I have to say, I effing love these things, I think they’re phenomenal and what you can do with them is really only (to use a cliche) limited by one’s own imagination.

You see, a QR code is like a little doorway into an unknown world, it holds a surprise, maybe a prize, maybe asks me to do something, or compliments whatever I was looking at. It is a tool for engagement. That’s what a QR code is, or at least should be when it comes to Advertising.

But more often than not, it’s a link to some horrendous non-mobile optimized page that’s next to impossible to read, and more so navigate on my tiny little mobile screen. I scanned it, I’m interested, but not interested enough to stand there on the street trying hard to press some tiny button to figure out whatever it is you want me to figure out.

Solution:  Deploy a mobile optimized page for the campaign, build and create engagement, make it fun. I’m already giving you my precious time, don’t squander it, have me engage there and then. How. Well I’ve got ideas, but it’s not my damn campaign is it?

I tend to scan these things as much as I can simply out of the enjoyment of seeing what it is that people are doing with them, and some of the more intelligent (and I use this word loosely in this context) implementations of the QR code have been a direct link to a branded Facebook (FB) page. Yay! Engagement.

Yet this engagement was executed by get this, Whole Foods, who were running a contents to get a month’s worth of free groceries, which I have to add were never displayed on the FB page, and aside from liking them, I had no idea how to participate. Whoever the agency was that did this should have been fired there and then.

The second example of a QR facebook link is from my dentist. MY DENTIST! Yes, my dentist is more technologically adept and understands how to use and engage people better than most agencies I’ve seen use these things.

But the buck doesn’t stop there, and here we are on this post talking about a tool. A QR Code. The one on this page is a Version 11 or 12, as it allows me to input 220 characters of data. Anything higher, and you’re getting into readability problems with current gen phone cameras, especially if you print small. But that aside, think, what can you do with 200 characters.

What messages can you convey, and especially if those messages are not bound by human semantics, and serve a purpose. Are you seeing the potential of these things? I’ve recently been trying to connect with some people at a certain company about the potential use of these that could save them millions, but I’ve thus far only been chagrined.

And if this post seems to come off a bit cross, it is, because it baffles me every time I scan one of these codes hoping for something fun to happen, I meet the same boring result. Non mobile optimized web page.

But there’s one better before I sign off until the next blog-update. There’s a creative agency in Portugal called “9 The Creative Shop” who by some miracle of god managed to score a Jeep Contact. The following ad is what they came up with. Comments Follow.

Ok. So aside from the obvious fact that the QR code is front and center, and I don’t know this is a Jeep ad until I spend some time looking, and aside from it having no sheen or polish to it, and aside from a potential metaphor that the QR code is a forest of some sorts and I’m to navigate through it (long shot I know), the QR code itself takes you to …. get this, a Flash encoded website for mobile. So sure Apple doesn’t have the 20+% market share it has in the US, but it’s around 10% with the other 20% of the total Mobile market going to Android. So 33% of all the people who could even scan this can’t access the content.  Total utter fail.

Here are just a few ways to completely and utterly dig your startup into the ground, as such read them, and do what you can to avoid them.

1. Have a poorly defined value proposition. Having a poorly defined value proposition will cause you headache after headache when looking at and presenting your business model. You have to know who you are targeting, what you’re offering and why they would want to use your product or service. Who is your customer?

2. Setting unrealistic objectives in your development and deployment pipeline. No matter what you think you will not underpin the world in a year, you will not have income of €20.000.000 in year one, and you will be greatly disappointed.

3. Focusing on the bottom line instead of on the service / product you offer your customers. Your customers are your lifeblood, if they are unhappy your bottom line will suffer, if they are happy, they’ll be repeat buyers, and even help market your product. Simple as that.

4. Involving yourself and your business in ethically questionable practices. Unsavory marketing practices, overly creative accounting are just some of the things that will in the end ruin your business, don’t do them.

5. Developing a product without adequately deploying resources to market it effectively. Sure, you may have a product that could cure cancer, end world hunger, and fly humans to the moon, but if no one knows about it, no one will use it. Market it, and market it effectively.

6. Going on a spending spree. Meaning, poor cash management. You may have €250.000 that you received in the form of F3 (Friends Family Fools) Capital and you think it’s great so you pay a premium for services that could otherwise be outsourced, delivered in a more cost effective way, and get everyone a brand new Mac Pro to write e-mails on. Not a good idea.

7. Launching too early or too late. Timing is everything, think about the market, the economy, the sector you’re in, where is it now, where will it be in 3 months, 6, a ear or two. You don’t have to change the world today, and launching today may lead to failure.

8. Flying solo. Think you can do everything yourself? You can’t. Involve others. Even if you’ve decided to start alone, bring in friends, talk to your network, and see if people will help you out. You don’t have to give them an equity stake in the beginning see how you work together. If you work well, ask them if they’d like to come on board.

9. Forgetting about scalability. Good ideas scale well, milti million ideas scale at their core. How big can your product realistically get? Who is your customer, and how can fast can you grow without compromising service.

10. Secrets are no fun. Talk, and share your idea with people you trust, friends, family, colleagues, these people are inevitable to the success of your business, you don’t know everything, and collaboration can more often than not fix problems before they arise.

11. Doubting your idea early on. Doubt is natural, you will have ups and downs, this is completely natural, but if you doubt your idea within the first month, or three of your start up career. Chances are you’ll become disheartened quite early on and quit. Save yourself the trouble and thoroughly analyze your concept before taking the plunge.

Good Luck!.

This should be a no brainer but you’d be surprised juts how often people think that “I’ve got a website, I’ve added some tags, worked on some SEO, and that should be enough to get traffic to my site.” The sad truth is that this method will get you traffic, but organic growth is so slow that by the time you’re noticed the competition will have left you in the dust. You could of course spend hard money on AdWords and other ad solutions, but why not give these methods a go before you dive into those pockets for that oh so needed cash.

1. Submit your start up to relevant sources, the list below comes from – marketingstartups.com and we thank them dearly, you can find the link to the whole article here.

• KillerStartups.com- Use their online form (http://www.killerstartups.com/submitted)
• Launchfeed.com- Use this site to announce the launch of your service. Not as important on the site itself, but other sites subscribe to launchfeed and use the info on their blogs.
• Simplespark- Another source of what’s new online
• MOMB- (Museum of Modern Betas)- A site listing new apps
• Go2Web20.net- A flash directory of startups that actually delivers some fairly decent traffic.
• TechCrunch- The grandaddy of internet startup blogs. You can enter your information here: http://www.crunchbase.com/companies/new
• CenterNetworks- Another great web 2.0 blog
• mashable!- Awesome blog covering all that’s new on the web. Read this post before submitting your site: http://mashable.com/2008/04/10/get-your-startup-on-mashable/
• ReadWriteWeb- http://www.readwriteweb.com/contact.php
• Blogstring.com and MarketingStartups.com- Hey, it’s easy. Just contact me (nathan.burke@gmail.com), let me know what you do, and if your site or service is relevant, I’ll review it here.

2. E-mail everyone you know and their mother, tell them about your product and how good it is and how it will change the face of mankind forever, and elaborate on how much wonderful karma they’ll get if they basically start a chain letter from it. Is it spam? Well loosely yes, but the trickle effect should get you a decent initial user base, and your friends won’t really hate you for it in the long run.

3. Socialize the heck out of it. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, post on forums, write a brief about it on EZineArticles, HubPages, and make a Blogger Site or two that links back to your site, and while you’re at it, add a Wikipedia entry. Not only will this increase your exposure, but it will also help in building back-links to your site, which will in the end help you generate traffic to your site, and spread the word on your product. Oh, and get Wibiya on your site, they recently opened it up to everyone.

4. Network as if your job depended on it, because it does. Most cities have entrepreneurial events that are held quite frequently, look on sites such as Meetup.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others to find out where they’re being held, if people like your stuff, they’ll spread the word, never, ever, underestimate the power of networking, and you may even get to know people who in one way or other could help you.

5. Send out press releases to everyone and anyone who may be interested. Write one and then email your local newspaper(s), magazines that cover your industry, websites, and bloggers.

6. Targeted SPAM. We hate it as much as the next guy, but targeted e-mail ad campaigns are one of the most effective ways to communicate what it is you’re selling / doing / building etc….

With that, good luck, and let us know if you have any other ideas on getting your site noticed. We’d love to hear them.

Months of hard work, sleepless nights, sweat, stress, and who knows what else have all culminated into one day, the day that you bring our product to market and see what the average Joe thinks of it.

Stressful indeed, but there are ways to cope with it.

1. First and foremost it’s done. You’ve done what hopefully you can do and you did your best. So pat yourself on the back, getting anything to market is typically not an easy feat and you should be proud of yourself.

2. Know that problems will arise, the nature of man is to err and nothing that launches will be without error. As such be sure to have a plan designed to deal with those errors, be they service oriented, website oriented, or even a physical product. Remember that the customer is the most valued piece of the chain and that providing them with the best post-launch service will likely make any minor errors or bugs that you experience irrelevant if their concerns are met with a fair and decent response.

3. Examine and assess your launch strategy. If you’ve released a product and it’s failing to sell, seek out the root of that problem. Perhaps it is your marketing strategy that isn’t doing its job; perhaps your distribution network is not targeting the right customer. Analyze, assess and augment your action plan.

4. After launching your product you may a bit ambiguous as the focus of your role is inevitably going to shift now towards more marketing and sales oriented activities as opposed to internal development and overall more theoretical strategic formulation. And while it’s important not to lose hindsight of your overall company strategy, prepare for your workday to look a bit different than it did before.

5. Don’t panic. Keeping a cool head about you is pivotal not only to your well being but also to the product and your company. Of course you’re worried that things won’t go as planned, but even so, your employees, partners, mentors, investors, etc… need to see that you’re composed and analytical. You are the face of the company and the product and turning hysterical will help no one through this stressful process.

In any case, well done, and why not round the launch out with a launch party, if you’re a small startup remember, it doesn’t have to be something akin to New York Fashion week, but inviting your investors, friends, co-workers, mentors, supporters and a bit of press to a chic lounge in order to celebrate your hard work can help add some wood to the PR fire.