And now, a few poignant words of advice from Sandy Hubbard’s son… and PMC’s teenaged “man on the street!”
No Brainers for Mobile Marketing with QR Codes
by guest blogger Ben Rutter QR codes are not a novelty. They are an established way to tie print material to mobile and online sites. And yet, we still see QR codes that do not operate as intended. If other advertising and marketing campaigns were produced so shoddily, someone would lose a job. But no. QR codes are still considered some magical voodoo.
For retailers looking for mobile-engaged consumers in the 14-21 range, I am your target market.
If you want to talk to me, please don’t make it dumb, don’t make it useless, and don’t make it static.
If you want to talk to me, your channel of communication better work correctly.
No Brainers:
- Choose a reputable QR code generator.
- Test your code throughout the create and print process.
- Tie the landing page to a mobile site, not a static website.
- Have something engaging and interactive on the mobile site.
- Target your campaign to my general age level or older. Cartoons are not appropriate unless they also work for the 21 year olds. Don’t lure me into something that is designed for a younger audience. That is just insulting.
- If I opt in, respect my privacy and don’t spam me.
- Don’t expect to make me a customer for life. Instead, understand that I have generously given you a few moments of my time. If you do your part well, your brand will be viewed favorably and possibly even shared.
- Need I say it? Have a way to share stuff from your mobile site. If you don’t, you are losing out on the best marketing opportunity possible with the under-21 market.
- Support your mobile campaign with other channels and loyalty offers so I know you are credible and really do care about my demographic.
- Thank me for my attention.
I’ve mentioned this before, but retailers need to give the youth market some credit. We are savvy consumers. If you insult our intelligence or take advantage of us, you may alienate us irrevocably.
But if you’re smart in how you present your mobile campaigns to us, you may end up with a brand advocate, maybe not forever but for a good long time.
Ben Rutter operates Tomorrow’s Paper. He’s 14 years old.
