When selecting greener business practices and marketing options, we hope that our customers will never have to sacrifice quality, price, efficiency, or performance for the cause. The pleasant reality is that new mobile technologies provide sustainable choices while enhancing our ability to service clients.
Remember the days not so long ago when truckloads of costly print collaterals were loaded onto the show floor? There was no way of tracking who received these materials or whether or not they were ever read by the recipients. Most were ultimately just thrown away. The carbon footprint left by these materials was almost immeasurable when we consider the number of trees consumed, carbon emitted during shipping, and landfills contaminated by environmentally hazardous inks.
I recently talked with some award-winning technology innovators here in Las Vegas who are helping to solve these problems for all of us. SkyWire Media was founded in 2005 and boasts an all-star team of tech professionals. The company provides technology-based marketing alternatives designed to help “companies market in real time and capture data and analytics to gauge their ROI,” said SkyWire spokesperson, Stephanie Balistere.
SkyWire delivers on its promise by providing software hosted with mobile text applications as the delivery source, thus enabling its customers to save on print collaterals. The hospitality industry has already embraced this kind of technology, with its point of sale integration, to better communicate with guests.
So how does this technology adapt to the show floor? The company uses mobile business cards and quick response tags (those are bar codes for those of us who are less technically inclined) to allow exhibitors to text or scan personal contact information of convention delegates to their phones. These methods make information about potential customers or contacts readily accessible during and after the show.
“Mobile Connect gives exhibitors and sponsors the ability to communicate with attendees through polls/surveys, contest-prize giveaways, coupons, viral technology, and custom mobile apps by SkyWire,” explained Balistere. “SMS text messaging is 80 percent more effective than email. It has a 90 percent read rate, 12-35 percent conversion rate on relevant offers, is less expensive than traditional advertising and more impactful as it allows for current and future marketing touch points.”
You can check out their offerings at www.skywiremedia.com.
SkyWire recently received a patent for viral tracking technology. This technology places unique identifiers on coupons and messages sent from one mobile device to another. In this way, the sending company is able to track customers and integrate data with Point of Sale and Property Management Systems, like those powered by Micros and Agilysys. Such technology could facilitate co-marketing opportunities with event venues, as well as methods for directing guests to specific events and locations on property.
Business Wire reported that messages can “be sent out to specific databases of customers based on specific time frames, individual designated preferences and other information gathered via the customer acquisition process.”
Last month, we discussed the power of social networking in the show environment. Mobile applications like these can easily be integrated to enhance social media campaigns.
Such technological tools extend our ability to reach and service customers more efficiently, less expensively, more quantifiably, and without taking a toll on the planet.
Green tip for August
When I visited SkyWire’s offices, I noticed that there was virtually no paper visible on anyone’s desk. This fact inspired me to believe that a paperless work environment is possible. Make it a goal to eliminate paper completely from your next meeting or convention by making strategic use of available technology.
