Tag Archives: smartphone

Is your business Smartphone ready?

Posted on November 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

Everywhere I look from advertising to the people on the street, in restaurants, and in my local dry cleaners people are tinkering away on an iPhone, Android or Blackberry.  I live in Los Angeles so it might be truer here than other parts of the country, but across the country smartphones account for 1/3 of the mobile market.   eMarketer predicts by 2014 one in three U.S. citizens will be using a tablet of some kind as well. 

That means when people search for your business they often do so online from their smartphone.  When people need your business address, they look it up on the way to the car from their smartphone.  If customers are wondering if you have any discounts or coupons available, I’m betting they would appreciate getting that information from their smartphone. 

You don’t have to build a mobile website to be ready.  I found an article called Think Beyond the Desktop on Clickz with a few simple tips I thought I would share here. 

  1. Your address, phone number and email should be text.  A smartphone will allow the user to dial, email, plug into GPS or into a contact list if it is text.  If it is an image the user has to write it down or plug it in manually.  This is inconvenient. 
  2. Dump the Flash.  The upside of flash is that people cannot steal your images.  The downside is that on the iPhone your site will not come up at all, on the Android and Blackberry it will be slow and you will encounter the same problem I mentioned with #1.
  3. Test how your site looks in a mobile platform.  If you have a customer designed site make sure you or the person who designed it for you verifies how it looks on mobile and fixes and rendering issues.
  4. What apps are your customers using?  Are they on Facebook?  Do they check in with Foursquare?  If they do, are you on Facebook?  Have your registered your business on Foursquare?

 As a NALA member, your business is mobile ready with your directory listing on the NALA site.  If you are not using social media yet, ask your NALA team member what you can do.  Not a NALA member yet?  Learn about membership here. 

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What, Where, How to use QR Codes to grow your business

Posted on July 8, 2011 | 1 Comment

If you read the title and said to yourself, “grow my business with what?” then keep reading.  If you know what they are but are not sure how to use them to grow your business, keep reading.  If you have used them but are open to new ideas…well you might want to keep reading too.  Social Media Examiner had a great article earlier this year and in case you missed it, I thought I’d offer some highlights here.

QR Codes are similar to bar codes used by retailers to track inventory but QR codes hold a lot more information.  The codes can be read on any camera-enabled Smartphone and from there they can upload business card information, link to your website, driving directions to your business and an endless list of other possibilities.

Microsoft also has a product similar to QR codes called MS tags.  Unlike QR codes that can be read by a variety of tag readers, Microsoft’s product can only be read by their tag reader.  The other difference between the two is the MS tags are in color offering more creative possibilities.

Now that you know what they are, how can they be used to grow your business?

Initially you can use QR codes to build community in a couple of ways.  For one, customers can use your QR code to join your email to text messaging list or to “Like” you on Facebook.    Once your community is built, you can use codes for Calls to Action.  One example is links to coupons or special offers that you can change as often as you like.   Additionally they can be used to link to installation instructions, directions to your business, recommendations for complementary products and services, and customer feedback forms.

So where can the codes be used?  Business cards are a good spot as well as brochures and other marketing materials.  They can be placed on the side of a truck, product tags, convention and event nametags, restaurant menus, and point of sale receipts to name a few.

There are many practical examples already in use.  Many airlines have begun adopting these codes as boarding passes that are scanned directly from your Smartphone.   Google Places will send you a QR code when you register your business that links to your company’s website.

Acquiring your free QR Code is simple.  There are a variety of QR Code creators out there.  For the code on this page I used qrstuff.com.  I like this site because you can have your code printed directly from the site onto business cards, stickers, buttons, cups and apparel.

According to the blog in Social Media Examiner, the next generation of QR Code will hold even more information and will not require an Internet connection.  As a small business QR Codes provide a great opportunity to create, build and maintain relationships with your customers in your community.

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Posted in E-mail Marketing, Mobile Messaging, Online Advertising, Optimization, Social Media

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The Value of SMS for Small Business

Posted on November 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

 

Mashable.com posted a great article on the value of SMS Marketing for small business.  I’ll highlight some of it here I highly recommend reading the full article.

First off we hear a great deal about the mobile web but according to a Nielsen industry report this year only 18% of Americans own a smartphone.  At the same time in 2008 studies showed that text messages outnumbered cell phone calls for the first time and that number continues to rise.  There is some great data out there from another post of mine called 97% of all SMS Marketing Messages are opened that offers more statistics that make a solid case for SMS Marketing.  Additionally, the Mashable article calls about mobile marketing as an intimate technology.  It is the one item we carry with us everywhere we go.  It keeps us in touch with our friends, family, business associates and the information we need on a daily basis.  The article recommends marketers treat messages “like a conversation with a customer while offering them value.”  It’s important to remember that SMS in the U.S. only allows for 160 characters so brevity is key.

It’s important to find a reliable service for your text message marketing and then start asking for those numbers at every opportunity.  Load them into a program like NALA’s Multi-Level Marketing, plan your campaigns, schedule them and you are off and running.

 

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Posted in Mobile Messaging, Small Business

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