Looking at the new Wolverine movie billboard in traffic, or out with friends planning for a movie, we search online for the nearest theatre on our smartphones. Just by hitting search for 'The Wolverine shows', some theatres provide us with a list of their show timings along with a 'Get Directions' that connects to our Google Maps app. That's the theatre we're going to.
As the pace of life today quickens, partnerships are made, businesses tie up, and best you catch that track or your mobile ad will sit at the end un-scrolled by. And search on mobile is "live": almost always converts into customers.
How about eliminating even the need to search online? Let's talk about the latest in marketing. The easy-to-access and creatively innovative technology called the QR Tags. And QR tags are not just QR codes. Instead of taking them to a link, why not get more?
Size of the Mobile Market:
Before we go any further with our rollercoaster QR-Tag adventure, let's look at why it's worth it. The size of the mobile market keeps on growing; users are switching from desktop and laptop computers to handheld mobile devices.
USA and China are two countries with the maximum number of active mobile consumers (according to a research by Flurry as of 2012). Currently, there are 1Billion+ active smartphones and tablets on earth.
As of February 2013, we see that 224 million monthly active users are mobile app users, as compared to a 221 million on laptops and desktops.
Social Media on Mobile:
Every marketer is out there finding the correct timings to post on Facebook Page, on their Twitter accounts, do a Tumblr blog, yada yada. In this small window of a few hours that people spend on social media, you need to catch their attention.
Is your mobile campaign aligned with other forms of marketing?
Mobile usage does not always mean on-the-go. In a recent post on SME, Micheal Stelzner, Founder of Social Media Examiner, interviews Greg Hickman, founder of Mobile Mixed on Mobilizing your Website. Greg tells us the interesting fact about mobile usage is that 68% of it is actually from home.
That means there is a need to align mobile marketing with the other forms of marketing.
The Microsoft Tags
Coming down to the point! Microsoft Tags provide you not only with the instant codes to scan, but so much more. Normal QR codes just take people to a link. What Microsoft Tags does is it opens a whole new window for interaction that you could track and make use of to build relationships.
Why do you need QR codes and tags? They are everywhere. I even have a fitness app that lets me scan Traditional Bar Codes on food items and shows me nutrition facts. Makes it easier for me to decide which ones I need to include in my diet and thus, makes me a loyal customer of some brands. Here is a snapshot of the app showing me the nutrition chart of Greek Yogurt after I scanned its bar code.
Here's an interesting display of a painting that hangs at a local caf near my home. It comes with a code of its own containing instant buying information. Unfortunately I'm too small to get the photo from the correct angle (bear with me), but my excitement at its brilliance is big enough (jumping on my toes to get a shot here).
How To Create Microsoft Tags?
Here's a quick and easy step-by-step interactive way to create tags:
Link: http://whatfix.com/#%21flows/how-to-create-microsoft-tags-/d62fca70-f9d6-11e2-849f-386077c653fe/
The Walmart Example:
We may have found the eBay app convenient for instant shopping, but have you tried the Walmart app? There's too much buzz and talk about this one. There's a "Scan & Go" self-checkout feature that lets you scan the products in the store that you want to buy, pay for it directly from your phone and you're good to go!
What other quick and competitive marketing techniques are you using for your business? And how innovative do you think they are?