Wondering how to get started with QR codes? Our guide showing the marketing applications and campaign examples
QR Code Billboard
As Smart Phones and Smart Phone Apps increase in usage we're seeing a lot more interest in how to use QR codes (also known as 2D barcodes or mobile tagging) as a part of the marketing mix. This in-depth discussion on how to use QR codes for marketing on our Smart Insights Linked In Group is an example of this interest.
Late last year Nielsen predicted that smart phones will be the dominant device by the end of 2011, so there's certainly a reason to be taking this area more seriously.
What are QR codes?
Firstly, in case you're not 100% clear on what QR codes…
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27 Jan 2011
An introduction to user testing reviewing 3 options from Skoda to Porsche to Rolls-Royce?
No matter whether you work for your yourself, within a start-up business with 1 member of staff or you work at a multi-national blue-chip corporation, understanding your customers is one of the key ingredients to making your business and proposition work.
From lead generation and e-commerce websites to web applications and intranets, user testing is one of the most powerful, insightful and actionable techniques you can use. You move beyond thinking of your website/app/intranet from your own perspective to seeing how people who aren"€™t involved in your business browse, experience and interact with it.
From my experience user testing should very much be on the agenda for all businesses, for a number of reasons explained within this article. Critically, where user testing used to be considered an expensive, luxury service for only big businesses, new tools and techniques have…
Using web video has become one of the fastest growing digital tools available to marketers - up 37% year-on-year in the UK.
Of course, when we think web video marketing, we naturally think of YouTube and YouTube are keen for you to advertise within You Tube through new approaches such as Video Targeting and Promoted Videos for You Tube.
But the idea behind this post is to look at other options for using video too. In particular, it has proved to be very effective in raising conversion rates for all types of company. For example, see how eretailers are using video for merchandising.
So, In this post, I present a guide of steps towards developing a strategy to using video for marketing.
Step…
We love this book, Get Content. Get Customers by Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett because content is at the heart of today's marketing and it does a fantastic job of explaining the why and the how of online content marketing.
The authors advice is summarised in the top 10 content marketing lessons which we review at the end of this post.
If you need to push content up the agenda in your organisation, and many need this, then we definitely recommend this book, but with one caveat we give at the end of this review.
I think it succeeds because it blends both practical, structured advice on creating a content strategy, plus many small, but specific case studies from many sectors to inspire you to develop a content strategy.
The B.E.S.T. formula
As an example of the structured practical guidance, we liked this formula for creating a content marketing roadmap. B.E.S.T stands…
In this interview which accompanies my other posts on trends and predictions for 2010, I interview Ian Truscott, Vice-President of Web Content Management at Alterian.
My interview explores trends in content management and practical ideas for improving engagement - I liked Ian's reference to the concept of "Smart content" - much content on corporate sites still doesn't have the context of categories and tags commonly used in blogs.
You can also read Ian's views on trends in engagement through content on the Engaging Times blog where Ian and other Alterian bloggers share their views on emerging trends on content management.
Marketing trends influencing content
Q1. Ian, what do you see as the broader trends in marketing today which affect the needs marketers have for managing content?
[Ian Truscott, Alterian] In the midst of a digital revolution, we are…
Why the list?
Many marketers on Twitter are still relatively new to it, and like me have the challenge of needing to keep up-to-date across the whole of digital marketing.
So, I wrote this post at the start of 2009 to show who I think is really worthwhile following, i.e. there is a good signal to noise ratio focusing on insights which help me learn about the latest developments or best practice. I've updated it in 2010 to include others I now regularly follow.
My recommendations on who to follow are categorised across all the the different areas of online marketing shown in the diagram below based on who I have found useful to follow to keep me up-to-date, advance my knowledge. Generally I have just included real people rather than publishers or information sites that just push updates and don't interact.
I hope you find my tweets useful too! - I try to act…
We all know that web copywriting needs to be brief to be effective (although AB testing will sometimes prove otherwise...). But if you are a marketer experienced in writing copy for print or direct mail, in which other ways should you change your style? In this interview, Anne Caborn of digital consultancy CDA takes us through the main issues experienced print copywriters need to consider.
Anne Caborn is co-founder and director of Content Delivery & Analysis, a strategic digital consultancy.
Q1. 1. What are the main differences in successfully writing for web compared with print
[Answer: Anne Caborn, Co-Founder Content Delivery & Analysis]
There are a number of key differences but there are two critical ones when you"€™re talking about web (as opposed to email). The first is you are having a conversation online. It"€™s auditory both…
