Mobile Marketing – QR Codes and SMS

With the prevalence of the internet and internet-enabled mobile devices, many businesses have begun using new methods to reach their customers. Pay-Per-Click campaigns on Google and Facebook, social media marketing, mobile web marketing and email marketing have become mainstays in the marketing world. Other new marketing strategies, like QR codes and SMS/MMS marketing, can be used to complement their effectiveness, though they each bring their own troubles to the marketing field.

QR Codes

Quick Response (QR) codes, are two-dimensional barcodes that are readable by camera-enabled cell phones. They can encode text, URL or other data, though URLs are the most commonly embedded data. QR Code usage provides a high level of engagement with users, giving them opportunities to interact with print ads to receive additional information. By using URL-embedded quick response codes leading to specially-created landing pages, data about quick response code usage can be gathered using analytics tools, providing additional feedback on marketing campaigns. These codes can also store text, allowing users to save phone numbers, links or product information for later use without requiring them to write it down. They can also be used to take users to pages listing a business’s social media information, providing them with an easy way to connect with businesses via sites like Twitter or Facebook. If a brick-and-mortar retailer also sells items via website, QR codes can be used to link potential customers to the website when the business is closed. However, QR codes require smartphones in order to be used, which eliminates over half of cell phone users. They also require users to take the time to scan and interpret the code, which many users may not be inclined to do. Also, users have to engage with the quick response codes when they find them; they cannot write them down and investigate them later. Overall, QR Codes are useful for complementing other types of advertising, but they shouldn’t be relied upon as primary marketing methods.

SMS/MMS

Shorts Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) marketing have recently begun to be used to connect with cell phone users, regardless of the type of phone they have. Because most people in the United States and Europe have cell phones, the amount of people able to be reached by SMS campaigns is vast. Users have to opt in, however, which means that advertisers must provide a useful service to attract sign-ups. Mobile Question and Answer services make use of SMS advertising to generate revenue and, in return, provide users with the information they desire. The youth market is especially receptive to SMS and MMS advertising, because text messaging is extremely prevalent among children and teenagers. Many cell phone users, especially those over 30, do not rely as heavily on text messaging, and can be either unresponsive or react negatively to repeated text advertisements.

The advanced in the cell phone industry allow for many new, interesting marketing and social media marketing techniques to be used. Though they each have some drawbacks, both QR Codes and SMS/MMS marketing can make good additions to other advertising campaigns. By knowing the strengths and weaknesses, as well as their best uses, marketers can put these technologies to use and increase user engagement and generate a wealth of information about consumers.

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Mobile Marketing – QR Codes and SMS

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