Location, Location, Location
There’s an old saying in real estate – homes are valued by location, location, location. Now online marketing might also be all about location, location, location, thanks to something known as a QR code.
A QR code is like one of those bar codes you see on every product nowadays – except it contains more information and it can be photographed by a camera. When the camera happens to be in a mobile phone, the magic begins. The camera scans the code and the information is entered into the phone in a readable format.
In Japan, where the QR code was invented and has been standardized, QR codes have proliferated. People are commonly seen pointing their phones at them. An Australian blogger on a trip to Japan noticed QR codes virtually everywhere – on subway posters, drink cups, food wrappers, t-shirt tags, etc. – and he snapped some photos, which you can check out here. The point is that QR codes have been integrated into Japanese consumers’ daily lives. They bridge the gap between the consumer and a marketer via a simple, automated mobile connection.
Are we on the verge of a similar QR revolution in the United States? Not quite yet, but it’s coming. Google is pushing QR codes to increase usage of its local business directory. In December, the company, says Erick Schonfeld in TechCrunch, sent out window stickers with QR codes to the most-searched for local businesses in the US. Consumers with a phone that can read QR codes can scan a window sticker and it will call up a Google Mobile local directory page, providing such information as a map, phone number, address, directions, reviews, and a link to the store’s website. To promote usage, Google gave away 40,000 QR code reader applications for the iPhone (the app is available for $1.99). Other apps, some free, are available for the iPhone and Android phones.
This is just the beginning of what could be a market-driven local engagement initiative by mobile and social media marketers alike. Gina Trapani of FastCompany noticed that the QR code was included on every attendee’s badge at the recent South by SouthWest conference. She thinks that Facebook’s current experimentation with profile or status QR code generation on fan pages could fuel wide-spread adoption if it becomes a reality.
QR codes, GPS, and related location-driven technologies have even bigger implications for location marketing. A recent Ad Age report suggests that the real breakthrough is when “every website and service will be able to tell where you are, opening up the floodgates for location-based marketing…” Ad Age cites such futuristic occurrences as receiving an ad for a Starbucks on your mobile phone when you’re just a few blocks from a Starbucks, or discovering that a nearby store has a product you want to buy at the very moment you want to buy it.
Kip Cassino, VP-research at Borrell Associates, an agency specializing in local advertising, tells Ad Age: “What used to be called point-of-purchase is now called mobile advertising. Mobile can be an extension of a retailer’s storefront.”
And then, of course, there’s the social aspect of location marketing, where friends tell friends about where they are, what they’re doing, and whether an establishment is worthy of a visit. That’s where Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and others come into play.
Location marketing is something every online marketer should be watching very closely – no matter what location they’re in.
