QR connects to the latest Progressive Web APP (PWA)
It’s rare to see an artist employ an emerging new technology in a marketing campaign for a new album.
The campaign gets a lot of press because it’s new and different, but their marketing Companies simply dont understand the power of QR
Fans caught on immediately and the downloads went ballistic along with the real time scan and click reports.
People do music on their phone, it where it’s at! the speed and complete phone friendly experience of this new emerging phone tech is a show stopper!
QR codes are 40 years old but the recording industry have only just recently began experimenting with how to incorporate the technology into album promotional campaigns and on-site event activities.
One of the most prominent uses occurred when Lupe Fiasco used QR codes in ramping up the promotion for his new album.
ref: Billboard magazine:
Atlantic Records printed a QR code on stickers, postcards and posters and even projected a large version of the code against City buildings.
The code launched a mobile Progressive Web App where fans could pre-order the album, as well as access new exclusive content each week until the album arrived via phone notifications.
CEO of Maltix Ltd Will Nicholls:
“Combining QR and captivating copy to the all new Maltix PhoneSite and PWA is a revelation for the music industry”
” Touch it and you’ve got it Maltix PWA technology is simply shared off a book mark and requires no APP download”
“You need to give them a reason to get out their phone, scan that code and be excited about what’s on the other side”
The most obvious reflection of this is at pop concerts like Glastonbury where QR codes are being used to offer discounts on concessions, and by artists discounted merchandise and VIP seating.
It was rumoured that a prominent group gave access to a one off recording via a projected QR live on stage and received 80,000 scans and Mp3 downloads in 4 minutes!
“Captivating one liners and succinct copy with a clear call to action quadruples scan and PWA share rates”
Maltix are targeting the music industry for multi and integrated PhoneSite and PWA subscription deals.
Subscription QR on Hoodies
Connectedly Woke is typical of a new generation Apparel company who offer good quality well priced garments with a QR connected to a Phonesite owned by the client.
Via Maltix Virtual Assistant CHAT, they can change their music or social media mood depending on their circumstance.
Going to a Business event ? lets reflect that with a survey or a shop, or automated data collection.
Going to a concert ? change your QR to the music you want to share.
Going to a rally ? offer feedback or ratings maybe point to Social media you want promoted.
The list here is actually endless, your garments QR can completely change, it all depends on where you are wearing it!
Friends, family, video ? Connectedly Woke garments are a lifestyle revolution.
Business tech blog for small business from Maltix online stationery.
Online stationery
In preparation for a google meet call next week to some contacts via Marc Jarret’s WhatsApp networking group, I thought an introductory BLOG would be useful.
Eight years ago, I decided to install a chat room into my WordPress maltix.co.uk website, I was recommended TAWK and have used it ever since without a hitch and also use the App.
A couple of years ago, a group of us banded together as Partners within the My Most Trusted programme through Scott Cundill.
We became a self help support group, the idea was we would learn much quicker collectively than individually.
As ringleader, I set up a SLACK system where we could share and manage vast quantities of email correspondence and documentation.
We began integrating technology we were using, especially Google Meet for up to 100 people for free, a brilliant tool and so easy to use to this day.
It was during this time that we began to realise there was a lot more to TAWK than met the eye, so I invited the very modest John Ambra into our sessions.
A conversation with John Ambra, nonchalance Aussie style
Lovely relaxed conversation with John this morning, the sales VP from Tawk the largest chat room on the planet.
John is an unassuming man with an interesting background in direct sales.
He started off as a door-to-door knife salesman and his party trick even today is to cut a five cent coin in half using the very same knife from 20 years ago.
That’s the value of selling something that’s worth $1200 I guess.
After university he set up a small business being a DJ and with his parents help put some money into the musical equipment, he then got more and more into direct sales.
The mindset of commission only
I’m with John, the best sales people in the world are commission only.
To be excellent earning through cold calling commission takes its toll.
You don’t hear of people talking about the benefits of commission only and the personal growth you need to experience to get really good at your job.
Jump forward to a 21 year old John starting his own sales company with some big US Brands.
After nine years and loads and loads of different types of products, boutiques etc over 120 people were on his team, commission only.
After 9 years running his own company, a good friend of his Rob began to talk about the next stages within his CHAT room creation called TAWK, on New Year’s Eve 2017 the stage was set.
Rob was looking to refocus on his company and needed somebody to take over sales within a couple of days over a percolated coffee, John and his brother committed to TAWK
In 2018 a big change came into John‘s life because he decided to shut down his sales company, that was tough for him, but he needed change.
John said it was really interesting going to work with people he had known since primary school, including their wives!
A bootstrap companywith numbers that take your breath away.
Numbers trip of the tongue with John, nonchalantly announcing that the dashboard attracts 4000 new clients a day and they have got 7 million users.
Tawk controls 20% of the marketplace and they get regular offers for the sale of the company, it aint happening, the journey has a long way to go.
And the strapline hasn’t changed from day one “Forever FREE”
I asked how they make money, a bit cheeky maybe ? not at all replies John.
There are elements in place that make money.
Many business account managers employ TAWK chat operatives for a dollar an hour and then there’s the VA service to let you become more productive by freeing up time.
There’s also a White Label offering if you’re not familiar it allows you to brand other peoples technology within your own brand, a seamless provision of service.
Tawk has also added video screen share and very sophisticated CRM
2023 is a real big year for growth adding more tools and more value into into the system.
John confidently predicts that the integrated services of TAWK will become the biggest business operating system on the planet.
With 2.9 billion widget transactions a month on Tawk, you cannot possibly doubt that.
Next year this CHAT room moves into SMS and email ability to seamlessly interact all your channels in one place.
WhatsApp Facebook Instagram, website, App all in one place with more integration of in situ payments and in chat payments.
This is the exact same spirit of in situ smartphone business we keep on about.
There are more exciting announcements on the horizon moving towards crypto-based payments as well perfect for small business.
It’s easy to see business adopting TAWK as a one stop shop, one place to login into in the morning, everything you and your clients converse about all in one place.
3 Words about John: Gritty. Generous. Intune
CLICK or SCAN to view dates & register
This is the worlds first EVENT platform built for the Smartphone with secure CRM integration. RENT directly from Maltix
Add EVENT to the diaries you use and share via you phone.
£421 billion ( Yep, you got it , thats £421,000,000,000 ) plan to tax rising house prices to pay for the Coronavirus crisis
The first of October an Estate Agents problem ?
Seriously though, apart from the customer paying a hefty tax on an asset that may well go down in price over the next few years.
Do you see this as a problem with Government taxation?
Or is mortgage amortisation going to flatten things out and remove the issue?
Talking to Agents in more than one country helps a lot.
Continents rather than just Countries !
Lots of different problems and worries, but one common denominator
Distributing snippets of quality information on a regular basis is going to be very important for building trust and future sales.
And the ability to communicate on all sorts of platforms but retain the touch points of the eventual sale is becoming critical in this disparate world.
I guess you are sending newsletters and publishing on the website etc
But is that going to be enough in the new digital high street ?
The preferred communication channels for the smartphone generation are changing at lighting speed.
And your website probably doesn’t get a look in
It’s a much broader brushstroke than that to future proof communications in the world of property sales.
We get the problem, we understand and the statistics compound that.
68% increase of mobile traffic.
15-fold improvement of load and installation.
25-times reduced use of device storage.
52% average conversion increase.
78% average session increase.
137% engagement increase.
But taking the right action from a Property market Directors or owners perspective requires a bit of joined up thinking.
And its not particularly expensive, its more organisational but with the right tools.
And thats a huge problem for management that’s generally too young to make good judgment on future proofing their business.
Consumers aged 20 to 45 The Millennials.
New rules:
“They trust advocacy on social media, explore their wants on a website, but buy and engage on an APP”
And thats the problem, most Estate Agents think that using the website and the telephone is satisfying their customers needs ……………….it cannot !
Executives must shift their approach to ” identifying high-value cross-touchpoint tasks – and then design those touchpoints to support those tasks…”
“Brands must focus on optimising the journey, not each individual touchpoints”
Think A to Z business, think APP in APP solutions.
All the touchpoints related to the detail, e. g, financial documents, bank statements, mortgage quotes and their decision should be chronologically incremental.
And evenly spaced in the time frame.
Say 10 weeks to sale, then 10 bitesize increments is good.
Perfect for the logic of Progressive Web APP.
Perfect for the two way communication methodology of a Progressive Web APP.
The Millennial is heavily into the one stop smartphone shop.
In both vehicle lending and mortgage lending, the moments of opportunity occur much earlier in the process than they used to.
By the time the savvy Millennial are in contact with an Estate Agent they are much closer to fulfilment than most Agents realise.
It can be said, that the Estate Agents role is completely changing and the variable costs of the traditional model are changing obsequiously and inexplicably.
Changing enough to affect Fixed cost models as well!
“Every loan purchase is a journey for the borrower”
It’s critical to map that journey and understand when the moments of opportunity occur.
Then your financial institution can open timely dialogue about product choices.
Understand you percentages:
Over 80% of the completion journey focuses on the geographical area to purchase and physically looking at the property.
The Millennials put huge trust on quality videos, they have a brilliant skill set of spatial awareness, absent in the pre Smartphone generation.
A property without a top quality video is tantamount to neglect as far as the Smartphone generation are concerned.
Meeting with an estate agent is easily abandoned when they have access to video.
And the preferred method is looking up that pro-video via QR code
The clues of A to Z needs of the Millennial are already obvious, they already and painfully have a disjointed 65% internet journey with plenty of reasons to abandon the process.
Ask your team to conduct all their business on a Smartphone for a month, ban big screens and PC’s
Then you will begin to see the problems you are presiding over inside your business.
The bill for unaffordable business methodology is overdue.
Mary-Ann-Dougherty Maltix Partner.
Think this through for a minute, and yes Im shouting at you.
As prices continue to fall the value of your money goes up….. correct ?
Technology is incredibly disruptive and causing deflation.
Technology that used to cost millions to build can now be rented for pennies.
App share technology
The smart phone is literally replacing the high street.
Since Covid, technology is doubly accelerating this trend.
The value of our money is going up because prices are going down…… now do your agree?
Government panic is accelerating the reaction to the point that money printing is at the point of by passing banks all together because banks are failing to lend.
Call it furlough, call it helicopter money, our Chancellors are not sleeping properly.
And in a deflationary cycle, obsequious debt deflation inhibits and prohibits the ability to pay off historical debt. It’s literally impossible.
Most people do not understand the difference between a million and a trillion, its time you looked at the 12 zeros in a trillion.
The bill for unaffordable business methodology is overdue.
Two party politics has produced an unprecedented dichotomy for the electorate. Do we vote for socialism for the rich or socialism for the poor?
Both political divides sit on a system that historically relies on inflation to pay off historical debt.
Covid is forcing us into a scarcity mindset, the abundance mindset is long gone.
The Age of Cheap is Over
But stocks and property are our salvation right ?
Without 220 Trillion of printed money being printed what would the value of your UK property actually be?
Would your stocks actually have increased?
Inflation matches our picture memory.
The notion of deflation goes against our education.
It also flies in the face of everything in our fiscal life, even if we are 90 years of age.
The bill for unaffordable business methodology is overdue.
Questioning the economic picture from the inside is impossible.
It’s like trying to invent a new colour..
Government is preventing a free trade fiscal economy
The clues are all around.
Cash is out of favour.
PROOF: They even stop you on your travels if you carry too much !
Are you a business owner?
The opportunity for business to adapt quickly is only hindered by FEAR.
The tools to adapt to the new digital high street, to conduct A to Z business , remove Fixed costs and survive are in the palm of your hand.
You just have to grasp it before the wind blows it away.
I cannot shout any louder, talk to a partner today.
In 1988, the Louvre Pyramid was completed in Paris, adding 95 tonnes of steel and 105 tonnes of aluminium, stacked 70 feet in the air, to the grounds of the Louvre Museum.
At the time, people hated it, saying its modern, tech-filled and stripped back design had no place on the grounds of a 200-year old palace.
Now, however, the Louvre Pyramid has become an iconic sight and a physical representation of Paris’ past and future coming together.
Why are we telling you all this? Well, the hospitality industry is at a similar juncture right now.
A traditionally analogue industry, hospitality has gradually introduced more and more technology. Some say it enriches the human side of things and others fear the personal touch will be lost.
As anyone who has stayed in a well thought-out hotel will tell you, it’s about far more than just somewhere to stay for the night.
A visit to a hotel should be an experience from start to finish.
From the doorman tipping his hat to guests as they swing open the grand doors, to the shimmer of the mahogany desk as people check-in, or the appealing clunk of the door as a room key registers.
These are little details which by themselves may go unnoticed, but once combined, create something beyond the sum of its parts.
What would a hotel be then if that doorman was replaced by motion sensor system;
If the check-in process was done in advance via an APP, and if the room door swung open after recognising the guest’s face as they approached it?
A personal touch
The equilibrium of maintaining the personal touch but using technology for convenience, efficiency and, most importantly in 2021, health and safety, is something Marko Zirdum, general manager at Bishop Design by Paul Bishop, has been thinking about.
The design firm is one of the most forward-thinking in the region and has worked on some of the most striking hospitality projects in recent times, including SLS Dubai in Business Bay.
SLS Dubai by Bishop Design
Zirdum says: “Hotels are aspiring to find that perfect balance across both guest-facing and operational technology.
“For instance, there is a need to operate with fewer people and this comes at a cost of personal interface.
From an operations point of view, this reduction in staff is certainly more evident in light of the pandemic.
Personal interface is lost as we transgress into the future, especially when referencing such notions as moving away from traditional check-in experiences.
However, this certainly wasn’t caused by the pandemic, rather just a result of natural advancements.”
Bruno Pessoa, director of design and technology services MEA at Minor Hotels, has a different outlook.
He believes hotel technology can only increase a property’s personal touch.
Human interaction
Where does all of this leave the traditional, human concierge? Cleatus George, chief concierge at W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island isn’t worried about being replaced by robots.
He says: “A concierge is important.
You are an advisor, a counsellor and a guest’s best friend.
You are the one-stop person when a guest needs help.
The most important thing is that the guest puts their faith in you.
Even more now, when technology has made information available at one’s fingertips, the tourist is overwhelmed with the amount of data online, opinions and options.
“Human beings seek personal recommendations based on subjectivity and emotion. Concierges are the ones to provide it.
We use knowledge, as well as our own experience to show our expertise to the guest while adding a personal touch.
“While it is a great tool for the concierge, technology will never be able to replace personal service and emotional bonds.
I always like to think that a service professional should go on a partial emotional journey with the guest, just enough so that the guest feels empathy but not so far as to be intrusive.”
Cleatus George
Guests are the priority
For Accor, the role of technology of hotels is two-fold:
To maximise comfort for the guest and to smooth operations. Tariq Valani, senior VP IT, India, MEA and Turkey, says: “From a design perspective, guest-facing technology is the new priority on their Smartphone.
Per Hotel its very good value and runs independently in the cloud
This meant that offerings such as WiFi, interactive television, guest room telephones and other solutions were always given importance over the rest.
Following the pandemic, there has been a shift to ensure that solutions put in place make our guests feel safe and have an “at home” experience.
“While we move through this pandemic, it has been clear that the guest’s voice and needs have played a much bigger part in driving the technology strategy.
Where guests were not interested to use certain technologies in the past, this has changed dramatically.
“We are seeing a rise in comfort levels when it comes to online payments, using APPs for various purposes like opening door locks, switching on lights, opening curtains and scanning of new generation QR codes to access services in their room and in open spaces.”
Room QR on beautiful wall signage can directly connect to staff departments within the Hotel and the Hotel CRM
QR can also connect to pay here enabled smart form pages
This is revolutionary for pay for use or purchases facilities within the Hotel or future promotions.
Interestingly, the professional QR code system we adopted allows us to change the destination of the QR code without reprinting.
More importantly, new Generation APPs, dont have to be downloaded from the APP store and are super light on customers smart phone memory.
We are building a database for future APP notifications and direct SMS for valued clients.
Tariq Valani
Changing spaces
How will people interact with the physical hotel space in the future? With automation being rolled out as quickly as possible in some new properties, designer Justin Wells, founder of Wells International, fears hospitality could be losing its tactile nature.
He says: “The philosophy of my business is around the theatrics and pageantry of hospitality.
I consider the way spaces perform, their illumination, the movement and change of shapes under the guise of theatrics.
And this is a trend being picked up by the global operators within the lifestyle brands.”
Justin Wells
Having led designs for the striking W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island in a previous role, his approach to design is self-evident.
He adds: “Humans are very haptic, we love the feel and touch of things.
We can see luxury by its plushness and its detail, and at times, you really just want to feel it. In a world where everything is hard and easy to clean, visually it feels like a lessened experience.
I fear that diminishes the experience of the guest.”
Garage at W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island
Hotels’ hesitance
When it comes to owners and operators actually installing new pieces of technology, Wells says their is far too much resistance at the moment.
He explains: “You look at it through two different pairs of eyes. One pair is the owner/operators, and the other is designers.
For the owners and operators, technology is a cost and investment.
“We’re not at the beginning of the pandemic but we’re certainly not at the end”
Since we’re in the middle, owners and operators are really questioning what is needed.
If an operator has 10,000 hotels and then has to tell each owner to invest in certain technologies, the magnitude of that investment is so much.
It’s a difficult conversion to have, so economically, hotels are being cautious with what they implement. Therefore, we’re only seeing what’s purposeful rather than what’s flashy.
Some people want to take a leap, but others are watching things unfold.”
Awakening the senses
Diane Thorsen, design director at Gensler thinks that while touchless technology will mean the tactile experience decreases, it doesn’t mean guests can’t be immersed into experiences.
Diane Thorsen
She says: “We experience spaces using all of our senses. All of them are really key, touch is only one of five.
“That being said, Gensler was recently challenged to design something that used sight and sound instead.
Typically hospitality designers focus on the tactile aspect, but we thought we could create a space where you could hear birds singing, smell bespoke room fragrances, and create your own experiences with taste, even.
“The sounds are artificial, but the way we captured those sounds in nature was natural and the audio has been beautifully done. It’s about innovation.”
Thorsen believes hotel design is going back to its basics.
She adds: “We’ve crafted a new niche whereby we can tell our owners we can create experiences that activate senses in an experiential way.
Sure spaces are becoming simpler, but in its place, spaces have been going back to their roots, and that’s beautiful
It’s a well known fact that Company Directors skills are visionary and conceptual, with a notorious blind spot when it comes to too much detail, especially technology.
An article in conversation with Maltix Consultancy Partners who specialise in digital transformation.
And thats reinforced more and more by a junior asking for clearance on tech projects which the Director has absolutely no idea what it’s for.
It’s as if other departments do their thinking for them.
“I have people who do that, go talk to Nigel he does that”
With an open mind, Directors are fully equipped to force downward change, but feel that they lack the ability or the knowledge to talk “savvy tech”
Worse still they assume that technology marketing is automated in all their processes.
It can be, and there is a whole new emerging technology connected to payment systems, especially subscription based business models.
They readily sign off the expenditure for SEO and Google this that and the other but neglect the knowledge and experience from their past.
Companies with savvy boards easily outperform their competition.
Marketing is not the Horse, marketing is the cart.
Marketing people have nice comfortable salaries to protect, they see their job as complex and safe, and that might be true.
But if the Marketing people do not fully understand that the sales cycle is connected to the marketing model, then it’s a Company Directors job to rap the knuckles and ask some serious questions.
It’s too easy isn’t it?
Pay out a bunch of cash and people miraculously come to your website from Google.
But the metrics and KPI’s are a bewildering moving target and the Company Director can find it nearly impossible to evaluate what the marketing budget is actually achieving.
A Company Directors cart before the horse
It’s time to focus on the horse.
Prioritising the focus back onto the horse has a profound affect with the smartphone generation.
The Millennial’s and increasingly the Gen Z Smartphone generation have up-ended the sales cycle.
WHY WHY WHY 3 words that end in Y
They require immediacy and APP simplicity and the reward is advocacy
Millions of ultra-conservatives are ditching Facebook for a new social media platform that respects their right to be deluded.
They are Jumping ship in colossal numbers to the “Free Speech Social Network.”Parler
What’s Left Won’t Be Worth Keeping
The Gen Zers ditch, the Millennials ditch, the far-left ditches, the far-right ditches, and what remains?
Non-political sixty-somethings who like cat pictures and dancing dog videos, plus a few trolls with too much time on their hands.
75 % of all business will be conducted over the Smartphone within the next 60 months.
Gen Z
Directors who move from marketing their Website to genuine APP advocacy will reap the rewards on any platform!
Change will be very good news for marketers, entrepreneurs, social media users, and the public at large.
For marketers, more platforms give more marketing options, more niche specificity, and Progressive Web APP’s for A to Z Smartphone business and genuine customer service.
For entrepreneurs, there’s the opportunity to build bona fide, elegant, innovative Facebook challengers for the first time in a decade. As individualist-consumerist society grows, expect to see a proliferation of niche-specific sites in the years ahead.
