When to use a QR code

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, September 5, 2011

QR codes are new, shiny, and trendy. They can also be very useful. I've seen lots of great examples of QR codes in the wild being used in really creative ways. Unfortunately I've also seen them used awkwardly and in ways that degrade usability. 

If you're not familiar with QR codes, Wikipedia has some info. The term "QR code" is short for "Quick Response code" and refers to a square matrix barcode that holds information. When that code is scanned, it delivers information to the person scanning it. It can lead to websites, videos, or can transmit information to the user's phone.

So how do you decide when to use QR codes? 

1. When you have a mobile website. If your website is not mobile optimized, please don't send people to it with QR codes as it can be an awkward experience. However, if your website is optimized for mobile devices, this can be a good opportunity to use strategically-placed QR codes on real-world signage or objects. These QR codes can lead the user to additional information or calls to action on your mobile website.

2. When it improves usability. I see a lot of QR codes being used in situations in which it's clear that the publisher or business is simply doing it to look progressive or just to try it out. If a QR code makes a task more difficult, it should not be used. However, if a QR code actually saves time and enhances a transaction, it's a good use of the technology. Korea's Tesco supermarkets offered us a brilliant example of how QR codes made life easier for customers.

3. When you can offer a compelling reason to ask for the information. Your constituents probably don't want to scan a QR code just to receive more marketing. Instead, motivate them to scan codes by offering them something of value. This is good content marketing. It can be a special offer, an educational publication, or some sort of entertainment. If your constituents have a compelling and specific reason to scan the code, you'll see a much better conversion rate.

4. In the "on the go" context. If your QR code is going to be received when someone is sitting at a desk, it's probably not a great use of the technology. I've seen QR codes on postcards before that waste an opportunity to send the recipient to a full, information-rich website but instead use a QR code as the call to action. This moves to call to action to a more restricted mobile device. Why do this when your recipient most likely has a desktop or laptop computer sitting right there on the desk? Instead, think of ways to capture attention when people are away from the office. QR codes are most powerul when they integrate seamlessly into a person's context and make it possible to acquire information that would otherwise be more difficult to get.

QR codes can be used in a lot of creative ways. Just make sure you are thinking carefully about the context, usability, and content of your situation.

7 ways to find business blog topics

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, August 29, 2011

As I've mentioned many times before, blogging is a powerful component of a good content marketing plan. It's useful for educating prospect and constituents, it can help guide website visitors toward calls to action, and it can also be good for SEO.

However, one of the most difficult things about maintaining a good blog is consistently finding topics. Let's say you are publishing a new blog post once a week. In my opinion, this is the minimum. That means you need to come up with 52 topics throughout the year to write about. And remember that these blog posts need to be educational, useful, well-written, and tuned for SEO. This takes time and effort. So how do you come up with topics? Here are a few ways.

1. Use questions from your customers. I'm sure most of us receive all sorts of questions from customers (or members/constituents) related to products, services, and problems. Rather than just answering the same question hundreds of times, why not write a detailed blog post with lots of useful information about that issue? Not only does this give you a ready-made article to send to people next time the question is asked, but it also demonstrates your expertise to prospects.

2. Create a list of resources. Most organizations are in a position to make recommendations to their constituents and give them resources that can be helpful to them. Be a content curator and publish "top 10" lists of external websites or resources that your customers will find useful.

3. Write about services you provide. Sometimes your customers are not aware of all the services you provide or perhaps don't understand the importance of taking advantage of them. Use this opportunity to take one of your less well-known products or services and write a blog post explaining its value. I recently wrote about mobile website design and how to approach it and immediately got a number of inquiries from existing clients wanting to learn more about our mobile website design service.

4. Write about things you wish your customers knew. Is there a recurring situation that makes you say "I wish our customers would do [...]" or "I wish they knew [...]"? If so, write about it! Explain the issue to your customers in a detailed and helpful manner. They will appreciate the time you took to provide insight and education. This can be especially useful for non-profits since a lot of their work involves educating the community on the specifics of what they do and why their constituents might want to show support.

5. Tell stories. Do you ever have great stories about your customers? Write about it! Focus the attention on your customers and tell stories about challenges they overcame or great things they are doing. When appropriate, include information about how you helped them.

6. Ask questions. Would it be useful to gather feedback from your constituents on a certain topic? If so, present some background information and ask a specific question. This encourages discussion via comments. If you have a socially optimized blog then this means more inbound traffic via social networks.

7. Get the whole team involved. Chances are your organization has one person designated to write content (perhaps you) but that doesn't mean you can't recruit some help. Poll your team to find out what issues and questions they receive from customers. You might discover a whole list of topics just by getting new perspectives from others in your organization. Pay special attention to those in customer service.

Remember that an effective blog is useful, educational, consistent, well-optimized, and is not an overt sales pitch. With the right theme and a constant flow of good topics, your blog can become a powerful sales, marketing, and customer service tool.

The referral that never happened

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, August 22, 2011

It was Saturday and my plans included heading to a health fair at a local church to support one of my clients who was exhibiting there, supporting one of my friends who is an organizer of the event, and giving blood. The event sounds great and is a terrific community event that I expect a lot of people will be interested in.

Those who know me know that I am very "plugged in" and communicate a lot online. So what did I do this morning before heading to the health fair? I went online and planned to spend 30 seconds sharing info about the event on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ to encourage others to attend. So I Googled the name of the health fair. What did I find? Well, the only listing that came up was an event posted on my client's website with the title of the event because they were exhibiting. While this is a good endorsement for our work at SpinWeb and the fact that we create SEO-friendly websites, unfortunately they had not placed any information about the event online other than the title so I couldn't use that.

So I then just Googled the name of the church thinking that I would find the event listed there. I did find the church's website but when I got there I was pretty disappointed. There was no events section and the health fair was not listed anywhere on the website. At this point I'm thinking "oh well, I tried to promote it" and I gave up.

Now, let's do some math. I have (at the time of writing this blog) 1,034 Facebook friends, 3,158 Twitter followers, 1,200 LinkedIn connections, and I'm in 328 circles on Google+. That's up to 5,719 people that I can talk to online with a single click. A lot of the people I am connected to are based in Indianapolis. If we assume that over 50% of my connections are in Indianapolis (a very conservative assumption) that's a lot of people who might be able to attend this event. Let's add to that the number of people who could have liked, shared, tweeted, and endorsed the event in their networks after I shared it.

Had the church hosting the event structured their website well with event information and socially optimized content, I would have easily clicked, shared, and endorsed the health fair to thousands of people in about 30 seconds. Those people could have then clicked on my link, visited the event landing page, and gotten all the information they need about it. Instead, there was nothing listed online therefore nothing got shared.

Now you're probably wondering why I didn't just post a quick note with info about about the health fair on my own. Yes, I will probably still do that. However, I don't have all the information. All I know is the location, time, and a couple of exhibitors. I don't know the schedule of events, I don't know who will be exhibiting, and I don't have any compelling details to share. The most I can do is say "hey, go to the health fair... here's the location!" which is much weaker than a true event landing page.

I am one person. How many other people would have shared the event had they been given the opportunity and good, informational, online content? I know hundreds of people in Indianapolis who are just as plugged in (if not more so) who could have also been inluencers and shared the event with even more people than I could.

Are you giving your constituents every possible opportunity to help you spread the word about your organization? Are you providing clear, detailed, shareable information online? Do you have a good Content Management System so it's easy to maintain content? Are you making it easy for influencers to share your content?

Online marketing is not "point and shoot" anymore. It's a partnership with an organic system of digital outposts, influencers, and networks. If you think you might be missing opportunities like the one described here, it might be time to evaluate your online presence.

Mobile website design

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Sunday, August 14, 2011

It's no secret that a lot of people access the web on mobile devices. While most smartphones have a full web browser that can view a website in its entirety, it's not always a pleasant experience to zoom and scroll around a lot to get to the information you need. This is where mobile website design becomes important.

With more and more people using smartphones to access the web, it's a good idea to design a version of your website specifically for mobile devices. This is easily done and a well-designed website will automatically detect the device used to view it and serve up the proper version accordingly.

So what goes into a mobile website? Here are some guidelines to follow.

1. Only show the basics. When people are viewing your website on a mobile device, they are probably not going to spend a lot of time digging through it on their tiny screens. They are most likely looking for a key piece of information, such as your phone number. Strip out all but the essential information that is most useful to viewers in a mobile context.

2. Auto-detect the device. I've seen some websites that host the mobile version on a separate URL such as "m.domain.com" or www.domain.mobi." This is annoying because it requires the user to take an extra step to switch between sites. Your website should detect the device and serve up the most appropriate version automatically to make it as easy as possible for the viewer.

3. Reduce content to single columns. Mobile devices have limited screen space so it's important to make good use of that space by displaying all content in a single column with no sidebars. This keeps your content readable and usable.

4. Make sure phone numbers are rendered with text, not images. Phone numbers should usually be rendered as text on any website but it's especially important on mobile websites. If the phone number is part of an image, then it won't be clickable on a smart phone which makes it very inconvenient for the user to try to call you. Make sure phone numbers are rendered as text so it's easy for users to "click to call."

5. Avoid drop-down menus. This menu style is not good for usability on any website but on a mobile device drop-down menus are even more cumbersome. Stick to simple navigation that can be accessed with a simple click to make it easier for mobile users to navigate your website.

It's not difficult to create a mobile version of your website but it's important to consider the context in which your viewers are accessing your website. By keeping it simple and well-prioritized, you will ensure a great experience on a variety of mobile devices.

Content marketing with an editorial calendar

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, August 8, 2011

Modern technology has made it very easy for organizations to maintain a steady pattern of quality content via the web. A modern website is built on a Content Management System (CMS) which means that non-technical people have the ability to publish content very easily in a variety of formats, like blogs, press releases, events, etc.

The difficult part of maintaining a steady system of information is not the mechanics of publishing the content, but rather creating a process for making it happen. It's easy for busy marketing directors to have the best of intentions when it comes to maintaining a strong content marketing strategy but when other things get in the way, it can be difficult to keep up.

This is when an editorial calendar may come in handy. Rather than try to create and publish content when you find the time, it can be useful to block out time each week to consistently execute a system that sets the proper process in motion for your content publishing.

The key is to set up a process that you can follow each week and refer to in order to provide a framework and level of accountability. This helps you execute your content marketing plan consistently. Since gaps and interruptions in execution can dilute the effectiveness of your plan, it's important to stay on schedule.

Any good CMS will let you future-date content. This means that you can create and post all the blogs, event, press, and other content for the week in one sitting and then let your website auto-update on the schedule that you have determined in advance. Armed with this power, your next step is to set up a schedule, called an editorial calendar, which determines when you will publish.

For example, your content marketing plan may call for publishing a blog once a week, a press release once a month, a podcast every other week, and a webinar once a month. It also calls for various social media posts throughout each week tied to all of this content. You would want to look at your calendar and pinpoint exactly when each of these items will be published, and then create a checklist for yourself so that you can quickly create the content you need without worrying about it.

Since most work weeks start on Monday (unless you are a ROWE, like SpinWeb) it usually makes sense to block out some time each Friday to create content and then schedule everything for the following week. Then, when you get busy, you can rest assured that the basic level of content distribution is occurring occurring without your intervention. For social media posting, I like to use HootSuite (affiliate link) for everything since it offers a great publisher feature that makes this very easy.

Sound simple and obvious? In theory, yes. However, it's very easy to get too busy to publish information on a consistent basis which means your online presence can end up looking stale. Try creating an editorial calendar and see if that helps you stay on track. The combination of a strong plan plus tools for scheduling content can help you maintain a more effective content marketing strategy.