Innovative marketers routinely turned to online marketing to showcase their creativity in the last few years, but with the online noise volume reaching a feverish pitch, some have turned their attention back to print. Lucky for them, the production and printing industry has furiously been experimenting with new technologies in order to catch up with their digital-minded peers whom have stolen all the marketing glitz and kudos in recent years.

Electronics giant, Sony, frequently takes advantage of new innovations in print and digital printing to personalise and target locally. While the company continues to use a lot of offset printing, it does more variable data printing. This approach allows them to swap out text and image data to segment the creative.

“Digital printing is becoming more important as postal prices increase,” says says Salvatore Lacorte, a consultant in commercial printing at Sony. “We want to speak directly to the customer, and variable data printing allow us to do this better and helps increase sales.”

While emerging channels such as social media and mobile will continue to garner headlines, multichannel marketers realise that direct response print campaigns remain a frequent, though perhaps less talked about tool. In the US, marketing spending on direct mail actually increased 3.1% in 2010 to $45.2 billion, according to January 2011 figures released by the Winterberry Group, a marketing intelligence consulting firm. Insert media grew 2.4% to $800 million.

This year those categories will only grow more. It is predicted direct mail will
increase by 5.8% to $47.8 billion and insert media to jump 9.1% to $900 million. While direct response print suffered a 3.6% decline in 2010 to $15 billion, it is still expected to nudge up 2% this year.

“Even though companies have widespread interest in digital channels, not all of these channels are mature enough and scalable enough for the customer acquisition needs right now,” says Jonathan Margulies, a director at Winterberry Group. “By contrast, direct mail and insert media, for example, are proven, well-established media when it comes to delivering the kind of steerable response that many marketers are looking for,” adds Margulies. “Print is very reliable in a way that the digital channels aren’t yet.”

Lacorte agrees. “I am a firm believer in direct mail, because it is not evasive,” he says. “I get so much e-mail every hour that it is overwhelming, but when I get my mail, I look at it.”

Innovations in print include new approaches to campaign techniques such as quick response (QR) codes on direct mail pieces and free-standing inserts (FSIs) that can be scanned with a mobile phone to interact with digital content, 3-D printed collateral and PURLs (personalised URLs).

At the same time, new printers and printing processes have helped to create printing that is more personalised and efficient.

Bar codes extend print shelf life

QR and other 2-D barcodes, in particular, are more frequently showing up on direct mail pieces, inserts, out-of-home billboards and magazine pages. Proctor & Gamble’s Gillette brand recently worked with ad agency BBDO on a campaign to promote grooming products to young men that tied a print QR code in a magazine to online video. The “Young Guns” ad starred various athletes — Matt Ryan and Ray Rice of the NFL; Evan Longoria and Carlos González of MLB; and NASCAR drivers Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. The print ad, which ran as a four-page spread in the January issue of ESPN Next, tied each athlete to their own QR code. Readers were encouraged to snap a photo of the code with their phone to view an exclusive video of the corresponding athlete on their device.

Do you really need a four-colour brochure? Why bother with a printed brochure when you can just put your brochure online?

With the rise of the Web many marketing professionals are questioning if printing has any relevance in modern communications. I believe printed materials most emphatically do have an important, albeit different, role to play in the marketing communications field. Many business pundits have been proclaiming that the Web would spell the death of printing. After all, how could printing compete with a seemingly no cost way of reaching millions of people all over the world? With a click of a mouse they could travel around the block or the globe. While these prognosticators accurately predicted the rise of the Web and a general decline in printing they couldn’t see how, in a perverse way, its very rise could be good news for printing. The fact is the very popularity of the Web is making it more important than ever to know how to effectively market with old-fashioned printed media.

The Problem With The Web

The problem with the Web is very simple – it can be very difficult to be found. Don’t let anyone tell you any different. Anyone who thinks they can get top search engine rankings for their new site without spending big money (or lots of time) is sadly delusional. Once your site gets indexed by the overworked search engines you’ll be lucky to be listed in the top 100. If your manufacturing company is not in the top 10 you might as well go home. There are millions of sites on the Web with thousands of new sites being added daily. This explosively geometrical growth means the clutter on the Web is worse than you could ever imagine. If you think getting your advertising read in a trade magazine is a tough task, then imagine how difficult it is being noticed when there are tens of thousands of businesses competing with you in any business category you’d care to think of. While there are innumerable methods for driving traffic to your site it can still be a huge industrial marketing challenge to zero in on precise prospects or narrow target markets. This is where printed materials can really shine.

The Future Of Printing

I believe the most effective use of printing is to drive highly targeted traffic to tightly focused landing pages on your website. This may be done with sales letters, post cards, or other forms of printed materials. If you are able to combine your direct mail with variable data printing, personalised URLs and online video you have an amazing combination which can result in double digit response rates that will take your industrial marketing to new highs. The good news is that if you are smart about how to use printed materials you will be able to make the Web playing field a little bit more level. Rather that trying to reach the top of the search engine rankings (highly unlikely and expensive) or paying ever-increasing amounts on pay per click engines (becoming more expensive by the day) you can utilise direct mail to drive traffic to your site. This will allow you to focus on tightly-focused markets and get your manufacturing company noticed on the Web without having to spend a fortune.

Is printing dead? No. Is printing in decline? Yes. Should you abandon it? Absolutely not.

(Andrew Sheddon, Industrial Marketing Insights)

While mobile has been held as the promising new medium, it has really been applied somewhat as an adjunct to most brands’ main marketing programs.

Over the past couple of years, mobile has proven itself, demonstrating to marketers that it packs a powerful punch.

In 2010, we saw definite movement towards dedicated budgets for mobile advertising and marketing – a significant departure from the year before where marketers were reluctant to do more than dip toes into mobile waters with small discretionary spends.

The result was mobile advertising and marketing spend more than doubling and nearing the $1 billion mark in the United States alone, according to multiple sources.

Each time that mobile was tried for marketing programs, it proved itself with better results than traditional online in terms of target response.

Some visionary marketers are beginning to see how mobile can turn established marketing practices on their head and become the lead into marketing programs instead of the add-on.

Why and how can mobile become the foundation on which most, if not all, high-impact marketing programs are built?

Tower power

To start, there is unprecedented speed and adoption of mobile globally.

With the GSMA’s projections of nearly 6 billion mobile subscribers by 2013, we are nearing full global market saturation. Never before has any media had this kind of consumer power.

But the advantages of mobile only start with its unmatched market penetration.

Also unique to mobile is its ability to enable marketers to understand their users in ways never possible before.

Brands can get data-driven metrics on consumer preferences and responses. This is exceedingly valuable information for marketers that should lift mobile’s place to the front of most marketing plans.

Beyond the very legitimate value of mobile as another important medium, mobile provides value as a guide to all other advertising and marketing media.

Mobile can guide marketers on targeting, as well as message, creative testing and offer testing.

Marketers can use mobile analytics and campaign performance metrics to help them with both targeting, messaging and offers. What works with whom? This important information can become the foundation of planning for all other medium as well.

Consider a scenario in which, as a result of well-executed mobile opt-in campaigns, a brand’s mobile community is created.

Over time, through ongoing dialogue with the community, the brand begins to build profiles for its community and its members.

Through segmentation and analytics tools, the brand is able to recognise community members’ preferences with offers, mobile and other channels, even messages, down to time-of-day preferences.

These communities are not restricted to mobile.

Because of the higher likelihood of consumers responding to mobile, it becomes the basis for preference and history profiles on consumers.

Add to it mobile’s unique ability to close the digital-physical divide. Virtually any consumer-directed business can gain from this mobile advantage.

In addition to the obvious potential gains to the top line, mobile in-and-near-physical-location metrics add another powerful profiling dimension.

Profiles and preference intelligence gained through mobile can be put to broader use, and applied to offers and alerts, even awareness campaigns, to create well-targeted communications through virtually all media.

Personalised content in context

There has been much talk and some real steps towards customized content, based on user preferences on sites – both mobile and Web. And we have already entered a period where the lines between editorial and advertising content continues to blur.

As long as promotional content is based on the principle of utility and value exchange with the consumers, the blurring of lines should pose no issue.

Amazon, Apple and Netflix have for years been using their recommendation engines to provide some degree of personalised offers.

At Mobile World Congress last February, Yahoo introduced Livestand, which was intended to provide personalised contextual content – both editorial and promotional, and tie together Yahoo’s Web and mobile properties.

Additionally Yahoo is building an ecosystem with its content and advertiser partners with the aim to provide personalized content in context.

The idea of ecosystems built around the person is an interesting one. Mobile will be key to it, as the primary provider of the context –affinity and proximity amongst others.

While custom television may be several years away, over-the-top online TV is already providing the path to custom TV.

Even with network TV, custom content and offers through mobile become ways to complement and augment broadcasts and further engage consumers.

Add to the mix the projected growth of tablets and the growing reality of three screens working in concert with each other and around the individual consumer, and we get even closer to customised communications across all media, with mobile as the linchpin.

So while TV still rules when it comes to ad spend, with the combination of mobile media, we can even pump up the potency of TV. And by doing so, we improve the experience for the consumer.

We have still got work to do to create personalised contextual media across all fronts. But we are definitely beginning that journey, with mobile fuelling the drive.

So, for now, move mobile from the back of the line when it comes to marketing planning and budgets, and start with mobile.

(Shaheen Kazi, Mobile Marketer)

3-4 September 2011, Business Design Centre London

Cross Media 2012 is a brand new, highly relevant and focused event that brings together print and digital channels in a business context. It’s the perfect opportunity to present cross-platform technologies, products and services to a broad audience that is hungry for applications and solutions.” 

What is Cross Media?

Cross media – Concept or communications delivered across multiple platforms or media. These platforms include print, web, direct mail, email, data management, mobile, apps, SMS, PURLS, QR codes, Social Media, Video.

Research

Brand owners, agencies, marketers and printers were asked about the future of their industry:

 66% (graphic) said more campaigns will become truly integrated* 
 93% (graphic) plan to integrate print with email, SMS and web in future marketing campaigns†
 62% (graphic) think print is more effective than email†
 82% (graphic) as a method of communication† think events are an important source*
 81% (graphic) of information*are interested in the Cross Media event concept*

*Research conducted by Fusion Communications (February 2011) and commissioned by Informa Exhibitions Ltd amongst brands, marketers, creatives and printers. † Source: Power of Print supplement, PrintWeek

 Why visit?

•  Compare products and services from more than 100 suppliers
• See every major brand in the industry – and hundreds of specialist suppliers
• Get to grips with the new technology that will change your business
• Discover new opportunities that will give you the edge over your competitors
• Meet and network with potential suppliers, customers and partners 
• Be inspired by some of the brightest minds in the industry
• Get free, expert advice on how to increase sales, getting better returns on your marketing campaigns and more

 Cross Media 2012 offers a unique opportunity to hear industry experts, brand owners and peers discuss specific trends and individual experiences:

•  Case studies of printers who have made the leap to integration
• Practical demonstrations and problem-solving clinics
• Emerging technologies and trends
• The next practical steps in social media
• Marketing tips
• Sales and profit masterclasses
• Vendor theatres
• Benefit from marketing across a range of platforms

6 theatres which will be in distinctive zones all packed with engaging content:

• Print & Production
• Design & Creative
• Digital & Direct marketing
• Web, Social Media & Mobile

For more information visit: www.crossmedialive.com

The 96+4pp edition of the fashion magazine for Autumn and Winter, which goes on sale 1 September with the October edition of FHM, incorporates the technology, from marketing specialist Digital Space, onto every piece of editorial and advertising.

It works by applying an algorithm to the dots within the image in Photoshop during pre-press to create a machine-readable code that is recognised by Digital Space’s reader application for mobile phones.

The reader then triggers specific online content. For FHM Collections, this will include a video introduction from the cover by rapper Professor Green.

The company is already working with the Telegraph, in its travel section, and the newspaper is working on becoming fully interactive within six weeks, as well as Future’s Xbox 360 and Xbox magazines, FHM‘s sister title Q, and Royal Mail, with which it is offering its DM customers its service.

Digital Space director James McIntosh said: “We’re working with most magazine groups one way or another.”

He said the technology differs from QR codes as they don’t impact the visible image – the reader is alerted to a code by a set of arrows.

“QR codes are not good in any printed environment, QR codes have a negative impact on both images and space. Digital Space enables you to interact more than once on an image and a page, you could have a model wearing a coat and trousers and have separate interactions directing your phone to where you can buy them online,” said McIntosh

(Article from Printweek, August 2011)

Among all the tools and capabilities that LinkedIn provides, here are 7 good reasons why you should consider using LinkedIn:

1. Professional resume and personal branding. LinkedIn is a tool that businesses and professionals alike are using to find people. There were nearly two billion people searches on LinkedIn in 2010. Searches are conducted to find potential employees, customers, vendors/suppliers/contractors, venture capitalists, board of director members, etc. If you want to be found, set-up an account on LinkedIn and look at this as a tool to present your personal brand. 
2. Company brand and employee information. Companies get their own profile that is searchable and allows employees to be easily found. This is just one more tool to tell people about your company and help increase sales. 
3. Build your network, clients, and partners. Once you’ve got your profile set-up on LinkedIn, it is your opportunity to grow your network with the people you know and start reaching out to others. Think of this as a networking meeting, but it is taking place online rather than in-person.
4. Promote your message and free content. LinkedIn provides a forum for you to promote your events, blog posts, social media sites, ebooks, webinars, etc. There are a lot of ways to post on LinkedIn to engage in conversations and network with people. The more you participate, the more visible you are.
5. Generate website traffic. By including your website address in your personal profile and company profile, you’ll find that people will click on those links to check out your company. When you’re posting in groups, answers or you’re starting a discussion, you can post with a link to your website for more info. This should not be a “sales” opportunity. Look at these posts as a way to reference people for free information or educational tools that supplement the conversation topic you’re starting on LinkedIn.
6. Research and reach your audience. Through groups, answers, polls and other tools, you can really learn a lot about what your audience needs and wants. You can then use this insight to improve your business and offerings.
7. Become an expert. With LinkedIn Answers you can give free advice in your area of expertise to genuinely help others while also get recognition by your expanded network to help increase your sales.

Mobile Marketing is Buzzing

It is easy to get caught up in thinking about trends in mobile marketing over the next year or two.  With shifting strategies and user patterns, making accurate predictions of even the near future is more of a guessing game than a practical exercise.  However, there is value in trying to predict where the technology will end up and how people and companies will be using it in an e-marketing context.  Getting ahead of the competition, even if just a little, provides companies with a stronger position in the future.  Taking a risk based on predictions and trends is a troubling proposition, but the benefits and potential payoffs are often too large to dismiss.  Predicting the next trend in mobile industry news will offer an advantage to those who are able to seize the opportunities now and set themselves up on the leading edge of those trends.  Here are a few mobile marketing trends for the next decade that will almost certainly come to pass.

One of the biggest trends in mobile marketing over the next decade has already started.

Future of shopping- using a cell phone to purchase has been around for sometime now and location based marketing is on the rise! But with the wave of smart phones and location-based social media applications, the ability to deliver ads specifically targeted to a mobile phone based on their location will only improve.  The GPS systems in smart phones will allow marketers to know where a user is in relation to the ads that they have to serve.  Someone walking down a street with a Starbucks nearby could be sent ad advertisement for a caramel latte.  Even better, they could be sent a coupon for the drink as an enticement to go buy the latte.  Users connecting with social media applications such as FourSquare are also on the rise.  By checking in at specific locations, users are providing valuable information to where they are, but also where they have been and go often.  By utilising this information, mobile ads can be targeted to people who have checked in at everything from the local ice cream shop to a Tesco store.  Integrated location specific advertising services are in their nascent stages now but in the next decade they are set to explode in a big way.

In the next decade, mobile devices will not just be a method of communicating and gathering information, they will be the way many people pay for goods and services.  Right now there is a small market for people to pay with their mobile device.  However, in the next decade that will change dramatically.  Mobile devices will become the way many people pay for purchases.  Instead of carrying around a wallet with many credit cards and debit cards and cash, all the payment information can be contained in the mobile device and transmitted to the merchant for payment.  This will revolutionize the way purchases are made and will solidify the mobile device as the single most important item to carry.  While banks will always have their own mobile apps to check balances and accounts, either they or a third party will have to create and expand the current mobile payment system to be more secure and ubiquitous enough for this type of payment option to take root.  It will happen eventually, it’s just a matter of time and investment to get the system in place.

Trends In Mobile Marketing Will Continue To Grow

Political campaigns have already started to use mobile marketing.  The campaign of former US Senator Obama capitalised on the near universal cell phone usage of young Americans to create mobile applications and text message systems to communicate with potential voters and supporters.  This trend in capitalising on mobile marketing by politicians will only continue as people increase their use of smart phones and their devices become a primary method of communication and information gathering.  Grass-root organising will no longer be done in meetings and offices, but will be done through the social web.  This includes mobile devices as a means of political advertisement.  Providing a platform for political communications and advertisements will be an increasing trend for mobile marketing in the next decade.

The biggest emerging market for mobile marketing is Asia.  A company that sets its sights on penetrating the market there will be able to reap great rewards in the coming decade.  Cell phone ownership has sky-rocketed and with over one billion people in China alone, the opportunity for mobile marketing is enormous.  One recent campaign for Unilever’s Axe yielded 680 million incoming calls.  Being able to harness the sheer numbers of mobile users in the Asian market will be a key to who the major players are in the mobile marketing world in the next decade.  Getting a foothold in the market now will provide the ability to ride the rising tide of the Asian market that will inevitably arise in the next decade.

Predicting the future is obviously a very difficult thing to do.  History is littered with predictions of the future that never came to pass.  However, the trends that are listed here have already started.  Though many of them are small now, there is a great deal of room for them to expand in the coming decade.  There is no reason these trends will not continue to develop and attract a greater user base.  These mobile marketing trends will continue to offer opportunities in the coming decade.

When marketers evaluate all of the digital communication channels at their disposal, they’re faced with a rich array of choices including the latest in social and mobile marketing. Social media marketing includes participation on social networking websites such as: Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, video and photo sharing websites including YouTube and Flickr, blogging, micro-blogging (Twitter), podcasts, forums, product reviews (Amazon) and social bookmarking websites. Like email marketing, these channels help companies disseminate information to large audiences rapidly and cost-effectively.

Omniture and The CMO Club conducted a Digital Marketing Survey in May of 2009 wherein 102 CMOs were asked to rate the relative effectiveness of digital marketing media. While most respondents, or 78 percent, found email marketing most effective, online communities and blogs were also successful for 33 percent of the respondents, a strong statistic considering the low cost of entry and relatively young nature of social media. Most online consumers engage with a variety of online communications and activities and have different preferences and tastes. Studies like this underscore the importance of including a full range of interactive and mobile marketing vehicles in your digital marketing campaigns.

Today’s businesses should be using all of these complementary media outlets – email, social networks and mobile marketing – to most effectively connect and communicate with their current and prospective customers.

Networking with Customers

With companies incorporating interactive and digital strategies more frequently into their campaign mixes, Forrester Research has predicted the highest rate of growth for social media over the next five years*. Social networking venues do not necessarily increase leads, nor do they populate a company’s prospect database. But social networking does give organizations the opportunity to share information in a one-to-many format authenticated by consumer and peer reports, comments and endorsements, extend their brand reach and learn even more about their audiences – from age and sex to education level, social patterns, preferences and tastes. At the same time, social networking websites give customers the ability to research companies more thoroughly, read peer reviews and develop a comprehensive business profile before they ever make a purchase. For both parties, social networking offers a means to foster trust and long-term loyalty.

Blogging and micro-blogging further nurture that relationship, providing a vehicle for companies to tout their expertise, promote new products, share news and stay connected without being pushy. Blog comments offer real-time feedback and encourage a worthwhile dialog among the two parties, helping businesses better understand their customer’s needs. Blogs and micro-blogs increase brand visibility, improve search engine rankings and word-of-mouth marketing. Companies can further use posts to gain visibility within premium publications at little to no cost simply through mentions or links from web media, press or high profile industry bloggers.

The Power of Email and Mobile Marketing

Mobile phones, and especially smart phones, have become indispensable assets for both personal and business productivity, acting as a means for digital interactions, such as sending text messages, browsing the Internet or reviewing email correspondence, on-the-run. It is also one of the most personal devices, as most of us carry our phones with us just about everywhere we go. And therefore, communications and marketing messages received on the phone have the highest degree of relevance, and ultimately, success for the users.

Different from their social media counterparts, email and mobile marketing are more direct one-to-one communication vehicles. This means the degree of relevance and targeted messaging can return some of the most successful and measurable campaigns.

As a result, mobile and email marketing have become important sales and marketing tools, and traditionally viewed as the “desktop” communication, email is becoming increasingly mobile as well with increasing popularity of smart phones.

Companies may use email and mobile marketing to reach customers and prospects instantly – wherever they may be. Email and mobile marketing are immediate and cost-effective, enabling the push-pull features and personalized content consumers want.

Connecting the Pieces

As various social and interactive communication channels enter and leave the marketplace, CMOs can gain the strongest impact by blending all of these communication channels into one comprehensive interactive marketing strategy.

Cross-promotional efforts can help companies spread the word as new online marketing platforms are launched, boosting follower interest and opt-in. Below are 10 popular strategies companies use to maximise their digital marketing mix.

1. Use email marketing newsletters to announce new LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter feeds, directing readers to social networking websites for sign-up.
2. Use Twitter to link followers to your latest email newsletter publication or blog article online to fuel interest and re-tweets.
3. Change email newsletter registration sections to include an option for joining the company’s social networks.
4. Use the sidebar on your email marketing newsletter to list all company social networking profiles, and use social networking profiles to gather email newsletter sign-ups.
5. Invite customers to participate in YouTube viral marketing video contests that show real consumers using and enjoying your products or solutions.
6. Read and respond to comments within social networks, developing newsletter or blog articles around topics readers discuss the most.
7. Launch a regular Q&A section in your company’s email newsletter that specifically addresses reader questions across all social networking platforms.
8. Include a link to your help forum or YouTube video tutorial within purchase confirmation emails.
9. Include a social bookmark console on product pages in case readers want to share your website or products with others.
10. Join relevant LinkedIn and Facebook groups, assigning knowledgeable representatives within your company to answer questions, thus positioning your company as a valuable industry resource.

When businesses share, network and create a dialog with their customers using various interactive marketing strategies, they show the public that they truly care about their customer’s experience before, during and after the sale.

A Quick Response (QR) code is a two dimensional matrix barcode that can store information. By carrying information in both directions, QR codes can carry up to several hundred times the amount of data carried by ordinary barcodes.

What type of data can they store?

QR Codes are capable of handling all types of data, such as numeric and alphabetic characters, Kanji, Kana, Hiragana, symbols, binary, and control codes.

How much data can they store?

It depends on the symbol version and the type of the characters. Up to 7,089 numeric characters can be encoded in one symbol or 4296 alphanumeric characters.

How do they work?

Using QR Code generator software, you can store data such as contact information, calendar events, URLs, phone numbers, Emails or mailing addresses or any other text up to 7,089 characters.

Once a QR Code is created, using a barcode reader application installed on your mobile device or a handheld scanner connected to a computer, you can scan and retrieve the data. 

There are free applications for reading QR Codes. Here are a few examples (some mobile phones come with the reader application installed):

http://www.i-nigma.com 

http://www.beetagg.com 

http://www.scanlife.com

How are they used in Marketing?

QR Codes act as physical hyperlinks; they link offline to online, and print to mobile. QR Codes can be placed on a business card, a catalogue, a direct mail piece and on a product label to link the marketing piece to the internet.

Here are some of the common use cases for QR Codes in marketing campaigns:

Capturing responses on a direct mail campaign: A common use case of QR Codes in marketing campaigns is storing a URL in a QR Code and printing it on a direct mail piece as a response mechanism. When the recipients scan the barcode with the application on their mobile, they’ll connect to a landing page where they can find more information about the product or service being marketed, respond to the message, or simply sign up to receive the offer.

QR Codes can store both generic and personalised URLs. When using personalised QR Codes, the landing pages linked to the barcode can be personalised thus increasing odds to a favourable response by delivering a more targeted message.

QR Codes on a product or corporate brochure: Print brochures with a QR Code that links visitors to a web page containing product demonstration, video testimonials, FAQ and more. You can engage customers and prospects at another level.

QR Codes on press ads: Not everyone is at their desk, or in front of a computer when reading a magazine or newspaper, but by placing a QR Code on your press ad, readers can simply take a picture or scan the barcode to receive more information, a special offer or a coupon.

QR Codes on promotional items: Place a QR Code on giveaways such as T-shirts and coffee mugs and bring them to life.

There are many use cases for QR Codes in marketing. Used tactfully and creatively, QR Codes provide another way to engage customers and prospects by bringing mobile into the media mix and increase odds of response by offering a convenient and relevant channel for communications.

Why are they important?

Mobile marketing is quickly becoming an essential ingredient for success in marketing campaigns. In fact, according to Forrester’s study on Interactive Advertising Models completed in July 2009, mobile advertising spend in the US will grow from $391 million in 2009 to $1.2 billion In 2014, representing a 27% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), making mobile marketing second only to social media marketing with a CAGR of 34%.

According to the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, CTIA, wireless penetration in the US is more than 90% of population. Smartphone market share in the US jumped from 7% in 2007 to 17% in 2009 and is expected to grow rapidly in 2010 and beyond.

With mobile marketing on the rise, using QR codes on printed material can help print and marketing service providers generate additional revenue by offering campaigns that deliver results for their clients.

Can they be read from any direction?

QR Codes are capable of 360 degree high speed reading. QR Codes accomplish this task through position detection patterns located at the three corners of the symbol. These position detection patterns guarantee stable high-speed reading, circumventing the negative effects of background interference.

What is the best size to print a QR Code?

The size of QR Code is decided by determining a symbol version, based on data capacity, character type and error correction level, and by setting a module size, based on the performance of the printer for printing or the scanner for reading.

Symbol Version: The symbol versions of QR Codes range from Version 1 to Version 40. Each version has a different module configuration or number of modules. (The module refers to the black and white dots that make up QR Code).

Module size: Once a symbol version is determined, the actual size of the QR Code symbol depends on the millimetre size of the module (one square area comprising QR code) to be printed.

The larger the module is the more stable and easier to read with a QR code scanner it becomes. On the other hand, as the QR Code symbol size gets larger, a larger printing area is required.

It is, therefore, necessary to determine the module size of each application after considering all the relevant factors. It is recommended that QR Code symbols be printed as large as possible within the available printing area.

When the symbol version and module size are determined, the size of the QR Code symbol is determined. The QR Code symbol area requires a margin or “quiet zone” around it to be used.

The margin is a clear area around a symbol where nothing is printed. QR Code requires a four-module wide margin at all sides of a symbol.