Mobile readers have yet another style of reading that is similar to people that digest their information via regular online outlets. By adapting your writing style to a mobile market, especially if you have a mobile dedicated blog or site, will help your reach more readers and hold their attention.

Mobile Readers

There are a number of different methods that readers use for mobile content. Tablets and smartphones are the main avenues, though every device has a different view of the internet. Mobile applications may display differently, so using a mobile software that displays properly on most will help you reach a larger audience. The popular platforms for most devices are using Safari (iOS), Android, or Windows software to display the internet. Check all of your posts or articles in each type of platform if possible before releasing to the public.

Bites Over Meals

Sometimes all we want is a snack or a bite instead of a full meal. Online writing can be considered a light meal while mobile reading is a snack or a bite. Easily digestible – mobile reading should be short and to the point. Smaller screens display less information. People using mobile phones want to get the important information right away, they’re on the go, in a hurry, and their news is on an important, need to know basis. Your writing should be tight, to the point, and short.

Keep mobile aimed writing to a maximum of 400 words. Even shorter articles are acceptable as long as you have all of your facts straight and information present.

Focus, Focus, Focus

Mobile writing needs to have a laser focus. Don’t ramble – keep your readers entertained and informed, but stay on topic. When people are in a hurry they want to know the facts. A short article that doesn’t have the information they are looking for is useless. Don’t stray off topic or you’ll risk losing a reader, maybe all of your readers. Allow readers to navigate through your information easily through a serious of on-target links if you need to write a longer, informative article. Be sure that these links have clear headlines and link exactly to the proper information.

Benefits of Using QR Codes

Build customer relationships

Many businesses struggle to get customers to complete surveys about products. If they receive a survey in a store, most people are just not interested in taking them home to fill out later. QR codes give customers the opportunity to participate while they finish at the cash register, wait in line, or seated at a table in a restaurant. Customers appreciate the convenience, and businesses appreciate the rapid turnaround time. Don’t forget to tell customers how you will use their feedback. People want to know that their comments will be taken seriously. Small businesses can also use QR codes to gather business reviews for online sites such as Yelp. Many companies choose to offer incentives such as special discounts or free items for people who write reviews.

Get free promotion

QR codes allow people to “like” and “follow” a business quickly and easily without having to search for it later. Consider creating codes that link directly to Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. QR codes also allow people to “pin” your products, blog posts, and other website links on Pinterest. Many small businesses create their own Pinterest accounts to post pictures of products and services and other relevant industry information. One of the key aspects to success on Pinterest is high quality images. All of the pictures of your own products and services that you post should be good enough that potential and existing customers will want to share them with others.  The chances that your content will go viral increases when that content, such as videos, are high quality and shared appropriately on social media.

Boost website and blog traffic

It is always important to place QR codes, each with a clear goal and purpose, in convenient locations so people will take the time to visit your sites.  Offering something of value for your customers will help drive the kind of traffic you desire. For example, a restaurant may put QR codes on their menus with nutritional information about the dishes.

Cater to a local audience

There isn’t a better method for advertising local promotions than directly in front of a business. QR codes cultivate relationships with customers and, in a sense, bring them to you. The codes get them talking about your company, and with enticing incentives, these customers are more likely to become repeat customers. Discovering a great new company and then getting an immediate deal for one of their products or services is a sure way to get a new customer to share the story with friends and family. Many small businesses also use QR codes for local event registration. Don’t let people walk away without giving them the opportunity to register or at least get more information about the event. Make a flyer or poster with content that is visually appealing, and consider offering an incentive when people sign up for the event.

Build an email subscription list

Every small business should give all potential and existing customers a simple method for signing up for a company email newsletter. Although there are a number of successful methods for building lists, many companies make use of QR codes for subscription sign up. Newsletters allow new customers to stay connected to and learn more about businesses. In turn, they allow companies to further customer relationships and increase the chances of gaining return customers.

Low cost

You can signup for services that you cannot track results with for free, or for as little as $19 a month you can track the success of each code you create.

About the author:

Kristen Gramigna is Chief Marketing Officer for BluePay, a credit card processing firm offering different types of credit card terminal options. She brings more than 15 years of experience in the bankcard industry in direct sales, sales management, and marketing to the company and also serves on its Board of Directors.

Check out Chris’ latest episode of Tech Talk to learn more:

Here are a few tips to help you incorporate QR Codes into your marketing strategy and increase the number of QR Code scans. Don’t forget to use a QR Code that you can track. If your QR Codes aren’t trackable and you can’t measure them, it’s not worth doing.

1) Provide instructions near the QR Code

Yes, awareness of QR Codes has increased dramatically since they have entered the marketing world. But there are still plenty of people out there that don’t know what they are or how to use them. To assist those folks, provide instructions near the QR Code on your printed materials.

This could be done by simply including text (i.e. “Scan the QR Code with your smartphone”) or by incorporating an image that displays a smartphone pointing to the QR Code, or an image that depicts how the QR Code could point to a smartphone that is displaying a website.

2) Give people an incentive

As marketers first become familiar with QR Codes, they often rush too quickly to incorporate them. They’ll skip over fundamentals such as “Why would my audience want to scan this?” Rather than just slapping a QR Code on your printed materials, develop a reason for why you should have one. Will it make it easier for your audience to access a map or directions? Will it make the process easier for people to contact your company or to make a purchase?

Include that reason somewhere on your printed materials to let people know what benefits they’ll receive by scanning the code. The call-to-action is key!

3) Educate your audience ahead of time

Yes, QR Codes exist primarily to make print interactive. But you can use other medias to increase awareness about them. Create blog posts on your website that talk about them. Produce a video that demonstrates how someone could successfully use their smartphone to scan them. Promote examples of QR Codes on your social media channels and eNewsletters to increase awareness of what they can lead to.

By taking those steps, you will create awareness, and enhance your audience’s knowledge of how they can benefit from using QR codes.

4) Shorten the destination URL

This one is very important! Yes, QR Codes can hold a lot of data. But the more data that you have in a QR Code, the harder it may be for someone to scan it quickly. Make sure to use a service that shortens your URLs before generating the QR Code.

Hope you find these tips helpful! Here’s a great image to save, share or print to jog your memory:

“These updates are going to be a terrific benefit to our QReate & Track customers,” said John Foley, Jr., founder and CEO of interlinkONE. “The software has made it so easy to build and manage QR code campaigns, and now they have more capabilities than ever before.”

QReate & Track customers will immediately see the new user-friendly interface when they log in. This is followed by the ability to create and build bulk QR codes for v-cards, as well as the tracking capabilities for them.

“Scan a QR code with your smartphone, and the contact information contained in them will go directly to your contacts,” said Foley. “Now, you can upload a file of names to QReate & Track, and have unique QR codes generated for all of them.”

QReate & Track is the tool businesses need to dive head first into the mobile marketing game. The tool allows users to:

• Easily generate QR codes and track QR scans in real-time through reporting dashboards
• Track the number of QR scans, location of a scan, type of device used, and more
• Measure the results. This data is essential in assessing the success of a QR code campaign.

“QR codes enable mobile users to jump from printed materials to online content within seconds,” said Foley. “This helps you to drive traffic to your site, strengthen brand awareness, and make it easy for people to connect with your company.”

interlinkONE is also offering a free White Paper to those interested in learning more about QR codes and mobile marketing, it can be downloaded at http://ilink.me/iQR.

To get started with QReate & Track today, visit http://ilink.me/newQR.

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About QReate and Track: For companies looking to generate QR Codes quickly and efficiently with no technical knowledge necessary, QReate and Track is the perfect solution. The QR code is produced in a 300 DPI, hi-res file with customizations available for colors and images. These codes can be used on posters, mailers, billboards, brochures, and countless other materials. There are no limitations to how creatively they can be used. They’re trackable, measurable and a great solution to round out service repertoires.

Media Contact: Donna Vieira, VP of Marketing, interlinkONE. donnav@interlinkONE.com

You’ve seen them before. They look like black-and-white puzzles or games boards. You may have seen them in magazine advertisements, on billboards, or on the backs of business cards. Although QR codes are typically in black-and-white, they can be created in color, too. They can even include your company logo.

Viewing QR codes is simple. Simply point your mobile phone camera toward the code, snap a picture, and the software on your phone decodes the image. (On some phones, QR code readers come pre-installed. Others require you to download them.) Instantly, you are directed to a website or a landing page. Or you might be presented with a special coupon offer or see a special text message

No need to write down anything or type in URLs by hand. Just stop, scan, and view.

Imagine the possibilities.

Download my free white paper on QR Codes to get everything you need to know about the busy, mobile consumer.

Click here to get your copy!

What’s included in this kit?

• A 40-minute long webinar that reviews must-have marketing channels, marketing materials,tips, and tools for how to measure your efforts.
• “4 Marketing Channels You Must Invest In” White Paper
• “7 Tools for Tracking Digital Marketing Channels” White Paper
• “6 Ways to Make Awesome Content” White Paper

Download your marketing pot of gold today!

About the Author: Sarah Brooks is a freelance writer covering topics on gold and silver, small businesses and social media.


We live in a digital world and are connected to our emails, Facebook and news feeds 24/7.

As a small business owner, it’s important to be current on the latest technology in order to be successful.

Digital marketing – or advancing your company via digital channels – is the best way to get your products in front of millions of potential customers.

Digital marketing is taking advantage of emails, social media, news feeds, cell phones and the like to grow and promote your business.

Tips for more successful digital marketing include:

1.       Build relationships with your customers via social media. In other words – interact! Be available for customer questions (or complaints) and respond promptly. By being involved with social media, you’re certain to grow your business and gain customers over time.

2.       Learn SEO tactics. SEO stands for search engine optimization. When customers search for a product or service, you want your business to appear on the first page of Google. To be effective at this, you need to understand SEO and what makes certain sites land the front page. Be willing to research and learn everything there is to know about this. If you don’t have the time, hire someone. It makes a difference.

3.       Keep your brand consistent. Everything your company does – both offline and online – needs to be consistent. Develop relationships with customers both offline and through social media. Speak with one voice to ensure you develop one consistent brand image that isn’t confusing or sending mixed messages to customers.

4.       Keep content fresh. A great way to utilize digital marketing is by keeping your content fresh, updated and current. Build a company blog and website and provide customers with weekly updates as to any new product releases, changes with the company or relevant information about products. Twitter and Facebook accounts should be updated once every few days at a minimum.

5.       Learn from those doing it right. Spend some time researching similar companies who seem to have digital marketing down to a T. These companies may have a large following and be a bigger, more established business than yours, making them perfect to learn from. Friend them and learn what they’re doing and what works for them. Don’t fear your competition – learn from them.

Digital marketing is vital in this day and age.

Equally as important, though, is being a good business outside of the internet. Always do the right thing and do what’s right for the customers. By building a successful business offline, you can transfer that knowledge online over to social media and continue to grow and prosper.

The most successful businesses have good, established reputations both on and offline.

Never stop learning and improving your digital marketing tactics. Be open to criticism and be willing to learn from those who have the hang of it. Don’t be afraid to ask questions – it’s only going to help you and your business in the long-run.

About the Author: Sarah Brooks is a freelance writer covering topics on gold and silver, small businesses and social media.

Sales Executive Tom Barry and Marketing Execution Specialist Katie Sadlier will be talking about all things mobile, and how it can help your business.

Register Today!

To read more about QR codes and all forms of mobile marketing, buy a copy of John’s book today!