If you think direct mail is not an effective form of advertising any longer, think again. Google recently sent a postcard in the mail, and if Google is using direct mail for their marketing and advertising, it’s still a very, very effective form of advertising. In fact, right now direct mail is probably the most effective form of advertising in marketing.
Believe it or not, junk mail has come way, way down, so right now it’s probably the best time in recent history to send out direct mail; people don’t have as much of it anymore, so a piece is going to stand out more than it used to. Google has sent at least three different postcards with different sales messages just in the last month.
What Is a QR Code
Are You Using Your QR Code Correctly In Your Campaign?
QR stands for quick response, and it’s a visual representation of a URL. It’s meant to be a quick response for that same reason. When you scan a QR code with your mobile phone, it takes you to the website designated in that code.
You can use a QR code generator to create this code, and then it’ll take you to that website when the user scans it with their mobile phone. You want to make sure that your technology is mobile-optimized once they get to the website, and also that you’re not going to cause any pain to type on their tiny little keyboard once they’re there, so pre-filled forms are a great way to go along with QR codes.
Using QR Codes on Direct Mail Postcards
Direct mail marketing is used every month, sending out a three-panel postcard with a different message each time. On the inside, there’s a special promotion, and at the bottom, a panel with discounts and specials that pertain to that promotion, with a QR code that says exclusive mobile-only discount, and underneath it says Scan this with your smartphone for an exclusive mobile-only discount.
There’s an expiration date below that, so there’s a call to action telling them they need to do this quickly. When a client gets this in the mail, they can scan it with their smartphone, and it says Congratulations on your exclusive mobile-only discount. Present this message to receive 25% off your next order, with the expiration date at the bottom.
This creates an incentive to scan the code, a special offer not available elsewhere, and a clear call to action. A call to action is one of the most important things you can do in marketing.
Adding Web Links and Tracking Performance
Another thing you can add to a QR code is a web link (a URL). If there’s a special promotion and a landing page on a website about it, people can be taken right to that page from the QR code. One of the really great things about having a link on a code is that it’s trackable.
If a different code is put in a direct mail piece and one in a magazine ad, the effectiveness of both of those can be tracked, finding out which one is performing better, the demographics of the person who scanned it, the geographic location, and the time of day. Not only is it a creative way to market products and services, but it’s also a strong way to track the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
Turning QR Campaigns Into Measurable Leads
That was a great use of QR codes; it was creative, drove immediate conversion, and got people’s attention. When using a QR code campaign, especially with a marketing services provider, variable print and personalized landing pages can make QR codes specific to each recipient, track conversions, and demonstrate ROI.
The Cleveland Museum of Art ran a promotion involving a fill-in-the-blank idea, where when a user scanned it for their new wings of the museum, such as the Egyptian branch, it would show an artifact in place of the blank area, so the user would get a firsthand look inside that wing of the museum.
Another great promotion is the Google Maps promotion, sent out with QR codes that, when scanned, take you to the Google Places site for that restaurant, a great way for local restaurants to send out a piece, have people scan them and learn where they are in their neighborhood, and with variable print even have hyper personalization showing directions from that person’s home to that restaurant.
USPS has offered promotions over the past several years to spur the adoption of QR codes, including a mobile buy-it-now promotion and promotions involving emerging technologies related to mobile-based smartphones, augmented reality applications, and QR code conversions. These are great ways to offer a personalized, relevant mail piece that really makes an offer more convenient to the user.
