Scan our barcode linking to Losasso.com

Almost everyone knows what a barcode is – it is used to collect information via a scanner into an internal system that then tracks the price, as well as other information, of a particular item.  Recently, barcodes have began to evolve into a way to quickly and easily share and transfer information about yourself (or whatever you may be scanning) with others, in the form of mobile barcodes, also known as QR codes.

According to Wikipedia, a mobile bar code, or “QR Code is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with camera, and smartphones.  The code consisting of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.”

Mobile barcodes are currently being used in advertising campaigns across the globe (they have been using them in China since the mid-90s).  From billboards to print advertisements, QR codes are showing up in a number of traditional advertising mediums.   This concept also has great potential as a networking tool.  Imagine walking into a conference or trade show where each person’s name tag displays a mobile bar code that when scanned links to their virtual business card or company landing page.  Take that a step further and each booth could have a mobile barcode that links to a PDF about their products or more information about their company in general.

Although this is not new technology, it is just beginning to show up in the US as a mainstream form of information exchange.  Mobile barcodes are a very interesting concept, but only time will tell how useful this technology will prove to be in the world of marketing and advertising.

*To download a free mobile barcode reader application, click here.

2009 wasn’t a good year for businesses but thankfully 2010 is looking up, but to make the most of it, you need to be creative, innovative, and above all, adaptive. The tools of sales and marketing continue to evolve and companies that are changing their marketing strategies with these trends are reaping rewards. Online marketing and digital media can be highly effective ways to engage a larger audience on a lower budget.

For advertising agencies, this adjustment requires that they reinvent themselves. They need to retool their staff, add different core competencies and recognize that they need to provide a different type of service and value to help their clients succeed. They need to take an active role in helping clients understand the opportunities and navigate the changes in the marketing landscape. There is more opportunity than ever for agencies to include metrics and measurement to show that their work is producing results.

Many clients are shifting budgets away from larger advertising firms that are having a hard time changing their business model. They are engaging smaller and more specialized firms or even in-house talent to help create online media and marketing that is in step with today’s trends and technologies. They are taking a more grass-roots approach to connecting with customers through social media and other electronic marketing outlets, taking advantage of the Internet’s constant connectedness and unparalleled opportunities for personalization.

The CMO Council, who’s 5,000 member base accounts for $150 billion in annual marketing expenditures, conducted a survey of about 600 members for its seminal report: “The State Of Marketing: Outlook, Intentions and Investments for 2010.”  In the 46 question survey the council found that:  46 percent of the respondents are investing in digital demand generation and online relationship building, 38 percent are exploring alternative media and new routes to market, and 62 percent will be crunching customer data to improve segmentation and targeting.  Most of this will be undertaken by specialist firms, in-house talent and outsourced service providers.

“Globalization of markets and new channels of digital engagement are causing senior corporate marketers to seek new internal skills and capabilities, and re-direct spend towards more inventive and localized go-to-market programs,” notes Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. “The transformation of marketing organizations, practices and functions is well underway. This is being driven by the need to engage at an individual level, create more content relevance, and leverage a new world of crowd-sourcing Internet communities, omnipresent connectivity, and pervasive mobile device ownership.”

When it is all said and done, the future of marketing lies with those who are willing to not only accept, but embrace change.  It is those who can bring fresh and innovative marketing tactics to the table, allowing for a more personalized and relevant connection with consumers that will ultimately succeed in this new era of marketing.

Click here to read more details on the report and download the PDF summary.

Chain Reaction

As a social media marketer, the recent spat between behemoth HP and struggling Kodak underscores how a small player can leverage this space to draw attention and possibly even draw larger competitors into a place that benefits the little guy.

Basically, HP is claiming that Kodak cannot stand behind its marketing claims – this complaint doesn’t draw a lot of ire from consumers, we are well-trained skeptics. Other than the iPod and The Clapper – there are precious few technology products that are truly as advertised.

So now the two companies are trading swipes on Twitter and getting covered on the newswire and the head of HPs social media effort is being quoted with comments such as “You have a fight you can’t possibly win. I am HP.”

The irony of all of this is that this from is the head of social media strategy for HP. This is sure to draw a lot of social media coverage, but not the kind she wants. In a fight like this, the underdog holds the advantage in public perception. To me it looks like Goliath has taken David’s bait and leaned down with one eye open.

On the marketing front this seems to have gone badly as well, it appears that the two have allowed things to spin into a price war. HP can surely weather this more easily than Kodak, but in the long run, it is not good news for either.

It is hard to know what sort of ill will sticks to a brand when it behaves like this, but one thing is for certain, it is better to stand up for your brand and speak proudly of what you do well. If you have to address a competitor directly, do it with challenges that play to your strengths and attack their weaknesses with benefits, not insults – you just look like a bitter, old bully – and bullies don’t do well in the social space.

As more and more people are accessing the internet on their mobile phones, marketers are struggling to keep up with the changing landscape of internet usage.

As of May 2008, Nielson reported that mobile internet had over 40 million active users with many sites attracting millions of unique users. This data indicates that mobile internet usage has reached a critical mass as an advertising medium in the US.

That being said, one of the key questions on marketers’ minds is: How can we best optimize our brand for mobile customers?

DMNews recently ran an article that offered five tips for marketers. These tips lay out how to develop a strong brand presence on the mobile web.

Integrate Microsoft Tag into Print Advertising: In January of this year, Microsoft introduced Tag to the United States. Tag allows users to instantly connect to more information and entertainment without having to type out long URLs. Mobile users can simply snap the Tag with their phone, and Microsoft Tag will connect them to their destination. Mobile barcodes such as these are ground-breaking because they require no typing on small keyboards and make mobile content easily accessible. It’s a great way for brands to link online mobile content to offline advertising.

Don’t Clone Your Desktop Site: It’s important for marketers to realize that mobile and desktop internet usage is different. Simply applying the same SEO techniques to both platforms will not necessarily be effective. Mobile searchers are not always searching the same keywords as desktop users, so marketers should conduct mobile-specific keyword research using tools like Google’s mobile keyword tool. This will help brands to specifically tailor their approach to mobile users.

Follow Mobile-Specific Signals: As search engines continue to develop more accurate mobile search ranking algorithms, they are likely to search for signals that indicate a query is generated mobile-ly. A good way for brands to stand out in mobile search engines is to include the word “mobile” in your mobile title tags. Specialized title tags acts as a great indicator that content is mobile-specific.

Create Mobile Content: Mobile content creation is key to creating a mobile brand presence. Here are some ways to increase visibility:
a. Make sure the desktop site is Mobile OK compliant
b. Create a unique site geared toward mobile users and host it on a new TLD or subdomain
c. Develop an app for mobile users
d. Optimize feed-based content listings like RSS and video
e. Actively participate on social media outlets that have mobile interfaces

Make ‘Em Laugh: The largest category of mobile usage is entertainment. From waiting in line at the bank to sitting at the bus stop, mobile users are often looking to be entertained. Brands that do that will be successful.

The slow economy has caused American industry to reevaluate its marketing strategies. Many experts feel that the new state of affairs may not be short-lived—this state of consumer frugality is likely to become the new norm. In order to survive and prosper in this environment, marketers must adjust their strategies to cope with the changes.

The increasingly frugal consumer base has undoubtedly changed the marketplace. In the AdAge article “Coping With Consumers’ Newfound Frugality,” Avi Dan reports that consumers now make up 5% less of the GDP than they did at the start of the recession. This is a significant jump in a few short months.

“The economy is shrinking to levels that reflect a more cautious and vastly more frugal consumer,” explained Dan, “consumer confidence is likely to remain relatively low in the foreseeable future. Even when the economy starts recovering, it is likely to be an anemic recovery.”

This being said, marketers must recalibrate how they target and reach consumers. In the article, Dan laid out four ways for marketers to “rethink” their approach.

Rethink product. The days of wasteful consumerism are out the door. Sustainability will be a crucial benefit to consumers. Consumers will undeniably avoid products that are seen as wasteful and harmful to the environment. The big victims of this mantra will likely be SUVs and similar ‘wasteful’ products.

Rethink promotion. As niche markets become the norm, marketers must begin narrowcasting. They must more effectively target consumers through valuable tools like behavioral targeting and addressable TV.

Rethink price. Most companies, especially in the manufacturing sector, operate at overcapacity, which makes them less efficient and limits their ability to raise prices. Rather than raising prices, marketers should appeal to more audiences. Currently, most marketers focus on Gen X and Gen Y (Combined, buying power of $1 trillion). This strategy completely ignores African-Americans (>$1.5 trillion) and baby boomers ($2.1 trillion). Another growing segment of the market is Hispanic buying power. It is growing at three times the national average, and is expected to reach $1 trillion in 2011. Ignoring these large segments of the consumer population limits a company’s potential. In an environment hostile to price increases, ignoring them is not a smart option.

Rethink place. Marketers should also set their sites outside the United States’ borders. BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the N-11 (Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam) present great growth opportunity for marketers. These countries have large consumer populations and desire imported goods.

Consumers are spending less and saving more, but despite that fact there are still a lot of opportunities out there. The key is for marketers to embrace change and seek out opportunities they hadn’t considered before.

Marketing norms have changed and marketers must adapt to these changes in order to be successful in the new marketplace. Following Ad Age’s Digital Conference last week, Ad Age released 5 New Rules for Marketing in the new digitized world.

Five new rules for marketing

Consumers have increasing control over the information they receive and this means marketers must work that much harder to get their brand in front of receptive consumers. By incorporating these rules into your marketing plan, you can increase your brand’s impact.

As salespeople and marketers, we often make the mistake of thinking from the inside out as opposed to outside in. We get so focused on “selling” and explaining our features that we fail to realize that we are very often off-topic from our prospects standpoint. When our prospects hear a presentation about features, they consider it a “sales pitch.” And let’s face it, nothing kills a sales call like a sales pitch.

Think carefully about your customer’s point-of-view. Business buyers purchase based on need. Your prospect has a problem that he is trying to solve. If you have the solution, you are his ally, he will not only buy from you, he will thank you. If you are targeting properly, this need goes directly back to why your products were invented in the first place. Think on that for a while before you plan your sales presentation. Speak to the engineer that developed the product. Why was it invented? Why were specific features designed in to it? This shift in perspective will give you exponentially more credibility and relevance to your prospects.

Craft your sales presentation around the challenge that your product was designed to overcome. Help your prospect understand the practical genius and ingenuity that gave birth to your product in the first place. As a sales person you will be in rare company, setting yourself apart as a valuable supplier.

What’s that you say? You are selling in a commodity market where everybody’s product does the same thing? Then it is even more critical that you focus on your customer’s problems – the alternative is to sell on price. And unless you maintain the strongest cost advantage – you will never win selling on price.

As reported by Ad Age in a recent online article, Chicago’s most iconic structure, the Sears Tower, will here-after be referred to as Willis Tower. Willis Group Holdings(WGH) will be paying a mere $14.50-per-square-foot rent and receive naming rights for free.

Sears Tower

A mere three years ago this bargain would have been inconceivable. Back in 2004, after the building was sold, some experts speculated that the naming rights could fetch around $10 million dollars. This unbelievable deal is no doubt a result of the recent economic downturn and continued fallout from the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, which has left skyscrapers like the Sears Tower struggling to fill office space.

While there are doubts about whether or not the name will be embraced by Chicagoans, this deal will undoubtedly bring WGH a lot of press and consumer attention. With the market down and most companies cutting back, opportunities like this one will undoubtedly continue to pop up.

According to a recent article written by Brandweek’s Robert Klara, municipalities across the United States are selling ad space on everything they own.

A school located near Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport is considering plans to sell ad space on its roof, parking lot and stadium. Even the bottom of the school’s swimming pool is a potential money-making spot.

To some this may sound absurd, but advertising initiatives are rampant.

Chicago is taking RFPs to allow companies to name stations on the transit line.

New York has already wrapped an entire subway train (inside and out) in ads, and also sells ad space on station floors.

Brooklyn officials have proposed selling ad space on city trashcans and construction scaffolding.

And several cities are already allowing advertising on the sides of school buses, also known as “busvertising.”

Many applaud the new techniques and see only a win-win situation. Brands get to advertise in highly affective and innovative ways, while cities get revenue without raising taxes.

On the other hand, opponents argue that taxpayer-supported civic properties are inappropriate locations for ad space.

How do you feel about these new ad spots?

In 2009, online marketing is just about the only area of budget growth for most marketers. But how much of that money will be wasted? Scott LoSasso, President of Chicago interactive agency LoSasso Advertising, discusses why some marketers misstep as they venture further into this brave new world of interactive marketing.