The Perpetual Student (or Just When You Think You're an Expert!)

It is not an exagerration to say that just about everyday I learn something new about web based marketing.  One of the challenges in the marketing field in general is the fact that the technological curve just continues to move out in front of you and just when you think you have a handle on things, and have developed a degree of expertise, a new program, system, module, etc. is invented and everyone wants to know how they can leverage it.  I have been working in marketing long enough to really see the beginning of the recoginition initially that just HAVING a website is important, and then having a site done professionally that could be content managed becaue important, e-commerce revolutionized a lot of things, then the idea of integrating your website with your business processes and software moved in to stay, it just keeps moving on.  The current times we live in have shown us that to truly maximize your online marketing presence you must increase your net footprint through social medias, and the next new thing is right around the corner I guarantee that!

It's a challenge to keep up, but it is also an exciting time to live in because there are new ways being created all of the time that are fusing our business activities to our buying habits and our entertainment and our social networks and on and on and on.

With all of that in mind, when I do really start to learn about a new tool, or at least one that is new to ME, I always like to pass it along so that others who may not know can start doing homework on it as well because most of the time it revolves around more ways to get your brand out there!  So today I wanted to talk briefly about QR Codes.

QR (short for Quick Response) codes were actually developed in 1994 by a Japanese company called Denso-Wave, and it was designed for tracking parts in manufacturing, but is now being used in creative applications, most specifically "mobile tagging". 

It works like this:  You take your mobile device/smart phone and download a free app (on my iPhone I used Scanlife), of which there are many, and then you just launch the app and it will use your mobile phone's camera to rapidly scan the code and will then automatically open your browser to the appropriate website, offer, digital coupon, landing page etc..  Try it out!  I am inserting a large QR Code in this blog entry that, when scanned, will take you to the website of JMP Radio here in Central IL.

The applications of this technology are vast, including inserting this code onto all printed sales collateral, print ads, business cards and so on, that would instantly take people to an online special offer or your website directly for more information about your goods or services.  There is an effort now to create QR Codes that will would hidden within your logo so that anytime, anywhere someone could just scan your logo and be taken to the website, offer or landing page of your choosing.  This is just a small sample of what could be done!  My mind is racing with possibilities!

So much to learn, so many new ideas yet to come.  We truly live in the age of being perpetual students, and I'm sure that many of your may have already seen this code before, but I'll bet it's just as new to many others as it was to me.  My only question is WHAT'S NEXT??  I look forward with eager anticipation!

Doug