The mobile landscape is continuously evolving, and only marketers that keep up with changes and incorporate them in their promotional and engagement strategies stand a chance of success in today’s highly competitive world.
The latest technology to have made it big is Near Field Communications (NFC). Near Field Communications is a technology embedded in the latest mobile devices that allows secure communication (with confirmation) between the mobile device and a transmission device. NFC allows the visitors to delve deeper, to view customized rich media, receive targeted special offers, share experiences and most importantly, make a purchase, all through their smartphones.
NFC is a vast improvement over QR codes. QR codes required downloading an app and uploading a bar code to access content that goes beyond the web page. NFC allows smart phone users to access rich content and interact with the brand seamlessly. All the user has to do is tap the smart phone on any RFID-embedded poster, magazine ad, retail point of sale or any other promotional item, to gain instant access to a world of rich media and content.
For the marketer this means not just connecting and engaging with visitors better, but an opportunity to also capturing visitor behavior and preferences real-time in the real-world. The fact that this technology also integrates promotion with the point of sale, thus allowing interested visitors to make a purchase instantly may just make this the holy grail of marketers in the coming days.
NFC technologies can be utilized for identification, ticketing, time and attendence, loyalty and membership programs, secure access (physical or via a device) or transit usage – in addition to payment processing. Just as we monitor paths and activities online, the venue will be able to monitor paths and activities offline – perhaps scoring and rewarding the behavior of their NFC users. Thinaire has provided this video that speaks to some of the additional ways that companies can leverage the technology:
Google has already launched Google Android with NFC capabilities, and every other major mobile player has either followed suit, or has announced NFC roll-outs in the near future. And they’ve released Google Wallet, mobile payment processing built on Android’s NFC technologies:
If you have a Google Android that’s NFC capable, visit the Google Android store. If you’re a developer, Google has released this detailed video on NFC development.
