Election 2012: Staying Informed via Mobile Apps

I guess you could say I love apps, well all things mobile. I'm fascinated by all the opportunities it brings to innovators, marketers, entrepreneurs and pretty much anyone who chooses to pick up a mobile device and have an idea. Some of these ideas come from great brands who already have an established fan and/or client base. But they're improving how they interact with consumers by leveraging mobile as a channel.

So today, let's talk about the New York Times. I have their mobile app, and I like it. I prefer the layout and design of Boston.com's app, but I'm not too picky about it - it fulfills it's main purpose by providing me with the top stories while I'm on the train or waiting in line somewhere. But what I am a fan of, however, is the NYTimes' Election 2012 app. It's an election year, and I've vowed to be more involved in the issues this year so that by the time November comes around, I'm not calling my best friend and asking her to tell me about all the candidates. This year, I'll make an informed decision. Sure, my best friend and I have similar political views, but we're not the same person and she shouldn't be my only source for the issues and candidates.

What's great about this app is that it aggregates the stories for the top six topics - not just the top six stories, but the top six topics and then the top issues for each topic. Unless you're a NYTimes digital subscriber, you can only access the top six stories in each topic, but to be honest - that's plenty of news for me. Admittedly, the flaw of this app is that the stories only come from one source - the NYTimes. An even cooler app would be an election 2012 app that aggregates all of the top stories, sorted by topic, from across a variety of sources. Still, I'm not complaining.

Here's why I think this is an app worthy of attention. Too often, many people that vote don't make informed decisions, and I'll lump myself into that at times. We focus on the party we identify with most, or the issues that are important to us. We don't pay attention to all the candidates and their stances on a variety of issues that affect Americans. This app is a way to get a high-level overview of all of the issues and each candidate's stance on them.

I try to stay away from my political opinions on this blog, so I'm not giving an opinion on the issues or the candidates, just that I think this is a great app that provides real value. I've checked it out and have been using it for a few weeks now, so I recommend it to anyone looking to make an informed decision this election year. That's my PR thought for the day.

Anyone else have any app recommendations, without party bias, that are useful for staying informed?

Getting Publicly Embarrassed? There’s an App for That – Fun with QR Code Marketing

If you’ve ever taken public transportation, especially the Green Line in Boston, then you know there are a lot of “interesting” people you have the opportunity to interact with. What you don’t know, however, is that I’ve been one of those people. You know, the ones people stare at wondering what the they’re doing? Oh yeah, that was me. And a QR Code is to blame. After my experience on the T (more to come on that later), I needed to do some extra research on the guilty party.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably aware that smart devices, particularly smartphones, are poised to take over the world – sorry Pinky, maybe you should have bought an iPhone to get the job done. These powerful devices are changing everything about B2C marketing and communication. Marketers are having a field day, with mobile marketing budgets expected to soar in 2012. There’s still a lot of valid skepticism, however, for QR codes. There are kinks to work out and innovations to be made. But the benefits can certainly be worth it, especially for those really innovative companies who come up with creative campaigns to drive this interaction and increase purchase potential. For those ready and creative enough for this, I recommend keeping the following tips in mind:

1) Offer an incentive. But make it clear what the value is. It’s not likely that I’ll pull out my QR Code app to scan something if you don’t tell me what I’m getting out of it. “Scan this to win a prize!” I’m curious, but not curious enough to be motivated to action. Try something like, “Scan here for 15% off your next purchase.” Now that interests me.

2) Keep it simple, interesting. Motivating users to scan the code is only half the battle. Have the scan take them to a mobile-friendly website that does two important things:

a) Brings them immediate value, like a discount code or entry into a contest.

b) Prompts them to do something else, like downloading an app or signing up for a rewards card, email or newsletter distribution list. They’re already there, keep the relationship going.

3) Measure, measure, measure. Like any good campaign, set goals and determine how you want to measure the success. Determine the number of scans, the number of purchases from the scan (if applicable), how many people signed up or downloaded something else, etc.

4) Be where your audience is. Here, we come back to my traumatizing T example on the Green Line. A lot can be said about location-based marketing. So when I was at the T and saw the QR code for having your groceries delivered to your home, I was impressed. Who needs groceries delivered? People in the city, who may not drive as much or have cars. Who takes the T? Those same people. While this scenario didn’t actually apply to me, I love a good marketing campaign, so I pulled out my iPhone and tried to scan the code…that was on the other side of the tracks. It wasn’t possible to get over there; it was just a wall with ads. I got as close to the yellow line as I could…then I got closer to the edge. Before I realized it, I was leaning so far over the edge that I was nearly falling, and then as I slipped a little, I jumped back in fear, combining it with a frightened yelp! I looked around to 30 or so commuters staring at me with odd looks of judgment. I was that girl. So when thinking about location, don’t just concentrate on where your consumers are, remember that if they have to scan something, they need to be able to get close enough to do so.

Before any of this can happen, however, the mobile marketing community needs to come together and help promote this so that people are downloading the scanning apps. Maybe the iPhone 8 or something will have it built in, but right now there’s an issue of consumer adoption. ScanLife, one of the scanning apps, did a cool campaign in December, where every scan – no matter what brand – entered you into a contest for an iPad. This could have encouraged users to scan more for this purpose, but as they were doing so they would realize the value and keep on scanning even after the campaign. Unfortunately, it wasn’t heavily promoted, but the idea was there and maybe set the stage for additional campaigns. By the way, if you’re looking for a QR Code app, ScanLife is the one I recommend. Easy to use, free, fast and it keeps a database of scan history in case you want to scan now and peruse later.

For the consumers out there, I’d say mass adoption is still a few years out, but I don’t think it’s a passing fad. For the marketers out there, especially for start-ups or those with a low-budget, I say get on board. A QR code campaign is inexpensive, simple and easy to measure through analytics. Get moving marketers…literally, I’m saying you need to go mobile.

Drop a line in the comments if you’ve seen or done any really cool QR code campaigns, we’re all ears.

This post originally appeared on prSPEAK, a blog by PAN Communications.