First of all what is a QR code? A QR (Quick Response) Code is a scannable/readable barcode that allows you to share text, data or a URL with your customers. Anyone with a camera-enabled smart phone (iPhone, Android, etc) and a QR Code reader can participate.

There are 3 elements to using QR Codes for marketing:

1/  Customers with a smart phone and QR Code reader

2/  Free or paid application to create QR Codes

3/  A compelling reason for QR codes to be used that your customers/potentials will be willing to scan and participate in.

If you’re thinking that QR codes require technical skills to use, think again. They are relatively easy to use, free and painless to create. QR codes also allow you to track the results of your marketing efforts.

Google automatically creates a QR code image when you use their url shortener that provides tracking capabilities. The QR code image can then be saved as an image file and added to a flyer or website for both online and offline marketing. The shortened url can also be used in social media on Facebook and Twitter, etc. Another great and free QR Code creation tool is MyQR.co also with tracking capabilities and lots of features such as customizing colors for branding purposes.

Digital advertising is growing by leaps and bounds as smart phones become more affordable. As people are turning to their smart phones to source and locate information on the go based on their location, QR codes are gradually becoming an avenue for businesses to offer discounts, deals or a freebie to attract new and returning customers.

All a customer would have to do is show their QR code on their smart phone when they arrive at the establishment to claim the offer or be taken to a website on their smart phone to take advantage of the offer. You could walk into a place of business, see a QR code on an item, scan it with your smartphone, and immediately have access to a lot of information electronically.

If your customers fit into the iPhone/Android user category, they are likely to adopt QR codes now or in the future. QR codes are a great way to collect leads, enhance your customer experience, offer discounts, promotions and special offers and can also be used to provide additional content, guidance or education.

QR Codes could be used at:

• The back (or front and back) of your business card
• Your brochures and other marketing materials
• Convention and event nametags
• Restaurant menus
• Event ticket stubs
• Point-of-sale receipts

QR Codes could link to:

• Directions to your business
• Valuable coupons and special offers
• Recommendations for complementary products and services
• Customer feedback forms

QR Codes could initiate:

• a url link to a website and promote it to the world
• a VCard capturing your business details
• a text message
• a phone number to promote to people to openly call you on
• a SMS message
• an email so people can get in touch with you or your business

When you register your local business with Google Places, you’ll receive a decal for your place of business that includes a QR code to your company website. Be sure that QR code links to the most relevant information that potential customers are interested in – such as hours of operation and current specials and offers.

The potential of QR codes are endless as more people begin to adopt it into their marketing efforts and daily lives.

(update: We just added our own QR Code generator for use here )

We’re pleased to announce a new price point for self-managed SMS marketing and promotions.

Say for example you’re in charge of your hotel’s internet marketing, then bolt on or low cost DIY SMS marketing solution starting from just $125/mo per keyword plus per message costs of $0.10.

Use the keyword in your print collateral to drive subscriptions for golf promotions, restaurant promotions or anything else to target a local, last minute audience.

And if you ‘re interested in SMS marketing, why not talk to us about your overall  hotel mobile marketing strategy – from mobile web to tracking performance on mobile initiatives, we’ve got the mobile experience that others don’t to take you down the right path.

RESERVE YOUR KEYWORD NOW for $125/mo plus messages – Get in touch to check availability on keywords

If you’re looking to dip your toes in mobile marketing, then we might suggest the following:

• Create mobile micro sites for property that  acts as informational content PLUS landing pages for mobile marketing efforts
• Set up an SMS Direct Response keyword which people can text into to receive text messages back from the brand (e.g. Text ‘keyword’ to 95495)
• Apply some funds to test mobile PPC for relevant lines of business (rooms, restaurant etc)
• Create a mobile banner ad campaign and drive users to your newly create mobile web landing pages.
• Use our phone call tracking to measure volumes of calls made from mobile marketing efforts

RESERVE YOUR KEYWORD NOW

Charlotte, NC — Screen Pilot, a digital marketing and technology firm, has several simple steps for marketing professionals to realize the benefits of understanding what is occurring in their online marketing world. If you don’t have analysts to decipher your company’s Internet marketing results, there are five easy ways to add clout to your marketing budgets. You might just be surprised at how underutilized your existing web reporting tools are.

1. Uncover Hidden Potential:
Marketing professionals need to customize the way they track their digital marketing campaigns. They should take a look at what kind of measuring tools they currently use. Are the goals that have been set for a web reporting platform meeting the needs of the company? By creating a list of must-haves, it’ll be easier to narrow down what the needs are and how they can be fulfilled and by which products.

2. Add Tracking To Your E-mail Campaigns:
You can add tracking parameters to your e-mail marketing activity that enables marketers to start tracking visitors and their actions once in your web site that are driven by e-mail efforts. Setting up to measure conversions, from shopping carts or other areas of your site that are important to you, will enable you to see which e-mail campaigns have higher returns on investment (ROI) than others. With this tip, you can now test scientifically based on the ROI and not solely on the click-through rates and engagement factors.

3. Are Your PPC Campaigns Set-Up Correctly?
If you have potential customers click on your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads and immediately leave your site, your advertising money spent is wasted. You could be missing opportunities if your web statistics aren’t giving you the whole picture about the visitors you get from paid search channels like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Reporting from search engines only goes halfway in educating you on how effective your PPC actually is. Set up your reporting to measure key performance indicators from paid channels. It can help you increase ROI and make intelligent decisions about how and where to spend your marketing dollars.

4. Don’t Rely on 3rd Party Reporting:
It is very common that the amount of clicks the advertisers say you have is different than what you receive. Countless times we are requested to create audit trails for costly marketing channels that report higher numbers of clicks from their networks than you actually receive. Using your web statistics platform correctly will tell you exactly what traffic you received from a specific campaign and the value of that traffic.

5. Track Calls from Campaigns:
If you sell product offline then you need to track the call volumes that are generated from each specific digital campaign and types. This will easily tell you how effective a campaign’s response is when people go online but don’t convert. Quickly what channels such as PPC, email, banner ads and other create calls and which don’t. By adding this new dimension it might make you adjust some efforts for best returns.

If your current tracking and measurement tools aren’t producing results, you may need to reconsider the platform.

According to PC World “Quickoffice” is one of the Top 10 Must-Have iPhone Business Apps”! If offers Office functionality on the iPhone with an impressive suite of features!

Quickoffice is available for iPhone and iPod Touch running on iPhone OS 3.0. Enjoy superior Microsoft® Word and Excel CREATE & EDIT functionality today in a powerful productivity suite. VIEW, EMAIL, and ACCESS attachments with the most popular file formats.

The core Quickoffice suite comprises four great programs which allow users to work on important documents such as contracts, business plans, sales presentations, financial reports and other documents sent as email attachments – directly on their phone. Plus, Quickoffice users can “push” their documents to a printer, fax, projector or back to a desktop with complete confidence.

Suite features:

• Open, edit, and create text (.TXT) files, Word (.DOC, .DOCX) documents, and Excel (.XLS, .XSLX) spreadsheets compatible with Microsoft Office 2007 for Windows and Microsoft Office 2008 for Macintosh
• Auto-save and auto-restore
• High-fidelity rendering and crisp characters
• Advanced notepad editor
• Intuitive cut-copy-paste compatible with the iPhone OS 3.0
• Set custom passcode lock to prevent sniffy people from running the app and much more!

Quickoffice is running a special offer of 50% off for the first 10,000 customers at $9.99 which is a steal! If you are on the go and work with Microsoft Office then you’ll find this app invaluable. To learn more and to take advantage of the special offer click here.