Paid Search Series Introduction:

Here in New England, the leaves are turning colors, the temperature is getting colder, the air is feels crisper and the amount of daylight is getting shorter. As every seasoned New Englander knows, these occurrences are early indicators to one thing (no, not time for a tropical vacation), the holiday season!

Each holiday season, brands are willing to spend millions of dollars on comprehensive multi-platform holiday advertising campaigns in order to deliver their message most effectively, persuading consumers to ultimately do one thing; buy their product!

Search has become a leading marketing channel and consumers are actively searching for product information, reviews, specifications, pricing and availability. According to Google 42% of consumers research online and then purchase online. Additionally, 51% of consumers research online and then purchase in store. This trend will continue throughout the 2011 holiday season.

We often find ourselves working with brands that have a real concern about using coupons due to coupon frauds. The challenge is that traditional coupons are difficult to track which makes them hard to measure.

That was then. Today, electronic coupons can be an answer, specifically through QR-codes.

What is QR-Code?

Mobile and smartphone usage has been growing very rapidly merging the gap between physical and digital work. Customers use their phones for everything from price comparison to coupon and deal hunting. A QR-Code is a bar code that can contain any text, numbers or URL. It can be placed on product labels, billboards, tags, websites, etc. By using a smart phone and QR-code reader, a user can uncover the encoded information that is linked in that code. The code can be placed everywhere and be used for a variety of reasons.