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The Marketing Edge, one of the longest running marketing and public relations podcasts.
Host Albert Maruggi weaves his 25 years of marketing and PR experience across business, technology and national public affairs in interviews with newsmakers, authors and business leaders.
Maruggi is a frequent speaker and conducts workshop sessions on new media. For more information or to discuss your business challenges and goals, e-mail him.
I love this piece on measuring consumer’s emotional levels in a retail shopping space or tracking their eye movements on a website. I don’t for a moment believe it’s about “making their experience better” do you? No really do you believe retailers will pay millions of dollars on research about consumer behavior to make your experience better?
No, it’s to make you buy more period. Now, I’m not opposed to companies understanding how to sell their wares, make themselves more attractive to consumers, I’m sensitive to the idea that this is in my best interest.
And this is the inherent conflict in between consumer and company. This relationship and conflict is highlighted by social media. It will play out in the coming year as Facebook pushes timelines and sponsored stories, more companies use social and gaming to occupy your mindspace and consumers constantly connect to the consuming process through mobile devices.
Will We Get This The Linked Economy?
In this scene from the Miracle on 34th Street, Macy’s employees send consumers to their competitor Gimbels if they have the product the customer wants. Far fetched? probably, but this is where consumers and their mobile devices are fighting the in-store technology. Pew Internet and American Life study shows 52% of consumers use mobile devices in store to consult a friend, compare prices, or consult reviews before making a purchase.
“Imagine that, Macy’s sending me to another store cause they ain’t got what I want! I don’t believe it.”
Marketers are a shrewd lot, some have customers in mind, but most have their own hides at the top of the food chain, then their company’s. This is not a criticism. This is the premise upon which the most successful and productive societies are built. Humans act in their own self interest, it’s OK no need for apologies.
This is why gift cards have expiration dates, fees are hidden, and introductory pricing are used as gateway drugs.
Marketers are certainly aware of the time pressures on “average” consumers and as such, we consume mostly with the “easy” button. When was the last time you read a “terms and conditions” agreement? Sign here, here, and here, and you’re done.
It is the same with privacy policies. Google’s new privacy policies that have met some criticism. As a consumer of online websites, we think about privacy policies in general as whether your email will be sold and, among the more sophisticated users of technology, will a cookie be placed on your computer that impedes the machine’s performance.
Today’s Google policy, similar to Facebook’s failed Beacon tracker, calls attention to a user’s every digital action and whether it will be shared in some way. The primary question to ask is whether your actions will be shared publicly. For example, if a consumer is looking for another job will their searches and website visits show up in their Google profile visible to their current employer. For now, most of the complaints are about collecting data and sharing it with advertisers, not with public exposure, but, the burden for privacy policies is on the consumer. It is getting more complicated and that’s what marketers understand and are taking advantage of, keep it simple, click here and don’t worry about the details. Today it is more evident that a consumer’s habits, their every digital and physical move (now that Google apps are used on mobile devices) are of interest to marketers and they will get it.
Nellymoser is an interactive agency focused on the mobile experience and doing creative work with QR Codes and other digital tagging. The Marketing Edge Podcast spoke with Roger Matus, Executive Vice President of Nellymoser, a firm that created successful interactive campaigns for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, and a thought leadership campaign for Timberland boots, among many other QR Code uses.
Matus and I discuss some of the ways corporate marketers approach integrating QR Codes into their marketing strategy. While QR Codes seem to be the latest in mobile marketing technology, Roger’s down to earth thinking ties technology applications back to fundamental marketing strategy. His thoughtful conversation is insightful for marketers drained by chasing shiny new objects. He wraps QR Codes into familiar techniques of Marketing 101 and concise “call to action” campaigns.
Matus does believe that QR Codes are not simple. Our conversation covers many of the multidimensional steps required in a successful mobile marketing campaign, but his approach allows marketers wrap it in familiar terms. This refreshing conversation puts technology in the context of consumer behavior objectives, a place from which marketers should rarely stray.
5 Ways to Implement QR Codes
Start from blank page – one of the worst things to do as a company is to engage in bandwagon thinking. So don’t have a knee-jerk reaction to slapping a QR Code on a print ad that takes you to a webpage. That’s not mobile nor innovative. QR Codes and Microsoft tags can be created in such a way to deliver a much more involved experience such as creating offers depending on the time or date scanned.
Location, Location, Location – where the QR Code will be scanned matters. This requires understanding even plotting out a process flow at the physical sites where the QR Codes will be placed. Is it a noisy intersection? (so audio will be hard to hear). Is it a high traffic location with a premium on keeping things moving, e.g.. transfer point for mass transit with lots of people, but little time. (that’s a site selection study if ever I wanted to create one )
Call to Action – at its base form a QR Code is a call to action in pure marketing terms, so don’t let technology throw you off your game. There is a consumer behavior outcome desired by the company, approach the QR Code planning from that perspective. NOTE: Roger’s comments about the 21st century is brilliant at around the 14:00 mark. He describes giving people a reason which usually is a financial value or informational value. Matus talks about using video for education, a contest to capture contact information, or an offer that changes to keep people coming back or accepting a pushed message.
Ain’t that Rich – whether video or audio or a mobile application, QR Codes is a place where you should be thinking bold content. I believe using the QR Code raises the expectation that something is worth the following steps A) take out your phone, B) open your QR Code reader or camera C) snap the image – ooohhh boy now what!? Matus wonderfully points out that it’s an important consideration to help set the expectation on the place that the QR Code is first seen.
Calling all printers and publishers – QR Codes can be a savior by making print come to life, literally. This integration can deliver the type of analytics that may be a magazine advertising reps best friend. Matching the most powerful of a variety of formats and medium can be highly effective to sell or capture a greater percentage of mind space of your intended audience member.
In our next episode on QR Codes we’ll discuss the differences between the types of tagging available.
The Marketing Edge podcast continues its series on QR Code marketing. In this episode I have a conversation with social media marketing veteran Wayne Sutton. Sutton incorporates many of the skills necessary to thrive in the social space. He’s a former broadcast journalist telling a story with images, sound and words. Sutton is a long time user of technology and knows his way about programmers. His foundation is in graphic design and his eye for what looks appealing is apparent in his work on his mobile application Social Wayne, which takes me to his other skill set as an entrepreneur. This latter skill set does not mean being able to build a company from nothing to 50 employees. Rather, in my interpretation it means being able to execute on a vision and getting others to embrace that vision.
Multidimensional Thinking
The multidimensional thinking is a prerequisite to using QR Codes effectively. By multidimensional thinking I mean being able to construct a marketing experience along the following dimensions
Physical location – where is the individual to have their experience
Varied content – what types of content are best to achieve
Interactivity – what is the exchange between parties
This multidimensional marketing approach requires a much deeper level marketing planning. The Marketing Edge Podcast will cover several examples of this over the next few episodes, for this episode we focus on Wayne Sutton’s iphone app A handy (no pun intended ) reference for Sutton’s digital footprint and to interact.
While a social app is not right for everyone, I’m suggesting you download it to see how someone who is active on the social web integrates information and creates a space for interactivity.
As companies try to act more “human,” Sutton’s Social Wayne app may provide ideas that can be applied to a “socially active” business. As with many of the Marketing Edge podcast episodes, we highlight examples that will spark unique implementations of innovation for our audience.
Any new technology has its advocates, people that push the envelope on what can be done. The magic, however is when the tech advocates’ perspective meets those practical enough to ask the question why will this new technology help us solve X. Today we are talking about the technology of QR codes.
You see the challenge of solving for X is not a exclusive to mathematics. This X can be a practical business challenge such as selling more products. We’ll hear in this special Marketing Edge Podcast how an independent band was able to breakthrough the musical cacophony of hundreds of other bands and sell more songs by using QR codes. John C Havens @johnchavens Executive Vice President of Social Media at Porter Novelli shares that story.
I chose the letter X because it also is used in geographical references, such as X marks the spot. QR codes also can transport the user to other destinations. Take print advertising, a QR code can morph a staid stock photo into a multimedia experience in an exotic destination. That’s part of our conversation with Sarah Evans aka PR Sarah Evans. @prsarahevans on Twitter
A brilliant line from Evans in this podcast is “marketing gets people in the door and PR keeps them coming back.” She speaks to using QR codes as a way to enhance a customer experience, and that can be anywhere, in-store, through a billing statement, anywhere. The manta being how do we keep them coming back.
Havens, co-author of Tactical Transparency has dived deep into mobile tagging and scanning technologies as well as augmented reality. He makes the case for using QR code technology as a way to give early adopters of QR code readers access to your brand. It’s also more than brand, it’s capturing an immediate moment. Those moments can be transaction moments, excitement moments, information moments.
Let’s take community action. Say there is an intersection with a long traffic light. Petition commuters stuck in traffic by posting a QR code at the intersection, or someone with a poster of the QR code on an easel that launches an email to legislators saying, “I’m stuck at this incredibly long light at 3rd and Elm and I want to get out!”
Window shopping, literally, QR Codes in front of displays in retail windows take shoppers to a website where they can buy what’s in the window. With QR codes not only can you find out how much that dress is in the window, but what other colors it comes in and accessories can be purchased. QR codes make store hours your hours.
QR codes may well save some printers, imagine talking Christmas gift catalogues? Now you get the picture. Enjoy the podcast with John C Havens and Sarah Evans, along with a cameo soundtrack from Sarah’s dog. Which of course led to a good idea about a QR application.
The Reasons to Play With QR Codes
Effective way to integrate media (print, web, multimedia)
Great way to understand mobile audience (more smartphones were sold than PCs in 4Q, 2010 – that’s a game changer)
Point of Sale enhancement (it’s like an in-store kiosk for any product you want to promote)
Point of excitement selling moment (QR Codes printed on concert program allows audience to leave with music they purchase in their pocket)
Cautions When Using QR Codes
QR Reader quality not consistent, making user experience a larger variable than some would like. (a potential workaround is using Jagtag where you snap a picture of a jagtag and text it to a number. You will then receive a text with the detailed content. Another popular method is Microsoft tag. )
Simplistic use of QR Code, e.g. a QR Code is not a good replacement for a web address because it is likely not to meet heightened user expectation )
Give user time to understand it’s a QR code and to read it e.g. QR code on highway billboard, not good, on billboard at tourist venue or at baseball park, better.
So tell me did you scan the QR Code above? Sorry I just had to for old time, early adopters sake. Please let me know in the comments if you successfully scanned a QR Code this year? thanks
We interview St. Paul Pioneer Press technology writer Julio Ojeda Zapata, author of Ipad Means Business, to be released the week of December 13. This is a two part series, with this episode focused on how mobile computing is impacting industries such as health care, real estate, legal, and other small businesses.
Some examples of using the iPad in business applications include:
patients completing online forms in the waiting area and not at a kiosk or a clipboard where interpreting handwriting can be a challenge
Mobile video viewing of real estate properties and integrated with location based applications to improve the real estate buying experience
Any field worker now has a more mobile, yes even stylish device for insurance claims, remote health care workers, service and repair technicians
And for the real business heavy weight,
Edit and Create CAD drawings, or
Access SAP data from your enterprise applications
Some will suggest this is a revolution, we believe it’s a natural evolution. Some contend the iPad is more a content consumption device than a content creation device. I believe it’s both, especially if you define completing a form as a type of content creation. I submit that in business a complete form field is content creation that advances some type of business process. To the end, the more convenient you make interacting with technology, the greater the chances of expediting a business workflow.
A word on behalf of non-Apple consumers of the world, mobile computing “Tablet Size” is not limited to devices that begin with the letter i. The android platform has the Galaxy Tab among several others on the market or soon to be available.
Point being for marketers is this –
Size does not matter – the screen size of tablets and smartphones are less of an issue.
Bandwidth is getting larger for mobile users - Speedy networks 4G is just about in place and WiFi will abound so long as people will consume coffee while accessing the web.
Price matters and is dropping - When comparing the iPad against a laptop or comparing the tablet market across the products in that emerging category, price is extremely competitive. Will this put powerful computing in the hands of more people?
These data points should lead a marketer to conclude the distribution of the message is now a minor issue. The format of the message should not be predicated upon who can access it. There is critical mass is virtually every platform, format, stationary or mobile, across the street or around the world.
This, I hope frees marketers to be innovative in the mobile arena. Just browsing the applications available on the ipad and android platforms will spark ideas for your clients and companies.
Kaplan highlights how Best Buy is trying Tweetaway program a contest at its Eden Prairie store for those that Tweet a image of themselves in front of that Best Buy location. The random winners will receive $50 or $100 gift cards. The article reports that managers are monitoring Twitter.
Another mobile app being used today is ShopKick, www.shopkick.com an app on iPhone and Android that is essentially the digital version of the S & H Green Stamps concept. I’m 51 years old, so I remember collecting and putting S & H Green Stamps in books with my mom for redeeming products. The ShopKick variation on the frequent shopper theme is for those who check-in to locations, scan a barcode, etc, they accumulate Kickbucks that can be redeemed for discounts at affiliated stores.
As one who advocates using many of these technologies, I can also say there are times when I feel like a rat in Skinner’s box. We are pushing envelope on interacting with companies and perhaps we’ll find the line for legitimate actions and just being jerked around.
Behavioral Scientist Fredrick Skinner demonstrated the ability to shape behavior given specific responses to a condition in his box, in the famous case the condition of a light being on or off. This work illustrated what’s called “operant conditioning” which is the rewarding of an act that approaches a new desired behavior. Something like checking into a store, getting a reward. Take a picture, getting a bigger reward. And so it goes, progress.
There ought to be a study… American retailers are embracing the mobile nature of consumers, the question is will this trend also lead to mobile commerce? If it does, can one make the case that mobile commerce will reduce store traffic. It is fascinating to me how there is plenty traffic of consumers in what most still call a down economy. GDP is crawling back, up 2.5% in the third quarter of 2010. Chart source is from Trading Economics – Tomorrow, malls will be crowded, many restaurants packed, and yes, consumer will be buying gifts online or from their mobile devices.
The mix of in store and online is a conundrum for many retailers. The choices – employ a strategy of openness so consumers can price shop across the web while in their store or camouflage the issue and bet consumers will not look online for a cheaper price.
Embracing the price war is being done with more information not less. For example, QR codes can provide information in a consumer friendly way which explains quality features of higher priced items. Some stores may adjust their pricing to match what a consumer may find online. As long as customers are in your store, you make the sale and perhaps a few more. It’s similar to a loss leader or BOGO concept to get people in the store. Here is a consumer account using QR codes from Drew Hawkins on the Brain Wads blog.
This shopping season, take a moment to notice how retailers are trying to understand how best to serve you (or get your business depending on your perspective). And by all means give them your opinions, they are listening now more than ever. Pick your preferred feedback channel, Twitter, Facebook, the pertinent retailer’s site, or dozens of other channels.
Retailers are listening and the smart ones are reacting.
Case in point is Taylor Guitars and Calton Cases who produced a new product line of cases and valuable web content within days of Dave Carroll’s famous “United Breaks Guitars” video hitting YouTube. A wonderful description of this is in David Meerman Scott’s new book Real-Time Marketing and PR, I highly recommend it.
What’s your take, will mobile commerce reduce foot traffic in stores?
UPDATE 3/28/10; Since production of this podcast, I’ve learned of two other web-based platforms that have iPhone and Android services they are iSites and Motherapp
Mobile is everywhere and that means should your company be there? I hesitate to say yes because I don’t think mobile is a must be for every company. I think mobile is not a platform but a condition, a relationship between information, consumer, location, and reaction to that information based on when and where it is received. Now if you view your consumer in that light and you provide information that has value in a given time and space, then by all means proceed to go, collect $200 and give Mobile Roadie a look.
Mobile Roadie is the Microsoft BizSpark Accellerator winner for Business Social Media category at the 2010 South by Southwest Interactive Festival. I wrote about them last week. I find them to be newsworthy because they cover both the iPhone and Android platforms right now the only web-based development platform to do so. Android is the current darling platform, having gained market share against the iPhone in February
The research firm Quantcast says Android phones are taking off at a much faster pace. Android’s marketshare grew 44 percent during the past quarter and almost 100 percent the past year as reported by Ed Sutherland on the blog Cult of Mac.
Some developers will say that that iPhone platform is a tough nut to crack and the problem with being a successful application on iPhone is the platform’s success. It’s a cluttered space for a developer. They are looking at the Android platform as ideal to launch a blockbuster app because it’s hungry for apps. Andrew Kameka of Androinica has 11 apps on his wish list for Android this year.
Distimo an analyst firm that covers mobile applications has iPhone and Android as the two fastest growing applications stores with Android having 57% of its apps available for free. I’ve embedded a great presentation given by Distimo co-founder Remco van den Elzen at the CTIA Wireless Conference earlier this month.
Lastly, I readily admit, I was also impressed by Mobile Roadie’s team. Last week I sent a question to support during a very busy time of the South by Southwest music festival, they got back to me within the hour and when I asked about an interview, their CEO, Michael Schneider, contacted me the next day, so that’s a pretty responsive company.
What’s your take? Will a mobile application be this decade’s answer to another website or is mobile a unique platform that makes sense for a small segment of entities?
The Marketing Edge coverage of South by Southwest was supported by Verizon Wireless in the Midwest. Verizon Wireless participates in local social media organizations and is a sponsor of Mobile March held on March 27 in Minneapolis. The day long conference is sold out, but we’ll bring you coverage on the Marketing Edge podcast.
This is a two part series on the Marketing Edge highlighting mobile computing from the developers’ perspective and from the marketers’ perspective. I suggest that mobile is not a platform upon which to put information, but a condition that exists between data, a person’s location, and the action that person will take as a result of obtaining that information at that specific point in space. I could get into Einstein’s who spacetime thing, but you’d know I’d be blowing smoke so let’s not go there.
An example is if you received traffic information of delays relative to your location you are likely to take action. This is a different way to consider your information as a marketer, mobile becomes a dynamic concept of information in a specific context instead of a distribution channel. I also believe it further forces marketers to rank their information based on its value to the recipient rather than the quantitative measurement of eye-ball counting to determine effectiveness.
With that foundation, let’s first talk in part one of this Marketing Edge podcast about development with Minneapolis-based mobile developer Justin Grammens and founder of Recursive Awesome. He is one of the organizers of Mobile March, a day long conference on March 27 held in Minneapolis, at the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel.
Why should anyone care about development on mobile platforms? In part because more than half of web connections will be done over a mobile device by 2013, Gartner analysts assert the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.82 billion units and will be greater than the installed base for PCs thereafter.
This means mobile is a trend not a fad. So why talk on the Marketing Edge about development? Because understanding the dynamic competition among development platforms will guide marketing decisions. There is a battle raging for the platform upon which to develop applications and 2009 saw Apple overtake Windows Mobile operating system and Android burst on the scene with the power of Goggle behind it making 2010 an awesome year to be buying a smartphone. This year choice abounds and applications and network reliability will be a factor.
Lastly, mobile is a growth area for careers. Mobile development is the 2010 answer to web development in the nineties. It’s more complicated however, with more complex programming languages to understand and some developers might even say more complex rules for getting your application approved and sold.
Win a Mobile March Pass
Provident Partners will give one listener/reader a complimentary registration pass worth $20 to Mobile March, enter the drawing by sending an email to MarketingEdge AT ProvidentPartners dot Net with the words Mobile March in the subject line. Do it before March 24.
Do you view mobile as a different distribution channel or a completely different relationship between information and user?
and a thought leadership campaign for
Sutton incorporates many of the skills necessary to thrive in the social space. He’s a former broadcast journalist telling a story with images, sound and words. Sutton is a long time user of technology and knows his way about programmers. His foundation is in graphic design and his eye for what looks appealing is apparent in his work on his mobile application
This multidimensional marketing approach requires a much deeper level marketing planning. The Marketing Edge Podcast will cover several examples of this over the next few episodes, for this episode we focus on
Julio Ojeda Zapata, author of 
As one who advocates using many of these technologies, I can also say there are times when I feel like a
GDP is crawling back, up 2.5% in the third quarter of 2010. Chart source is from 
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