Mobile marketing: Think before going all in

Once again we are seeing a wealth of research on the use of mobile by consumers to surf the Internet. DUH. The reason that so many people are using mobile is that they can use it to fight off boredom of sitting in meetings, sitting in their morning commutes or just to better manage time in a time compressed world. However the bad news is that according to Med Ad News none of the top 15 pharma sites is optimized for mobile browsers. This is totally unacceptable.

You can go to your web analytics and see just how many people are accessing your website through mobile platforms. However you also need to think about “why” they may access your site on a mobile device. Nobody decides in the middle of the day to go to Lipitor.com because they are bored. However a guy who had some problems in bed last night may decide to go to Cialis.com to learn more about ED and Cialis while it’s still fresh on his mind and he has the privacy of searching via his smartphone. It comes down to patient behavior and the triggers that lead patients to search online for health information.

Every Internet site should be optimized for mobile platforms including the iPad (95% market share). It’s relatively easy to do and should be addressed in the technical specifications when you are building your site. It’s also a great reason NOT to use FLASH since FLASH consumes a lot of resources and is not supported by the iPad.

What about QR codes ?

First what is a QR code ? It’s a little box that usually accompanies POP or print ads. A person downloads an app to read the QR code and then scans it with their phone and it takes them to a website or SMS text message with specific information.

How are QR codes used in marketing?

You can now see them on billboards, in-store displays, business cards, event ticketing and tracking, trade-show and conference management, print ads, contests, direct marketing campaigns, coupons, restaurant menus, sides of trucks, point-of-sale receipts, products tags and packaging, and more and more.

5 reasons to use QR codes for content marketing or inbound marketing

1 – QR codes bridge the gap between offline and online media

They can be easily added to offline media: business cards, flyers, brochures, posters, billboards, signs. You could for example use a QR code to direct a patient to an infusion center for your product. You do not need to include your web address anymore, or a phone number. And there is no risk that people may copy them wrong. At the very moment when prospects are exposed to your message, they can scan the QR code and get connected to your offer, call to action or web site.

2 – QR codes enable sharing and building community

You can use an app called Likify to create PR codes that connect you with a Like button for your Facebook page. You can also create discounts that are specific to the QR code, and run them in advertisements or post them in a store, and turn them into retweets so that people share them with their followers. All this helps you build community.

3 – QR codes can be used for calls to action

You can link the codes to how-to videos, stories about a product, launching a web site, launching a pre-filled tweet, watching a trailer, audio commentaries. You can program the code to deliver a text message with a promo code to get a discount. Or you can have “Call us” and “Email us” messages, where people scan the code and automatically call or email.

4 – QR codes contribute to your SEO and SMO

You can increase traffic to those searchable objects to further optimize them by encouraging more sharing.

5 -The effectiveness of PR codes can be measured

The beauty of inbound marketing is that you can accurately assess the marketing cost of sales. Until now, with offline media like print or billboards, you were not able to measure this kind of effectiveness. With QR codes, you can measure results based on clicks and leads.
Link-shortening services bit.ly and goo.gl now automatically generate a QR code for sharing your shortened links.

6- QR codes can be used creatively, and be made to look good

The Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia, created a campaign promoting the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’s Picasso Exhibit “Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris,” The campaign includes QR codes in print and out-of-home ads plus a dedicated Facebook Page. The QR codes access a website featuring 15 pieces of Picasso’s art, plus a link to buy tickets. (The website, discoverthemaster.com, is different when accessed via a mobile phone. When reached from a desktop or laptop, it leads to the exhibit’s Facebook site.)

What about QR code demographics ?

As you can see a lot of people are using QR codes but this alone is not a good reason for pharma to plunge into this marketing tool. It has to be integrated with your overall integrated marketing and it has to do more than just drive people to your website homepage. You need to think “where are people going to scan this code and what information do we want to give them as a result of using this code?”.

First things first: When developing or updating your website add a line in your technical specifications document that ensures that your website is optimized for mobile marketing. If your IT people fight you on this than fire them because they are costing you business at a time when ANY consumer attention is hard to get.