1. Different uses for QR codes for small business owners

2. Creating a bridge between offline and online

3. The Quick Response Era

4. BuzzBooster TV episode #16 BlogWorld, Kodak and QR codes

5. QR codes and TV shows

As you probably have noticed, almost every one carries a mobile phone. Some of us cannot imagine life without a cel phone anymore and many families are getting rid of land lines because they have no more use for them.

When you think about marketing a business, most of the time we think how to reach them in a specific place. For example when they are online in a search engine on a social network or we try to reach them with direct mail or phone when they are at home.

Up to a short time ago we had no way of reaching people wherever they are. Here comes mobile marketing and QR codes, geo-based games like FourSquare and text messaging. All very powerful ways to reach your audience and if used properly, a great way to increase sales and do follow-up.

Here I want to provide you with a list of things you could use mobile marketing, more specifically, text messages to promote, sell and follow-up.

- You can send people a Today’s special
- Buy one get one free
- contests
- New items arrived
- Raffles
- birthday specials.
- Restaurants can text when a table is ready.
- Send basic info about an item
- Basic info about you
- Photos of products
- for Real Estate you may want to send the property description
- Property virtual tous.
- New property listing
- Link to websites
- Appointment remiders
- Meeting reminders
- Networking events
- Special promos
- Emergency alerts
- Events
- Fundraisings
- Time to refil your prescription
- Reminder to set next appointment

There are probably many more ways to use mobile marketing in your busienss. Remember that text messages are usually received within seconds of sending, which means it is a great delivery method and is more reliable than e-mail.. you don’t need a special phone to received messages, most phones have this capability.

Americans sent over 90 billion text messages just last month, that is a lot more than voice calls.

You might not be texting a lot but you are not your audience. Mobile marketing is simple, effective and very low cost so there is no reason to not use this as a way to keep in front of your audience.

Basically you choose some keywords that you display in other marketing amterials like flyers, car window etc. People dial a number and input the keyword. They will see a personalized message(ex coupon) and now you have access and permission to send that person other messages. Be careful not to over do it. Ideally not more than 2 messages a week.

It is exciting to see how offline businesses can benefit from technology to market their businesses. What is not exciting is looking at all the small businesses that could do the same but just keep waiting to jump and try new ways of promoting their business until it is too late.

Foursquare is one way to bridge an offline business with online technology, but there are other things small business should look into like the QR codes.

These codes are an amazing bridge between offline media and online media and businesses in the US should be using them more. After all they can be easily created, can be free and be very effective. You might not be using it, but remember, you are not your audience.

Here is the post I mentioned earlier:

Facebook may be teaming with McDonald’s, but Foursquare refuses to be outdone in adding big brands to its portfolio. Starbucks is increasing their partnership with Foursquare by offering a mayor special at select locations across the US from May 17 through June 28. Mayors will receive $1 off a Frappuccino beverage by showing the unlock screen on their phone to the barista.

Starbucks is a frequent experimenter in the social media space, with a heavy presence on Facebook and Twitter. In fact, Foursquare and Starbucks have previously teamed to offer the Barista badge to users who check in to five or more Starbucks locations. At that time the NY Times’ Bits Blog reported Starbucks was excited about Foursquare because “it’s where the intersection between digital and physical starts to get interesting,” said Chris Bruzzo, vice president for brand, content and online at Starbucks. “Starbucks loves that, because we’re always looking for that intersection, which we think is the evolution of social networks.”

The biggest problem I see with this initiative is that Starbucks employees are not prevented from holding the mayorship of their stores. For instance, at one local Starbucks the mayor is an employee with 40 checkins over the past two months. It would be almost impossible for an honest-to-goodness customer to become mayor of that venue and unlock the mayor special. Starbucks has claimed most of their stores as the owner, but they haven’t added any of the local employees as staff, which would prevent them from holding the mayorship.

Starbucks becomes the largest major national chain to offer a mayor special nationwide. Partnering with Starbucks will certainly help propel Foursquare use into the mainstream as users at more than 11,000 locations will be exposed to the Foursquare concept for an extended period of time.

Nashlah started using FourSquare on its first moments. She just loves it. Even though, right now, there are a lot of professionals saying they know all about it and are super users, you should take a look at what she’s done in a small place like Salt Lake City: Nashlah on FourSquare

Most social media gurus focus on tactics and telling people how to use the tool, but they seldom talk about business strategy.

Let me show you how  businesses can benefit from Foursquare. Have in mind that the application is addicting because users will compete for mayorships and badges which is something that ends up benefiting businesses. The app promotes exploring the town and trying new things which is great in itself. It will tell you if a place is trendy by the number of check-ins, and if you accomplish some requirements that vary from business to business you may win a badge.

Why is all this important to businesses: visibility, popularity, more customer loyalty, more business.

Why do people do it? They like to compete, they have ego, it is fun and they can promote your business even though you might not be aware of it happening.

Have in mind that people want to become mayor of locations and oust previous mayors. When this happens they get posted publicly to twitter and Facebook with your business name and a link to your business’ profile page on foursquare.com. The same may happen when they arrive at your business.

Well, there are already savvy businesses using Foursquare to promote their business. A bar in San Francisco gives free drinks to the mayor of their location, and gives $2 off any performance night for those that show the phone and prove they checked in. This obviously motivates people to come back to the business and to use even more the application. In Las Vegas if you become the Mayor of the Miracle Mile Shops you’ll get your face and name on the 126-foot LED video screen. Big companies like Brave network,  Pepsi and the New York Times are also using Foursquare. AJBombers a restaurant, did a Foursquare party and increased business in 110%.

Foursquare is already working on showing banners with the promotions.

The other day we were checking in at the movies and a message popped up telling us to try a restaurant around the corner with a coupon for us to use. What a proactive way to promote businesses in nearby locations!

The application allows people to recommend the place and suggest favorite dishes. It allows businesses and people to connect, bring foot traffic to the place and recommend to others. What more can a business wish for?

Badges for your business and badges to sponsor events is another possibility. For the users the more badges they have the more fun it is.

So, to put it into perspective, here are a few things you can use Foursquare in your business for:

I always say that the gold rush today is for being found, and getting attention.

About the being found part: Google and Bing maps are showing Foursquare venues when people search locally. Foursquare pages rank on search engines which means your business name, phone number and link come up.

Foursqare has the potential to revolutionize social media and turn it into a form of currency.

Out of the over 1.4 Million venues, only about 1200 venues have special offers. Less than 1% of businesses are going after this amazing opportunity. It is free.

Remind me how much you’ve spent with advertising that didn’t work? So what are you waiting for?