QR Code Valentines
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on Thursday, February 11, 2010 
at 10:40 AM 
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Perhaps you are stuck looking for a last-minute gift….. Or you want to stand out as unique….. Or, you’re trying to get the attention of someone that is addicted to their mobile phone.
If any of those things are true, we have a little application that may be able to help you:
Send them a QR Code Valentine message by simply visiting http://ilnk.me/QRlove
Tags The Value of a QR Code
QR codes are appearing every where. While the two-dimensional bar codes have been popular in Japan and Europe for years, it’s taken the move towards smartphones in the U.S. to make them useful here. You can download a reader for just about any smartphone with a camera: when you take a photo of the QR code, your phone interprets the website address hidden in the pattern and takes you to it. That website can have anything on it: a coupon for the store you might be standing in, more information for an ad you passed by or something else entirely. A QR code can contain other information, as well, from phone numbers to an event. It depends on what the person who generated the QR code wants.
Creating Your Own QR Code
There are a wide variety of uses for QR codes. You can print them on just about anything: t-shirts, signs, postcards. If you can print an image on it, you can put a QR code on it. That means that you can direct attention to a piece of information in a variety of offline settings, without expecting passers-by to write down the details. And while creating a standard bar code can require some work, creating a QR code is just a matter of having a piece of information, such as a web address where you want to send visitors, in mind. With a QR code generator, such as the free tool at http://www.QReateandtrack.com, you just plug in your information and the code is spit out. You can download your code as a high quality file, ready to run off on your own printer or send off to a professional printer.
You’re not just limited to one QR code, either. If, for instance, you’re running two separate advertising campaigns with different deals, you can set up separate pages for each on your website. Using those separate pages, you can create two different QR codes — one for each advertising campaigns.
Determining the Success of a QR Code
It may be relatively easy to determine just how successful a QR code containing a website address is. It’s just a matter of checking the increase in traffic at your site. You can also check whether you conversions have increased — if viewers of the code have followed up in the way you want (like making a purchase). However, having hard numbers on how many people have scanned in your code can help you tweak your campaigns to improve the ROI. If you’ve created your code through http://www.QReateandtrack.com, you have the option of choosing a premium plan that will track how often your code is scanned. Such an approach can help you determine which codes are more effective, especially if you create separate codes for different locations. Tracking is also useful if you’re taking a broader approach to marketing with QR codes: locating a certain code could be the goal of a contest meant to give away a prize. Knowing how many times a code has been scanned could be crucial in such an approach.
Happy Scanning!
- John
Does your resume “Pop”?
People are always preaching about having an “it” factor to your resume– that thing that sticks out and makes a prospective employer want to give your resume a second look, give you a call, and hopefully give you a job.
I am currently a senior at Lynn University. In several of my classes, professors began to help the graduating class prepare our resumes to send out to the working world. They were all talking about having that something special; a video, an impressive internship, an elaborate project, etc.
I mentioned QR codes after class. None of my professors had any idea what a QR code was or what it could do. After a quick overview, we knew that we had found our “it” factor. All we had to do was print a QR code on everyones resume linking it to the media of their choice.
Some possible links could be:
- a video or text thanking the prospective employer for having a look at their resume
- an electronic resume
- a web site featuring work from the applicant
- the applicant’s contact information
The possibilities are endless!
This concept can be applied not just to recent graduates but also to anyone looking for a job. Using a QR code on your resume shows that you are both progressive and technologically savvy.
Create your very own QR code at qreateandtrack.com
Happy job hunting!
New Enhancements to ilinkONE Version 8.5
Over the past few weeks, we have greatly increased our intake of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and snacks.
Why? Well, they sure are delicious.
But also, we have been working hard to put the final touches on the latest release to our ilinkONE Version 8 software. Through the extra hours and shots of espresso in our coffee, we have emerged with a new software release that should greatly benefit our customers.
Here are just a few of the enhancements that we are pretty excited about:
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Email Template Editor We have plugged in a new WYSIWYG editor into our Email Template feature. This will make it a lot easier for you to create and deliver professional email campaigns. The new editor works with all of your existing email templates, the ones from our Template Library, or any new HTML emails that you may upload to the system. |
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Email and Landing Page Templates We have more than 30 new templates that can be used for your email marketing efforts. Customers will be able to browse through the template library at any time. Simply select the template that you’d like, and upload it to your site. We have also provided new Landing Page Templates as well. |
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Twitter/Social Media Integration We have enhanced the integration between our CRM system and the popular social media channel Twitter. Users can now associate their contacts (customers, prospects, etc) to a Twitter ID. They can then view the person’s recent Twitter activity directly from the contact record in our system. Users can also post collateral from the sales library directly onto Twitter from our system, simply by clicking the Tweet This link during order placement. |
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SMS/Text Messaging We have made it easier than ever for users to send out SMS/Text messages to their contacts. Mobile marketing continues to emerge as a channel that must be considered for use in a multi-channel marketing campaign. You can do it easily and successfully with ilinkONE Version 8. |
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Easy Steps to Personalization The benefits of delivering one-to-one communications have certainly been documented in many marketing case studies. It is now easier for users to identify areas for variable data on their landing pages, emails, and other marketing messages. |
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Styling of Questions and Answers Users now have greater control over the design and layout of questions and answers. There are new options to help you style your surveys and response forms, as well as new Question Types to help you create a survey that meets your design needs. |
John Foley Jr. speaking on Social Media at NAPL Conference
John Foley Jr., President and CEO of interlinkONE, inc. will be speaking at the NAPL Conference on Tuesday, February 16th on the subject of “How to Use Social Media to Build Your Business.”
The conference will be held in Marco Island, Florida
Here is an overview of what John will be discussing:
LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook- these sites are growing in popularity in all vertical markets and are being leveraged to promote printing and marketing services. In this session John presents advice on how to use these social media sites to grow your print and marketing services provider business. He presents real-world scenarios and shares the pros and cons of each of these popular sites.
For more information about the NAPL Conference , you can visit their website at http://www.napl2010.com/tmc/
