On April 18th, interlinkONE and Grow Socially delivered an information-packed webinar to help attendees succeed with QR Codes and mobile websites.
While the usage of QR Codes and other mobile tags has increased greatly over the past year, customers and businesses have often been disappointed by the results.
However, our main presenters -- Katie Sadlier and David Platz -- provided a number of best practices to increase the success of your next mobile marketing effort.
Attendees received actionable information on a variety of topics, including:
- Best Practices for Implementing QR Codes
- Building an Engaging Mobile Website
- Educating Your Target Audience
- Strategies for Selling Mobile Solutions
- And more!
We hope that you find the content in this presentation helpful as you look for ways to reach the growing mobile audience.
4. Who We Are
Grow Socially
Online Marketing
Services
interlinkONE
Enterprise Marketing
Management Software
Founded in 1996
5. Today’s Overview
The Mobile Landscape:
Stats, Challenges, Solutions
QR Codes: The Keys to Success
Mobile Websites: Build and
Engage
Strategies for Selling Mobile
Solutions
11. Proper Viewpoint & Expectations
One option in the toolbox
Potential to fail or succeed
It’s only part of the
equation: full mobile
experience.
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58249839@N00/3684464374/
12. Challenges That You May Be Facing
Low Response Rates
“They are ugly”
“They’re already dead”
“What are they?”
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98691315@N00/6905937579/
19. Where are people scanning
Source of Scanned QR Code* June 2011
Source: comScore MobiLens
QR Code Audience % of QR Code Audience**
(000)
Total Audience: Scanned QR 14,452 100.0%
code with mobile phone
Printed magazine or newspaper 7,138 49.4%
Product packaging 5,101 35.3%
Website on PC 3,957 27.4%
Poster or flyer or kiosk 3,393 23.5%
Business card or brochure 1,940 13.4%
Storefront 1,850 12.8%
TV 1,693 11.7%
23. But on a smartphone…
=
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23844524@N03/5002051362/
24. Options for Building a Mobile Website
Web programming
Plugins
Partner with a service provider
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21460573@N08/6490155575/
Use a “mobile website builder”
application
25. Mobile Website Goals
Optimized To Fit
Easy to Read
Easy to Interact With
But Still Relevant
And Useful!
26. Best Practice #1
Know the Difference:
Mobile-Ready vs. Mobile Optimized
Mobile-Ready:
Responsive design
All content & links displayed on
both versions of site
Photo Credit: http://baymard.com/blog/trying-out-responsive-design
27. Better Option: Mobile-Optimized
Build a dedicated site for
the mobile audience.
Treat the needs of the “on-the-go”
user differently than those of
a desktop/laptop browser.
28. Best Practice #2
Analyze Your Audience’s Needs – and Your Goals!
Photo Credit: http://www.caxiamgroup.com/blog/approach/user-personas-a-must-have-in-web-design/
29. Best Practice #3
Content: Prioritize and Simplify
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicmcphee/
31. Bonus Tip
Provide Links to Your
Desktop Website
Comfort with traditional view
Searching for in-depth info
32.
33. How Do You Make $ on QR Codes?
Custom QR Code Design
Mobile Website Creation
Build a Database!
Reporting, Analyzing, Strateg
y
Put it in a Campaign!
34. Before You Start Selling…
Is your website mobile-
optimized?
Smartphones for demos
Understand limitations &
advantages.
Add “mobile marketing” to
your business strategy and
marketing plans!
35. How you can promote it
On your website
On your social networks
QR Codes on print
Email efforts
Webinar Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63299638@N00/2847937438/
40. Final Thoughts
Mobile is not just hot… but it’s here to stay.
No matter what response channel we use, best
practices still apply.
There is money to be made in mobile today.
41. Want to learn more?
Web: http://iFlyMobi.com
Call us: 978-694-9992
Email: Help@iFlyMobi.com
or
Sales@interlinkONE.com
44. Tools To Help You Grow
Build Mobile Websites: http://iFlyMobi.com
QR Code Management: http://QReateAndTrack.com
Multi-Channel Marketing: http://interlinkONE.com
Online Marketing Services: http://GrowSocially.com
Editor's Notes
And just a little bit about the companies that help pay my bills… and that provide tools to help you!
This is recent research from Edison.90% of smartphone owners take their phone with them at least most of the time!This opens our mind up to possibilities to reach them --- SMS, QR, email, mobile search, mobile ads, etc.
And that’s what marketers are doing…
QR Codes are just another option in your marketing toolbox.Like all marketing channels, they can help you succeed or fail. When used properly, along with other marketing fundamentals, they can help your response rate!
Jason- “Additional challenges you’ve seen/experienced?” David- companies not wanting to give up the “real estate” on a printed piece Katie- not having a mobile website to have a Code point toSize, color, and white space around codes
Katie- we’ve identified 5 or 6 keys to succeeding with QR Codes and the mobile web, and we would like to quickly share them with you
Katie- you always want to think of the end user who will be scanning the QR Code. -in this example Mary, who is a local real estate agent as well as a customer of ours, placed a QR Code on the sign hanging in front of an available property-Mary definitely took the time and thought about who the end user would be. In this case the end user would be potential buyers driving or walking by the property. You can see that she made sure that the Code was large enough to be scanned by someone driving or walking by, and she also provided instructions on how to scan the QR Code. The Code then pointed to a mobile optimized website which included pertinent information for a potential buyer, such as the listing price, square footage, video of the what the inside of the property looked like, etc. -If you were the person walking by this property, you would not want the QR Code to go to Mary’s full website, where you would have to search for this specific property. So best practice would be to always think of the end user and the experience you would like them to have when scanning the Code.
Katie- you should shorten all of your URLs before creating a Code with them. You can see in the left image we created a QR Code with a long URL. This Code has a lot of black pixels included in it, which can make it difficult for some QR Code readers to scan. In the right image we too the same URL and shortened it. You can see that the Code has far less pixels in it, and it will be much easier to scan on a mobile device.-Some QR Code generators will automatically shorten your URL, but you can also use a tool such as Bit.Ly or ilnk.me to do that.Jason- “David, in terms of selling, have you seen that customers were interested in shortening their URLs?”
Katie- you should include an incentive and instructions, or people won’t even scan the QR CodeEven if someone knows what a QR Code is, and they don’t need the instructions, they are not going to scan the Code unless there is an incentive to do so.Jason- need an incentive with all marketing, for example no one is going to click on the link in an email blast unless you have given them the incentive to do so
Katie- have your Codes point to mobile optimized content-couple examples from different industries
Katie- With anything you do in marketing, you want to and should measure the success of your efforts. Some of the things an application such as QR&T or iFlyMobi can measure are: the time and date of a scan, info. on the mobile device and browser used to scan the Code, and an IP Address.- You can also do other things to help measure your efforts. For example, you could build a form in iFlyMobi or have a Code point to a LP you have built. Then people can scan your Code and provide you with personal information as well as answer any questions that you might ask.-As our CEO, John Foley Jr., whom I am sure many of you know, often says, “If you can’t measure it, don’t do it!”Jason- “Katie, have you seen any other creative ways people are tracking the QR Codes on their printed material?”Katie- 5 unique Codes in 5 different magazines example
Katie- We thought this chart was very interesting and helpful in regards to where you are placing your QR Codes. You can see that the largest percentage of scans came from QR Codes printed on magazines and newspapers and product packaging.Jason- “David, do you have any experiences that would support the findings in this chart?”David- packaging examples
Jason-…..Katie- No matter what though, the mobile world is not going anywhere and people are always going to need a mobile website. So you can use a tool such as iFlyMobi to create mobile optimized websites, and then follow best practices to appeal to the end user and track your efforts.
If your website is not mobile optimized, it can create frustration. You will lose visitors. You will lose traffic.You will lose customers.“Senior executives at home on their tablets and smartphones are wondering why the user experience for their own company Web sites is sub-standard.”
Jason-….-”David, what are some factors you had to consider when building mobile optimized websites?”David- time (iFlyMobi vs. plugins/programming)
Jason- think about the things that make your scream at your mobile device when you are viewing a website, and make sure to eliminate those issues for anyone viewing your website on a mobile device
Jason- you have used best practices and thought about the user
Jason- who is coming to your website and why?You want to focus on these individuals.Example: someone on the go, who would view your site on the weekend…
Jason- registration for an event, white paper download, …-“David, what are some examples of how you built and used Forms for your customers?”David- internally for job specs, iPad download at conference,…
Jason- ….-“David, were there an additional ways you were able to make money with selling QR Codes?”David- selling the QR Codes as a value added service, custom QR CodesKatie- In terms of creating things like custom QR Codes, we have experts here who have created step by step Blogs, videos, and tutorials for you. So by all means please reference our sites, and especially the Blog sections of our sites, because we are providing you with the information you need to do things such as embed a logo in a QR Code.
Jason- there are certainly disadvantages and advantages to everything. For example, the disadvantage of mobile websites is that you cannot view Flash on a mobile device. However, there are advantages such as the ability to build forms and gather data, as well as click-to-call, text and email features.-”David, what are some ways you tried to educate yourself in order to be able to sell QR Codes and mobile websites?”David- look for examples online, see how others are using them, read news sites such as Mobile Marketer (http://www.mobilemarketer.com/)
David- lunch and learn example- Reiterate that mobile marketing does not take away from your print business