Mobile marketing is not just for big brands anymore. There are lots of ways small businesses can tap into their customers’ mobile lives. But in the spirit of integrated marketing, you need a way to take offline marketing (like print ads, direct mail pieces, posters, etc.) and tie it to your online world.
QR codes are a great way to do just that.
Chances are that a large, valuable portion of your target market can scan a QR code. The technology barriers are fading fast, and according to Nielsen, 62 percent of mobile users age 25 to 34 own a smartphone. Combine that with the fact that QR codes are become increasingly accepted, and you’ve got a great way to connect your audience with your brand, even while they’re on the go.
QR codes can be used for many different marketing objectives:
- Sales (check out pbSmart Essentials contributor Matt Mansfield’s summer and fall QR codes sales posts),
- Collecting payment,
- Connecting audiences to content.
All three of those objectives take advantage of the QR code’s unique ability to connect the offline world to your online properties, with a retail-oriented, transactional, or simply informational approach. All of them will help you build relationships with your customers.
And they seem to be cropping up everywhere. I’ve even noticed QR codes printed on the envelopes of my bills. The Stamford Symphony, for instance, just started using QR codes to achieve a couple of the above campaign objectives. By printing QR codes on ads, direct mail pieces, and posters they invite users to scan the ads. Once they do that, users can do everything from buying event tickets to watching performer interview videos.
Mobile Marketer wrote a great piece detailing the campaigns — you can read it here.
Keep in mind that even though you’re concerned with marketing a small business, your objectives don’t differ much from those of larger companies. You still want to sell more products and services, make it easy for your customers to contact and pay you, and build valuable relationships through engaging content. QR codes are an affordable solution for achieving all of those.
Check out all the ways Pitney Bowes can help you communicate with your customers.
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