Couple QR Codes with Video Marketing and there’s a great chance that you will find success with your marketing program! Are you using QR codes with video marketing yet? If you’re not, you better get cracking!!
Recently my company, All Things Social Online, was in the midst of training real estate agents how to use social media and use QR codes with their video marketing. QR codes and video are no-brainers for real estate. Someone in the real estate group asked about other ways, outside of real estate, that people are using QR codes.
So I thought I would share how I’m using QR codes and video marketing for event and destination marketing at Lake Arrowhead….
QR Codes for Event and Destination Marketing
For years the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce has marketed our annual Home Tour via direct mail; each year I would design a three-fold brochure describing the event, as well as our destination, with a ticket reservation form included. The mailing list for this event is approx. 1500 so it was always a fairly expensive way to get the word out, even though I personally did the design and we printed them in-house. But it was the best way we could promote the event without “breaking the bank” as there was never enough money to run a solid print campaign.
Earlier this year, one of our Chamber employees, came to me to talk about that brochure. She mentioned that most people don’t send the ticket reservation form back to the Chamber, they either call or book online. She suggested somehow changing the “official” Home Tour invitation and doing things differently. Thanks to her we’ve changed the invitation to a four-color postcard, designed and printed in house that encourages those who want tickets to purchase them online. It is costing about ½ the price of our old brochure.
Then I decided add some “cutting edge” marketing to the post card and all the marketing for the event – a special QR Code which links to a video regarding the Home Tour on their phone. The QR Code is in the upper right of this post if you would like to try it out!
And if you want to watch the video on your computer (and be sure to click the “Like” button too please!!) just click on it below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-VH5w-6DBM
QR Code First Step
A few months ago I added a poster in our Visitor Center that has a QR code that goes directly to our Facebook page so people can “Like” us right on the spot. It was the first time that we used a QR code and it has been a success as part of our destination marketing program. It’s interesting watching how people react to the poster – it causes lots of discussion both by those who think it is a clever idea and by those who simply wonder what it is. It’s a win either way as those who don’t know about QR codes leave feeling a little more enlightened and those who do know about them immediately “Like” our page.
There’s nothing hotter than video marketing right now, so we’re happy to take advantage of free QR Codes (remember, I’m all about marketing with little or no money). Couple that with YouTube video marketing, and we’re able to show event attendees just what our events are all about and what our destination offers.
There’s no doubt in my mind that this type of marketing is going to bring more attention to our events and to our destination ~ it’s going to play as big a part in our marketing efforts as it does with real estate professionals. How are you using QR codes and video to build your business?