It used to be easy. Marketing was straightforward, and what you did depended on how much you had in the budget for things like direct mail campaigns, billboard advertising or radio spots. In today’s digital world it’s a bit more complex, but the opportunities are so much greater too.
You can still spend the same amount on your direct marketing, but by integrating it with social media you can increase response and engagement. One way to do this is through the use of QR (quick response) codes, and it enables you to increase your ROI, boost your profits and achieve widespread brand recognition.
Add QR Codes
The QR codes are printed on your mailing materials for recipients to scan using their smart phones or tablets. The idea is to add a sense of mystery to the mailing, as well as a way to bring them into your digital environment. When a user scans the code, they’re immediately taken to your blog or a social media profile. On reaching their digital destination, they are able to interact with your company in any of these ways:
- Read your latest blog post
- Watch an explainer video clip
- Download your free content
- Enter a competition
- Register for an event
- Print or save a coupon
- Participate in a special promo or discount offer
- Share your updates with their own networks
Benefits
There are a number of benefits to be gained from getting users to do any of these things, including:
- You’ll get a much tighter handle on how successful your direct marketing campaign is, because you’re able to measure the number of people who scanned the code and accessed the deals.
- You’re able to collect additional data on the responders, either by getting their contact information in exchange for a special offer or by viewing the stats on which pages they visit and how long they stay there.
- You can build up your email marketing database by collecting addresses through subscriptions, downloads and registrations, depending on your offering. This gives you a “captive” audience to send future sales offers and information to.
- Your following on social media profiles will increase, giving you direct access to an audience that is a) interested in your product or service, b) easy to target based on their demographic info as well as education and interests, and c) reachable with Pay-Per-Click ads that are as cost effective as they come.
Making it Work
Of course, this doesn’t happen by itself. To make the integration of direct marketing and social media work, you have to have something to direct your QR responders to. This means keeping your blog up to date with fresh, optimized content and posting consistently on your social networking profiles. Otherwise your readers will get there and find nothing that keeps them on your site or profile.
What do we mean by consistent? At the very least, you need to blog weekly and post 3 to 4 times a week on social media. The ideal is to blog 2 to 3 times a week and post on social media 5 times or more.
There are a number of other ways to integrate your direct marketing with the digital environment, but QR codes aren’t going away anytime soon so they’re a good place to start. It can be easy again—as well as more profitable!
