The 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing Blog

QR Code Marketing and Advertising Tips, Ideas, and Strategies for Internet Marketing June 2, 2011 – 1:37 pm				Asif Anwar

There are very few things that connect the real world with the digital world and QR Codes are one of them. There are several QR Codes scanners available for your mobile phones and handheld devices that will help you to generate a certain call-to-action. Previously, you had to wait for print media to generate traffic for your site. However, with QR codes, this can stimulate quick responses from your potential customers. Again, the use of QR codes are not limited to print media as it has several other uses.

What are QR Codes and What Can you do with it?

QR Codes, or Quick Response Codes are 2D barcodes. The traditional barcodes you see with zebra stripes are really 1D barcodes. The name Quick Response itself tells you that they are used for generating quick responses for various devices, including mobile devices and smartphones. The pixilated square barcode is capable of generating various functions, that are defined by the mobile devices. Some of the things you can do are:

• Send an event invitation with the ability to save ICS event file in your mobile phone
• Send contact information to save them on your mobile phone
• Use mailto: tags to send email immediately
• Send information about a specific location or any maps app your phone uses
• Allow people to call a number in a snap, instead of having them to type in your long digit numbers
• Automatically generate an SMS message/template to be sent to another mobile device
• Show specific text, hidden text, or coupon codes in your mobile
• Get instant connection to an WIFI network
• And last but not least, push the scanner to a specific URL

Please click to learn more. See here for a list of various QR Code Scanner Apps for smartphones. Most are free.

Getting Ready for QR Code Marketing

Google has been providing it”s chart API for QR Codes for free and it has been the best source for marketing for many businesses using the QR Codes. There are some free online tools to generate QR codes, which actually uses the QR Code Chart by Google Chart API. You can find them by googling “QR code generator”.  To make the QR Code marketing to work for you, your business, and your site, you need to get some things working properly to get the most out of it.

• Make sure you have valid contact mechanisms
• Make sure your QR code is not too complex and contains too much information.  If your code is complex it will generate comparatively smaller pixels and many QR scanners on lower quality smartphone may not be able to read it properly
• If you are using coupon codes, make sure they are properly working
• If you are pushing the QR scanner to a specific URL, make sure the URL is properly working
• Prepare a proper URL from Google URL Builder to make scanning activity trackable in Google Analytics. This usually adds an extra tracking parameter at the end of your URL immediately followed by question mark (“?”). So, your URL can contain parameters like: campaign source, campaign medium, campaign term, campaign content, campaign name or any other custom parameter
• If you are using the Google URL builder, also make sure you have canonical meta in place for the site. This will help your site to fight duplicate content problems
• You can also get an easy to memorize short URL from bitly or other traffic tracking URL shortening tools
• You can automate the use of QR codes using Google Chat API and embed the code on your webpage using permalinks or the URL structure on your site or blog. Here is an article on how you can do it
• Test your QR code to see whether it is working properly  using various QR Code readers and on various devices and also make sure it can be tracked in your web analytics tool.

Print Media to Business QR Code Strategy

Most of the QR Code marketing experts will suggest you tips, strategies, and idea on using QR Codes for your printed marketing materials. Because, the best utility of QR codes is it’s ability to connect print and digital media through your smartphone. QR codes are a great way to generate traffic for your site through yellow pages, billboard, business cards, and print ads.

Here are some examples of print media where you can use QR codes:

• Business Cards: Download business card or point to the URL on your site where business card can be downloaded or a featured video or promo can be played in mobile.
• Billboard: You can direct people to a site or shop via QR Code on a billboard. Here is a good article: How to Turn Your Billboard into an Interactive Marketing Campaign and Measure ROI
• Newspaper/Magazine Ads: If your are  advertising in a newspaper or magazine, wouldn’t it be nice if you can show your newspaper audience a video advert in your mobile website? You can do this with QR Codes.
• Newspaper/Magazine Articles: Making your voice heard and allowing comments in print media is a hard task. However, at the end of each article in newspaper and magazine, you can print the QR code to make them go to the URL of the article and help them to make comments on the online article and make them more engaging.
• T-Shirts and Promotional Souvenirs: If you give away promotional souvenirs, then it’d be nice to have QR codes on them with call to action messages.
• Various other print media: The use of QR Codes in print media are boundless. Use your creativity in making your print media audience visit your site.

Cross Device Audience Transfer Strategy with QR Code

Aside from print, QR Codes work with digital screens, be it small or as large as a billboard.  You can help your visitors to transfer content to their mobile phones or other handheld devices from any other devices. You can help them land on the same URL through the page they see on Desktop/Laptop screen. If you have a recipe site, it’ll be very convenient for your visitors to transfer your visitors to the same page in mobile, because it’s very convenient to move around with your mobile instead of laptop.

You can also help your audience to read your content in multiple devices by posting a QR code at the top, bottom, or sidebar of any article online. You can also encourage them to engage any content with other mobile applications.  You can also send the audience of Interactive TV Ads to your site. If American Idol would use QR codes to send SMS template with QR codes on TV screen, then voting would be a snap.

In the future, devices will be more mobile. And more services in clouds. You will have more portability and mobility of everything. QR codes can also play a great role in making you jump from one device to another. When your smartphone browsers become more advanced with JavaScript, then there are endless possibilities of what QR codes can do.

QR Code Bookmarking Strategy

The web is getting stuffed with so much information these days. People are overwhelmed with more information than they can consume.  So, they have even less time for many things. For those quick surfers, you need a mechanism to make them stay with your site, even if they don’t have much time. Bookmarking strategy with QR codes is a great way, and will ensure future traffic for your site. You can have the QR codes printed in your site, shop, promotional media, and business location with proper messages encouraging the QR scanners to bookmark your site.

These messages should represented with respective QR codes to generate proper call to action. Instead of allowing your visitor memorize a long URL, you can help them to bookmark even deeper and specific link on your site.

Place or Large Physical Product to Site or Contact Strategy

QR codes can be on any place or large physical products (e.g. cars) that are for sale or at any point of sale location. Usually to guide people to some information on the place or products – QR codes are interactive and can help people to make contact or visit a website from a specific location.

Property to Site with QR Codes

Like all other display products, property is a great place where you can advertise your site. It is very convenient for people coming in taking a snap on a QR code that makes them visit your site. Moreover, if you have a real estate bidding site, it’s better to have people visit the property listing. And this also can be a good idea for traditional marketing for your property auction site.

Tourist Place to Travel Site with QR Codes

If you have information rich travel site, you can engage people in travel destination to get travel information, maps, DYI guide, and various other information on your site. As you spread to more destinations, the greater traffic you’ll have for your travel site.

Shop to Site with QR Codes

If your shopping site is more interactive than your physical store, then it is convenient for your shop visitors to get more info and interact with your products online. Or maybe if you don’t have any product in inventory, they also can see the products you sell and can get availability alert.

Convert Window Shopping to Online Shopping

Window shopping one of the great advertisement media and has been around for a very long time. Add a touch of interactiveness to the window shopping of your potential customers with QR codes. You can help them to buy online even if they don’t have time to shop at your store.

Use your creativity to find various ways you can advertise your site on any place or large physical products. Usually, try to seek what type of utility would help a person to purchase a product from a specific location and how can the information and interaction with your site can help you potential customer.

Facebook Page Promotion with QR Codes

Facebook Marketing is great way to connect your audience, create brand value, and engage with your customers. Now-a-days, there are many strategies to increase your fan-base and QR codes can be one of them. People that visit your shop, window shops, and/or engaged with your business location – are more likely to be your fans. By directing the audience with QR Codes placed in various locations or one prominent location, you can increase the fans for your Facebook Page. With QR codes, direct them to this location: http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.facebook.com/Your-Page-URL

If you ❤ us

Then also like us in Facebook

Or you can create a multi-functional mobile sites where people can also become page fans, follow you on Twitter, and interact with other social web apps. You can also offer some special discount, coupon codes or freebies which visitors can get access to by paying with a tweet for your business or a like on your Facebook page.

Word of Mouth Sale Strategy with QR Codes

“Hey! Where did you buy it from?” is perhaps the commonly asked question by everyone when they find a cool product. And the oral answer to this question might point to a domain name, but the answer very rarely points to any specific page on the site where the product can be purchased.  QR codes can very effectively help in this for Word of Mouth marketing strategy to point to more specific deeper links and/or encourage effective engagement.

Credit Note: Photo Credit is available on QR Code

QR Codes on Product Labels, Tags, Packages

In word of mouth marketing, information spreads from mouth to mouth. But, you can make it more interactive with QR Codes in product labels, tags or Packages. This will help your potential buyer to get more information about the product or make a purchase online from your mobile site or from desktop.

Buyer to Shop with QR Code

Referral QR Codes on product labels can also point to the location of your store or contact information to encourage word of mouth marketing. For referred customers, you can use QR codes on product label and redirect to them to a page where they can get coupon codes, get direction to come to the store, and/or purchase online.

The QR code marketing tips, strategies, and ideas mentioned in this article is just a tip of the iceberg on what you can do with QR Codes to increase visitors and sales through your site or business location. You can be more creative on gathering more QR code marketing tips, ideas, and strategies based on these strategies or other innovative strategies.

Have fun with these QR code marketing tips & strategies and happy marketing.

Posted by Asif Anwar
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing | 10 Comments »
Tags: Barcode, Billboard, Business Card, Cross Device Audience Transfer, Facebook Page Marketing, Internet Marketing with QR Codes, Magazine Ads, Magazine Articles, mobile advertising, Mobile Applications, mobile apps, Mobile Marketing, Newspaper Ads, Newspaper Articles, Print Media, QR Codes, QR Codes Advertising, QR Codes Marketing, traditional marketing, Word of Mouth

appMobi Not A Passing Cloud Developer June 1, 2011 – 5:06 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

appMobi is a cloud-based mobile service platform that offers strong value for small businesses looking to integrate mobile marketing into corporate strategy.  Mobile marketing includes the creation of smartphone applications by mobile developers and presence of their support systems.  These applications get integrated across smartphones and tablets.  Gaming software has really exploded with this open architecture.  appMobi has generated a strong ecosystem for mobile technology, but they are not done with innovation.    

appMobi utilizes the web development standards of HTML5 and Javascript in order to expedite software deployment.  They believe that this will accentuate push messaging, which is the option of fresh content initially subscribed by the customer being revealed when they opt-in with an application.  In layman’s terms, you are looking at a sports application on your Android smartphone. You have your favorite team preferences logged into your account.  Push messaging procures pop-up messages to signify fresh content updated in real-time. For those who are conferencing through their smartphone either through voice or chat, this is a great feature.  Over time, this technology will prove advantageous to brands who look to capitalize with PPC and  various online advertising. They can properly segment their subscriber bases to increase engagement.

appMobi also is looking to improve the measurement of mobile analytics.  Desktop analytics, although far from perfect, have programs that can measure relevant metrics to determine an angle of consumer behavior.  We know about them. appMobi wants to integrate mobile statistics into desktop dashboards. appMobi is exploring some ideas. One of them is by improving the mobile resolution display through the deployment of a WC3 compliance weblog.  Once this weblog has the ability to validate new measurements, then we can see the effects of touch, augmented reality, and QR codes on strategy.

Over the air updates and mobile payments (one-touch) are two of the other cloud services in which appMobi is developing to improve cross platform application performance. Mobile payments are entering a period of stronger development and their transition into public behavior looms on the horizon. You can learn more about appMobi by following this link.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, blog, Interactive Marketing, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing, web development | No Comments »
Tags: application design, application development, appmobi news, Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency, new york interactive marketing agency

Skype Voices The Middle East Spring Protocol June 1, 2011 – 2:48 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

The newswire has flashed stories of internet communication’s impact on global developments.  Social media has been utilized to create support communities in the light of natural disasters.  These support communities share meeting locations, access to goods, and topics of discussion.  The recent dissident springs in the Middle East have spotlighted the mechanizations of a popular communicative software.  As this story displays, an ecosystem could be developing which affects speech first, then discourse into the present and future. Third-party software developers have created applications in this vein.

A feature in today’s Wall Street Journal talks about how Skype has been utilized as a tool for dissenting parties.  Many citizens know of Skype as the software to execute free and low-cost international calls over a live Internet wire.  Youth groups in Egypt cite its effectiveness in leveraging their movement to topple the Mubarak regime.  Skype was designed with a high level of security encryption, making it a fortuitous dissident tool.  The web application runs multiple calls through one computer. Other nations in the region, however, are making efforts to block certain content with negative sentiment, then store said content in government records.  Smaller technology firms like Gamma and HackingTeam have developed programs to circumvent those firewalls. Law enforcement agencies are sitting back to accept all offers.

The interesting development is where the benchmark lies in future regional conflicts. We are seeing the convergence of public and private elements with interactive marketing, an embryonic, largely public forum.  These energies are testing censorship, especially in the voice communication sector.  Research In Motion has run into conflict with Middle Eastern and Indian government bodies for maintaining proprietary control worldwide of their user storage content, despite being in Canada.  They seem to have the customer’s interest in mind when it comes to protecting intellectual property.  With Microsoft’s purchase of Skype, it will be interesting to see which strategy they pursue when it comes to data storage.  As a leader in business software technology, the private sector would welcome some data storage protection. What are your thoughts?

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, blog, Business News, Click Fraud, Marketing, Mobile Applications | No Comments »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, click fraud agency, digital marketing agency, Social Media Marketing

Mobile Payment Sector Zaps Up Currency May 25, 2011 – 4:32 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

This summer, the banking industry and technology companies look to help consumers move around. Their money, that is. I spoke a few weeks back about the seismic shift in activity. The intensity is stronger from many angles over the past couple days. The mobile payment sector has built itself through small companies producing site platforms to hold beginning applications.  Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, believes the mobile marketplace is seeing the revolution come to pass.  In this piece from Financial Times, he talks about the changes in depth.  

PayPal has been a steady performing company for years with the stewardship of eBay.  The revenues have tripled since 2005, making them the market leader of mobile payments.

Google has announced the release of an application that will allow consumers to make purchases with a wave of their mobile device. Tablets are also eligible to make payments with participating retailers.  Google is taking on the leader of daily e-commerce coupons, Groupon, with a new coupon service.

According to this piece in the Journal, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and J.P. Morgan Chase are the banks looking to launch a  mobile payment system where customers send money from checking accounts to merchants with a phone number or email system.

This shift could be a watershed for e-commerce retailers who do not have existing debt in brick-and-mortar venues.  It could also intensify security encryption for personal data. Stay zapped.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, blog, Business News, eCommerce, Interactive Marketing, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency, Mobile Marketing, mobile marketing agency

True Venture Stories For Marketing CRM, By L. Carlson May 17, 2011 – 5:04 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

This morning, I briefly discussed the emergence of a telecommunications cloud company named Intelepeer. Intelepeer recently submitted an IPO to leverage their valuation for future investment into cloud technology. Intelepeer works with corporate partners to integrate service allowing IP-based communication using rich media, chat, and text among other options. This flexibility to transfer content over traditional telephone network grids will attract marketing agencies.

Once marketers and advertisers have their interests piqued, they need to investigate their venture potential. Will we gain a significant improvement in sales after investing capital in a prospective customer? Can these new software applications efficiently validate the subscription model? Are metrics such as lead scoring effective measurements in a CRM solutions campaign?

My industry colleague, Lauren Carlson, specializes in answering these questions for venture capitalists. She gathered metrics from several sources to generate an extensive report. This piece contains substantial graphs and data to outline which marketing automation firms receive funding. You will also see reports that spotlight the principal stats of several firms next to industry leaders (SAP, Oracle) to explain the correlation between investment and earning potential.

Marketing automation solutions seek credibility from certain industries. The beliefs in its CRM potential to maximize profit in the future are growing positively. Investors must look forward with a deeper perspective than the traditional demands of immediate sales benchmarks. Lauren investigates the necessity to invest wholeheartedly with marketing automation right here.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, blog, Business News, CRM, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, CRM, crm news, crm solutions news, digital marketing agency, lauren carlson, marketing crm solutions

IntelePeer Floats Under The Radar May 17, 2011 – 9:15 am				Abdul Fattah Ismail

The technology world has been under the microscope of large investors. Since the end of last year, venerable firms like JP MorganChase and Goldman have been making valuations on large technology players seeking initial public offerings. It is unclear whether these valuations are accurate. It is also uncertain the effects of a public venture on firms accustomed to innovating digital discourse without a financial benchmark. This week, the professional social media network LinkedIn made its long expected filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Another company, despite its name, floats above the radar.

IntelePeer filed its own initial public offering six days ago to little fanfare except with employees and savvy investors. Lined with a strong investor backing, the cloud communications company looks to raise over $100 million in common stock to fund new ventures. Intelepeer offers voice peering services for cable, VoIP, internet communications (email, chat, instant messaging) along with other digital instruments.

One big advantage that could catapult IntelePeer as a sleeper is the integration of live streaming video. Live streaming video is crucial to support rich media applications for online video advertising campaigns. As I mentioned yesterday, the development of rich media technology is crucial to sync content across mobile marketing channels. Cisco, the leading videoconferencing tech firm, has taken a hit in the marketplace on failed bets with consumer goods. Intelepeer has approximately 45% of its 2010 sales in Sprint and Qwest. If the firm invests into working capital proficiently to improve corporate sales, a windfall could stand at the end of an investor rainbow. More than a windfall, Intelepeer would gain credibility in the growing marketplace for Internet voice telecommunications.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, blog, Business News, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, crm news, crm solutions agency, digital marketing agency nyc, new york interactive marketing agency

Directory Publishers Text To Engage May 16, 2011 – 1:19 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

This year has seen mobile marketing strategies branch out into more illustrative properties, like video and rich media.  Rich media has become a hotter commodity in online advertising. It delivers campaigns between devices and platforms due to its dexterity, which improves brand engagement with customers.  Advertising executives also get a unified report of metrics, improving forecasting along with simplifying creative strategy.  As this article in Mobile Marketer Daily points out, SMS marketing hasn’t crashed.  

SMS marketing was used to accent television programming participation over the past five years.  American Idol used SMS marketing for engaging young fans who spent copious time on their mobile devices.  Sports programming also offered SMS marketing strategies to have fans participate in All-Star Voting for exclusive deals.  Names and Numbers, a telephone directory publisher based out of Kansas, has this idea. They are offering their customers mobile marketing via a mobile network.  The idea is to unify local businesses and consumers.

The tactic is a simple method to get attention in a clutter of images and goofy peer dialogue. For some folks, a text from a business or corporation feels unnerving. An opt out clause is always critical and must be featured on every SMS marketing pitch to avoid customer relationship fiascos.  Out of personal experience, I have had Sprint engage me about news and promotions through SMS messaging. I opt out every time by simply typing END.  In the MMD article, comScore reports that 68.1% of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile devices in January.  Merchants can manage their databases in real-time since engagement is immediate.

That immediacy, though, cuts the other way more often.  It’ll be interesting to see beyond the conversion rates where SMS marketing drives metrics.  Click on the green cloud for more mobile marketing news today.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, blog, Digital Media, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency nyc, mobile marketer daily, mobile marketing agency

Experience the HTC Flyer. Available Today. May 13, 2011 – 11:54 am				Mohsin Sharief

HTC, a leading innovative mobile company has formally entered the tablet market with the launch of the HTC Flyer™. The Flyer will be available starting May 13th. The Flyers is equipped with natural touch and pen interaction features and are available in both Wi-Fi and combined 3G / Wi-Fi models.

The HTC Flyer is a portable, 7-inch tablet that will use Android’s Gingerbread OS. Weighing in as little as a paperback book and cased with sleek aluminum, the stylish HTC Flyer features a lightning fast 1.5GHz processor and high-speed wireless capabilities. It will have 1GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, as well has an expansion slot for MicroSD memory card.

The HTC Sense experience is focused on surprising and delighting people with its gorgeous 3D home screen. A unique carousel of widgets puts a user’s most important content and information at the visual center of the experience. The HTC Flyer tablet also offers uncompromised Web browsing with Flash 10 and HTML 5 capabilities.

Touch interaction rounds up the HTC Flyer experience and comes with a groundbreaking pen experience. A feature called “Timemark” enables you to capture the audio of a meeting in line with your written notes, so tapping on a word in your notes instantly takes you to that exact place in time in the audio recording of the meeting. Notes are also integrated with the calendar so when there is an appointment reminder set, you are automatically prompted with an opportunity to begin a new note or in the case of recurring meetings, to continue where the last meeting left off.

With the new HTC Scribe Technology, people can rediscover the natural act of writing and from creating masterpieces with a stroke of a brush. HTC Scribe Technology introduces a wave of integrated digital ink innovations that make it easy and natural to take notes, sign contracts, draw pictures, or even write on a web page or photo.

The HTC Flyer tablet premieres HTC Watch, HTC’s new video download service. The HTC Watch service enables low-cost, on-demand progressive downloading of hundreds of High-Definition movies from major studios. Advanced technology on the back end enables instant playback over the HTC Flyer.

From 13th May, HTC Flyer will be available in the following territories, both in-store and through HTC.com: UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.
As of now, there is still no official price in the U.S. but it is already available for pre-order from Amazon and will be available by May 27.

EXPERIENCE HTC SENSE

Posted by Mohsin Sharief
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, blog, Business News, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »
Tags: 3G, 7-inch tablet, android, Android tablet, big display, Browsing, family, fast, HTC, HTC Flyer, htc sense, HTC tablet pc, mobile, Pen, portable, sleek design, tablet, Wi-Fi

Book Industry Turns The Digital Page May 12, 2011 – 5:30 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

This week in London, the inaugural World E-Reading Congress met to discuss the state of books in a digital age.  As we know, the print market has been in turmoil for years.  The conference taking place in London was befitting since some of the most seminal stories in Western Civilization were created between those shires.  Paidcontent.org had several publishing executives talk about how information is flowing through multiple devices.  They also held seminars to discuss interactive marketing strategies for a new generation.

It will involve a different methodology of storytelling.  You wonder if parents will be able to read with their children off of an Amazon Kindle or iPad at bedtime.  Primary school teachers who nurtured the art of penmanship complemented with illustration must develop new strategies for engaging young minds.  Will literacy develop a wider class gap in correlation with access to new tech equipment?  

A second topic discussed involved the general operations of the book publishing industry.  We have seen corporations with e-commerce stores enter bidding wars on book price scaling. Authors have eliminated agents by self-publishing novels before they are distributed in print among declining book hubs. Licensors worry about intellectual property rights being infringed upon, not to mention piracy.  Internet giants like Amazon are also creating original content for publishing.

Executives are clearly losing sleep these days. HarperCollins’ international CEO Victoria Barnsley wonders about web developers entering the industry, especially titans with social media tendons. She also wonders this:  ”Can publishers replace their lost revenues from physical through digital sales? The answer is probably ‘no’, unless they can significantly lower volumes.”

Web applications for tablets and smartphones get mixed reviews so far, but their maturation as a commodity will allow publishers to scale for subscriptions.  Lenders can also, as mentioned, assure that encryption is mandated to protect the integrity of business relationships in which so many people latch onto in the sector.  These are fast times for Publishing High.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, blog, eCommerce, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency nyc, ecommerce development agency nyc, social media marketing agency, social media news

2012 Blockbuster: The Mobile Payment Effect May 9, 2011 – 9:06 am				Abdul Fattah Ismail

Earlier in the last decade, Mastercard gamely tried to push the PayPass, a touch-payment system using your credit card or keychain. Certain subway stations along the 6 line in New York accept the PayPass.  Yet, advertisers didn’t quite catch on with the campaign.  With the advent of smartphone technology, telecommunication giants are setting the tone for a society that doesn’t carry any form of plastic.  In this report from Ad Age Digital, the revolution is turning to your transaction. Mobile-payment venture firm Isis is in negotiations with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to start a strong marketing push in 2012.  The objective is to turn mobile phones as the source of identification and unit of currency.  

Chip developers have produced one called near-field communication that will store user identification such as debit cards and loyalty memberships.  Users of Isis will check into a store, privately.  By private, this means that no public posts will reach geolocation services like Foursquare, Gowalla, and Places.  Then the user will touch their smartphone next to shelf-talkers in the aisle to showcase featured coupons.  When you reach the register, you tap the smartphone next to the receiver tab to pay for the order. It sounds simple, but catches exist.

The advertising initiatives will look to spread awareness for a public who could grow concerned with security encryption. Campaigns must ensure the integrity of data encryption especially in light of the Sony Playstation fiasco.  Credible retailers must also jump on board.  You still have thousands of business that only accept cash as tender of transaction. It’s hard to believe that significant leaps to mobile payment will occur for this demographic.

Mobile payments have a chance to revolutionize the advertising industry.  Their access to consumer data will be unprecedented. I just wonder how soon will society warm up to the premise.  This movement could be the last hurdle to a world where privacy truly does not exist.  Click through.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing, blog, Business News, Marketing, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing agency nyc, mobile applications news, Mobile Marketing, mobile marketing agency new york, new york interactive marketing agency