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Why QR code campaigns fail

As I read over the top failed QR code campaigns for 2011, one shining lesson comes through: make sure your QR code is scannable. Seems simple, but every single big campaign fail came down to the code not being easily scannable (or scannable at all). To break it down a bit more:

1. Make sure the most popular scanners will register your code. Test, test, test.
2. Make sure your code is posted in places where reliable internet access is common. This rules out underground locations (subway tunnels, basements), hospitals and in-flight locations (unless you're assuming everyone will want to pay for wifi access in order to enable your code).
3. Make sure nothing is obscuring your code. Graffiti, mailing labels, etc.

 More about QR codes:

QR codes don't suck; you're just doing it wrong

SMB Seattle podcast: Mobile messaging

The real truth about snap tags

 

 

What you need to know about who opts in to text campaigns

In the rising world of SMS marketing, there are a lot of questions. Questions such as can we import our phone list and how is it different from Twitter?

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But before any of that, it's useful to know who opts in to text campaigns in the first place. The guys at Tatango did a survey, and it looks like it's not such great news if you are trying to reach teen girls or adults over 55. But if your primary audience is men or women aged 25-35, you're in luck: that demographic is the most likely to opt in to a text campaign.

Of course, none of this matters if your content doesn't provide specific, unique and timely value. But it's a good place to start.

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Source: Tatango SMS Marketing

Your tablet isn't a "mobile device," says Alaska Air

Alaska Airlines offers free wifi for mobile devices. But hold on; your iPad or tablet isn't a "mobile device"

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What is a "mobile device"? This question came up on a recent flight. Alaska Airlines, the hometown favorite airline of Seattleites, announced a change in its in-flight wifi access policy that would provide free wifi for mobile devices through September 30th. On my flight back to Texas last week, the flight attendant announced that our mobile devices could access the internet for free during our flight.
 
So, what is a "mobile device"?

Previously, internet access on Alaska came at the price of $6.95 for a mobile device or $9.95 for a laptop, each for the duration of the flight. This could cause a bit of an issue if you're as big a geek as I am. If I pay for the laptop access to work but want to up my geek cred by checking in at 20,000 feet on Foursquare, what then? (OK, well, you can go to the mobile site and check in, but it's not nearly as handy as on the mobile app, now, is it?) In-flight pictures taken on a smartphone couldn't be immediately posted without purchasing access for the smartphone as well. Oh, the humanity!

So Alaska had a great idea: provide free access on mobile devices. Give your email address, and you can Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook away from a two-and-a-half-inch screen.

But this begs the question: what is a mobile device? A laptop is mobile in the sense that it can easily be carried around, but it's not mobile in the sense that it requires access through a wireless carrier phone plan. My traveling buddy fired up her iPad, one without a wireless carrier plan. Turns out it's not a "mobile device;" in-flight access is priced at $12.95. The next questions: what if the iPad did have a wireless plan? What about micro-tablets, the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Velocity Cruz, with seven-inch screens? What determines the definition of a "mobile" device, at least according to Alaska Air?

Courtesy of the free internet provided via iPhone, "mobile devices" are defined as "web-enabled smart phones and iPod Touches." No tablets, no readers, no microtablets, no in-between third screens.

All well and good and perfectly reasonable on the part of Alaska Air, an airline that I enjoy flying frequently. But the question got me thinking. Outside of the amount of material one might download during a flight, therefore taxing the wifi system, what is the difference between a smartphone and a laptop? How are the in-between devices, the tablets and microtablets, blurring the line between a full workspace and a simple communication device? A smartphone isn't really a phone anymore; the running joke for iPhone users is that the iPhone does everything really well... except make phone calls. And the more than a seed of truth is what makes that joke resonate.

Will these new categories of mobile devices redefine the words we thought we knew, such as "phone" and "laptop"?

 

SMB Seattle Podcast 11: Moble Messaging

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How do you launch a successful text messaging campaign? Where does text messaging fit in the marketing mix? How can QR codes enhance a mobile campaign?

This week, before Derek Johnson's talk at Social Media Breakfast Seattle on May 18th, Mobile Messaging: Taking Your Social Media Campaign on the Road, I sat down with Johnson to pick his brain about best practices for SMS marketing campaigns. To find out how to make mobile work for you, join us on May 18th at 7:30 AM at Waggener Edstrom in Bellevue for Johnson's talk on best practices for mobile messaging and QR codes. Register here. 

SMB Podcast #11: Mobile Messaging

Show Notes

4:30 Why text messaging--isn't it for the younger demographic?

7:30 What are the benefits?

• Text marketing must be opt-in only
• 98% open rate and average time to open is four minutes (vs. 48 hours for email)
• Facebook adoption is 50%, fewer than 4% uses Twitter, but 80% of mobile phone users are actively text messaging

10:30 What are the best use cases? Cases of customers benefiting from the time sensitivity of text messaging, such as police reporting missing persons or businesses driving traffic during slow times. Key statistic: businesses get 5-15% redemption rates for mobile messaging.

16:00 What are the keys to composing an effective text message? Offer real value
and don't copy your Twitter and Facebook offers. In fact, offer the most value here as opposed to other mechanisms. Use the "quarter test" - if your customers had to pay a quarter to receive the text, would they still want to receive them?

19:30 What are QR codes and how should they be used? Their best use is to scan and have it automatically send a keyword text opt-in message.

24:45 What is the next big thing? NFC, near field communication

27:30 Plug away! Tatango, thederekjohnson.com

For more free Social Media Breakfast Seattle podcasts, visit the SMB Seattle LibSyn page. Or fan us on Facebook or join our LinkedIn group.

Biz Stone at CTIA: Twitter was made for mobile

If you were waiting for The Next Big Announcement from Twitter at CTIA... well, keep waiting.

As I'm freshly back from the CTIA wireless convention in Las Vegas, I'll admit that my expectations for Biz Stone's keynote were high. However, following Evan Williams' disappointing lack of announcement at his SXSW keynote a few weeks ago, Stone still didn't announce anything new or earth-shattering. The best that the Wall Street Journal could report was that something was coming soon.

He starts out this interview by saying that Twitter was intended for mobile devices--the short vibration notification was intended to parrot the short bursts of sounds that birds make as they communicate from the treetops. Good to know, but will Stone and Williams ever announce any insight about their business model?

SXSW session notes: Location-based marketing

The session is titled Location-based Marketing and Advertising: Targeting the Mobile Consumer. The session was led by Shawn Gunn of NavTeq, the turn-by-turn direction service for mobile users and drivers. And the topic focused on powering navigation devices, mapping and social networking applications with advertising. The idea is to help advertisers target consumers where they are when they are looking for information.

Key takeaway: the future of (mobile) advertising is local--getting local traffic to brick-and-mortar stores.

Fascinating stuff. Gunn started with some key facts:

• Brands have been absent from mobile because positive ROI is hard to prove.
• Over half the world's yearly $458 billion advertising budget is spent on local advertising.
• Mobile has a unique approach to advertising: use a pay-for-performance model, not a CPM or pay-per-click. This is possible due to tracking capabilities--advertisers can measure exactly who used a location-based coupon
• Interestingly, 94% of retail sales are still through physical stores.
• Consumers accept advertising in exchange for free content.
• 19% of people who recall seeing a specific ad reported clicking through for information on nearby locations.
• Goal of mobile advertising: drive traffic to brick and mortar stores.

Conclusions drawn from this session: because mobile advertising is easy to target, easy to measure, and location-based, it will be easy to apply, test, tweak and reapply. If mobile advertisers listen to users and track their behavior, that goal of ads being useful (versus annoying) can be reached.