Marketing Commentary from interlinkONE
Marketing. Web-to-Print. Warehouse Management.
QR CODES IN THE WILD: DECEMBER 2011 EDITION
Posted by 
on Wednesday, December 28, 2011 
at 4:22 PM 
in Each month we write tons of blog posts on QReateAndTrack.com about the QR Codes that we come across while we are out and about. This month like every other month, we saw plenty of creative ways that people are using QR Codes in their marketing efforts.
Below are some of the pieces that caught our attention over the past month. We hope that you enjoy them.
Salvation Army Donation
Victoria’s Secret
1-800-Flowers
YakTrax
PCC Natural Markets
Harry Potter
Disney
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Tags color, Design, disney, flowers, harry potter, Marketing, mobile, QR Codes, salvation army, style, wild Setting Social Media Goals for 2012
Did social media help you to grow your business in 2011?
We certainly hope so. But we also know that many companies may be wishing they could have experienced more success through that channel.
Of course, simply writing “succeed more” on our 2012 marketing plan will only take us so far. We need to establish more specific goals. What could those goals be? You may find some inspiration in the chart below from eMarketer:
If the items in that survey are ones that you’d like to accomplish in the near future, then your business will no doubt benefit if you do!
Here are a few tips on how you can do some of those successfully:
Development of a Clear Strategy
If you have ever seen John Foley, Jr. (my boss) speak about social media, I’m sure you would agree that he loves talking about the importance of strategy!
Some of the key items that John lists that need to be part of your social media strategy are:
- Define Your Business and Its Goals
- Clearly understand your target audience
- Identify “the one thing” that truly makes you unique
- And more…
If you’d like to learn more about how to successfully develop a clear strategy, check out this presentation from John Foley, Jr.
Executive Buy-In
If you happen to work at a company where folks from the management actively use social media, then this may not be a big problem for you.
However, this may not be the case. Not only will you need to show how social media is helping you accomplish the company’s business goals, but you may also need to spend time educating your management team about how key social media tools actually work!
By putting in the effort to clearly identify the what, why, and how, you may find that people’s buy-in may come a lot easier when you present them the results.
P.S. If you’d like a bit more help crossing social media goals off of your to-do list, I know some great folks at our sister company, Grow Socially, that can help.
Congrats to our Two SLMA Award Winners
After 7,113 votes were cast (22% more than the 2010 election) for 79 nominees by 4,656 people (each voter could choose up to three nominees) our very own CEO John Foley, Jr. and our VP of Sales Karen Sheehey DeWolfe both made the “Top 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management” List.
Susan Campanale, VP of Marketing for the SLMA said, “These people are recognized by their peers as power players in the pursuit of ROI for marketing lead generation.”
Congratulations to both John and Karen!
The full list of 50 winners is available for viewing on the SLMA site. The SLMA served as the independent tabulator of votes and does not endorse the services of those listed. Voters were only allowed to vote for up to three people. Only SLMA members were allowed to nominate people to the nominees list. Non-members and members cast one ballot with up to three non-duplicated votes.
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Tags award, john foley, karen sheehey, leads, management, Marketing, recognition, Sales A Return to Strategy
“Tactics, Tactics, Tactics…. Everywhere I look, all I see is tactics!”
Perhaps you have also felt that same way recently. We hear about tactics across nearly every marketing channel out there. QR Codes. Personalized URLs. Augmented Reality. SMS/Text-Messaging. Mobile Email. Social Media Advertising.
Those are just a few of the terms that we hear and talk about quite frequently in the marketing world. I know that I can often get quite excited about them!
But, while there is nothing wrong with diving in and understanding specific tactics, we run the danger of thinking of those things as bright and shiny objects that can solve all of our problems!
Instead of falling into that trap, we must be willing to increase the amount of effort and focus that we put on having a strategy.
Long-Term Solutions Come From Having a Strategy
If our business primarily consists of providing marketing services to our customers, we certainly need to pay close attention to new tools and technologies that could improve our offerings.
However, we must ensure that the things we do add (for example, a QR Code or PURL on a postcard) are not treated simply as add-ons. Rather, we should focus on integrating them into the overall marketing strategy that supports our customer’s goals.
Often, the development of a strategy will consist of us asking critical questions. The answers to those questions will not only help us decide which tools and technologies should be used, but also, how should we best use them.
Yes, I realize that some clients may come to you with a fully thought-out marketing strategy. But in today’s world, many CMO’s are running around at a frantic pace; thus, they could benefit by having a service provider offer some consultation and suggestions. If you do find yourself in that position, here are 4 steps that could help you develop and/or analyze a marketing strategy for your clients:
- Describe the Business: This sounds simple, but it’s crucial. It may help you to define key characteristics that affect branding and messaging.
- Define the Goal: The goal will help us to avoid using a new tool or tactic simply because it’s new. Rather, it will help us to ensure that the reasons we decide to do (or not do) something are done for a reason.
- Understand Who the Audience is And Where They Are: Think about QR Codes for a second. If your client is going to be placing print advertisements inside of a subway station where there is no cell service, do QR Codes really make sense? Or, if you are going to send information that is highly sensitive or private in nature, will a personalized URL actually cause people to not respond?
- How Will You Measure Success?: As a service provider, we may be constantly looking for ways to demonstrate and prove our value. However, in the rush to incorporate a new tactic, we may overlook what steps are necessary to help us measure the effectiveness of a specific tactic. By answering this question ahead of time, we will increase our chances of being able to present valuable data to our customers during the marketing campaign.
These are just a few of the questions that can help us to develop and deliver solutions that increase our revenue now and in the future. I hope that you find them find helpful! Yes, there will be always be new tactics that catch our attention, create some buzz, and get us excited (me included!). But no matter what the tactics are, having the right strategy will help to put us on the right path.
4 Tips for Managing Inventory During the Holidays
While for many people the holidays are fraught with excitement, many companies – especially fulfillment service providers that manage a large amount of inventory – can fall into disorganization and stress during this season.
Fortunately, warehouse management does not have to be a nail in your proverbial coffin. Here are few tips to help you keep your warehouse running at peak shape throughout the holidays:
Consider Inventory Placement
If there are specific items — perhaps seasonal or clearance-related — that may prove to be far more popular than others during the holiday season, you may want to strategically place them in the warehouse to optimize everyone’s time.
Yes, this may mean that you need to do some heavy-lifting to move them now; but that should help you save a lot more time in the long run when people are grabbing those items to fulfill orders.
Use Web-based Software, Not Excel Files
If you are tracking purchases, inventory amounts, and orders through an Excel file, I have a better option for you: online software!
Web-based software for accepting, managing, and fulfilling orders can be affordable and easy to use.
Sure, moving to a different system may mean that your team needs to learn a new process; but the benefits far outweigh any temporary speed-bumps during the transition. Here are a few:
- Access the system at any time, from anywhere, via any web browser
- Automatically generate pick tickets, shipping labels, and more
- Set up automated email alert notifications in regards to backorders, reorder points, shipping notices and more
P.S. Looking for a web-based solution? I know of a great one that you might want to look at 
Keep the Lines of Communication Open
During the holiday season, sales and marketing teams are doing all they can to generate as much business as possible. This may mean that they are dreaming up and implementing ideas at the last-minute — including discounts and other promotions.
If you are responsible for ensuring that your warehouse can fulfill orders on-time during the holiday season, make sure to keep an open line of communication with the marketing and sales departments. You may need to be aggressive (and perhaps even a bit annoying) in order to be sure that you know about any promotions that will affect your workload.
Remember the chaos will pass by eventually
Sales is an ebb and flow business. The busy holiday season may no doubt mean longer days & nights, as well as many stressful moments as you work on packaging and shipping orders.
However, keep in mind that everything your doing will help your company… and that your hard work in getting an order out the door on time will put a smile on the face of someone, somewhere.
And of course, don’t forget that the busy season only lasts for so long.
