Marketing Commentary from interlinkONE
Marketing. Web-to-Print. Warehouse Management.
Incorporating QR Codes into Packaging
Posted by 
on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 
at 4:09 PM 
in I wanted to share a recent example of how HP used QR Codes to make packaging interactive.
HP hosted a Lunch & Learn event on a golf course in Washington (Our CEO John Foley, Jr. was one of the speakers that day). To help provide a memorable takeaway to attendees that also fit the show’s theme, HP produced and gave away a box of golf balls.
On the outside of the package, they also included a QR Code.
The QR Code directed the attendees, which were primarily print service providers, to a mobile website where they could answer a survey regarding Digital Press equipment. HP sales reps were notified via email whenever someone completed the survey and requested additional information.
If you would like to see more, we recorded a brief video that demonstrates how people were able to interact with this box. Enjoy!
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Tags example, golf, HP, inspiration, interactive, labels, Packaging, print, QR Codes, Video Milford, New Hampshire Uses QR Codes in Voters’ Guide
I’d like to share with you how a town in New Hampshire has used QR Codes to make their printed Voters’ Guide interactive.
Here is a video of how they shared information with their growing mobile audience:
I hope that you enjoyed this example. If you are interested in creating QR Codes and tracking their effectiveness, please feel free to check out QReate & Track >>
A Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign in Action
We love to talk about the importance of why you should take a multi-channel approach to marketing efforts.
I mean, it makes sense — people see hundreds of marketing messages each day. They may need to see, hear, and experience what you are trying to sell multiple times before they realize that they need it.
Also, people are consuming messages on more devices than ever before. They might be taking information in from their smart phone, on the web via a laptop, radio, TV, social media site, billboards, magazines, iPad and more, all at varying times throughout the day (and sometimes, through multiple devices at the same time).
To make an impression, we certainly need to reach people through multiple channels. We also need to allow them to respond through multiple channels.
Multi-Channel in Reach and Response
An interlinkONE customer recently ran a campaign for a small college . The goal was to push a survey out to their alumni, and collect valuable feedback. The college has been around for nearly a century. Thus, they have a wide variety of ages in their mailing list of alums.
To maximize the chances that they would effectively reach and receive a response from all in their list, they developed the following campaign structure:
Yes, they decided to reach their audience through multiple channels: Direct Mail and Email.
On the Direct Mail piece, they offered people two ways to respond. One was via a personalized URL (for example: http://JasonPinto.MyUniversity.com). People could access their Response page by simply typing their PURL into a web browser.
However, to reach the growing mobile audience — the people that own a smart phone and carry it everywhere they go — they also included a QR Code on the direct mailer. If someone scanned the QR Code with their smartphone, they were directed a personalized landing page that was mobile-optimized.
Accounting for the fact that not everyone may respond to the direct mailer, the customer also sent out emails to alumni whom they had an email address for. To respond to that channel, people simply needed to click a link which directed them to a personalized landing page.
Measuring What Worked
Through our ilinkONE Version 8 marketing software, the customer was able to build, manage, and execute a campaign that used these multiple channels (Of course, they could have possibly included other channels — social media, text messaging, banner ads, print ads, etc.).
But our software also provide real-time reports to help them see the effectiveness of each channel. Here are some examples:
Responses by Channel/Media
Response Profile/Traffic Analysis Report
Moving Forward with More-Than-One
We hope that this campaign provides some form of inspiration. Sure, there are certainly times when you need to use many more channels than they did in this case. But here’s the bottom line — never rely on just one! Consumers and prospects have more control than ever before as to how they interact with marketing messages — it takes a multi-channel approach to reach them and receive a response.
Pay for your Coffee with a QR Code
In case you were too busy drinking coffee yesterday, you may have missed the news that Starbucks is expanding its mobile payments program.
The news was picked up by a couple of big sites, including Mashable and Mobile Commerce Daily.
The program allows users pay for their coffee by holding up the 2-D barcode on their smartphone to the scanner at the counter. They have previously tested this program on the West Coast; well, it’s been successful enough that they are now rolling out this program to New York.
Below is a picture of one of the 2-D barcodes on the smartphone:
Image Source: http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/starbucks-card-mobile-iphone.jpg
If you are thinking of using QR Codes for your business, or have already started, a story like this should absolutely be encouraging. Here are three reasons why:
- It helps demonstrate the growing success of QR Codes (The Starbucks program was successful in the test markets, and is being expanded)
- Big brands are using them and promoting them! (If I had to bet, I’d say that you have been to a Starbucks at least once in the last month)
- The use of QR Codes is expanding — some drive people to videos, others to websites, some to contact information; now, they are being used for mobile payments.
Just as a reminder, if you are looking to create QR Codes and track their success, feel free to try out our application – QReate & Track.
Using Direct Mail to Promote Online Activities
The Mailing and Fulfillment Service Association (MFSA) has been around for more than 88 years. As you can tell from their name, their primary objective is “working to improve the business environment for mailing and fulfillment companies”. (Full disclosure: interlinkONE is a Gold Partner in the MFSA Vendor Program)
Yes, traditional mail and fulfillment has been their focus for a long time. However, they are not shying away from using online tools to help them accomplish their objective.
I received a direct mail piece from MFSA this week. It contained an invitation to their New England Chapter meeting in September. The mailer listed costs, registration options, an overview of the agenda, and I also believe a choice of chicken or prime rib (Okay, I made that last one up).
However, one of my favorite pieces of content on the mailer was a line that said “Join the New England Chapter Group on LinkedIn“. The familiar LinkedIn logo was placed next to this line of text.
I am quite familiar with MFSA — I’ve attended conferences, I receive most of their email newsletters, I’ve been to chapter meetings, and I visit their website. However, I was not yet aware that there was a LinkedIn group for the New England Chapter. It is certainly possible that I have completely overlooked advertisements about it on those other channels.
However, for some reason, seeing the note about it on the direct mail piece caught my attention. I joined the group that day.
People see, hear, touch, and smell more marketing messages than ever before. We are all competing to find ways to get our message noticed.
In a multi-channel world, I think MFSA just did a great job of that.
The Direct Mail piece
The Promotion of the LinkedIn Group
