Tuesday, August 30, 2011

How to Stand Out in a Crowded Field If you had to choose one or the other, do you think it would be wiser to work on your company's weak points or to push its strengths? On the surface, it seems that shoring up the weaknesses makes more logical sense, but in reality doubling down to push your strengths and create a wider gap to stay ahead of your competitors is the smarter tactic. Why? To stand apart from your competitors, your firm needs a point of differentiation in the eyes of your target market. In the mind of your audience -- your current customers and prospects == the strengths of your company are what draws them to you. Working to widen the gap further accomplishes two things: It makes it harder for your competitors to catch up and entrenches your company as the leader in your marketplace. Of course, this is not to say you should ignore the weaknesses, but they shouldn't be your primary focus. Instead, you should devote the bulk of your resources to developing your strengths. By working primarily on your weaknesses, you may inadvertently make your company seem more similar to your competition, rather than having it stand apart. So throw aside common wisdom and defy the herd mentality. Blaze a path by continually working on advancing your strengths in order to be the thought leader in your market.

Excellent report showing the traction QR codes are making in the US market. Shows who are using the codes and where they are scanning.

"Monday, August 29, 2011

14 Million Americans Scanned QR or Bar Codes on their Mobile Phones in June 2011
Data from comScore, Inc., shows that 14 million mobile users in the U.S. (6.2 percent of the mobile audience) scanned at least one QR code in June. Of those, 60.5 percent were male, 53.4 percent were in the 18-34 age group, and 36.1 percent had household incomes greater than $100,000. Users are most likely to scan codes found in newspapers and magazines and on product packaging. "For marketers, understanding which consumer segments scan QR codes, the source and location of these scans, and the resulting information delivered, is crucial in developing and deploying campaigns that successfully utilize QR codes to further brand engagement," Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile, explained."


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