We take great pride in producing highly functional mobile apps with crisp, themed graphical content but we acknowledge that the finished product is the first step… Mobile App Marketing is key.
Now there’s a lot of marketing information out there, and sometimes I’m sure it feels like information overload. But if you’ve invested in Mobile App Marketing it’s important to understand the nuances of this channel for the best results.
QR Code Security is something most people don’t think about when using them everyday. If you didn’t know a QR or “Quick Response” code is the matrix format, overachieving child of the barcode. It was conceived around the turn of the century, but has only recently come into its own with the advent of Smartphone popularity.
Many retailers of various kinds are now utilizing these little gems to grow their business, but today we’d like to take a quick look at the risks and hopefully up skill you on some QR code security practices.
Hackers and creators of malicious software are typically your biggest threat here. Google, or your computer’s security software will warn you if you’re about to visit a website that contains known Malware, or you might sense that something isn’t quite right with a web page. Just the same, you’re probably used to the dozens of dodgy emails you’ve recieved over the years and know what to look out for. But what about a malicious QR code, would you even know what one looked like? Let’s assume that answer is no, and you’d be about in the same boat as us there. It’s just a square bar code looking thing right!?
But how can you discern where that QR code is taking you? It’s just a series of black and white squares and rectangles after all. It might be on a poster of a brand you trust, but what if someone has rolled up and plastered their own QR code over the old one? Where could this code take you? I’ll tell you where…. anywhere it pleases. QR code security is important for everyone.
That QR code could take you to web pages which could do any of the following or even worse:
(source)
But it isn’t all doom and gloom; documented cases of QR code abuse are only a drop in the bucket compared to the aforementioned e-Abuse via the web and email. The end user just needs to be sensible and cautious.
Here at AppThat we specialize in QR coupons & Promotions, and QR code security is high on our priority list. Many a times have we talked customers out of promotions they’re thinking about because of how they were planning on structuring them. We try to mitigate risk by encouraging our clients to have offers that are single use per device, expire (or have a time limit before re-use) and are limited to the “buy one and receive another of equal or lesser value free” principle.We also discourage them from displaying QR codes in public places where people could easily stick their own malicious QR code over their legitimate one.
The main message we’d like to get across is to make sure you know what you’re scanning when you come across them and if you’re advertising them, please do so sensibly. If you’re in doubt about when or how to use them please don’t hesitate to ask us. Whether you’re a customer of ours or not we’re more than happy to give you some free advice on your use of these smart device digital counterparts. QR code security is important, and being smart about the possible vulnerabilities is just another way you can stay safe in an increasingly online world.
Happy QR coding smartphoners!
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By 2014, mobile internet is set to overtake fixed internet access. This was the big headline from Microsoft Tag’s Mobile Marketing infographic last year.
No surprise perhaps, seeing that out of the world’s 4bn mobile phones in use, 1.08bn are smartphones, and apps have become a global phenomenon. Apple’s App Store alone has now reached 25bn downloads; tracking at 1bn downloads a month, a figure nine times greater than the number of burgers sold by McDonald’s!
Consumer’s expectations are changing and as more and more businesses go mobile, you need to ensure you’re not losing customers by not moving with them.
Some Interesting facts
The U.S. mobile app sweet spot is the 35-44 year-old age group, according to Ask.com and Harris Interactive research.
And that was in 2010 ?? We’re two years past that and Apple alone has sold over 184.542 million iPhones since October 2010!! Then you have to remember that the Samsung Galaxy has almost equally as many sales and those are only 2 of the big players in the mobile smartphone market.
The mobile market is huge and everything is getting smaller, the days of having websites that you view on a desktop are slowly dwindling and everything is converting to fit the appliance it’s working on. Websites are only a destination; Mobile Apps can send notifications, utilise native functionality on smart devices and are far more flexible. Almost everyone who owns a mobile has it within arms reach and the second it beeps they pick it up immediately. Unlike a radio or tv ad that may just play in the background and be ignored, there is no ignoring at TXT or Push Notification.
The better question is can you afford not to be in the mobile market ? Make sure to speak to mobile app specialists if you do decide to utilise this exciting new marketing channel. They can help you figure out everything you need to know to get the most out of your mobile marketing experience.
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AppThat New ZealandAppThat is New Zealand’s newest and most exciting Web Design, Search Engine Marketing and Mobile App company. Our head office is situated in the beautiful city of Tauranga with a local presence around New Zealand in Wellington, Hamilton, Auckland and Christchurch. We’ve arrived just in time to help all types of businesses big and small join in on the Mobile Revolution! Of course I’m a little biased on the subject but you can’t deny Mobile Devices are getting ‘smarter’, ‘lighter’ and ‘faster’ with every season that passes. More and more kiwi’s are relying on their mobile phones not only to communicate and interact with widening communities but more importantly, make purchasing decisions and even act on those decisions right from their devices.
Anyway, I’m not here to spout on about how great Mobile Marketing is, I’m here to introduce AppThat and say “thanks for having us”. Take a look around our site, you’ll find some amazing information on Mobile Technologies, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Web Design and Mobile Apps. Our blog will be packed full of helpful information so grab your coffee, sit down and have a read.
Being based in New Zealand doesn’t stop us from helping clients from Australia and further abroad. No matter what the project or specification our talented team at AppThat loves to design for mobile and the web and we offer our full range of services to all of our overseas customers.
At AppThat our goal has always been not to just produce marketing solutions for our clients but to partner with them and make sure they’re getting the results they need from their marketing efforts.
There’s a lot to take into consideration when thinking about what we’ll call e-marketing. We don’t just design websites or apps for people, we show them how to utilise those tools to market their brand effectively. Don’t forget about online advertising and organic online marketing techniques, they all play a role in an effective strategy. We talked about the AppThat blog before and we want to share our expertise not only with our clients, but anyone who’s interested in learning more about marketing their business online and would like to give it a go themselves.
We’re a friendly bunch at the AppThat offices so if you’ve got a question pick up the phone and give us a call, we’d be more than happy to help.
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If you like our blog, you’ll love our mailing list. We promise to never send you spam or give your email address to anyone. Make sure to confirm via email after you’ve signed up, if you can’t see our confirmation email check your junk mail. Subscribe below [newsletter list_id=’c8c986c1a4′]
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