What is Tag?

Monday, July 15, 2013 @ 9:58 PM | 0 Comment [s]

They're in your favourite magazine, on product packages, and bumper stickers. They're Tag barcodes, QR Codes, and other recognition technologies. You can use them to connect customers from your offline marketing materials to information, entertainment, and interactive experiences on their smartphones. These mobile interactions let people engage with your product and identify with your brand the moment they encounter your message.People’s phones are an essential part of their daily life, connecting them to their entire world of friends and information. Using recognition technologies to make virtually anything clickable lets you quickly take advantage of today’s phone-centric lifestyle and help you direct customers to the most relevant information about your brand.The Microsoft Tag marketing solution gives you and your customers the easy way to use a rich suite of recognition technologies, from QR Codes to the current Tag barcodes and beyond to the next generation in mobile, Near Field Communication (NFC). Depending on your choice, you can create a simple campaign delivering a line of text or a phone number, or go further and help people use your mobile site, see a video, download an app, get contact info, and much more. You don't have to worry about them typing in your URL or finding you online – using Tag instantly puts the relevant info at their fingertips.With the Tag solution, you also get access to free reporting that measures the success of each of your campaigns. Tag also offers a single free mobile app, the Tag app, that lets your customers engage with the most common recognition technologies in market today, Microsoft Tag barcodes, and QR Codes.

How Tag Works

1. Create Tag barcodes, QR Codes, or NFC URLs in less than five minutes using the free Tag Manager tool, then add them to your marketing materials.

2. People scan your Tag barcode, QR Code, or NFC touch point on their smartphones using the free Tag app and instantly view the experience you've created.

3. See how well your campaign is performing with engagement and ROI metrics, and fine-tune your mobile experience as often as you like.

What Are 2D Barcodes?

Barcodes are a pretty big deal – and not just at the grocery store. 2D barcodes are the mainstream of recognition technologies used for mobile marketing. You’ll be hearing more about newcomers such as NFC, but for now, the majority of folks are sticking with 2D.In mobile tagging, the barcode is a printed symbol that connects a physical object (a magazine ad) to a digital experience on a smartphone (a cool video). Why should you care? Because a 2D barcode like a Microsoft Tag barcode adds a whole new dimension to your marketing campaigns, making them more engaging and interactive.You can put a 2D barcode on just about anything – printed materials, packaging, posters, signs, websites, clothing. When people can scan the barcode with their smartphones, they instantly see the online content you’ve created – from a product video to a sweepstakes to a custom mobile site.But not all barcodes are created equal. The type of barcode you use is important, because features and ease of use vary. There are three types of barcodes in common use: Microsoft Tag barcodes, QR Codes, and traditional linear barcodes.

Tag Barcodes

Tag barcodes are the newest edition of 2D barcodes. They offer more flexibility than older formats both in the barcode design and the content behind it. Because Tag barcodes are linked to data stored on a server, you can deliver a more robust online experience – including entire mobile sites – and update the content any time without having to change the Tag. So, if you link a Tag on your business card to your résumé, it will still be valid after you get that big promotion. Tags can be black-and-white or full-colour, including custom images (e.g., a company logo).

QR Code

The Quick Response (QR) Code was the earliest 2D barcode. It was designed to be a bump up from its predecessor, the 1D barcode, because it can contain more information. While not technically open source, the inventor of the QR Code and owner of the QR Code trademark, DENSO, has allowed the patents for the code to be freely available to the public. QR Codes have a variety of disparate formats and reader apps, and can be black-and-white or basic colors. Because of these constraints, QR Codes are best suited for simple designs that don't require integration with your branding.

Traditional Barcodes

It’s not likely, but it’s possible the 1D barcode on your loaf of bread carries a little something extra. Some marketers provide basic product information using the 1D barcodes you’ve known for years. Some services use mobile apps to scan these barcodes and display data such as prices, descriptions, and user reviews.

Why Use Tag?

That’s easy. Because no matter what size business and budget you have, it can help you succeed. Bring your offline materials to life with a single, free source to develop, manage, and measure campaigns that’s easy for you and your customers. Create pretty much any kind of digital experience you can imagine – from simple messages and contact info to websites, videos, and app downloads. Start fine-tuning the experience the minute it’s out the door using customer insights from real-time metrics. Overall, we think you’ll be impressed. You get big-marketing muscle, flexibility, and control without a big-marketing budget.

Six Reasons to Use Microsoft Tag

1. Seize the momentWithout mobile marketing, your offline materials have to work extra hard to nudge your customer toward making a purchase. Make them interactive, and your call to action becomes instantly actionable. You can strike up an online conversation the second you catch someone’s eye.

2. Keep it simple – for everyoneWith the Microsoft Tag solution, you can extend your marketing to mobile phones with just two simple tools: Tag Manager and the Tag app. As a marketer, you can use Tag Manager to create Tag barcodes, QR Codes, and NFC URLs, and run reports showing when and where they’re being used. The free Tag app is the only reader your customers need to scan the most popular 2D barcode formats in market, they don’t have to download and keep track of several readers.

3. Stretch your dollarSince Tag is free, you can add a compelling mobile experience to your marketing at little or no cost. Experiment all you want, with a comprehensive set of features that can make all your offline materials work twice as hard. From Tag barcodes to NFC, try out different technologies and customer experiences without a huge up-front investment. It’s not free money, but it’s close.

4. Dive into the dataMeasuring the effectiveness of offline materials can be tricky. No more. Tag delivers tons of customer engagement metrics that show when, where, and how often people are scanning. Want to drill even deeper? Import the data into your existing reporting systems.

5. Create flexible designs and experiencesDesign campaigns that fit your brand with your choice of recognition technologies, creative options, and customer experiences. Capture your savvy customers’ attention with the latest recognition technologies. Add that personal touch – and increase sales – by customizing your mobile content based on a consumer's location or by recognizing multiple scans from their smartphone.

6. Take complete charge of your campaignsWith the Tag solution you can craft your entire brand experience and tailor your campaign with fine-tuned control. Design and create your own materials, manage and monitor your campaign yourself, and update content as often as you like. You get all this power with the ease that makes mobile marketing a straightforward addition to your campaigns.

Tag Pricing

Create, display, and scan Tags – all for free. You read right: There’s no fee to create or scan Tags, or to view basic reports. This means that, as long as we run the Tag service, you will be able to:

Download the free Tag app to your smartphone and scan all the Tags you want.

Use the basic features of Microsoft Tag Manager for free, including:

Creating basic Tags with colour or black-and-white triangles.

Creating custom Tags that use clusters of dots overlaid on an image (like your logo).

Linking a Tag to a web page, phone number, contact information, or text string.

Use of the Creation API to create Tags that link to the above experiences.

Identifying each unique device that scans your Tag and navigates to a web page.

Viewing limited online reports that show the total number of scans for each Tag.

In the future, we may charge for certain enhanced features, such as more robust reporting or new types of Tags, but the basic features will remain free. Please see the Microsoft Tag Service and Tag Creation API Agreement for more details.

Key Features

Put your marketing campaign right in your customers' hands – anytime, anywhere. Microsoft Tag has the tools you need to create a killer mobile campaign that delivers your brand and your story through videos, words, apps – whatever it takes. It’s integrated, measureable, and free. The Tag app is available on most smartphone platforms, and you can scan Tags anywhere in the world.

Custom Tags

With an eye-catching custom Tag, you can build your brand, leverage your logo, blend with creative design, and add visual punch to your messaging.

Device IDDeliver a richer mobile experience by customizing it based on a consumer's unique smartphone ID and the number of times they’ve scanned a Tag.

Real Time LocationCreate a more personal, relevant connection with your customer by targeting your message based on their geographical location.

Raise CuriosityGrab Their AttentionBlend in BeautifullyFlexible Tagging OptionsFive types of Tags make it easy to deliver just the right message: display videos and websites, share digital business cards, download mobile apps, display text, or dial phone numbers.

Reporting ToolsTag’s free analytics help you gauge the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns by telling you when, where, and how often your Tags are being scanned – insights you can use to refine them for maximum impact. Heat Maps can even show you the geographical locations of all your scans on a map.

Microsoft Tag APIsMicrosoft Tag offers several APIs to make the management of your campaigns easier. If you are running a campaign that requires a large number of Tags to be used, the Tag Creation API allows you to batch create and manage your Tags from your desktop, laptop, server, or mobile device. And, the Tag Scan Data API is used to export your Tag scanning data, allowing you to import it into other campaign management tools to have a comprehensive view of your results.
The Tag Scanning SDKIntegrate Tag right into your smartphone application with the Tag Scanning Software Development Kit (SDK). Find out how the Tag Scanning SDK can create a total brand experience.
Freedom to ChooseMicrosoft Tag is proud to extend its mobile marketing solution to include several recognition technologies, giving you flexible options for deciding how to engage with your audience. We are the only solution in market that can create and scan Tag barcodes, QR Codes, and NFC touch points, all with a single creation tool and mobile app.

Each of the recognition technologies can be used alone or paired together to maximize your engagement. All can be created within minutes using Tag Manager and our reporting gives you the insight you need to accurately measure your campaign’s performance. And just like Tag barcodes, our QR Codes and NFC URLs can be updated whenever needed in Tag Manager so you can keep your materials fresh.
Tag barcodes continue to deliver the great experience you’ve become accustomed to, providing a customizable look and feel, a smaller size, and tremendous scanning reliability. Tag barcodes also offer Real Time Location and Device ID to let you truly personalize your campaigns.
We’ve expanded our 2D barcode offering to include the traditional QR Code format. QR Codes created using Tag Manager will have the standard look and feel of other QR generators, but also offer the flexibility that you enjoy with Tag barcodes, including updating content on the fly and advanced reporting. QR Codes created with Tag Manager and scanned using the Tag app can also deliver location and device aware experiences. QR Codes created in Tag Manager can be scanned by third-party apps too, so you won’t lose any connection with your customers.

Near Field Communication (NFC) is the latest and greatest in mobile technology. While still in the early stages, several Android devices come NFC-enabled, providing you a unique way to engage with your customers. They simply tap their device to the touch point to launch their mobile experience and away they go! You can create NFC URLs using Tag Manager and then provide those to third-party NFC vendors to create your touch points. NFC URLs can be updated at any time, saving you valuable time and money in keeping your touch points relevant. Use our reporting to measure every ‘tap’ and see where and how often people are engaging with your content.

Custom Tags

Basic Tags are great for some things, but you can make an even bigger splash with a custom Tag. Custom Tags can help build your brand, and they blend in beautifully with your creative. Use your imagination and create a Tag that reflects your brand and the tone of your marketing campaign – elegant for a luxury car, outrageous for an off-color comedy blockbuster.

For details on creating custom Tags, check out our video, download our instructional guide (.pdf), or see the Creating Custom Tag Images section of the Tag Implementation Guide.

Want some inspiration? Here are a few examples from companies who’ve created custom Tags.

Raise Curiosity

Loescher, one of the largest textbook publishers for Italian secondary schools, uses a custom Tag to vividly call attention to the dynamic, on-the-go learning students can get on their mobile phones.

Grab Their Attention

Star power – Jake Gyllenhaal has it, and Summit Entertainment wisely used it in the custom Tag promoting the movie “Source Code.”

Blend in Beautifully

When you’re selling a beautiful luxury car, you want your ads to be equally elegant and eye-pleasing. That’s why Acura used custom Tags colour-matched to the page content in its brochures.

Build Your Brand

Standing out in the crowded book market is no easy task. So when social-media guru Jay Baer published his new book, he used the book’s cover for a custom Tag. Readers who scan the Tag get a virtual shelf of additional content, including videos, PDFs, podcasts, and more.

Leverage Your Image

When you have the visual appeal of Ciara, flaunting it on a Tag makes a huge impression. Who wouldn’t scan a photo like this to see what’s on the other side? (If you want to watch an exclusive video or get Ciara on your voicemail, scan the Tag!)

Stand out from the Crowd

Americans spend a lot of money on dog food and premium prices don’t seem to hurt sales. But standing out from the other brands is a challenge. With its Tag campaign, Iams put eye-catching images on the product packages and served up detailed product information right when it mattered most: as customers were choosing which bag to grab.

Older Post | Newer Post

What is Tag?

Monday, July 15, 2013 @ 9:58 PM | 0 Comment [s]

How Tag Works

1. Create Tag barcodes, QR Codes, or NFC URLs in less than five minutes using the free Tag Manager tool, then add them to your marketing materials.

2. People scan your Tag barcode, QR Code, or NFC touch point on their smartphones using the free Tag app and instantly view the experience you've created.

3. See how well your campaign is performing with engagement and ROI metrics, and fine-tune your mobile experience as often as you like.

What Are 2D Barcodes?

Tag Barcodes

QR Code

Traditional Barcodes

Why Use Tag?

Six Reasons to Use Microsoft Tag

Tag Pricing

Create, display, and scan Tags – all for free. You read right: There’s no fee to create or scan Tags, or to view basic reports. This means that, as long as we run the Tag service, you will be able to:

Download the free Tag app to your smartphone and scan all the Tags you want.

Use the basic features of Microsoft Tag Manager for free, including:

Creating basic Tags with colour or black-and-white triangles.

Creating custom Tags that use clusters of dots overlaid on an image (like your logo).

Linking a Tag to a web page, phone number, contact information, or text string.

Use of the Creation API to create Tags that link to the above experiences.

Identifying each unique device that scans your Tag and navigates to a web page.

Viewing limited online reports that show the total number of scans for each Tag.

In the future, we may charge for certain enhanced features, such as more robust reporting or new types of Tags, but the basic features will remain free. Please see the Microsoft Tag Service and Tag Creation API Agreement for more details.

Key Features

Put your marketing campaign right in your customers' hands – anytime, anywhere. Microsoft Tag has the tools you need to create a killer mobile campaign that delivers your brand and your story through videos, words, apps – whatever it takes. It’s integrated, measureable, and free. The Tag app is available on most smartphone platforms, and you can scan Tags anywhere in the world.

Custom Tags

With an eye-catching custom Tag, you can build your brand, leverage your logo, blend with creative design, and add visual punch to your messaging.

Device IDDeliver a richer mobile experience by customizing it based on a consumer's unique smartphone ID and the number of times they’ve scanned a Tag.

Real Time LocationCreate a more personal, relevant connection with your customer by targeting your message based on their geographical location.

Raise CuriosityGrab Their AttentionBlend in BeautifullyFlexible Tagging OptionsFive types of Tags make it easy to deliver just the right message: display videos and websites, share digital business cards, download mobile apps, display text, or dial phone numbers.

Reporting ToolsTag’s free analytics help you gauge the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns by telling you when, where, and how often your Tags are being scanned – insights you can use to refine them for maximum impact. Heat Maps can even show you the geographical locations of all your scans on a map.

Microsoft Tag APIsMicrosoft Tag offers several APIs to make the management of your campaigns easier. If you are running a campaign that requires a large number of Tags to be used, the Tag Creation API allows you to batch create and manage your Tags from your desktop, laptop, server, or mobile device. And, the Tag Scan Data API is used to export your Tag scanning data, allowing you to import it into other campaign management tools to have a comprehensive view of your results.
The Tag Scanning SDKIntegrate Tag right into your smartphone application with the Tag Scanning Software Development Kit (SDK). Find out how the Tag Scanning SDK can create a total brand experience.
Freedom to ChooseMicrosoft Tag is proud to extend its mobile marketing solution to include several recognition technologies, giving you flexible options for deciding how to engage with your audience. We are the only solution in market that can create and scan Tag barcodes, QR Codes, and NFC touch points, all with a single creation tool and mobile app.

Each of the recognition technologies can be used alone or paired together to maximize your engagement. All can be created within minutes using Tag Manager and our reporting gives you the insight you need to accurately measure your campaign’s performance. And just like Tag barcodes, our QR Codes and NFC URLs can be updated whenever needed in Tag Manager so you can keep your materials fresh.
Tag barcodes continue to deliver the great experience you’ve become accustomed to, providing a customizable look and feel, a smaller size, and tremendous scanning reliability. Tag barcodes also offer Real Time Location and Device ID to let you truly personalize your campaigns.
We’ve expanded our 2D barcode offering to include the traditional QR Code format. QR Codes created using Tag Manager will have the standard look and feel of other QR generators, but also offer the flexibility that you enjoy with Tag barcodes, including updating content on the fly and advanced reporting. QR Codes created with Tag Manager and scanned using the Tag app can also deliver location and device aware experiences. QR Codes created in Tag Manager can be scanned by third-party apps too, so you won’t lose any connection with your customers.

Near Field Communication (NFC) is the latest and greatest in mobile technology. While still in the early stages, several Android devices come NFC-enabled, providing you a unique way to engage with your customers. They simply tap their device to the touch point to launch their mobile experience and away they go! You can create NFC URLs using Tag Manager and then provide those to third-party NFC vendors to create your touch points. NFC URLs can be updated at any time, saving you valuable time and money in keeping your touch points relevant. Use our reporting to measure every ‘tap’ and see where and how often people are engaging with your content.

Custom Tags

For details on creating custom Tags, check out our video, download our instructional guide (.pdf), or see the Creating Custom Tag Images section of the Tag Implementation Guide.

Want some inspiration? Here are a few examples from companies who’ve created custom Tags.

Raise Curiosity

Loescher, one of the largest textbook publishers for Italian secondary schools, uses a custom Tag to vividly call attention to the dynamic, on-the-go learning students can get on their mobile phones.

Grab Their Attention

Star power – Jake Gyllenhaal has it, and Summit Entertainment wisely used it in the custom Tag promoting the movie “Source Code.”

Blend in Beautifully

When you’re selling a beautiful luxury car, you want your ads to be equally elegant and eye-pleasing. That’s why Acura used custom Tags colour-matched to the page content in its brochures.

Build Your Brand

Leverage Your Image

Stand out from the Crowd

Older Post | Newer Post

1. Create Tag barcodes, QR Codes, or NFC URLs in less than five minutes using the free Tag Manager tool, then add them to your marketing materials.

2. People scan your Tag barcode, QR Code, or NFC touch point on their smartphones using the free Tag app and instantly view the experience you've created.3. See how well your campaign is performing with engagement and ROI metrics, and fine-tune your mobile experience as often as you like.

Tag Barcodes

Why Use Tag?

Six Reasons to Use Microsoft Tag

Tag Pricing

Create, display, and scan Tags – all for free. You read right: There’s no fee to create or scan Tags, or to view basic reports. This means that, as long as we run the Tag service, you will be able to:

Key Features

Custom Tags

With an eye-catching custom Tag, you can build your brand, leverage your logo, blend with creative design, and add visual punch to your messaging.

Device IDDeliver a richer mobile experience by customizing it based on a consumer's unique smartphone ID and the number of times they’ve scanned a Tag.

Real Time LocationCreate a more personal, relevant connection with your customer by targeting your message based on their geographical location.

Raise CuriosityGrab Their AttentionBlend in BeautifullyFlexible Tagging OptionsFive types of Tags make it easy to deliver just the right message: display videos and websites, share digital business cards, download mobile apps, display text, or dial phone numbers.

Custom Tags

Grab Their Attention

Blend in Beautifully

Build Your Brand

Leverage Your Image

Stand out from the Crowd

1. Create Tag barcodes, QR Codes, or NFC URLs in less than five minutes using the free Tag Manager tool, then add them to your marketing materials.

2. People scan your Tag barcode, QR Code, or NFC touch point on their smartphones using the free Tag app and instantly view the experience you've created.3. See how well your campaign is performing with engagement and ROI metrics, and fine-tune your mobile experience as often as you like.

Tag Barcodes

Why Use Tag?

Six Reasons to Use Microsoft Tag

Tag Pricing

Create, display, and scan Tags – all for free. You read right: There’s no fee to create or scan Tags, or to view basic reports. This means that, as long as we run the Tag service, you will be able to:

Key Features

Custom Tags

With an eye-catching custom Tag, you can build your brand, leverage your logo, blend with creative design, and add visual punch to your messaging.

Device IDDeliver a richer mobile experience by customizing it based on a consumer's unique smartphone ID and the number of times they’ve scanned a Tag.

Real Time LocationCreate a more personal, relevant connection with your customer by targeting your message based on their geographical location.

Raise CuriosityGrab Their AttentionBlend in BeautifullyFlexible Tagging OptionsFive types of Tags make it easy to deliver just the right message: display videos and websites, share digital business cards, download mobile apps, display text, or dial phone numbers.

Custom Tags

Grab Their Attention

Blend in Beautifully

Build Your Brand

Leverage Your Image

Stand out from the Crowd

2. People scan your Tag barcode, QR Code, or NFC touch point on their smartphones using the free Tag app and instantly view the experience you've created.

3. See how well your campaign is performing with engagement and ROI metrics, and fine-tune your mobile experience as often as you like.

2. People scan your Tag barcode, QR Code, or NFC touch point on their smartphones using the free Tag app and instantly view the experience you've created.

3. See how well your campaign is performing with engagement and ROI metrics, and fine-tune your mobile experience as often as you like.