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QR Code Dos: 6 Best Practices To Implement Now

Whether you use them as a business card or in place of physical menus at a restaurant, QR codes are a great way to deliver a lot of information in a small space. These simple, scannable codes can be placed on posters, flyers, conference tables, and more in order to drive engagement with you and your business. Like with any marketing strategy, there are best practices. We’ve covered some QR code don’ts, but what about QR code dos? 6 QR code dos to help strengthen your marketing strategy 1. Give people a reason to scan: Wherever you place your code, you need a call to action. Why should they scan it? They should know what the QR code is taking them to before they scan it. Make sure the call to action is easy to see and understand. A QR code destination should never be a surprise. 2. Link to shortened URLs: QR codes are essentially a shortcut to a webpage or a file like a PDF. When linking to a webpage, it’s best to use a URL shortener and link to that shortened URL. This will help with scan and load times, making for a better user experience. Many QR code generators will shorten the link for you if you are making dynamic QR codes, but it’s best to double-check. 3. Use dynamic codes instead of static ones: Speaking of dynamic QR codes… There are two types of QR codes: Dynamic and static. Each has its own benefits, but for marketing purposes, dynamic QR codes are usually the best choice. Dynamic codes do not store information in the code itself, whereas static QR codes do. Because dynamic ones don’t have the information in the code design, this allows them to be updated, branded, and the size can be changed. They can also track analytics, where static QR codes cannot. Unless you are creating QR codes for a single-use purpose where the information never needs to be updated and you don’t need to track things, dynamic codes are going to be your best choice. 4. Incorporate branding: These days, QR codes can, to some extent, be customized to meet your branding needs. You can change the colors of the code, as well as add a logo or maybe an app icon (if you want them to use it to download an app.) However, as we mentioned in the QR code don’ts blog, you don’t want to go overboard. Ensure the code is still easy to see and can be scanned without issue. 5. Track the analytics: Don’t you want to know how many people are scanning your QR codes? Of course you do! You need to know how effective they are. Most QR code generators offer analytics tracking in some way, so take advantage of it! You use data and analytics in other aspects of your marketing strategy, so why not with this? 6. Keep it updated: The beauty of dynamic QR codes is that you can keep them updated without worrying about producing a new code. Swap out links, update your menus, and replace documents whenever you need to and don’t worry about printing out new ones. This makes it easy to continue to track analytics for different parts of a campaign, and keep things more sustainable!

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QR Code Don’ts: Avoid These 7 Mistakes

QR codes are an easy and effective marketing tool that exploded in popularity during the pandemic. Although they’ve been around since the 90s, the need for contactless information exchanges during the COVID-19 pandemic brought them back in a big way. However, the boom in usage also brought to light some common QR code don’ts you’ll want to avoid. QR codes aren’t just for menus. They have many uses and can be a great tool to have in your marketing arsenal. QR code business cards are a more sustainable way of sharing your business information, and they can be an easy way for customers to learn more about a product or service. A small QR code can hold much more information than a simple flyer or product description. And with their ability to be edited and altered without changing the code themselves, it’s a great way to ensure your customers get the most up-to-date information possible. Like with anything, there are best practices to keep in mind when launching your QR code campaign. So before you launch into your QR code era, make sure to avoid these don’ts. Easily Avoid These 7 QR Code Don’ts 1. Make it too small: A great thing about QR codes is they can hold a lot of information in a small space. And they can be printed fairly small and still work! But they can be too small. Remember the context your customers will be scanning them in and if it’s big enough to be effective. If it’s too small, they might not notice it. And worse? It might not work. 2. Have it link to a webpage that isn’t optimized for mobile: QR codes are meant to be scanned by a smartphone. If you direct people to desktop pages that haven’t been optimized for mobile, you give them a bad user experience. They likely won’t stay on the page very long, rendering your QR code campaign ineffective. 3. Put them where people can’t scan them: Up high, on billboards, inside a fish tank. Okay, that last one was a joke, but you get the point. The beauty of QR codes is that they can be incredibly accessible if they are used correctly. Keep in mind how easy it is to reach the code with a smartphone when placing them. 4. Over customize: These days, QR code generators usually offer some creative freedom. Allowing you to do things like change the colors and add a logo. This is great, especially for branding purposes, but it’s very easy to render the QR code unscannable. Darker colors scan better than lighter colors, and if you add a logo, try to keep it small so it doesn’t interfere with the code itself. 5. Put too many in one place: Sometimes you may need more than one QR code in the same place. For instance, a restaurant may have one for the drinks menu and one for the food menu. You may have one on your marketing flyer that goes to your website and one that allows people to download an app. If you need more than one in the same place, be sure to clearly label them and spread them out so there is no confusion on what code goes where. 6. Flash them quickly: If you are putting a QR code in a digital ad like on TV or on a screen in a stadium, make sure they are up long enough for people to pull out their phones, open the camera app, and scan them. If they flash too quickly, no one can use them. 7. Forget to test it first: Before you put your QR codes on your business cards or marketing materials, make sure you test them. More than once. Use different kinds of phones, and put them in places with various levels of Wi-Fi access and phone service levels. Be 200% sure that most people will be able to scan your code before putting it out into the world.

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How Community-Led Growth Can Benefit Investors

Community-led growth (CLG) is a powerful way to grow a business. People who are enthusiastic about your company and what you have to offer are an invaluable tool. Harnessing that enthusiasm can help with customer acquisition, retention, brand sentiment, expansion, and more. But you (and your company) are not the only ones who can benefit from community-led growth. It can benefit your investors as well. What is community-led growth? Here’s a quick recap. It’s a business strategy that leverages a company’s community of users, customers, and fans to drive growth and engagement. At its core, it’s an evolution of the growth strategies that preceded it: Sales-led and product-led. A successful community-led growth strategy centers around building a community that not only contributes to your goals as a company but your users as well. 89% of responders in the 2022 Community Index Report agreed that community iscritical to their company’s mission. 79% said that community has had a positive impact on their organization’s objectives, and 62% said that their organization will be increasing their investment in community. 7 benefits of CLG that impact investors 1. Increased revenue growth: While communities take time and effort to build, the energy is worth it. Community-led growth can drive customer acquisition and retention, leading to increased revenue growth and stronger financial performance. 2. Higher customer lifetime value: Customer lifetime value is an important metric that helps indicate the total revenue that a company can expect from a single customer throughout their relationship with the company. It’s a valuable metric because it allows you the power to leverage the value of every single customer throughout their journey. Because CLG can result in higher levels of customer engagement and loyalty, this can lead to a higher customer lifetime value. 3. Improved margins: By being engaged with your most enthusiastic customers, you can get direct feedback from them. Feedback on the customer experience, directly from your customers can lead to a more cost-effective acquisition process, improving margins. 4. Stronger brand: Building a strong community of loyal customers can increase your brand sentiment. Word of mouth is a powerful tool, and the larger and stronger your community grows, so does your brand. Positive brand sentiment reflects well on investors as well as the company. 5. Better returns: By focusing on building a strong community, CLG can lead to better returns for investors as the company’s financial performance improves and its market position strengthens. 6. Increased customer loyalty: Connection is important, especially when it comes to creating loyal, lifelong customers. Community-led growth can lead to increased customer loyalty, as users feel a strong sense of connection and community with the product or brand. 7. Reduced customer churn: This growth strategy can reduce customer churn, as customers are likelier to stick around and continue using the product due to their involvement in the community. A strong customer base is appealing to investors. Happy and engaged customers are loyal customers, so why not build an entire community out of them, right?

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Easily Avoid These 9 SMS Marketing “Dont’s”

If you’ve added SMS marketing (aka bulk texting) to your marketing strategy, you’ve likely done a lot of prep work already. You’ve weighed the pros and cons of texting vs. emailing your customers, you’ve identified the benefits, and you’re ready to send out that first mass text blast. Congrats! But, before you take the plunge and fire off your first round of messages, make sure you’re not doing one of these easily avoidable “don’ts” and alienating your customers before you have the chance to hook them. So when rolling out SMS marketing, make sure you don’t… 1. Send messages after hours: While this is a common courtesy (you want to keep your customers happy, after all), it’s also a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA.) If you haven’t familiarized yourself with the TCPA, it’s a good idea to do that before you send your first message so you stay in compliance and don’t end up with some hefty fines. Under the TCPA, businesses may only call or send text messages to subscribers between 8 A.M. and 9 P.M. in their timezone in the United States. You might have subscribers from all over the country, so factoring that into your automation will be key. If you have an international audience, make sure you are compliant with those countries as well. 2. Make people opt out instead of opt in: In order to text customers, you need to receive their consent (another TCPA stipulation). This consent can come in a few ways. Texting a keyword, filling out an online or paper form, or checking a box on your website are all ways to obtain consent. Just remember, they have to opt in not opt out so this box can’t be pre-checked. 3. Only offer a one-way street: This isn’t a TCPA compliance requirement but a recommended best practice. By making your SMS marketing a two-way communication, you can facilitate customer feedback. This can strengthen your consumer-brand relationship and can lead to better brand sentiment and customer retention. By having an easily accessible and responsive channel for feedback, you can foster more customer loyalty. The catch? This can take more time and energy, so don’t encourage two-way communication if you don’t have the bandwidth to respond promptly and thoughtfully. 4. Write the next great American novel: Keep it simple! You might write lengthy texts to friends and family, but text messages are meant to be a short-form marketing communication tool. Don’t forget that while people have opted in to receive your messages, depending on their phone plan there might be messaging rate associated with receiving your texts. The last thing you want is an angry customer contacting you because you racked up their phone bill. By keeping them short and the number of messages low, people will be less likely to feel like you are spamming them. However, you don’t want to cut corners and use a bunch of shorthand or emojis. If you absolutely have to, keep the acronyms to a minimum and only use well-known ones. Writing effective copy for text messaging is hard! But, as Shakespeare said, “Brevity is the soul of wit.” And speaking of those messaging rates… 5. Leave off the disclaimer Never assume your customers are aware of fees. Even if those fees are coming from their own phone plan. Tack on a disclaimer to the opt-in message that clearly states standard message and data rates may apply to the text messages they’ll receive from you. This will help you avoid any backlash down the road, and it shows you’re conscientious of your customer’s needs. 6. Forget your call to action As we mentioned earlier, you want to keep your messages short and to the point. And the best way to make your short copy as effective as possible? A call to action. The five Ws will be your friend here: Who, what, where, when, and why. Couple it with a “how,” and you have yourself a great call to action. Let the recipient know why you’re messaging them: You’re having a sale, and you’re offering them a discount code. Great start. Then, make sure to add on how they can redeem that code (or how they can receive it if it’s not in the initial message.) 7. Make it difficult to stop receiving messages: Of course, the last thing you want is for people to unsubscribe, but it will happen. The best thing you can do? Make it easy for people to do so. In their initial opt-in message, tell them how they can unsubscribe (usually by texting STOP or another keyword) and remind them often when you’re sending out your blasts. By making unsubscribing easy, your customers won’t feel like you’ve locked them into something. 8. Forget to introduce yourself You’re likely not the only brand someone receives messages from on any given day. By clarifying who you are upfront, your texts will be better received and feel more engaging to the recipient. And don’t just say who you are in the initial text! Make sure you remind them every time you send a message. Don’t assume your customers have saved your number to their contacts. This will also make sure your messages don’t get mistaken for spam they didn’t sign up for. 9. Over-communicate Play it cool. The sweet spot for how many messages you send and how frequently you send them will vary by your customer demographics and industry. However, regardless of industry, it’s easy to over-communicate with your customers. It may take some trial and error to find the right cadence, so be sure to listen to customer feedback. If a few people reach out saying you’re sending too many messages, chances are they’re not the only ones who think that.

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How Community-Led Growth Can Make For Happy Customers

Every business has a community surrounding it, no matter how big your business is or what products or services you provide. These communities are typically made up of clients, investors, consumers, industry thought leaders, and more. Supportive people who are familiar with what you provide and want to see your business thrive. Your business has a community surrounding it, so have you harnessed that community in your business strategy? If you haven’t, you’re missing out on a powerful tool: Community-led growth (CLG.) Refresher: What is CLG? Community-led growth really has one goal: To create a self-sustaining growth cycle fueled by said community that drives new user acquisitions and engagement. CLG harnesses a company’s users, customers, and fans to drive growth and engagement. The ideology is that by creating a strong sense of community around something (a business, product, service, brand, etc.) you can then use that community to drive customer acquisition, engagement, and revenue. Referral marketing, community events, forums, activations, and user-generated content are all ways this can be achieved. Pretty cool, right? 5 ways community-led growth can benefit your customers While CLG provides numerous benefits to the business itself, it’s also incredibly beneficial to the customer (or user, or client.) After all, customers are a huge part of community-led growth, and are part of the key to its success. Because the cycle is self-sustaining, customers aid in the success of community-led growth, and in turn, reap the benefits as it grows. 1. Improved customer experience: CLG can lead to a more engaged and involved user community, driving product development and improvements based on user feedback and input. With community-led growth, the customer has a more personalized connection with a business. By getting feedback direct from your community, you can ensure that you are rolling out new products and services that your customers actually want, not just what you think they want. 2. Increased value: Because of CLG’s affect on customer experience by driving new feature development and enhancements based on their needs and preferences, those developments make your business more valuable to them. When you are meeting their needs directly, that increases loyalty fueling that self-sustaining cycle even more. 3. Better customer support: Communities support each other. As the community surrounding your business grows and strengthens, they can help eachother by answering questions and providing support to other users via forums, groups, and other online spaces. 4. Increased sense of community: You might have noticed that all of these benefits build on eachother. This is all apart of the self-sustaining cycle we’ve been talking about. The more the community grows, and the stronger it becomes, it can lead to a more enjoyable and fulfilling experience. 5. Increased ROI: CLG is a cost-effective strategy for your business that can drive customer acquisition and retention, leading to increased revenue and a higher return on investment for clients. It’s a win-win situation for both parties. Don’t you love it when everyone wins?

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9 Reasons Automated Text Messages Are Better Than Email Marketing

Whether you’re just starting a business or have been in the game for years, you know how important marketing is. You also know that not all marketing is created equal, and some tactics are more effective than others. Times change, and with new technologies always emerging, keeping up with your customers can be hard. While email campaigns have been an effective tool in the past, depending on your customer base, there may be more effective ways to meet them where they are. One of those ways? Automated text messages. Now, we don’t want to discredit email marketing entirely. There are still some great benefits, and it can be an effective part of a holistic marketing strategy. But chances are, if you are only emailing your customers and you aren’t texting them, you could be missing out on leads. Bulk texting, whether done manually or automated, may feel daunting. But there are some serious benefits to easing off your email campaigns and switching to SMS messaging. 9 Reasons Why Automated Text Messaging Is Better Than Email 1. Immediacy: Text messages are like getting a love letter from your crush, while emails are like getting a chain letter from your grandma. Harsh but true. 46% of American smartphone users think they spend about 4-5 hours on their smartphones. The odds are good that their phones are already in their hands, so why not send them a message their more likely to see right away? 2. Personalization: Emails can be personalized, sure. But texting in and of itself feels more personalized. Something about getting a mass email blast feels colder than a text. By personalizing your automated text blasts, you can send people the offers and information they really want. And it will be right at their fingertips. Let’s face it, text messages feel like getting a hand-written note, while emails feel like getting a mass-produced brochure. 3. Interactivity: When it comes to interactivity, text messages are to a game of ping pong, as emails are to a game of solitaire. It’s far easier to have interactions (whether automated or not) with texts than with emails. Surveys feel more interactive, and appointment confirmations feel more like calling the office than checking a box. 4. Convenience: Since about 98% of Americans across all generations have a smartphone, texting just makes sense. There is a good reason why it is such a popular form of communication. Forbes estimates that 23 billion text messages are sent worldwide on a daily basis. They are easy to send, receive, and answer and take far less effort than email. Text messages are like having a personal assistant in your pocket, while emails are like having a personal assistant stuck at a desk. Which do you prefer? 5. Attention-grabbing: If emails are a scheduled conference call, then text messages are a surprise party. Marketing is all about grabbing attention. Think about how many bulk emails you receive daily and have been sent daily for the last decade or so. You’re likely desensitized to them, and if you’re desensitized to them, you can bet your customers are too. 6. Opt-in: Text marketing makes customers feel like they have more agency over what marketing messages they are receiving. How many emails do you get from brands and businesses daily that you don’t remember ever signing up for? If you opt into one type of email list, you’re likely added to more distribution lists at that company that you didn’t opt in to. Customers have to opt-in to receive text messages, which means they are more likely to be interested in hearing from you. 7. Cost-effective: Who doesn’t want to save money? Especially on their marketing? The advantages of text messaging are similar to those of grocery store discounts, while the disadvantages of email marketing campaigns are similar to paying full price for a fancy meal. Per message, bulk texts will likely cost you less in time and energy, as well as monetarily, than email campaigns. Of course, this depends on what services you use. 8. Time-sensitive: How many unread emails do you have in your inbox? Okay, inbox zero; how many of those have you actually read? Exactly. 95% of texts are opened within three minutes of receipt, while 83% of emails are opened within 48 hours (and the remaining 17% take longer than that.) Text messages are like a reminder to take out the trash before the garbage truck comes, while emails are like a reminder to take out the trash…next week. 9. Saturation: Compared to other marketing channels, SMS marketing is still fairly low-saturated. This means you are competing with fewer businesses for the attention of your customers on that channel. Instead of drowning in a spam folder with hundreds of expired email campaigns, you could be a part of a much smaller, more curated handful of promotional texts a person receives every day.

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Community-Led Growth: What It Is and 6 Awesome Benefits

A good business owner is always looking for ways to improve and grow their business. Marketing is huge, and anyone looking to boss their industry seeks out ways to make their marketing strategy more effective. We’ve waxed poetic about the benefits of adding bulk texting and QR codes to your marketing strategy, but there is another tool you should utilize to expand your brand: Your audience. How do you do that? Community-led growth. What is community-led growth? Community-led growth (CLG) is a business strategy that leverages a company’s community of users, customers, and fans to drive growth and engagement. The idea is to create a strong sense of community around a product or brand and to use that community to drive customer acquisition, engagement, and revenue. This can be achieved through tactics such as user-generated content, referral marketing, and community events and activations. The goal is to create a self-sustaining growth cycle where the community drives new user acquisition and engagement, which in turn fuels further growth and community building. Lather, rinse, repeat. Why does it matter? No matter how large your customer base is, every brand has a community surrounding it. Word of mouth and recommendations from trusted people in one’s life are effective and valuable marketing tools. By harnessing the power of the people passionate about your brand, you can turn them into some of your best advocates. Community-led growth is targeted and mutually beneficial. It helps your company by increasing your reach and engagement, and the customer can get more out of your product or service while being able to provide feedback on the future of your business. So what are the benefits? 1. Cost-effective customer acquisition: CLG can help companies acquire customers more cost-effectively than traditional sales and marketing methods, as the community can help drive referrals and new customer acquisition. By building a community of passionate experts, whether online, in-person, or both, those passionate experts can attract more people like them, saving you money on marketing strategies aiming to reach those new customers directly. 2. Increased customer engagement: CLG can create opportunities for increased customer engagement, as users are more likely to be active and involved in a product or brand when they feel a strong sense of community. By creating an online or in-person community around your business, your customers will feel a more personalized connection. Aren’t you more likely to recommend brands and products to people that you love and feel connected to? So are your customers. 3. Brand advocacy: If you’re curious about a new product or company but unsure if it’s worth investing your time and money in, having a trusted source you can rely on for a recommendation is paramount. Think about the companies you interact (in some way) with on a daily basis. Aren’t you more likely to tell your friends and colleagues about the ones you love? CLG can increase brand advocacy, as community members are likelier to recommend the product or brand to others. 4. User-generated content: Community-led growth can create amazing opportunities for user-generated content, which can be used to drive further engagement and growth. Testimonials, reviews, forums etc. can all be user-generated and incredibly impactful on your brand. 5. Improved customer retention: CLG can help improve customer retention, as community members are more likely to stick around and continue using the product. If your customers feel connected to your brand on a more meaningful level, they’re more likely to stick around through your evolution as a business. They will likely be some of your first adopters when you launch a new product or service, and the longer you can retain them, the more powerful the community will be. 6. Data-driven decision-making: CLG generates a wealth of data to inform and improve product development and overall business strategy. Since your community is so much more connected to your business than a more passive audience, you can get more nuanced and tangible feedback from them. By hosting your community online in places like Slack, Discord, or LinkedIn, you can also use native data and analytics to understand your customers better and make more informed decisions.

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6 Business Types Benefitting From Automated SMS Marketing Right Now

SMS (short message service) marketing can be hard to avoid nowadays. And that’s for a good reason: It’s an effective tool that lends itself to a holistic marketing strategy. Adding another layer to your marketing campaign might seem daunting. You’re already on social media, and you already send email blasts. You have paid ads and a sleek website. Do you really need something else on top of that, automated or not? Will your business even benefit from it? Do you have time for it? The short answer to those questions is yes.The long answer to those questions is 100% yes. Especially if you opt for automated SMS marketing instead of doing it manually, it offers numerous benefits, including saving you and your team a lot of time while still offering a great experience. A refresher on what SMS marketing is: SMS marketing can be done manually or automatically. It’s a text message that is sent in response to a specific trigger or action, usually automatically. These messages can be used for various purposes, like confirming a purchase, providing updates on an order, or reminding a customer of an upcoming appointment. They’re often used by businesses to improve customer service, increase efficiency, and streamline communication. It may seem like SMS marketing is only beneficial to certain industries. However, many people benefit from SMS marketing. It’s a versatile tool that can fit into your marketing strategy with ease. 6 Business Types That Benefit from SMS Marketing 1. Travel Industry: Travel alerts, flight updates, deals. All of these can be communicated through automated bulk texting. Automated text messaging can be used to improve customer service, increase sales, and streamline communication with clients and customers. 2. Healthcare providers: By using automated text messaging, health professionals can remind patients of appointments, send test results, and provide health-related information. It is a quick and easy way to keep patients up to date, even if they are away from their computer or can’t answer a phone call. 3. Educational institutions: Schools have a lot of information they need to communicate on a regular basis to students, parents, and even teachers. Students and parents can be notified of school closures, upcoming events, and other important information through automated text messages sent by schools. And what teacher wouldn’t love to wake up to a snow day text? 4. Non-profits: Non-profits can easily benefit from adding bulk texting to their marketing strategies. Fundraising campaigns and upcoming events can be communicated to donors with automated text messages. 5. Government agencies: Email campaigns and local signage aren’t always the best way to convey information to the public. Public alerts and notifications can be sent via automated text messaging, including weather warnings, and emergency notifications. 6. E-commerce: Of course, one of the earliest adopters of bulk texting was e-commerce, which is still a great marketing tool. Online retailers can use automated text messages to confirm orders, inform customers about shipping statuses, and alert them to special offers. Overall, automated text messaging can be a valuable tool for anyone who needs to communicate with a large group of people quickly and efficiently. Add automated bulk texting to your marketing strategy and reach your customers like a BOSS.

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QR Codes & Digital Business Cards: 7 Reasons They’re Better Than Paper

QR Codes are an important part of marketing strategies in today’s world. They allow for more eco-friendly collateral and help keep interactions contactless. They are revolutionizing how we share information with our customers, from menus to business cards. Business cards have been around for far longer than you might think they have. They date back to 15th-century China when royalty and aristocrats would use them as “visiting cards” to announce their arrival to whoever was hosting them. They reached popularity outside of the aristocracy in Europe around the 17th century. While they’ve evolved over the centuries, they remain a valuable tool for networking and connecting with potential customers. The latest in business card evolution? Digitizing. Digital business cards are a fast, easy way to share your information with people without ensuring you have a stack on you at all times. They also decrease the amount of cards people, including yourself, need to keep track of once they acquire them. What is a digital business card? Digital business cards come in a few forms. They’re still the same networking tool your grandfather used, just virtual. This offers numerous benefits that traditional business cards lack. A digital business card can be shared via a URL, a QR code, or even an app. The recipient can then click on the URL, scan the QR code or use an app to access the information. Some virtual business card apps require the recipient to have the same app to access the information, but others allow the card to be accessed without the app. URLs can be embedded on websites or social media profiles allowing for wide distribution. QR codes can be put on webpages or apps or even printed out onto a piece of paper or a standard business card that people can scan, allowing for just one piece of paper instead of dozens, if not hundreds, of copies. Who needs a digital business card? Everyone who uses a traditional business card can benefit from a digital business card. It’s nearly impossible these days to do business without using devices like phones, computers, and the internet. If you are using these things, you need a virtual business card. Trust us. When should you use a digital business card? Whenever you would use a traditional business card. If you’re attending a conference, tradeshow, or networking event, you could print out a QR code and slide it into a tabletop display for people to scan after visiting your booth. You could also have a traditional business card with a QR code on it that people can scan, allowing you to have just one card on you. No more running out of cards to distribute halfway through the networking event. Why is a digital business card better than a traditional paper card? 1. Environmentally friendly No paper or printing is required. Of course, there are instances when a hard copy may be warranted, like some of the examples above. However, the virtual aspect allows you to reduce how many copies you need. So even if you print out a QR code here and there, it will be significantly less than what you would need with a traditional paper card. Multiply this by all of your employees that need them, and you’re saving a lot of trees! 2. Up-to-date information Digital cards can be easily updated with the latest information. If your phone number changes or your office moves to a new address, you don’t need to worry about ordering new cards. That information can easily be updated without any disruption to your workflow. And new employees won’t have to wait for cards to be designed, printed, and shipped to start using them. 3. Convenient storage Digital cards can be stored on a smartphone, reducing the need for a physical cardholder. If you opt for a hard copy, you only need one or two. It’s less you need to keep track of, eliminating the classic “let me give you my card” while you fumble around in your pockets for one. 4. Analytics tracking Digital cards can track who has viewed the card and when. Many times a digital business card can store the person who scans its information in your address book or a system, so you don’t have to worry about collecting it yourself. This makes it much easier to track leads, follow up with people you met networking, and get a sense of your potential client’s interest. 5. Cost-effective Digital cards are typically free or low-cost compared to printing paper cards. If you go the app route, there are many free options out there. Printing out batches of paper business cards for every person on your team who needs them can add up quickly. Especially if they need to be updated. 6. Interactivity Digital cards can contain links, videos, and other interactive elements. You aren’t limited to just a name, phone number, and address. You can use it as an opportunity to share a video highlighting your product or to link to your website to give the recipient easy access directly to your company. 7. More creativity No longer limited by the space of a small business card, the world is truly your oyster. From the design to the content to the distribution experience, you have more choices than you do with a paper card. The creativity that digital business cards give you allows for an opportunity to stand out from your competitors immediately and make a lasting impression.

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What Are QR Codes & 6 Ways To Add Them to Your Marketing Strategy Now

QR codes (quick response codes) have grown in popularity over the last few years. While they were officially released in 1994, it took a while for mass adoption to take off. They became a useful tool for places like restaurants during the pandemic when people wanted contactless experiences, and their popularity is only growing. While a restaurant using a QR code for their menus is a no-brainer, the application for other types of businesses might not be so obvious. However, there are many ways that businesses of all kinds can leverage the technology and reap the benefits that QR codes provide. What is a QR Code? A QR code is a type of two-dimensional barcode that can store information such as website links, contact information, and other data. It can be scanned using a smartphone camera and a QR code reader app. Why should you use QR codes? Ease of accessibility: People are busy. You’re busy, your team is busy, and your customer is busy. So don’t you want to share information as quickly and as easily as possible? With a quick scan of the QR code, you’re given the exact information you need. You no longer need a special app to scan them, eliminating the need for people to search for the information on their own or download yet another app. The user experience is seamless and doesn’t require anything out of the ordinary. Just the phone they likely already have in their pocket. This brings us to… Smartphones are everywhere: Smartphones have been widely adopted. From young kids to grandparents, the majority of people have a smartphone. By capitalizing on the day-to-day technology that everyone carries with them and already owns, you are meeting your customers where they are without requiring anything from them. They simply open up their camera app, take a quick selfie, and scan your code. This avoids app fatigue and caters directly to your business’ and customers’ needs. It’s greener: Oftentimes, QR codes can replace the need for paper materials. Or, at the very least, cuts down on the amount needed. Restaurants can provide and update their menu without printing them out. By putting a QR code on your table at a conference, you can provide potential customers with the information they need without needing to provide flyers or pamphlets. How are businesses using QR Codes? Different types of businesses can benefit from QR codes and are using QR codes in a variety of ways. Here are six we’ve highlighted for you. 1. Marketing QR codes can link to company websites, product pages, or promotional offers. Replace handouts with a QR code at a trade show or event. Use QR codes so people can easily follow your business on social media. 2. Payments QR codes can be used for mobile payments, reducing the need for cash or card transactions. It’s secure and simple and can be done from a phone. 3. Contactless check-in QR codes can be used for check-ins at events, hotels, or gyms. Eliminate the need for individual physical badges, and reduce contact points. 4. Inventory tracking QR codes can be used to track retail and supply chain management inventory. Inventory can be tracked in real-time. A traditional barcode can hold 20 characters, and a QR code can hold 7,000 numbers or 4,000 alpha-numeric characters, allowing you to track more inventory with one code. 5. Access control QR codes can be used for secure building access or event entry. It’s a simple yet secure authentication process that is convenient for users and provides you with granular data in real-time. 6. Business Cards A QR code on your business card allows you to provide someone with more information than can fit on a standard business card. By seeing who scans the code, you can follow up and engage with potential customers and clients searching for more information. Bonus Use: Menus! Want to implement QR codes but don’t know where to start? The BOSS.Tech

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