formats, these mobile devices are fast becoming the preferred travel gadget for professionals and have created opportunities for the development of a whole new set of user applications.
9. Continued proliferation of smartphones and mobile Internet advertising – It is expected that by 2011 over 85% of handsets shipped globally will have browser capabilities. The relatively large growth in smartphones combined with their superior user interface will continue to encourage more people to access conventional websites on their mobile handsets. Business-to-consumer applications can be delivered using conventional Web tools as well as Web adaptation tools. As smartphone penetration increases, more users will possess the technology to view richer content on their mobile devices making the medium extremely useful for marketers.
10. Mobiles will jump onto the 3D bandwagon – 3D technology is being incorporated in any and every gadget available in the market today. Mobile manufacturers have also experimented with the technology and Spice Mobility in India has already introduced a phone with 3D capabilities. Manufacturers still have a long way to go in terms of creating a sophisticated 3D mobile device but the market will see a lot more experimentation in 3D phones in the coming year. The technology will lead to the development of new content and advertising avenues.
