You’ve probably heard about QR codes recently and wondered what the benefits are and how to incorporate them into your marketing mix. Whether you believe they are here to stay or predict they’ll have a relatively short life span, this innovative technology is free, useful, and adds a powerful message to your digital communications.

QR codes, or Quick Response codes, are an encoded barcode image resembling a square-like maze. These 2-dimensional barcodes store data in two directions and can be scanned vertically or horizontally to be decoded. Consumers scan these codes using mobile devices, and a barcode reader application decodes the image to reveal content to the consumer.

In a recent meeting, my client suggested using a traditional barcode for a promotional item she wanted to make available. It was then that I realized while I understood how QR codes are effective marketing tools, I didn’t quite comprehend the difference between the emerging technology available in QR codes and traditional barcodes. After a little digging, however, I learned the distinction and what makes QR codes more powerful and effective for technology marketing over traditional barcode techniques.

A traditional barcode is 1-dimensional and is resembled by the familiar code found on product packaging, also known as the UPC symbol retailers ask you to cut out and mail in for rebates. Barcodes are limited, however, in that they can only store a maximum of 30 numbers. A QR code, on the other hand, can store over 7,000 data points which include numbers, text, SMS/MMS messages, emails, and other embedded text. Not only can QR codes store a large amount of data and in many forms, they can be placed anywhere a marketer wishes – billboards, real estate signage, sales collateral, and products themselves. Marketers are able to generate unique URL’s that track consumer statistics such as demographics, geo-location, and mobile devices usage which helps in creating and optimizing targeted messaging to prospects and customers.

The good news is that QR code generation and reading programs are free (or have a very minimal cost) and are simple to use. One QR code generation program that we’ve used in the past is QR Stuff.com, which provides an efficient way to create a QR code on-the-fly. For barcode reader applications, we like Optiscan (iOS) and I-Nigma (compatible with iOS, Android & BlackBerry).

If you are considering adding QR codes to your marketing mix, we highly recommend working with an Internet marketing provider who can help set up campaigns that lead to conversions. Taking the time to come up with a strategy and related content ensures adding QR codes to your collateral and/or products adds benefit to your marketing efforts. QR codes are a simple, affordable, and fun way to market your products and services while staying cutting edge and green in the process!

QR code process diagram: credit and thanks to Angie Schottmuller at www.searchenginewatch.com.

Social media is about engaging with your audience and increasing brand awareness. With the plethora of social networks that exist today, it’s no wonder we get confused about which network to use let alone how to use them. When On Its Axis started out in 2007, social networks for business were so new that social media marketing was not part of our service offering. In 2011 it most certainly has to be and is. We’ve spent a great deal of time dissecting the websites out there and the pros and cons for customer communication, brand exposure, website traffic and search engine optimization. Let’s take a look at the big players out there today and discuss when and why you want to use each of them.

• Facebook: The portal through which individuals and businesses alike can create online personas to position their brands for success while adding friends, sending messages and posting to other individuals and businesses walls. Facebook is great for getting a message out to a large group of people and soliciting feedback.
• Twitter: A concise and to the point message (140 characters), Twitter is more about what others say about you than what you are saying. Re-tweets and other interactions will get you brand exposure that can spread very quickly so be mindful of what you say and make it count!
• LinkedIn: An excellent tool for professional networking. Adding your company and having your employees add their profiles is a great way to show off the people who make the magic happen in your organization.
• YouTube: Entertaining and informative, YouTube makes it easy to publish a video of just about anything and distribute it across their network. Grab a small snippet of code and embed the video in your website to add your own (free) branding. Product reviews, webinars and interviews make this in-video messaging tool great for building links back to your website to boost you in search engine results.

This list isn’t exhaustive so consider it the core group of social networking tools out there today. We all get a little overwhelmed when marketing ourselves online because there are so many choices, all of which can be fairly time consuming and yield poor results if we don’t have an effective strategy and measure our efforts. Setting yourself up with a social media dashboard tool such as HootSuite or TweetDeck will not only allow you to manage your social media voice in one place (just add your social networking accounts and – voila! – you are up and running). Social dashboards enable you to easily connect with new people and communicate your message across all of your networks at once. Some also provide the power of analytics. We online marketers love analytics! It’s how we illustrate the value of our efforts and ultimately the return on investment a client is getting from working with us. Don’t you want to see the ROI from your own efforts? Of course you do.

The best advice we can recommend is that you get started using a few social networks and commit to using them. What does that mean? Start building your following on Facebook and Twitter, publish blog articles on a regular basis (weekly is good), and sign-up and use a social media dashboard to manage the information you are sending. You will be surprised how easy it is to connect with others very interested in what you have to say, and learn from others about social networking tips and tricks as well as their areas of expertise. As your following increases and you refine your message, you will begin to develop goals for your efforts. Are you looking for better brand exposure for your business? Facebook and Twitter are your best friends. Need more traffic going to your website? Write a relevant blog post for your audience and share it across your network.

What social networks do you currently use? What questions to you have about maximizing them for your business goals?

When we begin working with a new client, one of the first items we address is their website content strategy. Beyond the question of, “Which content management system is right for me?”, are the more pressing questions about the website’s users, their behavior, patterns and expectations. We all know a content management system cannot replace the focused attention and ongoing content creation required to communicate the right message at the right time to the right audience.

At On Its Axis, developing a client’s content strategy isn’t something we pull out of thin air. If a client has an existing website, we’ll conduct an in-depth analysis of their current traffic and look for patterns, issues (did someone say bounce rate?), and opportunities. We don’t stop there. We also take a look at the different types of users coming to the website and create personas, a fascinating way to look at the client’s target market and create user stories for each scenario. Since we work with clients in all types of industries, it’s very important that we understand a visitor’s objectives so we help them accomplish their goals.

As the content strategy begins to form, it takes on a life of its own. That’s not to say it’s a disorganized process, not by any means. It is, however, far-reaching and fluid at times. Content strategy stretches all the way from the layout and design of the website to the navigation sections and specific calls-to-action. Those user-centric decisions are made to be measured when we set up goals in Google Analytics. It’s from there we can determine how successful our content strategy is.

While a website content strategy needs to keep user behavior, goals and objectives in mind, it’s also important to simply have good content. Laying out a page well is one thing, having relevant, quality content that effectively speaks to all audience members is key.

Quality content has become so important that even Google is taking note and recently adjusted their algorithm to adjust a website’s rankings based on the level of high or low quality content. As SearchEngineWatch noted last week, Google considers high-quality content that which is original content, information-rich and containing thoughtful analysis. While none of us are entirely sure how Google’s algorithm determines ‘thoughtful analysis’, let’s just say research, in-depth reports, and white papers are a good start to make it in Google’s good graces.

An effective content strategy not only helps you communicate well with your prospects and customers, it also supports your organic search engine efforts. Before beginning a website project, make sure you understand your audience, the messaging you plan to communicate, and the ways in which you plan to publish that messaging on a regular basis. If you spend the time to plan and strategize before tapping at the keyboard, you’ll be all the more successful in seeing your website visitors convert into customers.

Content strategy diagram: credit and thanks to Kalpesh Rathod at www.laexperience.com.

In last week’s post I talked a little bit about marketing. There are obviously different types of marketing, from traditional brand marketing to search engine marketing to this newer concept of social media marketing. Today I want to focus on the Internet Marketing umbrella and share what that really entails for your business on the world wide web.

Internet Marketing, also known as digital or online marketing, is the marketing of products and services over the Internet. Pretty straightforward, right? Wrong! Internet Marketing is very broad in scope and so its important to understand what it covers when seeking out a company to manage your online marketing efforts. You want to be sure the company you hire not only understands what Internet Marketing is, they need to provide a wide enough range of services to be able to market your business in a holistic fashion.

Let’s start with the definition of Internet Marketing, which is the marketing of products and services over the Internet. This can obviously be done through a variety of methods. It’s important to note that a common theme woven into the fabric of Internet Marketing is the application of psychology, sociology, economics and the social sciences. In essence, we are looking at behavior – consumer behavior – and one’s motivation to make specific decisions about a business on the Internet. How we influence those decisions is done through a variety of techniques.

The following are just a few examples of Internet Marketing, each serving a specific purpose based on one’s digital business goals:

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
  • SEM is the attraction of search engine spiders and referral traffic to a website. This is often done through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and online marketing campaigns. The most common form of an SEM campaign is through pay-per-click advertising. At On Its Axis, our SEM practices are achieved through the Google AdWords platform and, more recently, the Facebook Advertising platform.
• Social Media Marketing
  • Social media covers social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This type of marketing is a little bit like traditional marketing in that its all about leveraging technology to connect with one’s “social graph”, a term coined by Facebook that means “the global mapping of everybody and how they’re related”. This basically means that when I connect with you, I connect with those you are connected to, their connections, and so on.
• Local Search Marketing
  • Local search marketing is essentially applying the same rules of search engine optimization and marketing to a website but through local online directories. Yelp, YellowPages and CityGrid Media are just a few examples of content-based advertising geared to local markets.
• Email Marketing
  • Email marketing is just that – promotion of products and services through email. The power behind this type of marketing is due in large part to its ability to analyze the customers who sign up for your email, measure their loyalty, analyze their engagement with you and your brand, as well as give insight into their repeat business. Popular email marketing tools used for campaign management are MailChimp, ConstantContact and AWeber.

Overwhelmed yet? Don’t be. I’ll break these down in upcoming posts and we’ll talk about how to get the most out of each offering. For now, the important thing to note is that Internet Marketing covers a wide range of services on how to approach consumer behavior.

When hiring a company for your online marketing efforts, make sure they not only have skill and experience in these services but can also provide in-depth understanding of your business and explain what they will do for your business in each of these areas. It’s important for them to provide specific things they will do, how frequently they will do them, and a way to measure success over time.

Sleep easy at night knowing your online marketing efforts are moving forward in a direction you understand, and with data to support likely course corrections to achieve the most return on your investment. Best wishes!

Thank you for visiting our blog. Many of you know us well from our working together and some of you are new to On Its Axis. However you came to visit us, I want to take a moment in this first blog post and explain how we got here and what our vision is for the future of this company.

In 2007 I was working for Yahoo in their Advertising Products Group as a Technical Program Manager. The days were long and the commute time to Burbank nearly killed me but I was fortunate to have a really great manager who gave me flexibility and autonomy, and a smart team of Program Managers and Engineers that made going to work fun and rewarding. It was during that time a friend and colleague came up with a brilliant idea for a Enterprise Software solution that I believed in wholeheartedly, a revolutionary product for the globalization space that enables web content management systems to automatically translate website content into the desired language of choice. Having worked together for many years, I was asked to help in his efforts to market the product as his VP of Marketing. Now titles mean nothing when you’re a company of a few, but this opportunity put into motion the desire to learn and excel in Online and Product Marketing.

The experience with NativeTung not only taught me what it takes to bring a product to market, it opened a door I hadn’t realized was waiting for me. My career has in large part been focused on working with Engineering teams and supporting Sales and Marketing from the sidelines. Over the years I would dabble in my own learning, reading business books as a way to satisfy my desire to get an MBA, and listening in on business meetings at the office I didn’t need to attend in my spare time. The jump to the business side intrigued me but didn’t quite seem a reality with my background. And then came On Its Axis.

On Its Axis was originally conceived as a blog for NativeTung where articles about the globalization space would position us as thought leaders in the industry of language translation and localization services. When NativeTung took a different turn in early 2010, we stopped blogging and I put my Marketing hat up on the shelf. As the months went on and I continued working in Program Management, I realized what I had learned supporting NativeTung was something I wanted to invest myself in completely. Market research, marketing plans, data sheets, white papers, website optimization, website marketing, product pitching… wait my background WAS marketing! I had been doing it all along in the support roles with previous companies and directly with NativeTung.

On Its Axis was reinvented in early 2011 as an Internet Marketing company dedicated to creating digital business success for clients in a wide range of industries. We’re taking our technical knowledge and business acumen and combining that into a full-service marketing agency. In the coming months we plan to extend our portfolio to showcase the results we’ve achieved in Search Engine Optimization & Search Engine Marketing. We also promise to blog regularly about topics that will help you get your brand noticed on the web with increased traffic that result in sales.

Keep coming back if the topic of Internet Marketing and getting more business online is intriguing to you. We won’t disappoint and we’d love to hear from you about topics you’d like us to write about.