Tag: mobile marketing

Mobile marketing tech added to Costco print magazine

| April 8, 2013

Mobile Marketing CostcoAds with scannable watermarks have been added to the pages which link to smartphone friendly content.

Costco has decided to add mobile marketing to its printed monthly magazine by adding a watermark on the pages that can be scanned with a smartphone in order to access content that they feel consumers will find relevant, interesting, and helpful.

Though the content in the magazine, itself, hasn’t changed, it will allow the company to provide more information.

The mobile marketing watermarks can be scanned by readers who are interested in the subject to which the marks are connected, in order to access smartphone and tablet friendly content on that topic or product. This marks an important technological advancement for the Costco Connection magazine.

This mobile marketing technique is one that is rapidly growing throughout the print industry.

This particular mobile marketing program is implemented through the Digimarc Discover Intuitive Computer Platform from Digimarc Corp. It allows transparent digital watermarks to be embedded into print advertising and editorial content. The April issue is the first to include this feature.

The watermark being used for this mobile marketing can be used in a way that is very similar to the highly popular QR code. The consumer downloads a free scanner app onto his or her smartphone or tablet. The camera of the device is then aimed at the watermark, and the application automatically detects the image and directs the user to the appropriate page on the device’s browser. This instantly connects the consumer with the web-based content that is relevant to the topic on the scanned page.

According to Costco’s own figures, there are 8.6 million readers of its magazine. The Digimarc Discover app will allow those readers to use their smartphones to access over 50 unique watermarks per issue, including in the April edition. They link readers to videos, product information, store data, and even have mobile commerce features that allow readers to make a purchase over their smartphone or tablet.

The assistant vice president of publishing and the magazine’s editor, David Fuller, made a statement about the mobile marketing strategy, saying that “Many of our members are already browsing The Costco Connection with their mobile phones and tablets sitting nearby.”

Mobile marketing with retail coupons is a hit with consumers

| April 3, 2013

Mobile Marketing Retail CouponsThis technique is proving to be highly successful for advertisers targeting shoppers with smartphones.

Major retailers have been boosting their mobile marketing efforts and, among them, coupons directed at smartphone users have been rapidly rising to the top of the priority lists as consumers show that they love them.

These new forms of discounts appear to be taking over where daily deal giants have left off.

Discount coupons are now being worked into mobile marketing on virtually every level. As a result, consumers are now searching for them before they make many different kinds of purchases through their computers and their smartphones and tablets. This is changing the commerce environment, as these shoppers aren’t just limited to the searches when they’re at home on their PCs, but can perform their queries while they’re within the walls of a store.

This has helped to further the use of “showrooming” which has become a central element of mobile marketing.

Though showrooming was once seen as a nightmare for retailers, they are slowly starting to embrace the behavior as an opportunity for mobile marketing. Instead of trying to fight it off entirely, it is a matter of proper use.

According to the RetailMeNot Inc. senior vice president of external affairs, John Faith, “retailers have an opportunity to combat showrooming by reaching those consumers when they are engaged and ready to make a purchase.” While there is no way to stop consumers from showrooming, the trick to effective mobile marketing is to make sure that the end result of the behavior is a purchase from their own store.

Smartphone friendly coupons can help to improve the appeal of shopping within the store as opposed to seeking out an alternative at a competing retailer. Companies are using this form of mobile marketing to embrace the fact that consumers are going to use their devices in store to find a better deal. The key that they can provide is to make sure that this “better deal” remains the in store purchase.

These claims from Faith have been supported by the latest comScore data, which shows that retail is the second most rapidly growing category for mobile marketing with coupons.