SEMA News—December 2014

HERITAGE

By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy of the Petersen Archives

A Steal

Shelby American had a presence at the High Performance and Custom Equipment Trade Show at Dodger Stadium in 1967, the event that would go on to become the SEMA Show. It’s interesting to see what’s in the Shelby booth—as well as what’s not. Shelby’s iconic Cobra roadster and the GT350 Mustang are represented only by photos on the booth’s back wall. Note, too, the “wanted” poster on the easel soliciting for manufacturer’s representatives to handle Shelby’s parts and equipment.

The engine in the center of the booth is a small-block Ford outfitted with a Paxton supercharger. Shelby began offering the blower on ’66 GT350 models, though the expensive option found few takers. Only 11 GT350s left the factory as supercharged models. Many more of the Paxton kits were sold over the counter to Shelby Mustang owners who were looking for extra grunt from their 289ci V8s. Speaking of which, the back wall of the booth also displays single- and dual-carb intake manifolds, a carburetor, a piston, a camshaft, lifters and other speed equipment offered by Shelby.

Dominating the floor space in the booth is a GT40. Though not technically a Shelby product, the GT40 became the Ferrari fighter that Henry Ford II wanted it to be only after Carroll and his engineers successfully upgraded the race car. Six months prior to the trade show, GT40s famously went 1-2-3 at the 1966 24 Hours of LeMans, with the top two spots taken by Shelby-backed cars.

The GT40 in the booth was not one of those winners, though. Those cars were Mk II models with 427ci engines. This one was a Mk I with a 400hp 289. According to the card alongside the car, this particular “prototype racing car” was “entered in competition at Daytona Continental, Sebring, LeMans, Nürburgring. Price: $18,250.”

That was a lot of money in 1967 dollars. Consider that Shelby’s ’67 GT350 and GT500 had starting prices of around $4,200 to $4,400. So did the Corvette. A 427 Cobra—considered stratospherically priced for the everyday enthusiast—was nearly double that. The all-new Camaro, by contrast, started at less than $3,000.

And yet, fast forward nearly five decades. A documented GT40 Mk 1 prototype, believed to be the first GT modified by Shelby, sold at Dana Mecum’s Houston auction in April for $7 million. Given that yardstick, the $18,200 Shelby was asking for this car was a real bargain.

SEMA News—December 2014

HERITAGE

By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy of the Petersen Archives

A Steal

Shelby American had a presence at the High Performance and Custom Equipment Trade Show at Dodger Stadium in 1967, the event that would go on to become the SEMA Show. It’s interesting to see what’s in the Shelby booth—as well as what’s not. Shelby’s iconic Cobra roadster and the GT350 Mustang are represented only by photos on the booth’s back wall. Note, too, the “wanted” poster on the easel soliciting for manufacturer’s representatives to handle Shelby’s parts and equipment.

The engine in the center of the booth is a small-block Ford outfitted with a Paxton supercharger. Shelby began offering the blower on ’66 GT350 models, though the expensive option found few takers. Only 11 GT350s left the factory as supercharged models. Many more of the Paxton kits were sold over the counter to Shelby Mustang owners who were looking for extra grunt from their 289ci V8s. Speaking of which, the back wall of the booth also displays single- and dual-carb intake manifolds, a carburetor, a piston, a camshaft, lifters and other speed equipment offered by Shelby.

Dominating the floor space in the booth is a GT40. Though not technically a Shelby product, the GT40 became the Ferrari fighter that Henry Ford II wanted it to be only after Carroll and his engineers successfully upgraded the race car. Six months prior to the trade show, GT40s famously went 1-2-3 at the 1966 24 Hours of LeMans, with the top two spots taken by Shelby-backed cars.

The GT40 in the booth was not one of those winners, though. Those cars were Mk II models with 427ci engines. This one was a Mk I with a 400hp 289. According to the card alongside the car, this particular “prototype racing car” was “entered in competition at Daytona Continental, Sebring, LeMans, Nürburgring. Price: $18,250.”

That was a lot of money in 1967 dollars. Consider that Shelby’s ’67 GT350 and GT500 had starting prices of around $4,200 to $4,400. So did the Corvette. A 427 Cobra—considered stratospherically priced for the everyday enthusiast—was nearly double that. The all-new Camaro, by contrast, started at less than $3,000.

And yet, fast forward nearly five decades. A documented GT40 Mk 1 prototype, believed to be the first GT modified by Shelby, sold at Dana Mecum’s Houston auction in April for $7 million. Given that yardstick, the $18,200 Shelby was asking for this car was a real bargain.

SEMA News—December 2014

CHRIS KERSTING

Newsflash: Rich Marketing Content = More Profits. Is Yours In the SEMA Data Co-op?

We’re pleased to report that the SEMA Data Co-op has surpassed critical mass and is rolling! Your industry-owned product data repository now has more than 350 brands covering more than 2.7 million live part numbers. Every week, we see thousands of data exports pulled down by data receivers—our industry’s resellers and retailers. That means that more products are getting more exposure, leading to increased sales.

That’s great news. Meanwhile, the marketplace continues to evolve. These days, more than 50% of all sales begin with online research, and studies show that a product listing that offers an image is more than twice as likely to sell as one with no image. Rich data—images with multiple views, video files, audio files—is reported to be as much as 17 times more likely to prompt a sale.

Given that we are moving into an age in which the Internet is the primary source of product information, high-quality “rich data” is essential to your company’s success. These days, a photo is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million.

Make no mistake, building rich data assets does require investment in time and people. But building rich data should be the target moving forward, and it should be in every company’s marketing budget. If you’re already shooting new products for a catalog, look into shooting 360-degree views or adding an audio or complete description of the benefits. With just a little more effort and investment, manufacturers can provide consumers with more reasons to buy and have that investment pay back in multiples.

Where to begin? A good start would be to download the “Digital Asset Best Practice Guideline” for the automotive market. This document was assembled and updated by the Technology Standards Committee of AAIA, now known as The Auto Care Association. It outlines industry best practices for producing audio, video and product images, and it details how to maximize return on the investment. Anyone in the industry can download the free report by going to www.SEMAdatacoop.org and clicking the link for the Digital Best Practices Release found in the “library” menu under “data standards.”

Rich digital assets are even more valuable now as the SEMA Data Co-op rolls out a tremendous new tool for the industry, SEMA Search. You can think of SEMA Search as the online encyclopedia of automotive aftermarket specialty parts. It’s designed for use by salespeople in the trade to access product information housed in the rapidly growing SEMA Data Co-op database.

Through SEMA Search, products are made visible to more receivers and their customers. With rich data to accompany year, make and model information, the buying proposition is much more compelling.

SEMA Search empowers salespeople to match customer inquiries with a broad array of product choices. Tapping into up-to-date information in the SEMA Data Co-op means less chance of ordering errors and fewer returns. And end users—the ultimate beneficiaries we all work for—will find it easier than ever to find the parts that feed their enthusiasm for aftermarket upgrades.

It’s clear that we’ve reached an age where data quality is the key to success. For those SEMA Data Co-op members who haven’t yet begun to take advantage of the selling opportunities provided by enhanced product imagery and marketing copy, now is the time to gear up. For those whose products are not yet represented in the SEMA Data Co-op, it should be obvious: Now is the time to get in.

—Chris Kersting, SEMA President and CEO

SEMA News—December 2014

CHRIS KERSTING

Newsflash: Rich Marketing Content = More Profits. Is Yours In the SEMA Data Co-op?

We’re pleased to report that the SEMA Data Co-op has surpassed critical mass and is rolling! Your industry-owned product data repository now has more than 350 brands covering more than 2.7 million live part numbers. Every week, we see thousands of data exports pulled down by data receivers—our industry’s resellers and retailers. That means that more products are getting more exposure, leading to increased sales.

That’s great news. Meanwhile, the marketplace continues to evolve. These days, more than 50% of all sales begin with online research, and studies show that a product listing that offers an image is more than twice as likely to sell as one with no image. Rich data—images with multiple views, video files, audio files—is reported to be as much as 17 times more likely to prompt a sale.

Given that we are moving into an age in which the Internet is the primary source of product information, high-quality “rich data” is essential to your company’s success. These days, a photo is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million.

Make no mistake, building rich data assets does require investment in time and people. But building rich data should be the target moving forward, and it should be in every company’s marketing budget. If you’re already shooting new products for a catalog, look into shooting 360-degree views or adding an audio or complete description of the benefits. With just a little more effort and investment, manufacturers can provide consumers with more reasons to buy and have that investment pay back in multiples.

Where to begin? A good start would be to download the “Digital Asset Best Practice Guideline” for the automotive market. This document was assembled and updated by the Technology Standards Committee of AAIA, now known as The Auto Care Association. It outlines industry best practices for producing audio, video and product images, and it details how to maximize return on the investment. Anyone in the industry can download the free report by going to www.SEMAdatacoop.org and clicking the link for the Digital Best Practices Release found in the “library” menu under “data standards.”

Rich digital assets are even more valuable now as the SEMA Data Co-op rolls out a tremendous new tool for the industry, SEMA Search. You can think of SEMA Search as the online encyclopedia of automotive aftermarket specialty parts. It’s designed for use by salespeople in the trade to access product information housed in the rapidly growing SEMA Data Co-op database.

Through SEMA Search, products are made visible to more receivers and their customers. With rich data to accompany year, make and model information, the buying proposition is much more compelling.

SEMA Search empowers salespeople to match customer inquiries with a broad array of product choices. Tapping into up-to-date information in the SEMA Data Co-op means less chance of ordering errors and fewer returns. And end users—the ultimate beneficiaries we all work for—will find it easier than ever to find the parts that feed their enthusiasm for aftermarket upgrades.

It’s clear that we’ve reached an age where data quality is the key to success. For those SEMA Data Co-op members who haven’t yet begun to take advantage of the selling opportunities provided by enhanced product imagery and marketing copy, now is the time to gear up. For those whose products are not yet represented in the SEMA Data Co-op, it should be obvious: Now is the time to get in.

—Chris Kersting, SEMA President and CEO

SEMA News—December 2014

CHRIS KERSTING

Newsflash: Rich Marketing Content = More Profits. Is Yours In the SEMA Data Co-op?

We’re pleased to report that the SEMA Data Co-op has surpassed critical mass and is rolling! Your industry-owned product data repository now has more than 350 brands covering more than 2.7 million live part numbers. Every week, we see thousands of data exports pulled down by data receivers—our industry’s resellers and retailers. That means that more products are getting more exposure, leading to increased sales.

That’s great news. Meanwhile, the marketplace continues to evolve. These days, more than 50% of all sales begin with online research, and studies show that a product listing that offers an image is more than twice as likely to sell as one with no image. Rich data—images with multiple views, video files, audio files—is reported to be as much as 17 times more likely to prompt a sale.

Given that we are moving into an age in which the Internet is the primary source of product information, high-quality “rich data” is essential to your company’s success. These days, a photo is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million.

Make no mistake, building rich data assets does require investment in time and people. But building rich data should be the target moving forward, and it should be in every company’s marketing budget. If you’re already shooting new products for a catalog, look into shooting 360-degree views or adding an audio or complete description of the benefits. With just a little more effort and investment, manufacturers can provide consumers with more reasons to buy and have that investment pay back in multiples.

Where to begin? A good start would be to download the “Digital Asset Best Practice Guideline” for the automotive market. This document was assembled and updated by the Technology Standards Committee of AAIA, now known as The Auto Care Association. It outlines industry best practices for producing audio, video and product images, and it details how to maximize return on the investment. Anyone in the industry can download the free report by going to www.SEMAdatacoop.org and clicking the link for the Digital Best Practices Release found in the “library” menu under “data standards.”

Rich digital assets are even more valuable now as the SEMA Data Co-op rolls out a tremendous new tool for the industry, SEMA Search. You can think of SEMA Search as the online encyclopedia of automotive aftermarket specialty parts. It’s designed for use by salespeople in the trade to access product information housed in the rapidly growing SEMA Data Co-op database.

Through SEMA Search, products are made visible to more receivers and their customers. With rich data to accompany year, make and model information, the buying proposition is much more compelling.

SEMA Search empowers salespeople to match customer inquiries with a broad array of product choices. Tapping into up-to-date information in the SEMA Data Co-op means less chance of ordering errors and fewer returns. And end users—the ultimate beneficiaries we all work for—will find it easier than ever to find the parts that feed their enthusiasm for aftermarket upgrades.

It’s clear that we’ve reached an age where data quality is the key to success. For those SEMA Data Co-op members who haven’t yet begun to take advantage of the selling opportunities provided by enhanced product imagery and marketing copy, now is the time to gear up. For those whose products are not yet represented in the SEMA Data Co-op, it should be obvious: Now is the time to get in.

—Chris Kersting, SEMA President and CEO

SEMA News—December 2014

CHRIS KERSTING

Newsflash: Rich Marketing Content = More Profits. Is Yours In the SEMA Data Co-op?

We’re pleased to report that the SEMA Data Co-op has surpassed critical mass and is rolling! Your industry-owned product data repository now has more than 350 brands covering more than 2.7 million live part numbers. Every week, we see thousands of data exports pulled down by data receivers—our industry’s resellers and retailers. That means that more products are getting more exposure, leading to increased sales.

That’s great news. Meanwhile, the marketplace continues to evolve. These days, more than 50% of all sales begin with online research, and studies show that a product listing that offers an image is more than twice as likely to sell as one with no image. Rich data—images with multiple views, video files, audio files—is reported to be as much as 17 times more likely to prompt a sale.

Given that we are moving into an age in which the Internet is the primary source of product information, high-quality “rich data” is essential to your company’s success. These days, a photo is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million.

Make no mistake, building rich data assets does require investment in time and people. But building rich data should be the target moving forward, and it should be in every company’s marketing budget. If you’re already shooting new products for a catalog, look into shooting 360-degree views or adding an audio or complete description of the benefits. With just a little more effort and investment, manufacturers can provide consumers with more reasons to buy and have that investment pay back in multiples.

Where to begin? A good start would be to download the “Digital Asset Best Practice Guideline” for the automotive market. This document was assembled and updated by the Technology Standards Committee of AAIA, now known as The Auto Care Association. It outlines industry best practices for producing audio, video and product images, and it details how to maximize return on the investment. Anyone in the industry can download the free report by going to www.SEMAdatacoop.org and clicking the link for the Digital Best Practices Release found in the “library” menu under “data standards.”

Rich digital assets are even more valuable now as the SEMA Data Co-op rolls out a tremendous new tool for the industry, SEMA Search. You can think of SEMA Search as the online encyclopedia of automotive aftermarket specialty parts. It’s designed for use by salespeople in the trade to access product information housed in the rapidly growing SEMA Data Co-op database.

Through SEMA Search, products are made visible to more receivers and their customers. With rich data to accompany year, make and model information, the buying proposition is much more compelling.

SEMA Search empowers salespeople to match customer inquiries with a broad array of product choices. Tapping into up-to-date information in the SEMA Data Co-op means less chance of ordering errors and fewer returns. And end users—the ultimate beneficiaries we all work for—will find it easier than ever to find the parts that feed their enthusiasm for aftermarket upgrades.

It’s clear that we’ve reached an age where data quality is the key to success. For those SEMA Data Co-op members who haven’t yet begun to take advantage of the selling opportunities provided by enhanced product imagery and marketing copy, now is the time to gear up. For those whose products are not yet represented in the SEMA Data Co-op, it should be obvious: Now is the time to get in.

—Chris Kersting, SEMA President and CEO

SEMA News—December 2014

CHRIS KERSTING

Newsflash: Rich Marketing Content = More Profits. Is Yours In the SEMA Data Co-op?

We’re pleased to report that the SEMA Data Co-op has surpassed critical mass and is rolling! Your industry-owned product data repository now has more than 350 brands covering more than 2.7 million live part numbers. Every week, we see thousands of data exports pulled down by data receivers—our industry’s resellers and retailers. That means that more products are getting more exposure, leading to increased sales.

That’s great news. Meanwhile, the marketplace continues to evolve. These days, more than 50% of all sales begin with online research, and studies show that a product listing that offers an image is more than twice as likely to sell as one with no image. Rich data—images with multiple views, video files, audio files—is reported to be as much as 17 times more likely to prompt a sale.

Given that we are moving into an age in which the Internet is the primary source of product information, high-quality “rich data” is essential to your company’s success. These days, a photo is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million.

Make no mistake, building rich data assets does require investment in time and people. But building rich data should be the target moving forward, and it should be in every company’s marketing budget. If you’re already shooting new products for a catalog, look into shooting 360-degree views or adding an audio or complete description of the benefits. With just a little more effort and investment, manufacturers can provide consumers with more reasons to buy and have that investment pay back in multiples.

Where to begin? A good start would be to download the “Digital Asset Best Practice Guideline” for the automotive market. This document was assembled and updated by the Technology Standards Committee of AAIA, now known as The Auto Care Association. It outlines industry best practices for producing audio, video and product images, and it details how to maximize return on the investment. Anyone in the industry can download the free report by going to www.SEMAdatacoop.org and clicking the link for the Digital Best Practices Release found in the “library” menu under “data standards.”

Rich digital assets are even more valuable now as the SEMA Data Co-op rolls out a tremendous new tool for the industry, SEMA Search. You can think of SEMA Search as the online encyclopedia of automotive aftermarket specialty parts. It’s designed for use by salespeople in the trade to access product information housed in the rapidly growing SEMA Data Co-op database.

Through SEMA Search, products are made visible to more receivers and their customers. With rich data to accompany year, make and model information, the buying proposition is much more compelling.

SEMA Search empowers salespeople to match customer inquiries with a broad array of product choices. Tapping into up-to-date information in the SEMA Data Co-op means less chance of ordering errors and fewer returns. And end users—the ultimate beneficiaries we all work for—will find it easier than ever to find the parts that feed their enthusiasm for aftermarket upgrades.

It’s clear that we’ve reached an age where data quality is the key to success. For those SEMA Data Co-op members who haven’t yet begun to take advantage of the selling opportunities provided by enhanced product imagery and marketing copy, now is the time to gear up. For those whose products are not yet represented in the SEMA Data Co-op, it should be obvious: Now is the time to get in.

—Chris Kersting, SEMA President and CEO

SEMA News—December 2014

CHRIS KERSTING

Newsflash: Rich Marketing Content = More Profits. Is Yours In the SEMA Data Co-op?

We’re pleased to report that the SEMA Data Co-op has surpassed critical mass and is rolling! Your industry-owned product data repository now has more than 350 brands covering more than 2.7 million live part numbers. Every week, we see thousands of data exports pulled down by data receivers—our industry’s resellers and retailers. That means that more products are getting more exposure, leading to increased sales.

That’s great news. Meanwhile, the marketplace continues to evolve. These days, more than 50% of all sales begin with online research, and studies show that a product listing that offers an image is more than twice as likely to sell as one with no image. Rich data—images with multiple views, video files, audio files—is reported to be as much as 17 times more likely to prompt a sale.

Given that we are moving into an age in which the Internet is the primary source of product information, high-quality “rich data” is essential to your company’s success. These days, a photo is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million.

Make no mistake, building rich data assets does require investment in time and people. But building rich data should be the target moving forward, and it should be in every company’s marketing budget. If you’re already shooting new products for a catalog, look into shooting 360-degree views or adding an audio or complete description of the benefits. With just a little more effort and investment, manufacturers can provide consumers with more reasons to buy and have that investment pay back in multiples.

Where to begin? A good start would be to download the “Digital Asset Best Practice Guideline” for the automotive market. This document was assembled and updated by the Technology Standards Committee of AAIA, now known as The Auto Care Association. It outlines industry best practices for producing audio, video and product images, and it details how to maximize return on the investment. Anyone in the industry can download the free report by going to www.SEMAdatacoop.org and clicking the link for the Digital Best Practices Release found in the “library” menu under “data standards.”

Rich digital assets are even more valuable now as the SEMA Data Co-op rolls out a tremendous new tool for the industry, SEMA Search. You can think of SEMA Search as the online encyclopedia of automotive aftermarket specialty parts. It’s designed for use by salespeople in the trade to access product information housed in the rapidly growing SEMA Data Co-op database.

Through SEMA Search, products are made visible to more receivers and their customers. With rich data to accompany year, make and model information, the buying proposition is much more compelling.

SEMA Search empowers salespeople to match customer inquiries with a broad array of product choices. Tapping into up-to-date information in the SEMA Data Co-op means less chance of ordering errors and fewer returns. And end users—the ultimate beneficiaries we all work for—will find it easier than ever to find the parts that feed their enthusiasm for aftermarket upgrades.

It’s clear that we’ve reached an age where data quality is the key to success. For those SEMA Data Co-op members who haven’t yet begun to take advantage of the selling opportunities provided by enhanced product imagery and marketing copy, now is the time to gear up. For those whose products are not yet represented in the SEMA Data Co-op, it should be obvious: Now is the time to get in.

—Chris Kersting, SEMA President and CEO

SEMA News—December 2014

CHRIS KERSTING

Newsflash: Rich Marketing Content = More Profits. Is Yours In the SEMA Data Co-op?

We’re pleased to report that the SEMA Data Co-op has surpassed critical mass and is rolling! Your industry-owned product data repository now has more than 350 brands covering more than 2.7 million live part numbers. Every week, we see thousands of data exports pulled down by data receivers—our industry’s resellers and retailers. That means that more products are getting more exposure, leading to increased sales.

That’s great news. Meanwhile, the marketplace continues to evolve. These days, more than 50% of all sales begin with online research, and studies show that a product listing that offers an image is more than twice as likely to sell as one with no image. Rich data—images with multiple views, video files, audio files—is reported to be as much as 17 times more likely to prompt a sale.

Given that we are moving into an age in which the Internet is the primary source of product information, high-quality “rich data” is essential to your company’s success. These days, a photo is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million.

Make no mistake, building rich data assets does require investment in time and people. But building rich data should be the target moving forward, and it should be in every company’s marketing budget. If you’re already shooting new products for a catalog, look into shooting 360-degree views or adding an audio or complete description of the benefits. With just a little more effort and investment, manufacturers can provide consumers with more reasons to buy and have that investment pay back in multiples.

Where to begin? A good start would be to download the “Digital Asset Best Practice Guideline” for the automotive market. This document was assembled and updated by the Technology Standards Committee of AAIA, now known as The Auto Care Association. It outlines industry best practices for producing audio, video and product images, and it details how to maximize return on the investment. Anyone in the industry can download the free report by going to www.SEMAdatacoop.org and clicking the link for the Digital Best Practices Release found in the “library” menu under “data standards.”

Rich digital assets are even more valuable now as the SEMA Data Co-op rolls out a tremendous new tool for the industry, SEMA Search. You can think of SEMA Search as the online encyclopedia of automotive aftermarket specialty parts. It’s designed for use by salespeople in the trade to access product information housed in the rapidly growing SEMA Data Co-op database.

Through SEMA Search, products are made visible to more receivers and their customers. With rich data to accompany year, make and model information, the buying proposition is much more compelling.

SEMA Search empowers salespeople to match customer inquiries with a broad array of product choices. Tapping into up-to-date information in the SEMA Data Co-op means less chance of ordering errors and fewer returns. And end users—the ultimate beneficiaries we all work for—will find it easier than ever to find the parts that feed their enthusiasm for aftermarket upgrades.

It’s clear that we’ve reached an age where data quality is the key to success. For those SEMA Data Co-op members who haven’t yet begun to take advantage of the selling opportunities provided by enhanced product imagery and marketing copy, now is the time to gear up. For those whose products are not yet represented in the SEMA Data Co-op, it should be obvious: Now is the time to get in.

—Chris Kersting, SEMA President and CEO

SEMA News—December 2014

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

QR Code Marketing

With the Right Demographic, a Potential Boon

These days, 21% of smartphone owners say they’ve scanned a QR code, with 2% saying they scan QR codes at least once a day, according to a February 2013 study by Edison Research/Arbitron. Moreover, a September 2013 study by comScore MobiLens/Mobile Marketing Association found that QR codes are especially popular among men. About 63% of QR code users in the United Kingdom are men, according to the study. And, not surprisingly, Millennials—25- to 34-year-olds—were more likely to use QR codes than any other age group, according to the study, with 18- to 24-year-olds coming in second.

One of the major positives with QR codes is that they can be generated for free using special sites on the web, although you generally don’t get sophisticated analytics on how your QR codes are being used, or if they’re effective, with the free service providers.

There are a number of computerized devices that come equipped with software that reads QR codes. Google’s mobile Android system includes a QR-code reader on many of the models that use its software. And Nokia’s phones also have a built-in reader. And while iPhone users need to download a QR-code reader, there are dozens of apps they can install for free to do their QR-code reading.

The downside of QR codes? Some only work with proprietary reading software, which needs to be specially downloaded for that specific QR code. Who has time for that?

QR codes are facing increasing competition from newer technologies that are designed to download content to smartphones at a faster rate. Blippar, for example, enables users to quickly pull info, entertainment, offers and augmented-reality 3D experiences from marketers that plant a Blippar code in newspapers, magazines, products and other printed materials. And Touchcode also offers an invisible electronic code that can be integrated onto printed materials and trigger a smartphone to instantly play audio, video or relevant text content once its scanned.

Yet another app, Layar which has been downloaded 38 million times, according to its maker—also enables a business to code a piece of printed material to instantly generate audio, video and or text scanned by a smartphone. Even so, QR codes have an advantage over many of the newer technologies, given that QR codes were the first to appear on the scene, and QR codes have an advantage over some competitors in that they have a visible presence on a surface. With Touchcode, for example, the scannable code is invisible, presenting its own problems for alerting the viewer that a scanning capability is present on printed material.

Specific, novel applications of QR marketing already in use include:

Business Card Advertising: Print a QR code on the back of a business card and, when scanned, it will bring people to your website, web video or any other digital marketing experience you’ve cooked up for your business.

Auto-Mapping: Add a QR code to any piece of printed material, and it will auto-map directions from where your potential customer is standing directly to your business.

Call Me Now: QR codes can also be programmed to trigger a phone call from your business to the smartphone of the user who is scanning your code. That’s perfect for a business with a special offer and looking to close the deal by phone.

Interesting Places to Print a QR Code: T-Shirt, scarf, blanket, drink bottle, hat, belt buckle, ring, cufflink, keychain, building, mug, wrapped cookie, food bag, human being or temporary tattoo.

Essentially, the way your business decides to leverage QR codes is really limited only by the imagination of your marketing staff. If you plan to give QR code marketing a try, make sure that the website you’re driving people to is optimized for smartphones.

“The only way a customer will read your QR code is with a mobile device,” said Claudio Schapsis, chief georilla officer for Georillas, a location-based marketing firm.

“I’ve seen many QR codes that direct you to the homepage of a brand or a business,” Schapsis said. “Once I arrive at the homepage, I’m often not sure what they want me to do. Provide a QR Code only if you plan on immediately giving value or expect to get a quick response from your customer.”

Judd Wheeler, co-founder of the Mobile Tulsa Group, added that you should know why you are using the code.

“QR codes are a tactic,” he said. “There is a greater strategy behind why you are using QR codes. QR codes aren’t the strategy.”

You’ll also want to make your QR code easily accessible, Schapsis said. Put another way, QR code on an advertisement on a subway wall is good. QR code on the side of a moving subway car is bad.

You’ll also want to take great pains to ensure that your QR code works on all major devices.

“Make sure that someone on your team is explicitly identified as the tester,” said Anna Pfeiffer, a marketing strategist at Bronto, a marketing agency. “Then assign someone else the same task. Having some redundancy is never a bad thing when it comes to possibly wasting marketing dollars on a botched campaign.”

Finally, to measure the efficacy of your QR marketing campaign over the long term, be sure to use analytics.

“You can use any type of analytics to measure results,” Schapsis said. “If you use Google Analytics, check its URL Builder. Many QR-code generators offer analytics. Most of them are paid services, and you will need to relay your campaign URL embedded in the QR code to be on a proprietary short code.”

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com