If you’re the owner or marketing manager of a small business, then you are likely in charge of running your own advertising and also wear the hat of the media buy planner as well. Planning your media buys is likely a painful chore – requiring you to either spend hours on your own, determining what to place where, or worse, spending an afternoon with a sales rep when you’d much rather be working on something else.
When you’re asked to add an additional element to your ad campaign, your first inclination is probably to run screaming from the room, grab a sharp object and stab the person who suggested it. In the eye, preferably. Maybe twice, yeah, once for each eye.
But wait – what if I told you that you could integrate ONE TIME — one offer, one pass, one engagement creative on this new platform and then keep using the output EVERY TIME YOU PLACE AN AD ELSEWHERE?
It’s really that simple. Create a single offer in your admin. Take that QR code and URL that are generated for the single offer. Use them over and over again.
This is not about coupons. Or discounts. Or flash sales. Though you can reasonably do each of those things with a single offer; with some scheduling aforethought, you can do all of those things with a single offer. You don’t need to create a ton of passes and distribute them, or manage them after the fact. A single offer is plenty for the average small business. You want to stay in contact with your customer base, not overwhelm them.
There are two main ways to integrate MobileSavings into your existing ad plans –
QR codes and URL placement
Both methods are very effective; each serves a slightly different purpose and is best suited to specific types of marketing collateral.
1 – URL placement – this method is simple. You have a URL for each pass campaign, or to your Merchant Landing Page, and you insert this URL into all marketing materials or content you produce that will give recipients the ability to click directly through to your campaign. Sending an email to your user database? Put a URL in the body that links to your latest pass campaign. Have a sidebar spot on your existing website that’s open? Put a URL to your Merchant Landing Page in the space – after all, it’s much easier to whip up a new Announcement than reformat your website. Do you have an SMS campaign to loyalty members via mobile phone? Add the URL into the SMS message for a direct link to your specific pass campaign.
2 – QR code insertion – this method is a little trickier but that’s only because you need to make sure you have distributed your MobileSavings campaign in order for the pass QR code to drop successfully into your users mobile wallet. Each campaign or loyalty rewards program has a QR code that is specific to it, and once your campaign has been distributed the QR code manages the pass insertion directly into the users mobile wallet. QR codes need to be scanned with the smart phone in order to work, so they are better suited for print ads (try putting them in the upper right hand corner for maximum impact without interfering with the body of your ad) or in-store Point of Sale materials, flyers or TV spots (be SURE to make the QR code large enough the user can scan with their phone and get a good read – bottom left is best placement), and any other signage you’ll be using to promote an event or other engagement.
By including the URL/QR code on your advertising, you’ll accomplish two things – getting more pass campaigns directly into user wallets, and setting your business up to take advantage of on the fly ad changes (see the video below). Direct action by the user will result in direct engagement between you and the user that is immediate and satisfying to both parties.
Start simple and small — you’re likely to find it better to stay that way. It’s easy to use the same URL or QR code information repeatedly, and make changes to the distributed passes when you have something new to say to your customers. That’s all.