Staying Ahead of the Technology Curve

QR Codes: the next generation of COOL!

 
Have you seen these funny looking boxes in magazines, newspapers, or supplier catalogs? They are called QR Codes, and are the next great "cool techie tool" for marketing your business. A QR Code, or the abbreviation for Quick Response, is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, website or other data. Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR codes are now used in a much broader context. QR codes can be used to display text, to add a vCard contact, to open a website, an email, or text message. Users can also generate and print their own QR codes for others to scan and use by visiting one of several free QR code generating sites like qrcode.kaywa.com. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader application can scan the image of the QR Code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network, or open a web page in the phone's browser. Recently, QR codes have become more prevalent in marketing circles and have been integrated into both traditional and interactive campaigns. Media where QR codes have been deployed include: billboard ads, in-store displays, event ticketing and tracking, trade-show management, business cards, print ads, contests, direct mail campaigns, websites, email marketing, and couponing. QR Codes can direct an otherwise passive viewer to take immediate action: make a purchase, visit your website, register for an event, or take a survey. Instead of posting a long website address that your audience is likely to forget by the time they get to their computer, place a QR Code on your printed piece or even in your store window. Whether it's an advertisement, direct mail, business card, flyer, or exterior street sign, your potential consumer can immediately gain access to what your company is about, what you're promoting, and you can nudge them to act now instead of the dreaded "maybe later." And to top it off, you can track and analyze the results of your printed pieces.



Tip: Need a recommendation on a QR Reader app? For iPhones, try Red Laser or Tap Reader. For Android phones, try QR Droid or Barcode scanner. You can also download a free QR Reader for any phone by visiting http://get.neoreader.com from your smart phones internet browser. These are all free and available in your "apps".

Online Breach Highlights Data Security Needs!

A massive security breach this week at an online marketing firm placed millions of people at increased risk of e-mail scams and amplified concerns about the safety of data that businesses store. The infiltration at Epsilon exposed the names and e-mail addresses of customers of major companies, including JPMorganChase, Verizon, Citibank, Victoria’s Secret, Target and Walgreens. The scope of the breach at Epsilon, which manages customer databases and e-mail marketing lists for about 2,500 clients, became clear earlier this week as banks, retailers and others began warning customers they could soon be targeted by phishing attacks – e-mail fraud attempts in which scammers purport to be from legitimate businesses in an effort to steal information like account numbers or businesses.
Epsilon says the breach was limited to names and e-mail addresses, and that other sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, were not exposed. Still, “any time you have an organization that loses the contact information of customers for some of the biggest banks in the world, that’s a big deal,” Brian Krebs, editor of Krebs on Security, a website that specializes in online security and crime, told The New York Times. “You’ve just given the bad guys a road map between the banks and their customers.”
The breach is particularly alarming in the wake of a recent AVG survey that found six out of seven small businesses in the United States and United Kingdom have no Internet security measures in place. This lack of security means credit card numbers, confidential reports, e-mails and other information a business would never want made public or destroyed could be vulnerable to attacks. To protect sensitive data, distributors large and small need to put security measures in place. Those efforts start with knowing where data is stored and who has access to it, says Michael Kleeman, a network security expert at the University of California, San Diego. Additionally, companies should consider encrypting data. “If the data is grabbed, you want to make it difficult to utilize,” says Kleeman.
To better protect their data and systems, here are some steps 'companies' should take:

1. Install and update anti-virus software on all company computers and perform all hardware and software updates on time.
2. Institute written policies that govern employee computer use. These policies can include prohibiting personal e-mail use, allowing only routine attachments to be downloaded and requiring employees who download a virus or detect something suspicious to report the problem immediately.
3. Set up a company firewall and business class router.
4. Regularly create back-up files of all important data and store them in a safe or other secure location offsite.

Beware Of Greenwashing

As the green movement has picked up speed, many suppliers in the ad specialty market have introduced new lines of eco-friendly items. However, some are just using marketing efforts to say their products are green, when in fact, they’re not any more eco-friendly than other items in their product lines. Here are four tips from Colette Chandler, green product expert and founder of The Marketing Insider (www.marketing-insider.com), for differentiating a supplier of true eco-friendly products from a supplier with marketing claims that could be classified as greenwashing:


2. Examine packaging. Sometimes the ingredients might be environmentally friendly, but the container itself might not be. Let’s say a product comes inside a hard box, but to keep the box closed, there’s a plastic ribbon around it. Things like that are often overlooked.

3. Review the manufacturing process. Sometimes the process is worse than the outcome. How wasteful was it? Was it harmful to the environment? For things made with bamboo, there are a lot of questions about the process vs. the outcome.


4. Consider shipping distance. How far did each ingredient travel, and how far did the final product travel? If suppliers have products that are sourced overseas, there’s a huge carbon footprint. What are the suppliers doing to offset that, or what can the distributor do to offset that? In this case, maybe using a more local supplier is the way to go. – Shane Dale
1. Look at ingredients. Labels can be very deceiving. There’s a lot of health-oriented products out there like lip balm or lotion that say “organic” on the label, but that doesn’t prove it’s organic – that all the ingredients are sustainable. Ask questions about where products are sourced, how they’re made and what their true ingredients are.

Is Green Marketing Still Red-Hot?

It’s safe to say that green marketing blossomed in 2009. However, as issues like the economy and health care grabbed the public’s attention, corporate environmental practices fell out of the spotlight. Now that it is less hip to go green, will the movement wither on the vine? While marketing experts’ opinions vary, a number agree that it is no longer as integral a focus as it had been just months ago.

“A lot of businesses jumped on board because it was trendy, not because they believed in it. They did it because the polls showed this or a focus group said that. Others never got started,” says Simon Sinek, owner of strategic marketing consultancy Sinek Partners. “Now it’s not trendy.”

The green movement made great strides, but now the hurdle is higher in terms of generating attention, says James Gregory, CEO of the consultancy CoreBrand. “The ante has been raised in terms of making news. You used to be able to fake it somewhat; now you need to prove it, believe it and live it.” Still, he feels that eco-conscious marketing practices won’t go away anytime soon. “It will be with us for a long time.”
Others, though, believe that green marketing and operations have become part of the fabric of business. Robert Passikoff, president of marketing consulting firm Brand Keys, says green practices have become so prevalent that they have become the status quo for many companies. “It is being included in all of the decisions that are being made,” Passikoff says. “It’s not the exception anymore. It’s the rule.”
For the companies that successfully implement green practices, there will be benefits. “Green acts as a differentiator,” Passikoff says. “If a consumer is choosing between two brands, they may not buy on price. They may buy the green product. It affects the value of the brand.”

In terms of supporting green practices by purchasing green promo items, distributors report mixed results. PromoShop (asi/300446) fielded 842 orders for green goods in 2009, up from 136 the year prior. “Clients are putting it in their budgets and actually making it happen,” says PromoShop Vice President Kris Robinson.
Bob Vibe, on the other hand, says, “I know it’s an important thing and certainly our government and culture is pushing it, but I haven’t been writing a lot of green orders.” The owner of Ad Pro (asi/444041) says, “I don’t think people perceive that issue as being as prevalent right now. Price is more of an issue. The economy is more important, that’s for sure.”

Sinek agrees with the sentiment of price-consciousness impacting green marketing. “During hard economic times people are more concerned about their wallets versus being a good citizen to our environment, which has no immediate payback,” he says. “Given the choice, people will choose their wallets over ideals.” – KH

Coalition Aims To Make Apparel Industry 'Greener'

Leading retailers, clothing manufacturers, environmental groups and academics announced plans this week to form a new coalition aimed at lessening the environmental and social impact associated with producing apparel and footwear around the... world. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) intends to develop improved sustainability strategies and an index to measure and evaluate "green" performance in the apparel industry. Evaluating and scoring businesses on things like worker conditions and water and chemical usage, the Apparel Index 1.0 will enable companies to measure their environmental and social impact, compare themselves to other companies and receive improvement strategies.

To further the green mission, coalition members will devise plans to reduce chemical usage, lessen the apparel industry's water and industrial consumption and improve waste diversion. Concerned about the potential hazards industry employees face, the coalition intends to make the process of producing apparel transparent and get workplaces throughout the apparel world to adopt standards that lead to fair treatment of employees and safe working environments where none are exposed to toxic chemicals. "Over the past few years, the U.S. apparel and footwear industry has embraced sustainability as a key component to the way we do business," says Kevin M. Burke, president and CEO of the American Apparel & Footwear Association. "The industry understands that collaboration and transparency are the best ways to reduce our industry's impact on the environment."

The SAC's 30 or so founding members include companies like Walmart, Target, J.C. Penney, Timberland and Nike. Other initial members of the coalition are Duke University, the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, the Environmental Protection Agency and Verité, a labor rights group. The SAC could expand to 40 members by June. "Should the Sustainable Apparel Coalition succeed, its focus on improving supply chain performance could become a model for other industries," says Leon Kaye, editor of GreenGoPost.com, a website that focuses on the business side of sustainability. "More efficient, energy-saving and transparent supply chains not only reduce costs, but lessen the human costs that put too high of a price tag on what are often cheap clothes."