by tradesmeninsights | Apr 21, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
By now most of you have seen these strange little boxes somewhere in your life. You may have seen them in one of your favorite consumer magazines. They’re even showing up in some trade books.
For those who don’t know what a QR code is, it’s a 2D bar code that allows you to connect to additional info using your smart phone that has a camera. Since there are more smart phones being sold now than PCs, maybe it’s time you consider doing something that will take advantage of this technology. One of the nice things about QR codes is that they are contextually relevant. In other words, you can target info based on where you place them and each can be individually tracked.
Here are six real world practical ways manufacturers can utilize QR codes in their marketing activities:
- Trade advertising – Put a QR code in that will take the reader to a testimonial video or a product demo.
- Trade shows – Pre-show and at-show promotions. Add a code with show specials or other reasons to visit your booth, like a new product introduction.
- In-store signage – Other than the big boxes where they control most of the “look and feel,” use signage to drive them somewhere like a video that shows them why your product is better than the competition.
- Product packaging – Again, you can make a case for your product over the competitors, or you can give assistance to those who aren’t sure which hole saw or drill bit to use.
- Product literature – From sell sheet to direct mail, use to connect to reasons why they should buy, i.e. videos or other important features/benefits to help them prefer your product.
- Premiums – For your next distributor open house or counter day, have your guys wear tee shirts with a clever saying and a QR code. It’s a great way to stand out in a crowd.
These are easy to use, free, each are trackable and they are a good way to set yourself apart.
If you’d like to learn more about QR codes, these additional posts may be of interest:
QR Codes: Are Manufacturers Missing an Opportunity?
What’s Augmented Reality?
White Paper: Trends in Mobile Media
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 12, 2011 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
I’ve alway been a big supporter and advocate of B2B companies engaging social media with LinkedIn.
According to a recent article in eMarketer.com, social media Gigya saw a 17% increase of logins using LinkedIn in a six-month period from July 2010 to Jan 2011.
This indicates a trend to keep the personal apart from the business activities. “Although LinkedIn has always had the professional social graph, they’ve really made some great moves over the past year especially to encourage more communication and collaboration among people using the service,” according to the Gigya company blog.
If you like this post, you might like to read:
LinkedIn:5 Ways to Make the Most out of Your Connections.
2010 Highlights of the State of Social Media for Business.
What’s Changing with Social Media.
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 31, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Think about it. Wouldn’t you want to model your company around the most successful company in the world? We all use Google in our everyday lives, but have we really thought about what makes them so great?
Recently my son gave me a book by Jeff Jarvis from Buzzmachine.com titled What Would Google Do? I have to tell you, it’s the most interesting business book I’ve read in some time.
Jeff gives his insights on what makes Google so successful and practical examples (from service businesses to manufacturing, government and even religion) of how we should reposition ourselves to be more like Google. He highlights the “10 things Google has found to be true.”
Here are some highlights:
- You need a new attitude – to build trust, listen and don’t try to control.
- Customers are in charge – you’re better off ceding control to them.
- The mass market is dead. Mass niches are where you need to be.
- Free is a business model.
One of the challenges he gives us all is answering the question – What business are you in? Are you in the knowledge business, data, networking? Where is your value?
This books makes you think and re-evaluate your own business model. I highly recommend it.
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 30, 2011 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
We’re all seeing more and more of these strange looking square boxes (2D codes) in ads and on billboards and packaging that connect people to mobile sites for more info.
According to 3GVision, a global pioneer and leader in mobile barcode solutions and advanced image processing technologies to fast-track consumers to the mobile Internet, the USA is leading for the first time in terms of absolute numbers of scans.
Top 10 users of mobile barcodes during Q4/2010:
1. (2) United States
2. (1) Italy
3. (3) Germany
4. (10) Hong Kong
5. (7) France
6. (15) Canada
7. (5) United Kingdom
8. (6) Netherlands
9. (4) Thailand
10. (11) South Korea
( ) – Position in Q3/2010
From Quarter 4 of 2009 to Quarter 4 of 2010, there was a +400% increase in mobile barcode scans.
Bottom line is, 2D bar codes are here and they are not going away. What are you doing to capitalize on them?
If you like this post, this may be of interest to you:
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 15, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Here’s an interesting interview in The Smart Van from one our own, Aylie Fifer, on how the aging workforce may put companies at risk and what they need to know about technology trends.
The interview highlights areas on how service firms are using social, how the older generation can learn from the younger ones and the role of mobile devices and what impact they will have moving forward.
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 10, 2011 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
This is the second year that GlobalSpec has surveyed engineering, technical, industrial and manufacturing professionals on how they are using social media. You can download a free copy of the complete report here: http://tinyurl.com/4wcq8nf.
The survey shows that for work-related purposes, this audience is slow adopters. This audience is largely passive in that it prefers to read and watch content as opposed to creating it. They are increasing in certain areas, but aren’t progressing as fast as the rest of the world.
This is good news or bad news depending on how you look at it. I’m an optimist, so I’ll take the good news angle. This is a great opportunity for those of you who have this segment targeted. Why, because you know in most cases, engineers and manufacturing folks are meticulous when it comes to getting/evaluating info. They are slow to move and want to be sure that both the product and the company are meeting their overall objectives which takes time. Social is an additional tool that can give you more face time with potentials, help position yourself as an expert and eventually engage them to ask questions.
So the question you have to ask yourself is, how can I use social to attract potentials? Here are some suggestions:
- Blog about interesting application or trends in specific industries.
- Create a LinkedIn group, then network with users of those products to start discussions.
- Company Facebook page that shows your fans about your company’s involvement in the community.
- YouTube video that shows your product in action.
- “Customer only” forum where they can talk to each other.
- A Twitter account to send followers links of interesting products and industry news.
Think of this as a good opportunity to touch your potential customers in another way.
