The advertising industry, like many other industries, is undergoing constant change. While advertisements in newspapers or magazines used to be one of the main channels of corporate communication, media such as cinema, radio and television were added first. Today, the Internet with all its facets is one of the most important ways of dialog between companies and customers. The company website, social media, blog posts and many other forms of communication create the opportunity for efficient cross-media marketing. Exchange via mobile devices such as notebooks, tablets or smartphones is becoming increasingly important. Digital promotional products are gaining importance and new technologies such as the QR code are being developed to facilitate and simplify exchanges.
The following is specifically about one of these still young technologies, namely Near Field Communication (abbreviated NFC) and its possible use with regard to cross-media marketing and digital promotional items. First of all, it explains what exactly is meant by NFC. Following this, you should learn how you can usefully integrate NFC into your cross-media strategy and use it for digital promotional items, for example. Finally, there are some examples of successful practical implementation of cross-media marketing in relation to digital promotional products. You will see how NFC enables haptic advertising with digital added value that is fully up to date in terms of technology.
What does NFC mean?
Near Field Communication (NFC) refers to a transmission standard for the contactless exchange of data and thus complements Bluetooth and Wifi. Originally, the technology was used primarily in the micropayment sector as a form of contactless payment for smaller amounts. Other applications for NFC include fast authorization, access control, and straightforward data transfer. With the increasing market penetration of NFC functions on more and more smartphones, the technology achieved its major breakthrough from the mid-2010s.
NFC is based on RFID (radio frequency identification) technology. This technology for transmitter-receiver systems has the immense advantage of being particularly efficient, inexpensive and very simple for the user to read out. The potential applications of the technology are virtually unlimited, ranging from merchandise and inventory management to time and attendance to identification of people and animals are some of the current common uses. Relatively new are the applications related to cross-media and digital promotional items.
Cross-media marketing as a promising advertising strategy
In cross-media, a company uses different communication channels in parallel to market a product or service. Nowadays, the Internet is always part of a cross-media strategy, and digital promotional items can also play a role. The great advantage of cross-media marketing is that the advertising message is present in several places at the same time through distribution via different channels. This makes it easier to reach the target group and gives the products a high recognition value, regardless of which media the consumer ultimately uses.
Crucial to the success of a cross-media campaign is networking and focusing on a central idea that underlies the campaign. Of course, the target group must also be kept in mind when selecting suitable channels. Do potential customers use social media frequently? Is mobile communication the best way to reach customers? Are digital promotional items suitable tools for winning over the target group for a product? These and many other questions should be clarified before launching a large-scale cross-media campaign.
How can NFC be used specifically as part of a cross-media campaign for digital promotional products?
NFC technology offers an excellent and cutting-edge opportunity for cross-media marketing in terms of digital promotional products. To this end, let’s return to the technical requirements of NFC: Two of the biggest advantages are the simplicity of use and the versatility of possible applications. In addition, there is the economy due to the non-existent energy consumption and the data security compared to WLAN due to the low transmission distance. But how can you make sense of this technology for your cross-media strategy and use it for digital promotional items?
Today, almost all smartphones are NFC-enabled. All you need is a pre-programmed NFC tag (which is an NFC chip with an antenna) with a unique UID number to retrieve the linked information. You determine yourself which contents these are and on which products the small NFC tag should be applied. Digital promotional items of all kinds are thus easily available for your cross-media marketing.
This form of haptic advertising with digital added value via smart networking is certainly the future in the market for digital promotional products. This can be used to drive interaction with the customer; for example, notices of current promotions can be disseminated via the NFC tag. The tag in the form of a sticker is completely customizable and can be applied to digital promotional items of all kinds. For a renewed cross-media campaign, for example, link your NFC chip to a cloud folder that you can change yourself. This is how you create surprise effects for the customer.
As you can see, NFC technology is predestined for digital promotional products and adds haptic value to your cross-media marketing. Whether you use pens, coffee-to-go mugs, cloth bags, or something else entirely as digital promotional products is entirely up to you. Via a smartphone, the information you want is stored on the NFC tag and can be changed or customized by you at any time.
Support innovative company presentations and sweepstakes with NFC
The digital business card is an application that you can benefit from when presenting your company. Use your appearance at a trade fair for cross-media marketing and integrate digital promotional items at your booth. This makes your appearance more lively and you strengthen customer loyalty.
An ideal area of application for digital promotional items as part of a cross-media strategy is also campaign support. Create a mobile website that is customized to the target audience for a limited time. Loyalty programs, sweepstakes or betting games during a major sporting event are examples of mobile accompaniment of a campaign by digital promotional items. There are almost no limits to your imagination when it comes to the possible applications for digital promotional products.
A particularly innovative haptic promotional item with NFC technology is the NFC Finder. For example, a keychain or sticker can be the digital promotional item on which the sticker with chip is placed. The finder of an activated item can thus easily contact the owner and communicate where the lost item is. Moreover, you can use 3D stickers as digital promotional products, which will create an impressive effect.
Finally, reference should be made to a mobile landing page as a means of communication to the customer and as part of your cross-media marketing. Here, too, you can enable access via NFC.