Feet Thru The Door Marketing

Introducing  – Memes 4 Jewelers
Valentine Package

This package contains 35 memes designed for jewelry stores to promote the Valentine Holiday on Facebook and across the Internet in a visual manner.  Plus you receive 10 Valentine themed backgrounds to create your own Memes.

•   25 Memes for Couples, including Engagement Ring themes
•   5 Memes for Singles
•   5 Memes for After Valentines
•  10 Valentine Backgrounds to Create Your Own Meme

All 45 images are supplied in Full Size for use on websites, Blogs, and Pinterest.  In addition, you receive all 45 images Optimized for Facebook Newsfeed.

 This entire package is Only ^$47

To Order go to: http://fbforjewelers.com/resources

If you are a regular reader of my column, you know that Internet Marketing is constantly changing.  What worked last year may not work now. Learning about and taking advantage of new methods to reach consumers on the Internet and more importantly get them to come into your store is an ongoing challenge.

One of the Best New Methods to Bring More Customers into Your Store Today is using the Internet to promote Special Offers in the form of Coupons.

Mashable, one of the largest companies monitoring trends in Social Media, just released new findings this Fall that over 50% of people Likes a company Facebook Page in order to receive a Special Offer, Discount, or Give-A-Way.  In addition, the single most used feature on Facebook Business Pages is Printing Coupons. More Coupons are printed from Facebook Pages than Comments, Likes, and Shares combined.

While this survey only covered Social Media, the trend is not exclusive to Facebook.  All across the Internet Special Deals, Discounts and Coupons are flourishing.  For the last couple of years, coupon websites such as Groupon, Coupon Mom, Coupon Lady, and many other have grown into large viable online businesses.  However, for the average jeweler these deep discount offers do not fit our business model and those types of websites are not very attractive for jewelry stores to use for their marketing.

A New Type of Promotional Offers

At Internet 4 Jewelers we have been experimenting with a variety of concepts to take advantage of this growing trend and still be viable for the typical jewelry store.  What we have come up with is Internet Offers, using all of the Internet to promote Special Offers in the form of Coupons.

This is NOT some type of Groupon deal where you give deep discounts on a lost leader to get people into your store.  Nor is it a Check-In deal like FourSquare and Facebook Offers where the customer has to tell the world they are shopping with you in order to receive the coupon.

The coupon does not always have to be a big discount, and 7 and 11 out performs other numbers. For example 7% off generally out draws 10% off, ^$11 out draws ^$15 etc.  Consumers are not necessarily looking for the Cheapest Price.  They are looking for the Greatest Value.  They want to be assured that they are receiving the best value for their money.

A weekly offer works best.  Giving the consumer too much time to redeem the coupon is counter productive as most people will procrastinate and never get around to coming into your store.  Sometimes people just need a little incentive to come into your jewelry store. By offering a special deal that is only good this week gives them the motivation to not put it off and come in now.

Posting the new coupon every Friday afternoon works the best.  This way you can promote the offer over the weekend when there are the most people online, and have the coupon offer run through the week ending on Saturday.  After a couple of weeks your customers will start looking for next weeks coupon each weekend and build even more momentum into your promotions.

Creating the Offer

The first step is to create the offers you want to promote.  Coupons could be for a specific item or product category, or for a service such as: 7% off all jewelry repairs this week. You do not need to come up with a new special every week.  You can create 5 or 6 coupons and then rotate them each week.

Some examples for coupons are:

• ^$17 off any Jewelry Purchase over ^$150
• 7% off all Loose Diamonds
• 11% off all Gold Chains
• 7% off all [Name of Company] Jewelry
• 11% off all Birthstone Jewelry
• Free Designer Bead with Purchase of 5 Beads
• ^$11 off all Ring Sizings
• Free Watch Battery
  (This is a great offer this time of year, while someone is changing the battery
  you have time to show them all your jewelry and make out a Wish List)

Designing the Coupon

You need to lay-out your coupon and save it as a jpg file.  This can be done in any photo editing software.  An easy way to lay-out and save your coupons is to use PowerPoint and create a different slide for each of your coupons.  Then save your PowerPoint presentation as jpg files and PowerPoint will make a separate file of each of your slides.

Be sure to include your store name and address on the coupon.  Include directions such as “To redeem this coupon print it out and bring it into our store or show us the coupon on your phone”.  If you include your Facebook Page in promoting the coupons you can also ask them to Like your page in order to use the coupon.  Also be sure to include an Expiration Date, and any additional instructions such as “Offer not valid on previous orders or Lay-A-Ways”.

Include a picture or two of the product or service you are promoting in the Internet Offer.  This makes the coupon more visually attractive and will draw more attention to it.

If you want to publish your coupons in your Statius Updates on Facebook make certain that your coupon image is no larger than 404 pixels wide by 404 pixels tall.  If it is larger than this the coupon will not completely display in your customer’s News Feed or on your Timeline.

Publishing Your Coupon Offer

There are numerous places on the Internet that you can publish your Offers and we recommend all of them.  Facebook is by far the easiest place to publish it and sending it to all your Fans is a great promotion.  However, not everybody is on Facebook and seeing your coupon multiple times in various places is often needed to inspire them to print it out and come into your store.

Places to publish your coupon offer include:

Social Media

Facebook is the largest of these.  You can post every Friday to all your Fans and call it Facebook Fan Friday or some other fan appreciation title.  Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  You also should publish your offer on other Social Media as well, such as Google Plus, Pinterest, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Your Website

Posting your new coupon offer on your website seems a natural fit.  However, this is one of the more difficult places to post it.  If you cannot upload the new offer each week yourself, you will need your webmaster to do it.  Because they are weekly coupons, changing it in a timely manner is vital and may not be worth the expense and trouble.

Blogs

Blogs are an easy way to publish your Internet Offers on webpages that can be indexed and ranked in Google and the other search engines.  There are two ways to publish your coupon on a Blog.  One is to add your coupon in a Blog Post.  It will remain on top of your Blog until you create a new post and then your coupon will move down your blog and eventually off the first page.  The other way is to create a page on your Blog for the coupons.  Each week you can exchange the coupon for that week’s offer.

Both methods have their advantages and we recommend doing both.  Posting the coupon in a Blog post makes your offer more visible when someone visits your blog and everyone who subscribes to your blog will receive an update of the new post.  Posting it on a Blog Page has its advantages with the search engines.  Because the URL to the page hosting your coupon remains the same each week, you can build links to the page establishing authority status for it.  This makes it easier for your Internet Offers to rank higher in the search engines extending your market reach.

When you create your blog post or page be sure to type out the offer in addition to posting the picture of the coupon.  This way the search engines can read the text and index and rank you for the keywords contained in your message.  In addition below the coupon write out information about your store and provide directions and a link to your Google Local Page which contains your Google Maps location.  If you do not already have a store blog you can create one or more blogs for your Internet Offers on Free Blog websites such as Blogger, Blog.com, Ning, and Tumbler.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 websites such as Squidoo, HubPages, Weebly, and WetPaint are all good sources to create webpages and post your Internet Offers.  Like the free blog host, these are easy to set-up and there is no charge for their service.  In addition these can also rank in the search engines after you build links to them and establish their authority status.

Promoting Your Promotions

Beware of the Field of Dreams Myth!  Just because you build something on the Internet they will NOT come.  You have to promote it.  This is the marketing phase of the Internet Offers and it is the most important, critical element.  Get this part wrong and you waste all your efforts, or at least diminish them.  There are 3 ingredients to properly market your Internet Offers.

Build Links

LinkBuildingis not dead, but it has certainly changed over the past year.  Bookmarking websites such as Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit are a good place to start building your links.  Links in the descriptions of videos on websites such as YouTube, Daily Motion, and MetaCafe are still considered high quality links.  Links from all your Social Media profiles are also a good source forLinkBuilding.  Linking from Blogs and Web 2.0 websites are a source for links as well as places to publish your Internet Offers on.

Social Sharing

In their efforts to make Google Plus a viable Social Network, Google has made Social Sharing the new Link Juice.  Their reasoning is that if a business or website is not talked about on the various Social websites then it must not be very important.  Getting your Internet Offer shared across Google Plus is of course the most important, but Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are valuable as well.

You will need to start the buzz by post on different social sharing websites with links to your Internet Offers.  Then the more that people share your message the better.

Paid Ads

While I am not a big advocate for paid advertising on the Internet it does have its place especially for short term promotions such as your weekly Internet Offers.  Google Ads are based on Keywords and are a great source to link to your Internet Offers posted outside of Facebook.  Facebook Ads are based on demographics and the best way to promote your Internet Offers published on your Facebook Page.  Both of these advertising mediums allow you to limit your advertising to your geographical area.

We recommend taking out Ads on Friday when you publish your Offers and ending them on Sunday evening.  By running them through the weekend they will be seen during the time than more people are online and you will receive the greatest value for your money.

In recent months paid advertising has become more important to include in your marketing mix, especially on Facebook.  Ever since Facebook went public they have focused more and more on Wall Street and turning a profit.  Recent statics released by Facebook show that the average Status Update on a Business Page is seen by only 16% of the Fans.  The reason is Facebook is now filtering post from Business Pages and not showing them as often as post made from a Personal Profile.  They are forcing businesses to pay for Post Promotions and other paid advertising to get their message seen.  Adding paid advertising to your marketing mix is now more important than before.  Plus it makes it important for you to socially share post on your business page through your personal profile to all your friends.

Conclusion

While no aspect of these Internet Offers is new to Internet Marketing, their value in driving consumers off the internet and into your store is found in the combination of cross-channel publishing and multifaceted promotions as outlined in this article.  In addition their timing with the growing trend of discounts and coupon offers makes this the most powerful single tool to use in your Internet Marketing arsenal.

All of the steps involved are easy to perform and you do not need any special skills to create them.  However, they are tedious and time consuming and skipping any of the steps involved will drastically diminish the effectiveness of the Internet Offers.  If you are too busy running your jewelry store to properly implement this, Internet 4 Jewelers is providing a new Internet Marketing Service to create, publish and promote your coupon offers.  For a low monthly investment, we will Professionally Design your coupon offers, publish them on your Social Network Pages and across our Jewelry Related Blog Network and Web 2.0 Sites, and promote them with our special blend of Link Building, Social Sharing, and Paid Ads.  All publishing and advertising fees are included.  For more information on this service or to order contact Brad Simon at: Brad@Internet4jewelers.com

The Ultimate Marketing Sin is taking your Customers Loyalty for Granted.

A Customer Appreciation Sale is just what it sounds like.  It’s giving your clients something to show that you really do appreciate their business.  They are the most important thing to your company (you’d be out of business without them), so let them know it.  Leading up to Christmas we have the perfect opportunity to do this, and that’s at Thanksgiving.  Here are suggestions to hold a Customer Appreciation Sale at your store.

Send out a Thanksgiving card to your best customers or to your entire customer list prior to Thanksgiving. Everybody sends out Christmas cards. We get inundated with Christmas cards in our mailboxes. But who sends out Thanksgiving cards? Very few people. If you send a Thanksgiving card, it’s going to stand out and be noticed.

Now, you can do this on the internet with an e-card or a Thanksgiving letter by email, but this is one of the items that I recommend using direct mail.  Nice Thanksgiving cards are available from local printers or from a number of online suppliers. The message inside can be something like:

In these busy times as we pause to express gratitude, this comes to Thank You for our pleasant association.  We Thank You for coming to our store throughout the year and rewarding our efforts with your business, your confidence, and your kind words. 

People like you make it possible for people like us to be ever thankful.  We send you our warmest wishes for a beautiful Thanksgiving and a healthy, and prosperous New Year.

Then inside the card you can have a separate note inside the card that is a savings certificate.  On it write: Please accept this thank you saving certificate as our gift of thanks.  You are invited to our four day sale Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday after Thanksgiving.

If you’re closed on Sunday, you can either make it a three-day sale or add Tuesday and keep the four-day sale.  The reason you include Monday is because more people travel over the Thanksgiving weekend that any other time of the year.  If you just hold the event Friday and Saturday or Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, some of your best customers will not be able to come into the store. By including Monday or Tuesday, they can come into the store and take part in your customer appreciation festivities.

This is the perfect time of year where we are giving thanks already. So, it’s a great way to say thank you to your customers.

Then on the Savings Certificate list the details of the sale.  For example:

As our gift of thanks, we are letting you decide how much you save.

Silver Level
Save 7% off your entire purchase up to ^$500.

Gold Level
Save 11% off your entire purchase over ^$500.

Platinum Level
Bring a friend and both of you will save 17%
No minimum purchase required, you both save 17% of your entire purchase.

I used seven, eleven, and seventeen here for a reason. I did not say 5%, 10%, 15% because that is what everybody else uses. Even numbers are overused. Odd numbers always have a better response than using even numbers. Five and nine are also overused. Five and nine doesn’t make you stand out. Seven and eleven are the two top numbers to make you stand out and get a better response.  You can play around with those numbers, do whatever you want. I really encourage you to try using seven and eleven in some of your numbers. Instead of giving $10 off, give $11 off. Instead of 5%, make it 7%. See if that doesn’t make a difference.

By offering different levels like this example and having them bring a friend with them, you’re encouraging customers to buy more and bring a referral.  It really is an ideal promotion. You are thanking them for being a great customer but you are also building into it to buy more, by having a higher percentage off if you buy a more expensive item and to bring a friend or relative with them to receive the highest savings.

Remember above I told you that Thanksgiving is the busiest travel time of the year?  Your customers that stay in town for the holiday most likely will have family over to spend time with them.  They may have parents or adult children who live in other parts of the country staying with them.  By offering greater savings you may persuade them to come into the store during the time they normally would have stayed home, and bring you new customers who would not have otherwise shopped with you.

In addition you may want to provide a FREE gift just for coming in during one of the four Customer Appreciation Days.  The gift could be a jar of jewelry cleaner, a pearl bracelet or some other gift for them.  Studies have shown that if you included a free gift, the response rate will increase as much as 50%.  Of course the gift itself will often dictate the response.

Send the card out to arrive no later than the Monday before Thanksgiving. You don’t want it to get there too early, but you don’t want to be too late either. You want them to see it in time to make plans to come to the store to shop. Then that Wednesday afternoon send an e-mail message to everyone that states:

I hope by now you received the Thanksgiving card we sent you. I really appreciate your business and as a way of showing our thanks, don’t forget to bring in the attached Special Certificate for Customer Appreciation Days.

Remember as a preferred client you are eligible for up to 11% and if you bring a friend or relative, I’ll give you both a full 17% off your purchases.

Customer appreciation Days are this Friday through Monday only. If you forget your certificate just mention the code “Turkey” and I’ll give you another one in the store.

On behalf of the entire (Store Name)family, I hope you and yours have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Then on Friday morning send out a reminder. More people are thinking about shopping Friday morning, so send them a little reminder:

Hope you had a Great Thanksgiving.  Just a reminder don’t forget our Customer Appreciation Days start Today.  Remember as a Preferred VIP Customer you are eligible for up to 11% off your purchases and if you bring a friend or relative, I’ll give you both a full 17% off.

I really want to thank you for you business this year and your discount certificate is our way of saying THANKS.

Send out the notice by text message if you can or by e-mail.  How many people will you catch standing in line waiting to get into some store to buy and they get a text message or email and they look on their phone and here it’s from you reminding them to come into your store. It’s a great time to send out a reminder.

On Sunday afternoon send a final reminder. Don’t forget to come in tomorrow, the last day of our Customer Appreciation Days.

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to run a Client Appreciation Promotion.  After all, what better time to show appreciation to your VIP customers than on Thanksgiving?

Brad and Debbie Simon of Internet 4 Jewelers offer Internet Marketing services.  We will be glad to talk to your about all your Online Christmas Season Holiday Promotions.  You can contact Brad at Brad@Internet4Jewelers.com.

While other Holidays like Valentines and Mother’s Day are great for giving gifts of jewelry to loved ones, there is no better holiday to promote your jewelry, watches and other gift items than Christmas. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day remain by far the major Gift Giving holiday in theUnited States.

Retail Jewelry Stores are fortunate this year.  Thanksgiving is held each year on the fourth Thursday of November.  With November 1^st falling on a Thursday, Thanksgiving is November 22^nd, the earliest possible date.  This provides shoppers more days between Thanksgiving and Christmas to buy presents this year, as well as additional time for you to promote your store.

If you have not already planned your Internet Marketing for this year’s Christmas Season, Don’t Despair!  Your online marketing does not need as long of lead time as traditional marketing and there is still plenty of time to plan and implement it.  If you have it all planned out this article will serve as a great review and there is time to tweak your plans or add something you may have overlooked.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend is the traditional kickoff to the Christmas Shopping Season.  From Wednesday night before Thanksgiving through the weekend, more people will be looking online for Christmas gift ideas and specials than at any other time of the year.  This is THE Most Important Time of the Year to be found online!

Gift Idea List sorted by price points are some of the most viewed items on the Internet.  Creating your own list is easy to do.  They are one of the top promotional tools you can use, not only during the Thanksgiving weekend but throughout the Christmas Holiday Season.

Black Friday

When I started in the jewelry industry in the late 70’s and throughout the 80’s, the Friday after Thanksgiving was the busiest day of the year at the local jewelry store where I worked.  However, for many local jewelry stores today it is a slow day because all the shopping traffic is at the malls and large chain stores.

In spite of this shift in shopping preference, Black Friday is an important day to advertise especially with your online marketing. During the Thanksgiving week up until Black Friday morning, consumers are online in droves looking for gift ideas and special offers.  If you do not include Black Friday advertising in your marketing you will not be seen when the most people are looking for the products you carry.

Be certain to include in your marketing the advantages of buying fine quality jewelry from your store instead of the mass-produced jewelry they find in most Black Friday advertising. Some ad copy you can use include:

• Every woman is special and she deserves to have Unique Jewelry. Why go to a chain store or online merchant to buy low-quality mass-produced jewelry for her Christmas present? We design and create custom made jewelry on the premises and carry Distinctive Jewelry Designs she is sure to love. Come in and see all our Unique Jewelry.
• This Black Friday avoid the crowds and let us show you what Friendly Service is all about.
• Our overhead and operational costs are substantially lower than the mall chain stores and department stores. This allows us to offer the Best Quality Jewelry at Prices Below the competitions best sales prices. No Phony Sales or Hype – Just Good Honest Value, Every Day.

Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday was started 3 years ago by the small business division of American Express to help local retail businesses compete against the large national chain stores that dominate Black Friday.  If you have not promoted this in the past, this year would be a great time to get on board and take advantage of this new marketing event for local retailers.

You can start your marketing for Small Business Saturday early in November.  Then increase it during Thanksgiving week with a large push on Friday evening.  An eMail, Text Message, or Push Notification late afternoon or early evening on Friday is a great way to complement your Social Media Marketing for the event.

Some Ad copy you can use include:

• Could not find what you were looking for on Black Friday? Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday! Come into our store to Support Our Local Community and Experience True Personalized Customer Service.
• We’re getting ready for Small Business Saturday on Nov 24. Come shop with us this Saturday to support small businesses and your local economy! Buying jewelry from us is your assurance of receiving quality jewelry and value for your money.  Why go to a chain store to buy mass produced jewelry for your loved one? Come in to see all our Exclusive Jewelry.
• First there was Black Friday, then Cyber Monday. Now, there is Small Business Saturday when people across the country come out and shop to support their Favorite Local Business.
• Small business is the backbone ofAmerica.  Let the big box stores fight for Black Friday.  Shop and Support Small Business Saturday!

For more information on promoting Small Business Saturday and marketing tools to use go to: Facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday

Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving.  It is named this because many consumers are back at work following the holiday weekend and spend the day at work online buying gifts for people that they could not find while shopping over the weekend.

Since the consumer is online, this is the perfect time to share your marketing message to them informing them to beware of Online Jewelry Outlets and the advantages of coming into your store to see the jewelry before they buy.

Some Ad copy you can use include:

• No professional jeweler would ever buy diamonds sight unseen and neither should you.  We choose only the finest diamonds with the best personalities, the most brilliance and sparkle, to add to our inventory. Don’t be fooled by retouched photos at online stores. Come into our store and see the actual jewelry before you buy. Plus you can also examine it under a microscope to evaluate the quality of the jewelry and the gemstones.
• Diamond suppliers love Internet Jewelers.  Professional Jewelers at local independent jewelry stores examine large parcels of diamonds from their suppliers and choose the best diamonds for their inventory and return the rest.  In the past, these suppliers were stuck with the remaining diamonds.  Today diamond suppliers can sell these left over diamonds to online jewelers who unload them on an unsuspecting (and uninformed) customer.
• The Internet is full of companies making un-believable claims on price and quality.  Remember if it sounds too good to be true – It IS!  Buying your diamond and engagement ring from us is Your Assurance of Receiving Quality Jewelry and Value for Your Money.

Social Media Sweepstakes and Contest

Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, and other Social Networking website offer a new form of advertising for retail stores.  Social Media Sweepstakes and Contest are easy to set-up and administer and provide a fun way to market your products without looking like traditional advertising.

Engagement Rings

More engagement rings are given at Christmas than any other time of year and New Years Eve is close behind.  Don’t forget to include then in yourHolidayadvertising.

Facebook Engagement Ring Sweepstakes are among the most popular Social Networking promotions for jewelry stores.  While you may not draw as many participants as you did a year ago, they are still effective in generating leads for your store.

A typical Facebook Engagement Ring Sweepstakes is like a drawing.  Young men looking to buy an engagement ring enter the sweepstake by submitting their contact information for a chance to win a grand prize.  For entering they receive a gift certificate to your store to help get them off the Internet and into your store and you have their contact information to follow-up with them if they don’t come in right away.

Hanukkah

While Christmas is the most popular Gift Giving holiday, you may want to also promote other Holidays such as Hanukkah as well, especially if your community has a large Jewish presence. This year Hanukkah begins the evening of Saturday, December 8^th and ends the evening of Sunday, December 16^th.

Hanukkah is not traditionally known for giving gifts. However, among other traditions of Hanukkah, the gift giving tradition is growing in popularity with the passing time. Some families give all the gifts on the first or last night of Hanukkah, while others give gifts every night.

After Christmas Promotion

Don’t end all your Holiday Christmas Promotions on Tuesday the 24^th when your store closes.  Be sure to schedule some Social Media post and/or eMails to go out on Christmas Day thanking them and wishing them a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day are the next two most popular holidays for giving engagement ring so it makes sense to continue your marketing of them as well.

In addition, you can hold an After Christmas Promotion on Facebook or other Social Media to promote your store for the coming year and Valentines Days.  For example you could do a ‘Biggest Surprise’ Contest on Facebook.  It can be a video or a picture contest.  You will not get as many to participate if it is a video contest, but you will receive great video clips for you to use in future online videos promoting your store.

Announce the contest during the Christmas Season and ask your customers to either take a picture or video of the person opening the present from your store.  Then after Christmas they upload the picture or video to your Facebook Contest page.  Your customer then tells their family and friends to vote for them and the person with the most votes wins a prize.

You can have the voting run through January and give a Valentine package for the prize.  In this way you tie two holidays together and carry your Social Media momentum from the Christmas Season straight through to Valentines.

After the contest is over gather all the pictures or videos entered and plan store promotions using the content.  You can advertise that “Your Store Creates the Biggest Surprises”.

If all this online promotions seem confusing or if you just don’t have the time to do it all yourself, Brad and Debbie Simon of Internet 4 Jewelers offer Internet Marketing services.  We will be glad to talk to your about your Online Christmas Season Holiday Promotions.  You can contact Brad at Brad@Internet4Jewelers.com or call him at 864-680-4416.

There is a new tool available to retailers today that can help market your store and bring in new customers as well as make shopping in your store more interactive and enjoyable.  It is the ultimate Swiss-Army knife for retailers.  This tool works around the clock providing quick responses to your customers and prospects. What is this amazing new devise that will do seemingly every for you except clean the showroom cases?

It’s a small little box with a hidden code! The boxes are Quick Response Codes also known as QR Codes. Although they have been around for over 15 years, they are just now finding their way to revolutionize retail from initial marketing all the way through the shopping experience.

QR codes are a red hot emerging technology for marketers. The QR code, if you are not familiar with it, is a two dimensional bar code. These were first developed inJapanduring the mid nineties for automobile manufactures to place on car parts in order to have all the information of the part on the little code that could be scanned.

For marketers these codes can provide instant gratification to prospects.  As soon as customers see the QR code, they can scan it with their smartphone, instantly giving them the information that you embed in it.  They have become very popular and their use has exploded in the past year. From 2009 when smartphones first started using QR codes to 2010 there was a 1200% increase. However from 2010 to 2011, there was a 4500% increase. Most of this was towards the end of the year last year, and this increase has continued throughout this year. We have no idea where it is going to be by this Christmas season, but the trend is that it will surpass last year’s increase.

Types of QR Codes

There are different types of QR Codes that you can use. The ones that linked to a website are the most common. All you do for these is put in the URL to your website and create the QR code. People can then scan the code, and they are taken directly to the webpage that you send them to whether it is your website, your Facebook page, your Google listing, your YouTube video or some other website. This is the most popular usage and probably what you are most familiar with.

A Word of Caution:

Your landing page needs to be mobile friendly. When you create a URL based QR Code be certain to direct them to a mobile version of a website.  Instead of your normal Facebook page IE: Facebook.com/YourUserName, use the mobile version (m.) of your Facebook page IE: m.Facebook.com/YourUserName

I can’t emphasize that enough.  This past weekend, I was eating lunch at a big national chain, and on the table there was a little tent sign that had a QR Code to scan for something about the restaurant. So I ordered my food, and while I was waiting for it to be brought to the table, I scanned the QR Code.  I was taken to a webpage for this restaurant. It was so small you couldn’t read it.  It wasn’t a mobile friendly site.  I couldn’t read the information on the screen, so I just clicked off.

How much money did that company spend creating these tent signs and the QR Codes and having all their restaurants across the country to put it on their tables?  It was all a waste of money because they didn’t take the time to make a mobile friendly landing page to be sent to.  Always test the Code you create.  Check it on a cell phone before you give it to your customers. Be sure you have a mobile friendly landing page that you are sending them to.

Contact Details is another type of QR code where you can put your information like on a business card. These use different formats for different types of contact databases and include V-Card, and ME-Card formats as well as plain text. This way you have a QR code that gives your name, address, phone and your store information. Consumers can scan the code and either add all of your contact information into their phone in their contact list, or they can just see the information on their screen and click to call you or go to your store without adding it to their phone.

Another type of QR code is a Text Message. If your customer scans the code, it automatically creates a text message sent to your phone number with a message. This way they can send you a specific text message.  You can use these to send an auto-responder message about your store, a coupon or special offer, or particular product.  You could also use them to subscribe to your text message or email list.

Text-to-Screen is where you can have a QR code that puts text on their screen and gives them some information. You can have a QR code that they can scan and a coupon comes up on their screen for them to come into the store to get a special or any product information or fun facts that you want them to see.  The advantage of this over sending them to a mobile website is that they can display and read the information without an internet connection.  The disadvantage is that the information is text only, you cannot add pictures, and the amount of information you can include is limited.

You can have a QR Code with just your phone number. They can scan the QR code, and it calls your store directly. This way they don’t have to type in a number on a cell phone. It makes it easier to scan the code and call your store instead of having to remember the number to type it in.

A Google Map with a location marker of your store is another type of QR Code you can create.  They can find your store and get directions from where they are located directly to your store. They can get those directions to your store by car, walking, or public transportation all built in the map, and you can put that right into a QR Code for them to scan.

In-Store QR Codes

QR Codes are often used in direct mail pieces and other advertising all designed to get customers into the store, but you can use QR Codes in your store as well.

Statistics have shown that over 50% of smartphone users believe mobile phones can make the shopping experience more enjoyable, and QR Codes are an easy and effective way to do it. You can have QR Codes in your display case providing product information to your customers.

For example, on a display of diamond engagement rings you can add a QR Code in the display case. The customer will be able to scan it and they are sent to a page on mobile website that tells them about purchasing diamonds, the history of diamond engagement rings or maybe just some fun facts about diamonds.

The information can be about a general product category or something specific such as a particular gemstone.   For example, include a QR Code with your display of emeralds. The customers scan the code and information will come up on their screen stating “Did you know emeralds were popular in early Egyptian times and a favorite of Cleopatra who owned her own Emerald mine”.  Or on your amethyst display have a QR Code taking the customer to a webpage telling them fun facts about amethyst such as how they were once believed to keep the wearer from becoming drunk.

How many times do you have a couple in your store that the lady is involved in looking at the jewelry, she is trying it on and enjoying the experience, but the guy is standing there bored to death?  He is playing games on his phone or checking the sports score, but he is bored. She, on the other hand, is enjoying the shopping. By having different QR Codes displayed in the store he can go around and scan some of these codes. It keeps him involved in the shopping experience and it makes it enjoyable for both of them.  It is just something fun that they can do while they are in the store.

If they enjoy the shopping experience, they are going to remember your store.  Months later when the same couple sets out for Christmas shopping, they are going to remember that you were the store that had those QR Codes. You stand out in their mind over all the other stores they have shopped at in the past.  Plus having them come in wondering what new codes you have brings anticipation to shopping in your store, and you can easily make changes by putting out different QR codes.

QR Code Generators

QR Codes are free to create, and there are many QR Generators on the Internet. We have created one for retail jewelers at: http://Apps4Jewelers.com/qr-code-generator. If you don’t remember that whole URL just go to Apps4Jewelers.com and in the center of the top menu bar is a link.

On the QR Code Generator page is a form to fill out to create your code.  The first drop-down box provides options to create the different types of QR Codes described above.  The form changes depending on the type of code you want to create and you just simply fill out the boxes.

You can make different sizes of the code depending on how you are going to use it.  You will want a larger size it you are going to print it, and smaller sizes are fine if they are to be used in emails or on websites.

There are advanced formatting options that you can use or leave blank.  These options allow you to add lines of text above or below the code.  This enables you to label your codes.  For example you can say “Call Us Today” above a code with your phone number embedded in it, or the product name above the code to use in a display.

The color options allow you to change the code from the standard black and white images to your store’s colors.  Or you can create custom colors depending on the content of the code.  For example make the code for emeralds green on white and use purple for the code for amethyst.  You also have the option to change the color of the text you add and the color of the border around the code.

When changing the color of the code remember that you need to use to contrasting colors so that the scanner on smartphones will be able to read it.  If the foreground and background colors are similar the scanners will not be able to distinguish the code.

When finished scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the button to create the code. The page will refresh and your code will be displayed at the top of the page.  Right click on the code and download it to your computer.  You can also have an email sent to you if you put in your email address. It will have the link to your code in the email that is good for ten days.

QR Codes are easy to create and free to generate. Consumers of all ages recognize what they are and are drawn to scan them.  There is no reason to not try them out in your store and in your advertising this Christmas season.  Go ahead and have fun with them and see if your customers think it makes the shopping experience interactive and more enjoyable.

Brad Simon is co-owner and founder of Internet 4 Jewelers providing Retail Jewelers the information and training to market their stores effectively on the Internet.  In addition, they provide affordable Internet Marketing Solutions in Local Search Marketing, Social Network Management, and Mobile Marketing.  For more information contact him at Brad@Internet4Jewelers.com