Posted on Wed, Feb 22, 2012
Over the last year, QR Codes have been popping up in marketing campaigns leaving many people wondering if they have a need for QR Codes in their marketing. All Points Connect pulled together some helpful information and tips about what QR codes are and how they are used in marketing.
What is a QR Code?
A QR Code (Quick Response Code) is a 2d barcode encoded with a URL, video, music or other data. Consumers use an app reader to scan the code which takes them to the message or site.
Why use QR Codes?
QR Codes allow users immediate access to a brand message whether through a website, online survey, SMS messaging or video. Once a consumer scans the code, they can continue by easily sharing and linking it to social media pages. In addition to data you can collect on your own using a survey function, some systems have reporting available on demographics of users that scan the code which can help in planning for marketing campaigns.
Where can you place a QR Code?
The most common places one might find a QR Code is on a print piece such as a magazine, brochure or business card. Marketers have gotten even more creative and are even putting them on vehicles, event signs and on brand ambassadors at events and marketing promotions. This summer we used QR codes on music download cards, event brochures and brand ambassador event shirts.
Here are some tips for success with QR Codes:
Determine the overall goal of the campaign. Is the goal to generate new subscribers to a newsletter or blog, offer an incentive to those participating in your event marketing or to increase your social media reach? Once you determine this, you can decide how the user will get to the code and what will work best to communicate your message such as a custom website, a video or a special offer or contest.
Decide who you want to see the code and consider if they will understand what to do with it. It’s becoming common to see QR Codes in many different places but it is surprising how many codes are placed on something without any further instruction or a clear request for action. While many people have smartphones, there are still some that don’t have a bar code scanner app or if they do, are not quite sure what to do with it. Place clear instructions stating how to scan the code alongside the QR Code. And, to ensure those without smartphones are not excluded, make the code SMS compatible offering a text option.
Make sure that wherever you place your code, it is large enough to scan and is in a clear area. Codes on t-shirts is a great idea. However, if the code is in an area that can get caught up in shirt creases or wrinkles or if it is too small on a flyer, users will not have success scanning it.
Offer an incentive for scanning the code. Make sure that people have a reason or incentive to scan the code. Be clear in your instructions about what will happen when they scan the code. If nothing is noted, people are likely to pass up the code.
QR Codes can be incorporated into just about any type of marketing. The way you use it and frequency of use will determine if this marketing tactic will work for your brand.
Posted on Fri, Jan 13, 2012
Tradeshows are a very popular marketing resource. Especially this time of year. They allow you strategic marketing directly to your target audience. After you've acquired the space, then what?
Here are five key factors to help you capitlaize on your tradeshow participation.
1. Engage
The booth appearance and representatives are the first impression attendees have of your brand or product. Don’t make the mistake of having unenthusiastic event staff sitting around. It is so important that everyone representing your brand is inviting, friendly and engaging with event attendees. If you don't have the staff available to manage the booth, look at outsourcing.
2. Educate
After you invite event attendees to your booth, make sure you take the opportunity to educate them about your product. It may be brief but give them some quick points, ask questions and offer information that they can take back with them. Word of mouth is one of the best marketing strategies so educate people so they can spread the word to others.
3. Entertain
A great way to encourage people to visit your booth is through a fun activity that creates a memorable experience. Create a custom game promoting your product. Offer prizes or branded giveaways. This is sure to create an experience event attendees will remember and share with others. It also will likely draw a crowd to your booth.
4. Get Social
You've engaged with event attendees, created a fun experience and offered a giveaway item. Don't forget to create opportunities to network with them later on. Social Media is a great way to continue the conversation and the connection. Collect data using iPads or computers to allow attendees to directly link to your social media pages. This will allow you to keep them up to date on your brand.
5. Follow Up
The event has come to an end. You have interacted with event attendees, networked and collected valuable data. Be sure to follow up right away with event attendees after the event. Thank them for visiting your booth and invite them to upcoming events or to view special offers.
Download our free whitepaper on this topic! Click here!
Posted on Fri, Nov 18, 2011
As everyone knows, Black Friday is a big day of shopping and huge period of marketing opportunity. People get the holiday bug and are eager to find some great deals. Leading up to this day, consumers are enundated with marketing messages. Every where you look you see commercials and print ads describing great Black Friday deals. This is all great marketing but what if you could create an experience too? Something consumers will remember all year.
Here are some ideas to get your brand noticed this holiday season!
Have one-to-one interactions while shoppers wait in line using Experiential Marketing. We often focus solely on how to get consumers to a sale but what about while they are waiting in line? Offer product samples or offer free coffee and bagels on behalf of your company to early morning shoppers on Black Friday. Not only will this feel good promotion be a memorable experience but it is likely to be spread through word of mouth. In this day and age, people share experiences on social networks offering even more reach.
Hand out coupons to be redeemed later in the day. Why not offer a reason for shoppers to visit your store or your business online. Hand out coupons or offer a special coupon to be redeemed later. Direct people to your website or social media page where they can get an exclusive coupon, offer or enter a contest. People are looking for offers so give them one!
Keep it simple, hand out flyers. People often underestimate the reach of flyer distribution. It is simple, cost efficient and can be segmented to specifically reach your target market. Put a special offer on the flyer, a QR Code or link consumers to your social media pages where they can enter a contest or receive a special offer. Doing this will allow you to communicate with consumers long after the promotion. Brand a street team so they become walking billboards.
Personalize holiday gift delivery. Add a personal touch to your holiday gifts by having a talented and professional event team personally deliver gifts to your clients with some holiday cheer. Dress them in formal attire or even costumes.
Do you like these ideas but are not sure how to get started? That's easy! All Points Connect can help you. Click here to check out some of what we can do and to contact us!
Posted on Thu, Nov 10, 2011
It is amazing how much technology and marketing have advanced over the years. Yesterday I observed my toddler playing with a play phone. You remember those old play phones, the little rotary phone with eyes that blink when you pull it by the string. As she lifted the receiver and said "hello" I thought to myself, "How does she know how to do that?". That might sound like a silly question because who doesn't know how to use a phone. But, I don't have a phone like that and I doubt anyone else I know does. They certainly look much different from the smartphone I use. Yet, she still knew the concept.
It got me thinking about how far things have come, how much technology and marketing have changed. Yet, with all the changes, you can still find someone eagerly handing you a sample at a tradeshow, handing you a flyer on your way into a club or demonstrating a product at a store front.
Yes, times are a changing and we need to keep up! But, let's not forgot our non-traditional marketing roots. They always come through! Check out some examples, click here!
-HS
Posted on Fri, Nov 04, 2011
Consumers expect a certain level of customer service. Buying soap at Target, books on Amazon.com, and using Verizon's cell service all contribute to this known level of expectation. With today's tools it's easier than ever to exceed what consumers expect.
Exceeding expectations is easier than ever before. Why? Now you can search out gripes, praise, and suggestions on twitter, facebook, blogs, and forums! Search twitter feeds often for those mentioning your organization. Have a small business? Follow as many of your customers as you can! Even in the B2B world you should seek out and friend the individuals of organizations you work with. They may not have any complaints about your product or service, but you may see other areas of opportunity where you can help them.
Search for your company, services, and products on Google regularly. Make RSS feeds to keep up on what people are saying about you.
The biggest advantage to all of this is that you can WOW consumers and clients. Address their issues without them asking and begin to elate instead of satisfy. Go a step further and offer more than you promise to those talking about your brand. Look what KLM Airlines did for their customers.
Yes, you will likely spend more time and money on customer service. But these may be the "cheapest" marketing dollars you ever spend. The individuals you are impressing are active in social media. The secondary impressions they provide will spread naturally through people that trust one another. No traditional marketing can buy that.
So ask yourself, am I satisfying my customers, or am I exceeding their expectations? It's easier now than ever to WOW!
Posted on Tue, Nov 01, 2011
#marketingtrend …
@allptsconnect …
By now, you’ve probably noticed on Twitter that more people are using combinations of symbols and words. These symbols are custom to Twitter. But what about the # sign (known as a hash tag) and @ symbols mean? For starters, the words you choose to “trend”, using the hash tag will be shared all throughout the Twitter world. What that means is that anyone that searches for that word or phrase has access to your message. That doesn’t mean you should hash tag every single word in your tweet. Rather, you should emphasis keywords. Our company often tags marketing keywords or client references.
Using the @ symbol allows you to message a person directly and is a great way to give someone credit for an article or post you retweet. That @ symbol allows the post to appear on not only your feed but theirs as well.
Twitter is creating a whole new movement for what’s going on in the world and it’s giving businesses a more direct way to connect with consumers and clients and to gain an edge on competitors. Big brands, agencies, government officials, sport professionals, schools and even news sources are tweeting. One tweet can reach thousands of people. Think about how you can incorporate this medium with event marketing, at tradeshows and through other marketing strategies to reach even more users.
-N.C.
Posted on Tue, Oct 25, 2011
We have had a lot of fun promoting Shearer's Snacks this year. This Fall you might have seen us out sampling chips at some of your local college and pro football games or even at some local events in the Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Columbus areas. If you have missed us, don't worry! We'll be out again! The Shearer's Street Teams will be taking over Ohio this coming weekend! Find our street team, find delicious chips to sample! Check out the list of events below to see if we will be in an area near you. Follow us on Twitter (@allptsconnect) to get a tweet alerting you when our teams will be out and where they will be.
Saturday, October 29th
2:30pm at the Kent State Football Game vs. Bowling Green
The Shearer's Street Team will be passing out small bags of Classic Potato Chips to everyone after the game.
Saturday, October 29th
4:00pm at The Ohio State University Tailgates
The Shearer's Street Team will be joining in the tailgating fun as they switch your chips for a fresh bag of Shearer's snacks!
Saturday, October 29th
6:30pm at The Cleveland Zoo
The Shearer's Street Team will be treating guests visiting Boo at the Zoo with a Shearer's snack.
Posted on Fri, Oct 21, 2011
Traditionally the word viral has carried a negative connotation. It described the way viruses aggressively and exponentially spread their genetic information through the cells of living things. Between 1918 and 1920 the "Spanish flu" started as a SINGLE virus and infected 27% of the world's population. No marketing budget required!
It's a wonder marketing didn't develop this way from the beginning. We often learn nature has already solved the toughest problems. Viruses do have an unfair advantage. They don’t need to be spread willingly. Getting over that speed bump is simple. Tie marketing messages to something people want to share!
On October 12, 2011 a young man quit his job at a hotel with a brass band. He had the whole thing recorded and posted on YouTube. It's now October 21st and his video has over 2 million views. Not only is it 2 million views, but that's 2 million times people willingly wanted to engage the video. Imagine paying for that kind of response through mass media advertising! The reach available through viral marketing is unparalleled in value!
It doesn't stop at video, it can be any medium. Remember to give your target market a reason to share your event experiences, tweets, e-mails, and other messages. With the tools available today sharing is easy. Use it to your benefit! In the digital era there are many incentives to pair your marketing message with. Photos, videos, music, knowledge, games, and anything else you can imagine can be your vehicle to viral marketing.
Posted on Wed, Oct 12, 2011
Businesses are looking to finish out the year strong with creative and engaging marketing efforts. Targeting popular fall events is a great way to reach consumers. All Points Connect has been managing some great football game promotions around the state, including one for Shearer’s Snacks.
The Shearer’s Street Team has been engaging with consumers at Ohio State Football tailgates this season while distributing product samples. Our Connectors challenge fans to make a switch; Shearer’s chips for their other chips. So far, the promotion has been a success and has accomplished the following:
- Created brand awareness for Shearer’s
- Provided consumers with coupons for future purchases of Shearer's snacks
- Linked fans to the Shearer’s Facebook page through the use of QR Codes increasing fan base
- Educated consumers on where to purchase Shearer's products
On Saturday, October 15th, Shearer's will be attending the Kent State Football Game offering complimentary individual size bags of Classic Potato Chips. If you're at the game be sure to visit one of the Shearer's representatives at the exits to grab your free Red Bag! Check out our
event calendar to see what other games we’ll be at this fall!
Posted on Fri, Sep 23, 2011
The marketers of yesteryear portrayed on AMC’s Mad Men had a simple goal. Get the product or service name out. If the ad men were particularly savvy they’d mention a feature and benefit in the marketing message using print, tv, radio ads, and product placement used in early soap operas. In our modern environment the infrastructure has been shaped by marketing to make reaching consumers easy, too easy.
Sponsorships of building names, countless billboards and signs, endless television commercials, and of course the internet marketing goliath all contribute to a growing amount of marketing messages that consumers are exposed to every day. Yankelvich Research estimated that many consumers are exposed to 3,000 to 20,000 marketing messages PER DAY! Today’s problem isn’t reaching anyone; it’s cutting through the noise to make your marketing message known. And what better way than through non-traditional or grass roots marketing.
On the next marketing campaign you’re involved with keep this in mind. Any marketing can be heard or seen, but good marketing will be listened to and watched and most importantly, talked about. Carefully target your market and give incentive to allow your message past the noise.