Can QR Codes help you to generate more sales?
When used properly, I absolutely believe that can be true! If marketers apply sound fundamentals — including providing a relevant, mobile-optimized experience and giving customers & prospects something that truly benefits them — then QR Codes can absolutely be an effective response channel.
Here’s a great video that demonstrates how one unique QR Code campaign has helped a company generate sales.
If you have a moment, you can watch it below:
One of my favorite parts about this story is how they focused on the business objective first!
In this case, they wanted to increase sales during a certain hour.
Once they clearly identified the objective, then they chose what marketing channels they would use.
In many other cases, we have seen companies get that process backwards. They may hear about a channel such as QR Codes, social media, personalized URLs, etc. and decided that they “must use it in their next marketing effort”. They make that decision without figuring out if that channel makes sense for the target audience or for whatever their offer is.
Here’s hoping this video helps to inspire marketers everywhere to effectively incorporate QR Codes in places that help them to generate sales!
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I’ve written a bit about my appreciation of the Postagram app in the past.
Well, I am quite happy that I stumbled upon the video below. It sums up my thoughts in a far more elegant way in less than 60 seconds. Enjoy it!
While this video was created specifically for the Postagram App, I certainly think that it does a tremendous job of promoting the impact that print & mail can still have today.
This video from Twitter to help them with their job recruitment efforts is so good, that I do not want to say much more. I’d rather you be able to just click the Play button.
I think that this is another great example of showing the potential power of online video and social media. At the time of writing this post, this video has nearly 700,000 views in just a few days.
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I must send a shout-out to the Webchutney Agency in India for putting together the video of this QR Code effort.
The video demonstrates how the Turquoise Cottage bar and night-club used QR Codes in place of the typical stamp that might be placed on their customer’s hands.
Upon scanning the QR Code, people were directed to mobile websites with information that was specific to the time that they scanned the code!
- Earlier in the night, people accessed Bar Specials
- At the end of the night, people were directed to Call-A-Taxi services
- And early the next morning, people were presented with information to help them, uhm, recover from all of the fun that they had the night before.
I think this is great example of how there is plenty of room for innovation when it comes to QR Code efforts!
I plan on trying to convince my local favorite establishment to give this a try soon 
Print industry legend Kevin Keane has been promoting the mantra “Print tells, but video sells” a lot lately on his Facebook page.
And I think the video below does a great job of “selling” the power of QR Codes.
This video demonstrates how Heineken used QR Codes at a music festival to integrate multiple channels and medias — including print, social networks, mobile, and more.
If you have a minute, take a moment to enjoy the video. I’d love to know if it inspires you to use QR Codes on your printed materials… or even if it simply makes you wish that you were drinking a beer at a rock show.
Did you think that QR Codes were everywhere in 2011? If so, you should expect to see more of the same in 2012. Sure, there are absolutely going to be other mobile technologies (such as NFC, perhaps) that will push their way a bit further into the mainstream.
But with QR Codes, the momentum of creating awareness has been in full swing for quite a while now. What does this mean? Well, even my grandmother knows how to scan a QR Code! Thus, advertisers, marketers, educators, etc. should find ways to incorporate QR Codes into their printed materials to reach the growing mobile audience. Here are a few tips to help them incorporate QR Codes that their audience will scan.
5 Tips for Increasing Your QR Code Scans
- Provide instructions near the QR Code: Yes, awareness of QR Codes has increased dramatically over the past few months. But there are still plenty of people out there that don’t know what they are or how to use them. To assist those folks, provide instructions near the QR Code on your printed materials. This could be done by simply including text (i.e. “Scan the QR Code with your smartphone”) or by incorporating an image that displays a smartphone pointing to the QR Code, or an image that depicts how the QR Code could point to a smartphone that is displaying a website.
- Give people an incentive: As marketers first become familiar with QR Codes, they often rush too quickly to incorporate them. Thus, they’ll skip over fundamentals such as “Why would my audience want to scan this?”. Rather than just slapping a QR Code on your printed materials, develop a reason why you should have one. Will it make it easier for your audience to access a map or directions? Will it make easier for people to contact your company or to make a purchase? Include that reason somewhere on your printed materials to let people know what benefits they’ll receive by scanning the code.
- Allow your designer to have input: In some cases, graphic designers have developed well-crafted print advertisements or direct mail pieces that they are very proud of. But at the last-minute, someone may request that a QR Code is included. This may not only cause some grief for the designer (because they are being asked to make a last-minute change, one that does not necessarily fit it into their vision), but it could also negatively impact your audience. If a QR Code appears to have been carelessly slapped onto printed material, the chances of it being scanned may be reduced. Thus, try to allow your designers to offer creative input during the development process. They may be able to utilize the error-correction rate that is built into QR Codes, or to simply find a creative way to include it that will tempt your audience to scan it.
- Educate your audience ahead of time: Yes, QR Codes exist primarily to make print interactive. But you can use other medias to increase awareness about them. Create blog posts on your website that talk about them. Produce a video that demonstrates how someone could successfully use their smartphone to scan them. Put on one your social media pages or in your email signature for a little while. Talk about them in your eNewsletter. By taking those steps, you may not only create curiosity, but you may increase the chances that your audience will know what to do with them when they see one in on your printed pieces.
- Shorten the destination URL: This one is very important! Yes, QR Codes can hold a lot of data. But the more data that you have in a QR Code, the harder it may be for someone to scan it quickly. Make sure to use a service that shortens your URLs before generating the QR Code.
I hope that you find these tips helpful! If you have any questions, just let me know in the Comments.
With more than 1.5 million followers on Twitter, Bill Simmons has certainly made quite the name for himself over the past few years. Of course, he’s had other accomplishments in that time period. Here are a few:
- His columns on ESPN.com are always extremely popular
- He topped the New York Times Best-Seller List
- He came up with the idea for the “30 for 30″ film series
- He launched the Grantland website.
Pardon my gushing, but the Grantland website is pretty awesome. Every day there are new columns that entertain and educate.
However, the problem with online content is that its shelf-life may be limited. People have unlimited options while they are online — thus, it’s possible that a social network or another blog might steal their attention from the Grantland website.
The Case For Print
To help give Grantland’s online content further reach and a longer life, Bill Simmons and his team have created a print version, The Grantland Quarterly.
But even though Bill Simmons has millions of fans and followers, he recognized that selling print vs. simply putting stuff online may not be an easy sale to his audience.
Thus, he recently published an article where he laid out the case for offering a printed version. Here were some of the reasons and benefits that he listed:
- The quality of the hard-copy book is superb.
- Say this quote in Bill Simmons legendary tongue-in-cheek tone: “If terrorists ever destroy the Internet, I’m screwed — just about everything I ever wrote will vanish into thin air.” Yes, we all are very willing to store our data in the Cloud. And for the most part, we probably have never been let down by that. But for anyone that has ever lost a document that was stored electronically and not properly backed-up, you probably understand his point here.
- Seeing one’s content in a book format is exciting. “It’s different than seeing your stuff on the Internet”.
- He wanted to find a way to enable his content to live forever in someone’s bookcase.
- Reading a story in a book months after the event it discusses has occurred brings benefits to the reader. As opposed to just reading it online the day it’s posted, they will have gained more knowledge and a better perspective about the content that was written.
- By devoting time to creating a great layout in the book, they were able to “bring boring Internet columns to life”
- The Grantland team has devoted a lot of time and energy to maintain a great website… A book version of their content is a way to help people take stock of all that they’ve accomplished.
Does Print Have a Place with You?
There is no doubt that marketing channels such as the web, social networks, and mobile will continue to cause shifts in the way that people consume information.
But while each of those channels may bring benefits, there are also areas where they may be lacking.
Thus, if we are responsible for creating or distributing content for our organization, we must never forget how print can help.
Bill Simmons listed a number of reasons for the Grantland Quarterly… and perhaps you can add to that list as well.
eBay has brought some excitement to the QR Code/mobile world this week with the launch of a new store in London.
The physical storefront carries 350 items. But what makes the store unique is that people will scan the item’s QR Code to place an order for it. Upon scanning the QR Code, people are directed to the item’s page on eBay where they can complete their purchase in a couple of easy steps.
Here is a great video on the setup of their store:
I’m happy to announce the release of interlinkONE’s latest White Paper, “Mobile Marketing: Grabbing Consumers on the Go!“
If you are looking for ways to incorporate mobile into your marketing efforts, please download your free copy today.
How It Helps
We live in a mobile culture. Whether your customers are businesses or consumers, devices such as smartphones and tablets are changing when, why, and how they are searching, finding, and consuming information.
In this White Paper, we provide an overview of technologies that you can use to market effectively to the ever-growing mobile audience. The White Paper covers items such as:
- QR Codes
- Mobile Websites
- SMS/Text-Messaging
- Mobile Social Media
- Mobile SEO
- And more…
How Can You Get It? And How Much Does it Cost?
Those questions are easy to answer.
First of all, it’s free! Simply head over to our registration page to receive your copy.
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One of my favorite parts of attending the DMA 2011 conference in Boston this week was having the chance to listen to some very successful marketing agencies present case studies of their campaigns.
Some of the case studies involved big brands that were looking to capitalize on their expensive sponsorships; others involved companies that were trying to take make the best of a natural disaster; and others involved helping people in less-fortunate lands.
What Made Them Succeed
There were a number of reasons why the campaigns that were discussed at DMA succeeded. Yes, most of them had impressive creative. There was clearly a helpful and compelling message on the media. But certainly, the creative and messaging differed greatly across each effort.
But there is something that all of the successful case studies had in common: the agencies spent a lot of effort focusing on planning and measurement.
Wait. Are You Saying that Not All Marketers Plan and Measure?
In today’s world of businesses, many of us are wearing many hats. We may have less resources available to us than from a few years ago. We may feel more pressure from CEOs and VPs of Sales to get more campaigns out the door.
There may be nothing we can do to change those realities. Thus, it is absolutely possible that we may cut corners to simply get things “shipped”. We may start to simply view our marketing initiatives as one big checklist.
However, what truly matters in the end is not if we simply do things. But what matters is if we actually do things that make a positive impact.
How We Can Focus on the Right Things
The best way to create a successful campaign is to truly have a strategy and plan ahead of time (or, we could just hope to get lucky). We need to let our imaginations go a little wild. We need to think of our audience as more than a list of records in a database. We need to be willing to analyze what we hope to accomplish, what we could possibly accomplish, and then set a goal.
Then, we must be willing to spend time truly analyzing and measuring the results of our efforts.
While that may sound obvious, I’m sure that many of us would agree that we often need to quickly move on to what’s next… That might be the next channel, technology, or simply the next campaign. We miss out on identifying what has recently worked (or not), which means we lose out on finding valuable data that could improve our future campaigns.
Planning and measurement might never be sexy. But if the case studies presented at DMA 2011 were any indication, they are absolutely two of the most critical components of a successful campaign.
