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NFC and QR Code Smart Posters for Location Based Marketing.


Smart Poster Location Based QR Code Marketing and Near Field Communication:  QR Codes and NFC (Near Field Communication) Smart Posters to add value to your proposition. Engage, entertain and above all offer value. Use these tools to engage your prospects and get them to participate in loyalty schemes, deliver discount coupons and promotional offers.


The marketing and advertising world is rapidly changing as more and more people turn to mobile devices as their preferred choice of buying products and connecting with brands and organisations. We live in a world in which soon NFC Smart Phones or Smart Phones with QR Code scanners linked to Smart Posters and point of sale will change the way we access marketing and advertising messages and interact with retailers and service companies. Loyalty services including discount coupons and promotional offers delivered to a Smart Phone from an NFC or QR Code Smart Poster offer the possibility of overcoming the limitations and challenges of marketing traditional loyalty programs. With a QR Code or NFC Smart Poster solution, companies can showcase their products or services more effectively by enabling consumers to interact with a loyalty program and to be rewarded wherever they are and whenever they want to interact with the brand or organisation. The consumer reacts with the Brand and ‘pulls’ information a far better alternative to the Brand or organisation that is constantly ‘pushing’ marketing messages to unreceptive consumers. This ‘pull’ strategy is a good example of Seth Godin’s Permission Based Marketing. The consumer will give an organisation or brand permission to communicate with them simply by holding their Smart Phone in close proximity to an NFC Tag imbedded in a Smart Poster or scanning a QR Code printed on a Quick Response Code enabled Smart Poster and the connection is immediate.  We are living in a world where people demand instant access to products, information and more importantly these day’s deals and discounts. If your brand or organisation is not ready to communicate with consumers where and when they wish to engage with you are missing out. If you are in business you realise the lifetime value of a customer, and that customer acquisition can be an expensive process. Smart Poster location based marketing using NFC Technology or QR Codes is a far better marketing alternative than the outdated mass marketing scattergun approach, blasting unreceptive consumers is intrusive. Consumers have become oblivious to these marketing strategies and companies must realise engagement not alienation is the key to successful marketing. E-mail marketing once the holy grail of mass marketing is no longer as powerful as it used to be, spam has put an end to much of the value.

The user experience of a Smart Phone discount, loyalty and vouchering program is compelling. Consider a discount promotion in which consumers receive a notification from the Smart Poster to their Smart Phone that a coupon, discount or promotional offer is available to them. They tap their NFC Smart Phone or scan the QR Code, the app opens and the discount coupon which appears on their Smart Phone screen.


Consumers can then go to the company, to their physical location or website and cash in their Coupon using the app on their Smart Phone. This contactless technology allows data exchange from the customer’s Smart Phone to the company’s loyalty program.


Instead of having paper-based vouchers or offers stuck in a bureau, car or handbag, Smart Phone Technology delivered voucher are instantly available on a consumer’s Smart Phone. In fact, the device can remind a user that an offer is about to terminate. As Proximity Marketing using NFC or QR Codes become more widely available, the application can also alert users from a Smart Poster when they are in proximity to a store where they have an active offer pending. Former RFID Proximity Marketing initiatives using Bluetooth Technology that ‘pushed’ offers at consumers were intrusive.

This type of Location based marketing has already demonstrated value to companies. A Harris Interactive survey, found that one-third of Americans who are currently signed up for mobile marketing alerts indicate that such services influence their buying decisions, and 27 percent report that such mobile marketing programs have influenced their buying decisions in physical retail locations. Smart Posters using NFC and Quick Response Code can be very influential in new customer acquisitions, fostering loyalty programmes and Brand recognition; QR Codes and Near Field Communication will make it easier for consumers to communicate with Brands and brands to interactively engage consumers



The QR Code/NFC Smart Poster Value Proposition


The value proposition that retailers offer to their Smart Phone consumers can then be dramatically improved with Smart Poster Web Based Management Software. By understanding consumer needs and preferences in more detail, organisations can invite consumers to ‘pull’ offers in a timely way. They can develop a more comprehensive view of how, when and where a consumer is interacting with the Brand, away from a physical location or a website. This enables a company to leverage predictive analytics to reveal consumer trends and tendencies which can be used to encourage more frequent visits and purchases.

 


Location Based Marketing: Using QR Codes and NFC to connect with social media platforms.


Integration with social media is another innovative and important aspect of the Smart Poster Location Based Marketing system. There are tools like the “social listening tool,” which mines specific websites to see what customers are saying about an organisation or Brand, then matching that information against general customer segments to reveal trends in perceptions about products and services. It’s a way for companies to harness the chatter on social media sites to their advantage. The Smart Poster Web based Management Software has the capability to track its promotions they can see when and where their marketing messages are received. The retailer can also monitor social networking chat, see how often an offer is then mentioned on sites such as Facebook—then watch the click-through rates. This helps the company see how effectively its customers are marketing on the company’s behalf and encourage customers to foster Brand awareness.


 

Smart Phone apps and dedicated Mobile Web Pages are the future of Mobile Marketing.


NFC (Near Field Communication) and QR Code applications are also an important part of the mix. At their best, such apps are more than just opportunities to sell more products. They need to be resources that people will want to return to for information. For example, the Best Buy app for the iPhone shows detailed information about products a customer is interested in, as well as user reviews. We will sure see many apps developed for Google’s Android OS Gingerbread that powers Smart Phones like the new Samsung Nexus S.  One of major new features of Android 2.3.3 is NFC (Near Field Communication) development capabilities. Google felt that the functionality wasn’t comprehensive enough for developers when they released Android 2.3 in December. With the latest update developers now have a new set of API’s, which they can communicate with different NFC standards.

 


Contactless Payments


Integrated NFC or QR Code contactless payments are critical as well. The actual transaction can take place either by using a Smart Phone as an equivalent to a credit card or wallet—payments are taken directly. A determined push is being made by credit card companies to foster adoption of contactless payments. We have also seen retailers and companies in the financial sectors printing QR Codes on invoices that direct users to specially created mobile web pages that allow them to effortlessly settle their accounts from their mobile devices. This is just another example of how these emerging technologies can make people’s lives easier.


 

A Satisfying Consumer Experience


A Smart Poster rewards program can deliver a more satisfying experience for participating consumers. Most loyalty participants rarely know their loyalty points balance except on the day they receive a letter or monthly e-mail update, and then the process of looking through catalogues or trawling through pages on a Website to consider redemptions is tedious.


With an NFC or QR Code loyalty program, on the other hand, it’s easy. Consumers simply check their real-time points balance from their Smart Phone. Then they pull up the catalogue on their Smart Phone screen, browse through available products and services, and redeem their loyalty points with a few easy clicks on the Smart Phone. Delivery is processed immediately. Easier for the consumer, and for the company as well, which now has less need to print and distribute expensive catalogues.

 


Pass it on Possibilities


The Smart Phone is capable of passing information and coupons on to friends with similar enabled devices simply by tapping them together or forwarding on, giving promotions the chance of going viral.

Ultimately, combining Smart Phones with QR Code/NFC Smart Posters, couponing, discount programs and promotions can increase the redemption ratio of coupons and  discount vouchers from extremly receptive consumers—both because offers are targeted to users who wish to receive information, and because cashing in offers or redeeming offers is far simpler. This will increase overall consumer satisfaction with the programme and increase the desire of a consumer to continue communicating and doing business with the Brand or organisation.