Marketing

The QT on QR Codes

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Have you seen these strange symbols yet?

QR Code for Preston Creative

Scan This!

Are you wondering what they are? They are Quick Response codes, or QR Codes. No big secret in Asia and Europe, until now, QR Codes have been on the QT in North America.

However, with the proliferation of mobile devices in North America, QR Codes are becoming de rigueur as a marketing tool.

They are a 2 dimensional code scanned by QR Readers. Readers are available on most smart phones now. You can also download from iTunes, or from service providers. Invented by Denso-Wave in 1994, they were originally used to track vehicle parts, but are now used different ways.

QR codes appear in art by the artist, Fabrice de Nola , and there is a comic book designed entirely from QR Codes.

QR Codes in Marketing Promotions

As a marketing tool, they’ve been used in both traditional and online campaigns. They are an interactive tool you can use in print, such as on business cards, newspaper ads, direct mail response campaigns, trade show displays, posters and menus. They can also be used in online campaigns, and placed on websites and emails.

QR code used in newspaper ad

I found this QR Code in the Help Wanted section of a newspaper

Once scanned, your QR Code can lead  your audience to:

Or they can simply be a way to communicate your contact information.

You can capture information by providing:

  • A mobile page with a contest entry form
  • Newsletter sign-up form
  • A survey

You could also look into a service provider that provides the Code and tracking information. Some providers you may want to investigate are:

These companies also supply the QR Readers.

If you want to generate a simple, free QR Code, like mine, you can go to http://createqrcode.appspot.com/

To learn more about QR Codes:

Give QR Codes a try in your next marketing campaign.

What do you think about QR Codes? Share your musings in the comments area.

Social Media Marketing: Restaurants

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The first in a series of posts about Social Media Marketing for Restaurants

By day, I work for a marketing communications company. The clients are primarily franchises, and they are mainly restaurants.

Though using Social Media is catching on in restaurant marketing, I notice that many clients are hesitant to use Social Media Marketing in their marketing mix. Their reasons:

  • Their customers don’t use Social Media
  • They don’t understand it or how it can help their business
  • It’s overwhelming and don’t have the  time to plan and implement campaigns

Social Media is  Just for Kids

In conversations I’ve had with various clients, one misconception is that the “social web” is just for  kids.  This is not true. Take a look at the stats:

  • The September/October 2010 edition of Canadian Restaurant News, reported that 50% of restaurant patrons are between the ages of  25 – 54, and that 52% of patrons are female.
  • The average age of a Twitter user is 39.  The average age of those on  Facebook is 38 (Source: Royal Pingdom).
  • 42 million women in the USA engaged in social media networking at least once a week (Small Business Trends).

Clearly the average restaurant customer does use  Social Media in one form or another, whether that form is Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube or a combination of these and other Web 2.0 applications.

Whether you serve kids or middle aged adults, integrating Social Media into your marketing mix is something that you shouldn’t ignore.

Need help with  your Social Media Marketing? Want a custom Facebook Business Page Designed? Contact me at ginaprestonmarketing@gmail.com

“We write ADS or people die! It’s that simple!”

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And now for some advertising agency humour ….

If you’ve ever worked in an advertising agency,  you know the friction that can exist between the “Suits” (account people) and the “Creatives” (art directors and writers). If you’re a fan of the TV show, Mad Men, then sometimes you’ll see this power struggle in action. This hilarious video says it all.

Develop Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

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If you’re new to social media, and want to use it to help market your business, one of the biggest challenges is the development of your strategy.

Book cover imageThe most useful tool I’ve found, to date, is a Marketing Strategy Template developed by David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

The Template helps you to determine the “who, what, why, where, when and how” of your Social Media Marketing Strategy. It also helps you determine what social media tools are best suited to your goals.

Do you think this template is useful? Feel free to post your opinion about the template in the comments area.

Fun with YouTube-Creating a Custom Video Player

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The other day I placed a video on my gardening hobby blog, The Bloomin’ Blog. I noticed that the video player was too large for the blog’s template.

Book cover

YouTube & Video Marketing An Hour A D

Ever the intrepid, sometime web geek, I had to find out how to correct this problem. What I discovered is that you have to change the video embed code’s object width and height.  I discovered this nugget of information in the book, YouTube & Video Marketing an Hour a Day.

This lead me to learn about how to go one step further and create a custom video player from YouTube. There are certain benefits to going through with this exercise, rather than just embedding the code per video:

1) You can create visual standards for the the videos that you embed in your website or blog, including sizing and colours. These remain for all YouTube videos you may post. For branding purposes this is a bonus.

2) Viewers have the option to select other videos you may have posted or “faved” on YouTube allowing more opportunities for your videos to be viewed.

You can watch a short tutorial below (another thing I taught myself how to do today-forgive the low quality!):

Social Media Overtakes Pornography as the #1 Activity on the Web

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The old saying that “sex sells” may be passe. Now it’s activity on social media that sells. So says Socialnomics.

If you own a business or handle the marketing of a business, you may be sitting on the fence, wondering if social media is a passing fad. You may be wondering if the investment of time and resources are worth it. This video may help you decide to get off the fence and get involved.

Graphic Design Portfolio

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I love it when I have the opportunity to design and write. Below are samples of some of the projects I’ve designed, written and produced, or where I’ve directed the design of projects working with graphic designers.