Gotcha! Mobile Solutions

We are providing cutting edge mobile marketing including mobile messaging, QR code technology, mobile Smartsites® and smartphone app development

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QR Codes: Indispensable Pieces of Technology

QR codes certainly attract a great deal of attention in today’s technologically-fuelled world. While certain people have some reservations about the longevity of this technology, it is my belief that these codes aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. I feel quite strongly about this fact, and I’d like to briefly explain why I think QR codes are going to be around for a long, long time.

  QR codes are more than just black and white barcodes. They’re little pieces of innovative genius that can serve as a link between the virtual world and the physical world. In some senses, they can be called a real life hyperlink. With a simple scan that takes a couple of seconds to do, a user can accomplish a plethora of tasks.

  While QR codes are great at bringing a user to a website landing page, this isn’t all they do. Just as hyperlinks on the Internet can serve a variety of purposes, so can these real life hyperlinks. It is now possible to send an email, watch a video, glean contact information, donate to a charity, buy a product or enter a contest, all with the simple scan of a code!

  With potential like that, it’s difficult to imagine why QR codes would become obsolete anytime soon. After all, do we think hyperlinks are going out of business? If we have no doubt about virtual hyperlinks, we definitely shouldn’t have any doubts about real-world ones!

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Custom QR: QR Technology Gets a Makeover

QR technology is quickly taking over. While the technology is actually quite old, dating from 1994, it really didn’t take off until recent years. As the ubiquity of QR codes increases, one thing is becoming painfully obvious: QR codes can be boring.

  If you’re involved in the marketing industry, you probably agree with me. You’ve seen hundreds, perhaps thousands of QR  codes that all look alike. You see the same old square, black and white, 2-dimensional codes. While this may have excited you two years ago, the honeymoon phase is over – you want something more from QR.

  Luckily, this doesn’t have to be the case. There are now graphic designers creating custom-made QR codes. These codes are now anything but boring. In fact, they are both a marketing tool, and a work of art.

  Custom QR codes are able to contain different colors, different background imagery, and even a company’s logo. These codes can look truly magnificent, and can really be eye-catching. We’ve now gotten to the place where we can adequately blend QR technology with aesthetic appeal. There is therefore no excuse to not take advantage of this intriguing advancement.

  Consider contacting a mobile solutions company today to find out how you can have a custom-made QR code created for your business. You may be surprised at what they are able to provide you with.

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Mobile Advertising – The Next Big Thing

The advertising sector is far from unchanging. People are always looking for the best way to sell a product, making this industry one that sees many changes and evolutional epochs. In today’s day and age, the current trend in advertising comes unsurprisingly from the mobile sector. 

Because people are always with their phones, mobile marketing has become the latest and greatest way to reach individuals. Mobile phones are everywhere, and while radio broadcasts, televisions and computers are also all around, they simply don’t have the relationships that mobile phones have with their owners. Because a mobile device is such an intimate device – that is, it’s constantly accessible and always monitored – there is simply no better way to reach people. 

Mobile devices also allow marketers to reach people in more creative ways. For example, consider a billboard: billboards are very limited when it comes to the types of advertisements they can hold... often painfully so. Mobile devices simply do not suffer the same fate. Marketers can send videos, audio clips, banners, coupons, and more. 

Because of the sheer accessibility and versatility of mobile devices, mobile marketing is truly taking off. Don’t get left behind – see how mobile marketing can better your business.

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What Are QR Codes?

While this question may appear simple – and it is – many people don’t truly know that much about QR codes. The average person has certainly seen a QR code: those black and white, two-dimensional, square barcodes that are commonly placed on billboards and advertisements; but many don’t know the history and facts about this innovative technology.

 QR (Quick Response) codes, are a matrix barcode that was invented in Japan in 1994. Created by Denso Wave (a subsidiary of Toyota), the first QR codes were used for the automotive industry. Since then, the technology has truly taken off, moving into virtually every industry. While the technology may be quite old, it has only been picked up by mobile marketing in recent years. 

The technology was designed to be decoded at a very high speed. Because of this, marketers are able to create a code that can bring people to a website landing page in a very quick fashion. By simply scanning a QR code with a Smartphone, the user will be sent to the website for which the code was encoded for. Through this simple process, marketers have accomplished what could be dubbed, “a real-world hyperlink.” 

This technology is sweeping the marketing industry. Only time will tell how far reaching QR codes will become.

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Why Normal Advertisement Isn’t Worth Your Money

Advertising is huge – this is something that is undisputed in virtually every industry. It should come as no surprise to hear countless marketing gurus harp on and on endlessly about the importance of ads. That being said, what will come as a surprise is someone telling you that traditional, typical advertising isn’t worth your money. I’m here to tell you just that. 

 Traditional advertising can be hugely beneficial... but consider the following: Let’s say you are in the real estate business. You come up with a very well-done advertisement, and it’s viewed by over 5000 people in a single day. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? Not really. What if those 5000 people were high school students? It’s less amazing now, right? Ad impressions alone mean nothing; if your ad is not specifically targeted to the proper audience, it doesn’t matter if 5000 people see it or not: you’ll never sell that house. 

This is where “smart” advertising comes into play... and best of all, it takes advantage of mobile technology. Smart advertising is highly specific: if you want to target females, aged 20-25, on Sundays and Tuesdays, in Las Vegas, when temperatures are extremely hot, consider it done. The beauty of smart, mobile advertising is that you can get your ad out to the specific individuals that would be interested in it. 

This is, by far, the greatest recent technological capability that has hit the advertising industry. Consider finding a service that can provide you with these smart ads today.

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The Many Innovative Uses of QR Technology

  QR codes are certainly growing in ubiquity: they’re everywhere – on posters, on billboards… they’re even being placed on products like mouse pads and coffee mugs. While most people understand how to pull out their cell phones and scan the codes, many don’t understand the full potential of this versatile technology.

  QR codes, while being great at opening up a website landing page, can also be used for a variety of innovate tasks.

  QR codes can also:

  •  Send a PDF file

•  Send a text message

•  Make a phone call

•  Help a philanthropist donate

•  Add a contact to your contacts list

•  Find a location on a map

•  Listen to a voice recording

•  Enter a contest

  And much more!

  QR codes are virtually limitless in their possibilities; in fact, they’re only limited by the creativity of the individual designing them. QR technology continues to sweep the nation… and this is even being seen in developing countries. While no one knows for certain how long this technology will be around for, it seems safe to say that it hasn’t reached its maximum potential yet.

  Consider exploring the potential of QR technology and see how your business can benefit.

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The Unprecedented Growth of Mobile Technology

Few, if any, sectors have shown as much growth as the mobile industry has. Cell phones have been sweeping the world for a number of years, but the recent stark increase in mobile penetration has left even the most foresighted people baffled. This information, while being interesting, is far from useless. For marketers, this type of information is essential; if mobile phones are truly becoming fully ubiquitous, it’s important for marketers to stay on top of this trend.

  Consider some of these incredible statistics:

  ·  There are over 5.3 billion mobile phone subscribers (more than 77% of the world’s population)

  ·  In 2009, more than half a billion people accessed the Internet through a mobile device. This number is expected to double within 5 years.

  ·  More than 8 trillion text messages were sent in 2011 alone.

  ·  In the past year, mobile searches have quadrupled. For many search queries, one out of every seven searches is now performed from a mobile device.

    It’s easy to see why the mobile industry is now considered the most important sector of the marketing world. No other sector is growing as fast as the mobile sector, and no other item is spreading as universally as the mobile phone. If you’re a marketer, don’t get left behind. Join the mobile revolution and see what the future has in store. 

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The New Advertising: The Future is Mobile

Advertising, being far from static, is constantly moving and evolving to suit the times. The 21st century is certainly no exception; in fact, we see advertising changing and adapting even more quickly than ever before. With new technology and new trends, marketers need to stay on top of the game in order to successfully stay relevant in a pervasive culture.

  The latest paradigm shift in the world of advertising has happened because of the rise of mobile phones. As the technology becomes more and more ubiquitous, we’re seeing an interesting change happen: even developing countries are staying up-to-date with mobile technology. Global phone penetration is increasingly high, making the mobile industry a powerful mover in today’s global society.

  Because mobile phones are becoming more and more common – coupled with the fact that they are always on, always present, and always monitored – the advertising sector is casting its powerful stare on the mobile industry. Instead of email marketing, marketers are using SMS messaging to contact prospective customers. Instead of plain advertisements, marketers are using the latest and greatest in QR technology. This shift is happened quickly and suddenly, and must be acknowledged for the powerful shift that it is.

  Pay attention to the future: It’s moving… In fact, it’s mobile!

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Custom-Designed QR Codes

QR codes don’t just need to be black, white, and boring. Now that the technology is becoming more and more ubiquitous, new, more creative QR codes are coming into popularity. 

QR codes can now be custom made, and can integrate various aspects of the many idiosyncrasies that make up your company. You can now integrate designs, backgrounds and logos into QR codes, providing you have someone to design it for you. If this is done well, you can have a QR code that people will actually want to scan. It can incorporate various colors and designs that will truly make it appealing. Moreover, it can blur the line between being a QR code and an advertisement. Now you can clearly display your companies name, whilst still creating a code that people can scan with their smartphones. 

Technology is growing, and it’s up to you to keep up with it. Don’t settle with a boring, plain, dichromatic code that is virtually indistinguishable from every other QR code out there; create something that will truly display your company’s personal, unique flavor. Find the right person for the job and don’t settle for second best. Consider custom-designed QR codes today. 

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Smartsites – Websites Taken to the Next Level

 In today’s fast-paced world, the old convention of contacting your Webmaster to make important changes to your website is simply too archaic. 

Enter in Smartsites. Smartsites provide the ability for people to change and edit their websites in a matter of minutes. If you are in a taxing industry where websites commonly need new information added to them, Smartsites are essential. For example, if you’re in the real-estate business, you can’t simply have a traditional, largely immutable website that takes two weeks to change. If you have a house for sale, you need to advertise it right away – not in 5 to 10 business days! 

The same is true for a plethora of industries. If you constantly need to add promotions, change information, or simply redesign a section of content, you probably need to do so in a timely fashion. No one likes reading out-dated content; hosting obsolete info is the quickest way to lose the routine visitors of your website. A fresh website is a well-traveled website; stay on top of the game and you’ll see a steady stream of traffic. 

Find someone to design a Smartsite for you today and start enjoying the benefits of content flexibility.

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The Versatility of QR Codes

QR code technology is taking off, and it’s about time that people understood and took advantage of the full potential of these handy two-dimensional codes. While many people think that QR codes can only be used to open a web page – and in many cases this is their primary use – there are actually a variety of things that can happen when someone scans a QR code. 

QR codes can also be used to: 

• Send an SMS message  • Capture text  • Start a phone call  • Send email  • Add a contact to your contacts list  • Find a spot on a map  • Open an audio file  • Watch a video 

 And more! 

QR codes are far from being just limited to opening webpages. Think of them as real-world hyperlinks. They can do virtually anything that a link on a computer can do! It stands to reason that the possibilities of QR codes is huge... just as links can do a variety of things online, so can QR codes do a variety of things “offline.” 

Explore the many possibilities of QR codes and see how they can benefit your business – you’ll be surprised at how versatile the technology is.

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QR Codes on the Rise

Everything nowadays is going mobile. In fact with the advancement of mobile technology, devices like smart phones are now filled with useful software to help you accomplish your daily activities. 

One of the most discussed trends nowadays with regard to mobile technology is Quick Response (QR) code. These 2-D bar codes makes life easier because all you need to do to perform different activities is to actually scan QR codes! Imagine doing a lot of things by just scanning a code printed on books, magazines, souvenirs and other similar materials. 

In using QR technology, you can easily share documents like PDFs, direct users to your own mobile site, play sweepstakes, locate your destination thru a map, promote your videos, let your fans like your Facebook page, add someone in your contact list, and many more. Take note all of the abovementioned tasks are quickly done by just scanning a QR code! How convenient right?

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The Growing Ubiquity of QR Codes

If anything is certain when it comes to the future of QR code technology, it's that they have yet to reach their full potential. Although the technology was invented back in 1994, it is only recently that the code has been used outside of the field for which it was designed. 

Originally being used to track vehicles during the manufacturing process, it is now being recognized as an elegant and sophisticated marketing tool. Being the first 2-dimentional barcode, QR codes have seen their fair share of upgrades and improvements. While most people are familiar with the versions that contain between 10 to 25 characters, there areQR codes which can contain up to a whopping 4296 characters! The amount of data that one QR code can store in such a small space is mind boggling. 

As we have yet to see the further models of QR codes penetrate the marketing world, we can be sure that QR codes have not yet seen their prime years. As the technology continues to grow, so will the ubiquity of these codes. While they may be replaced eventually, it's fairly obvious that they aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

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The Days of Contacting Your Webmaster Are over

If you're choosing someone to design a website for you, you need to consider one key point: are you going to be able to add and change things on the website with ease once it's past its point of inception? 

This isn't 2002 anymore. If you need to change something on your website, you shouldn't have to contact your Webmaster trying to explain exactly what you need to change... and then having to wait 2 weeks for the changes to happen! If you want information added, you should have the ability and the freedom to make those change at any time. This is especially true if you're always adding content, or announcing things like promotions, sales or contests. These things need to be added right away - not in five to ten business days. 

When you're choosing someone to build a smartsite, ask them if you'll be able to quickly and easily customize and add to the website once it's been created. Ask them if you will always have to go through them, or if they can set you up with a simple way to make necessary changes. Make sure that they put you in charge. 

Don't settle for second-rate web design. Find a service that works for you.

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The Efficacy of QR Codes

While QR codes are quite common nowadays, it’s important to ask if they’re actually effective, or simply a novel idea that will quickly fade out. When dealing with this issue, there are a few important things to consider. 

• QR codes aren’t actually a “novel” idea at all... In fact, the technology has been around since 1994! It’s only recently being noticed by the marketing industry as a great and effective tool. 

• QR Codes aren’t just used to bring someone to a website landing page. If we only use the technology in this way, we’ll miss out on the great wealth of functionality that QR codes can offer us. QR codes can be used to watch a video, send an email, make a phone call, enter a contest, and much more. 

• QR technology is constantly adapting. There is currently a version of the code that can hold 1,852–4,296 alphanumeric characters! Right now, most commonly-seen QR codes can only hold between 10 and 70 characters. 

It’s plain that the marketing industry has only begun to scratch the surface of QR codes. The future holds a lot of promise for such an ambitious piece of technology... Keep an eye out on the development of this marketing innovator!

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The Future of Marketing is SMS

Text messaging is growing at an incredible rate. While this isn’t difficult to see (just ask anyone you know that has a cell phone), a lot of people are missing the far-reaching implications of this fact. Because of certain aspects of SMS messaging, it is becoming crucial for the business and marketing world. 

Consider the following facts: (Juniper Research, May 20100) 

• In the United States, there are over 270 million mobile phones in use.  • There are currently more than 5 billion SMS messages sent each and every day in the United States alone.  • 97% of individuals in the United States participate in text messaging.  • People tend to read text messages within 4 minutes of receiving them.  • There are more text messages sent, than there are phone calls made. 

From these statistics alone (and these are only a few examples), it’s plain to see that SMS messaging can be a powerful tool for marketers. The sheer ubiquity of cell phones, in conjunction with the amount of text messages sent and the short time in which those messages are read, is making SMS messaging a perfect vehicle for marketers. Not only will marketers be able to reach a large audience, but they’ll be able to make sure that their messages are actually read... Something that most marketing mediums simply do not offer.

The future is SMS. Get an automated SMS system and start seeing the benefits of this helpful technology.

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The Versatility of QR Codes

QR code technology is taking off, and it’s about time that people understood and took advantage of the full potential of these handy two-dimensional codes. While many people think that QR codes can only be used to open a web page – and in many cases this is their primary use – there are actually a variety of things that can happen when someone scans a QR code. 

QR codes can also be used to: 

• Send an SMS message  • Capture text  • Start a phone call  • Send email  • Add a contact to your contacts list  • Find a spot on a map  • Open an audio file  • Watch a video 

 And more! 

QR codes are far from being just limited to opening webpages. Think of them as real-world hyperlinks. They can do virtually anything that a link on a computer can do! It stands to reason that the possibilities of QR codes is huge... just as links can do a variety of things online, so can QR codes do a variety of things “offline.” 

Explore the many possibilities of QR codes and see how they can benefit your business – you’ll be surprised at how versatile the technology is