Business Cards - Still the Most Important Marketing Tool

Even with the popularity of social media and online marketing, one of, if not the most important marketing tool is the business card. Business cards are the easiest way to publicize your business and provide potential customers with your information.

Here are some ideas to make sure your business card work for you:

Include complete contact information:

• name
• company name
• phone number including area code
• email address
• website address
• social media addresses

You can also include QR Codes to provide integration with your online media and to automate tasks. For example, you can add QR Codes that will

• add your contact information to a smartphone's directory
• connect the smartphone to your website and/or to a specific page on your site
• add an event to the a smartphone's calendar

Need help? Give us a call! Wilson Printing can help design your business card, and we can show you a variety of papers that will make you look your best.

Wilson Printing is your source for business card printing!

Integrating Print and Online Media - With Notepads!

One of our hardest working promotional products - the Wilson Printing notepad!

The great thing about notepads is that they sit right where you want them - on your customers' desks. The best notepad designs offer more than just a place for people to jot down notes - they provide a way for customers and prospects to contact you and to keep in touch.

Integrate your print and online media by including a QR Code to your website, a QR Code to call, and links to social media pages.

Facebook Check-In QR Codes

One of the growing trends in social media marketing is the use of Facebook check-ins. People check-in to a location, for example a retail store, or to an event letting other people know that they are there.

People usually check-in using the Facebook application; however, they can also check-in by scanning a QR Code that activates the check-in. A poster with the check-in is a great reminder to people that they can check-in. The above QR Code initiates a check in to the Wilson Printing location - try it out!

An important thing to remember if you are going to make a poster with a Facebook check-in QR Code - make sure that people are actually able to scan it in! Make the image and poster big enough so people can read it. Don't make it too big so that the scanner can't read the entire image.

Wilson Printing can create your Facebook check-in QR Code and print the posters needed to promote the check-in. Simply give us a call at 805-964-8875 to get started!

Making Your Posters Interactive With QR Codes

There are a number of ways you can make a poster interactive using QR Codes. Granted, most of these functions can be done manually, for example dialing a phone number or adding an event to a calendar. However, using QR Codes makes it easier for customers to interact with your event.

Here are a few examples that can be used for a poster promoting an event (in this case, the Leon Russell concert at The Granada):

Add Event Date: QR Code for the event's date so when the person scans the code, the event date is added to their phone's calendar.

QR Code to add concert date to phone's calendar.

Call Phone Number: QR Code to call the ticket office.

QR Code to call Granada ticket office.

See Location: QR Code to open Google map of event location.

QR Code to Google map of Granada location.

Go to Web Site: QR Code to go to the online ticket sales.

QR Code to go to Granada online ticket sales.

Go to Web Site 2: QR Code to go to the organization's web site.

QR Code to go to Granada web site.

Go to Web Site 3: QR Code to go to the artist's web site.

QR Code to go to Leon Russell web site.

If you need help creating QR Codes or have questions on how you could use QR Codes with your printed media, give us a call! We're here to answer your questions and help make your printed media more effective!

Wilson Printing

Save 3% on Postage With USPS Mobile Barcode Promotion

Now may be the best time to do a direct mailing! You can save 3% on postage costs with the US Post Office's Mobile Barcode Promotion.

From July 1, 2011 through Agust 31, 2011, the U.S. Postal Service is offering business mailers an upfront 3% discount on First-Class Mail and Standard Mail letters and flats that include a mobile barcode (also called QR Codes.)

QR Codes provide a connection between print and the digital world. QR Codes are two-dimensional (2-D) images that can be read by smartphones that have a 2-D barcode application/reader. When scanned, QR Codes can motivate an otherwise passive consumer to take immediate action: make a purchase, register for an event, or download a coupon.

Increase Your Response Rates With Multitouch Campaigns

Email and SMS text messaging can also be integrated into multitouch marketing campaigns with QR Codes. For example, consumers receiving a direct mail piece that contains a QR Code could be immediately linked to a microsite. Then, shortly after the visiting the microsite, they receive an email or SMS text response thanking them for visiting the site. Based on information they chose to share while at the microsite, they may receive additional direct mail pieces, text or social media notifications following up on the products or services they expressed interest in.

Obtain More Marketing Data For Better Campaign Design

QR Codes can also help marketers track helpful information for their campaigns. Marketers can analyze which QR Codes are being scanned the most to determine what offers are working best. Marketers can also track which geographical area they are being scanned in. All of this information can help develop the next campaign.

Save Time and Money

Combining direct mail and QR codes can also save time and money. Rather than having to pay for business reply mail and waiting for the post office to return the information, marketers can direct customers to respond online in real time via smartphone.

Additionally, intelligent mail tracking available through the USPS’s CONFIRM enables marketers to electronically determine the progress of their mailings through the postal system. Delivery alerts then make it possible for a marketer to notify customers via email or a text message to expect a personalized package in the mail, sparking curiosity.

Here's a link to promotion details from the US Postal Service web site.

Contact Wilson Printing today - we can help design your direct mail piece including creating your QR Codes. Call us at 805-964-8875 or scan this QR Code to call us! (Please note that phones may have difficulty reading a QR Code on older, CRT style monitors. QR Codes work best on printed materials.)

Wilson Printing

Santa Barbara Zoo Uses QR Codes to Integrate Print and Online Media

The Santa Barbara Zoo recently used a QR code in their Zoo News newsletter to integrate their print and online media. The QR code directs the reader to a video on YouTube about Zoo Camp. The Zoo's Winter Zoo Camp is about to begin and using a video is a great way to show how fun the camps are for kids.

The Santa Barbara Zoo has also implemented QR codes in their exhibits - making for a whole new experience at the Zoo. When visitors scan the QR codes with their smartphones, the phone's browser opens to an informational and entertaining video about that particular animal.

"This technology allows us to deepen our guests' experience at the Zoo in an innovative, yet inexpensive way," says Zoo CEO Rich Block. "We've looked at many other options for handheld devices that were either too complicated, more costly or could be outdated as technology marches along. Using QR codes couldn't be easier for us and for our guests."

Try it for yourself! Scanning the QR code will direct your smartphone to the Santa Barbara Zoo Camp video.

Wilson Printing is proud to be the printer of choice for the Santa Barbara Zoo.

Integrating Your Print and Online Media With QR Codes

You probably have been seeing more images similar to the one on the left - it is a QR code, linked to a web page. To see what it does, you'll need a smart phone with a QR code reader or bar code reader. Scan the QR code and you're phone's browser should open to a web page on our site www.wilprint.com.

Integrating Print and Online Media
It seems like the ease of use - simply scanning the QR code with a phone rather than typing in a web address – is making this a very popular means of integrating media.

Marketers are coming up with many ways to use QR codes. A QR code can be linked to a web page, used as a Vcard with all of your contact info, used as a VCalendar card with info about an event, automatically dial a phone number or send an email.

Specific examples of QR codes:

1. Use QR code to link to a web page specific to an event – the QR code is placed in a printed piece promoting an event. The user scans QR code and their browser opens bringing them to the web page where they could register for the event or buy tickets to the event.

2. Use QR code as VCard – the QR code is printed on a business card. The user scans QR code and info is automatically entered into their address book on their phone.

3. Use QR code as VCalendar – the QR code is included on an event poster. The user scans QR code and the event info (event title, date, time, location, description) is automatically entered into their calendar on their phone.

Some Things to Keep in Mind:
As with any technology, it is important to test your QR codes. The more text you have, the more complex the QR code - which can result in poor user experience (their reader won't be able to decipher the code.) Certain characters, such as ":" and ";" also need special handling.

Creating QR Codes For Our Customers:
Wilson Printing now offers QR code creation - we can create QR codes linked to web pages, VCards, VCalendars - that we can insert into your printed piece. Give your sales rep a call to discuss how we can integrate your print and online media with QR codes.

www.wilprint.com