The Marketer’s Dream

By Jon Hedges

		QR code scanning increased 1,600% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

If that sounds overstated, consider that worldwide shipments of smartphones in 2010 alone—mobile phones running a BlackBerry, Android, Apple, Palm or Windows operating system with advanced features, such as Internet access—were 270 million units, a 55% increase over 2009. Tablet devices, such as the Apple iPad, are rapidly becoming a significant force in mobile marketing, with forecasted 2011 sales between 35 million and 70 million units. In fact, more people are projected to access the Internet with a mobile device than with a computer by 2013.

You probably already knew that the growth in online commerce continues to outpace traditional retail sales. Hedges & Company is forecasting online sales of automotive specialty products (excluding auctions) to break $2 billion in 2011. When you add in multichannel customers—shoppers who use the Internet to gather information, even though they buy in a retail store—the amount of specialty-equipment product sales influenced by the Internet is staggering. More of this online activity is migrating from PCs to smartphones every day.

Three Ways to Use Mobile for Marketing

Here are three things to keep in mind to sell more specialty-equipment parts and accessories using mobile marketing.

First, the obvious: Make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Hedges & Company research from the 2009 and 2010 SEMA Show Opinion Leader program showed that as many as nine out of 10 automotive enthusiasts used the Internet to research a product before buying, whether they buy online, in a store or through an online auction. Many consumers go directly to a manufacturer’s website first. Even if you don’t sell directly to consumers, your website must be compatible with all PC and mobile browsers.

Second, even in mobile marketing, e-mail is still the king. It has the highest return on investment (ROI) of all marketing activities, and it’s the online activity that three out of five consumers start the day with, whether on their PCs or their smartphones. E-mail is more popular than any other online activity, including social media. Nearly nine out of 10 consumers check their e-mail once a day, and half of all consumers have made a purchase as a result of an e-mail.

Third, remember that mobile is interactive, and consumers are fully engaged with their mobile devices. Effective mobile marketing should “close the loop” to attempt to produce a sale.

Fortunately, interactivity is now easier and more effective than ever. Enter the mobile scan code.

Scan Codes: Close the Sales Loop

		The most widely used scan code format is known as a 2D or QR code, a collection of patterns compressed into a small square and encoded with data that is “read” on a smartphone using a downloadable application, widely known as an “app.”

The most widely used scan code format is known as a 2D or QR code, a collection of patterns compressed into a small square and encoded with data that is “read” on a smartphone using a downloadable application, widely known as an “app.”

We spoke with Nile Cornelison, CEO of Direct Communications Inc. (DCi), a SEMA-member company on the forefront of QR codes. DCi manages product data and content for more than 200 specialty-equipment manufacturers and is creating mobile marketing opportunities.

“There are now more smartphone code scans in a single month than we had in all of 2009,” said Cornelison. “A marketing approach we like is to use a scannable QR code, or use a short URL, to send a consumer to a mobile-friendly listing of products where they can search by year/make/model.

Cornelison said that a QR code can be placed anywhere: in a magazine ad, on traditional in-store point-of-purchase (POP) displays, on posters—let your imagination run wild.

“Wherever you put a QR code, it is more effective when used to guide a consumer directly to products of interest,” he said. “Mobile consumers have a short attention span. They want to see a product listing edited down for them. For example, a QR code placed on a truck accessory manufacturer’s POP display could direct a consumer to a year/make/model search to find an application for his vehicle. Or to a list of new products, which can change even though the in-store POP stays in place for months. Outside a store, a QR code can even guide a consumer where to buy a product, locally or online.”

Mobile: a Marketer’s Dream

Mobile devices represent a specialty-equipment marketer’s dream: complete interaction, the technology to target specific consumers, the ability to close the sales loop, measurable ROI and a rapidly growing market.

Tap into mobile to help ensure your success in 2011.

The Marketer’s Dream

By Jon Hedges

		QR code scanning increased 1,600% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

If that sounds overstated, consider that worldwide shipments of smartphones in 2010 alone—mobile phones running a BlackBerry, Android, Apple, Palm or Windows operating system with advanced features, such as Internet access—were 270 million units, a 55% increase over 2009. Tablet devices, such as the Apple iPad, are rapidly becoming a significant force in mobile marketing, with forecasted 2011 sales between 35 million and 70 million units. In fact, more people are projected to access the Internet with a mobile device than with a computer by 2013.

You probably already knew that the growth in online commerce continues to outpace traditional retail sales. Hedges & Company is forecasting online sales of automotive specialty products (excluding auctions) to break $2 billion in 2011. When you add in multichannel customers—shoppers who use the Internet to gather information, even though they buy in a retail store—the amount of specialty-equipment product sales influenced by the Internet is staggering. More of this online activity is migrating from PCs to smartphones every day.

Three Ways to Use Mobile for Marketing

Here are three things to keep in mind to sell more specialty-equipment parts and accessories using mobile marketing.

First, the obvious: Make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Hedges & Company research from the 2009 and 2010 SEMA Show Opinion Leader program showed that as many as nine out of 10 automotive enthusiasts used the Internet to research a product before buying, whether they buy online, in a store or through an online auction. Many consumers go directly to a manufacturer’s website first. Even if you don’t sell directly to consumers, your website must be compatible with all PC and mobile browsers.

Second, even in mobile marketing, e-mail is still the king. It has the highest return on investment (ROI) of all marketing activities, and it’s the online activity that three out of five consumers start the day with, whether on their PCs or their smartphones. E-mail is more popular than any other online activity, including social media. Nearly nine out of 10 consumers check their e-mail once a day, and half of all consumers have made a purchase as a result of an e-mail.

Third, remember that mobile is interactive, and consumers are fully engaged with their mobile devices. Effective mobile marketing should “close the loop” to attempt to produce a sale.

Fortunately, interactivity is now easier and more effective than ever. Enter the mobile scan code.

Scan Codes: Close the Sales Loop

		The most widely used scan code format is known as a 2D or QR code, a collection of patterns compressed into a small square and encoded with data that is “read” on a smartphone using a downloadable application, widely known as an “app.”

The most widely used scan code format is known as a 2D or QR code, a collection of patterns compressed into a small square and encoded with data that is “read” on a smartphone using a downloadable application, widely known as an “app.”

We spoke with Nile Cornelison, CEO of Direct Communications Inc. (DCi), a SEMA-member company on the forefront of QR codes. DCi manages product data and content for more than 200 specialty-equipment manufacturers and is creating mobile marketing opportunities.

“There are now more smartphone code scans in a single month than we had in all of 2009,” said Cornelison. “A marketing approach we like is to use a scannable QR code, or use a short URL, to send a consumer to a mobile-friendly listing of products where they can search by year/make/model.

Cornelison said that a QR code can be placed anywhere: in a magazine ad, on traditional in-store point-of-purchase (POP) displays, on posters—let your imagination run wild.

“Wherever you put a QR code, it is more effective when used to guide a consumer directly to products of interest,” he said. “Mobile consumers have a short attention span. They want to see a product listing edited down for them. For example, a QR code placed on a truck accessory manufacturer’s POP display could direct a consumer to a year/make/model search to find an application for his vehicle. Or to a list of new products, which can change even though the in-store POP stays in place for months. Outside a store, a QR code can even guide a consumer where to buy a product, locally or online.”

Mobile: a Marketer’s Dream

Mobile devices represent a specialty-equipment marketer’s dream: complete interaction, the technology to target specific consumers, the ability to close the sales loop, measurable ROI and a rapidly growing market.

Tap into mobile to help ensure your success in 2011.

MPMC Chairman Kyle Fickler (left) of Weld Racing and Chair-Elect Vic Wood of Hedman Performance Group share a passion for the council’s history and, more importantly, its future.

“Vic and I are committed to building MPMC’s value to the members and to helping the council develop a clear path into the future, with goals and plans,” said Fickler. “For the past several years, we’ve held our LRP on the Friday after the Media Trade Conference (MTC). Instead of planning, the bulk of the meeting was taken up with MTC ‘debriefing.’ Everyone was excited but also exhausted and anxious to get home, and that had a negative effect on the meeting. We moved it to the Monday before MTC and couldn’t be happier with the results.”

The date change resulted in the most productive MPMC LRP in recent years. Fickler opened the meeting with a brief history of the MPMC, which led to an engaging discussion of the history and future of the council. During the discussion, Fickler also shared with the group the strategic goals that he and Wood developed during the Council Summit in July.

“At the Council Summit, each chair and chair-elect had to develop goals and objectives for their council,” Fickler said. “It was a valuable exercise and one that fit exactly with how Vic and I were looking at MPMC. One of our goals was to move the LRP and reformat it into a genuine planning session. Sounds minor, but it proved very worthy. This session featured more interaction among the members, Select Committee and general membership than I’ve seen in quite a number of years. I was astounded.”

Another goal of the council leaders is to develop a Horizon Document—a multiyear plan for the council. The purpose of such a document is to maintain continuity and consistency as the leadership turns over every two years.

“Any time you have new leadership and no plan to refer to, consistency will be a problem,” said Wood. “None of us would run our businesses without a plan. We shouldn’t try to run a council without one, either. This will be a living document with changes as needed. But it will also be the cornerstone or starting point for all discussions.”

The first step in developing the document is to define the council’s goals. This year’s LRP focused on reviewing current projects and then identifying issues or problems that have an impact on the membership. Everyone in the room at the planning session got an opportunity to document an issue faced by his or her company. Once the problems were all displayed on flip-chart paper hanging from a wall, the group prioritized them to come up with the top four. A task force was formed to analyze the issues and determine if any are within the scope of MPMC to look for a solution.

“Clearly, face-to-face meetings without other distractions are the most productive,” said Fickler. “Almost every attendee said ‘thank you’ for moving the meeting and for bringing the council’s focus back to manufacturers. It’s difficult to get people to commit to meetings in today’s economy, but the value is there. We’re not going to wait a full year to have another face-to-face get-together. We haven’t settled on anything, but keep an eye on SEMA eNews for announcements. We’ll do this again sometime midyear, and next year’s LRP will definitely be a full-day agenda.”

Wood said that the MPMC leadership would keep pushing on plan development, both for the council as a whole and for its task forces and project committees.

“This is the direction SEMA is headed as an association,” he said, “so it’s a natural progression for the volunteer groups as well. MPMC has a distinct advantage over other councils in one sense: Our membership is made up entirely of manufacturers and can, therefore, focus entirely on manufacturer issues. And since our manufacturer members are further defined by ‘motorsports,’ it should mean that a lot of us are together at events anyway. If you missed the LRP, you won’t want to miss the next general meeting. Stay tuned.”

MPMC members are encouraged to monitor SEMA eNews and the MPMC web pages at www.SEMA.org/mpmc for news and announcements concerning the council.

MPMC Chairman Kyle Fickler (left) of Weld Racing and Chair-Elect Vic Wood of Hedman Performance Group share a passion for the council’s history and, more importantly, its future.

“Vic and I are committed to building MPMC’s value to the members and to helping the council develop a clear path into the future, with goals and plans,” said Fickler. “For the past several years, we’ve held our LRP on the Friday after the Media Trade Conference (MTC). Instead of planning, the bulk of the meeting was taken up with MTC ‘debriefing.’ Everyone was excited but also exhausted and anxious to get home, and that had a negative effect on the meeting. We moved it to the Monday before MTC and couldn’t be happier with the results.”

The date change resulted in the most productive MPMC LRP in recent years. Fickler opened the meeting with a brief history of the MPMC, which led to an engaging discussion of the history and future of the council. During the discussion, Fickler also shared with the group the strategic goals that he and Wood developed during the Council Summit in July.

“At the Council Summit, each chair and chair-elect had to develop goals and objectives for their council,” Fickler said. “It was a valuable exercise and one that fit exactly with how Vic and I were looking at MPMC. One of our goals was to move the LRP and reformat it into a genuine planning session. Sounds minor, but it proved very worthy. This session featured more interaction among the members, Select Committee and general membership than I’ve seen in quite a number of years. I was astounded.”

Another goal of the council leaders is to develop a Horizon Document—a multiyear plan for the council. The purpose of such a document is to maintain continuity and consistency as the leadership turns over every two years.

“Any time you have new leadership and no plan to refer to, consistency will be a problem,” said Wood. “None of us would run our businesses without a plan. We shouldn’t try to run a council without one, either. This will be a living document with changes as needed. But it will also be the cornerstone or starting point for all discussions.”

The first step in developing the document is to define the council’s goals. This year’s LRP focused on reviewing current projects and then identifying issues or problems that have an impact on the membership. Everyone in the room at the planning session got an opportunity to document an issue faced by his or her company. Once the problems were all displayed on flip-chart paper hanging from a wall, the group prioritized them to come up with the top four. A task force was formed to analyze the issues and determine if any are within the scope of MPMC to look for a solution.

“Clearly, face-to-face meetings without other distractions are the most productive,” said Fickler. “Almost every attendee said ‘thank you’ for moving the meeting and for bringing the council’s focus back to manufacturers. It’s difficult to get people to commit to meetings in today’s economy, but the value is there. We’re not going to wait a full year to have another face-to-face get-together. We haven’t settled on anything, but keep an eye on SEMA eNews for announcements. We’ll do this again sometime midyear, and next year’s LRP will definitely be a full-day agenda.”

Wood said that the MPMC leadership would keep pushing on plan development, both for the council as a whole and for its task forces and project committees.

“This is the direction SEMA is headed as an association,” he said, “so it’s a natural progression for the volunteer groups as well. MPMC has a distinct advantage over other councils in one sense: Our membership is made up entirely of manufacturers and can, therefore, focus entirely on manufacturer issues. And since our manufacturer members are further defined by ‘motorsports,’ it should mean that a lot of us are together at events anyway. If you missed the LRP, you won’t want to miss the next general meeting. Stay tuned.”

MPMC members are encouraged to monitor SEMA eNews and the MPMC web pages at www.SEMA.org/mpmc for news and announcements concerning the council.