The term old
media and its companion legacy media refer
to traditional ways of communicating with customers. Printers are generally
considered to be part of old media, along with other paper-based industries
like newspapers, magazines, and books as well as radio, television and movies.
In contrast, new media is digital and
includes the Internet, websites, and most computer-based forms of
communication.
New media is exciting because it brings new tools
to the process of communicating with customers, tools like full-color digital
printing, with highly personalized sales messages and interactive outreach. New
media also empowers prospects and customers to quickly and easily find reliable
information about products, services and vendors.
At PaperGraphics we present our customers many ways to help you take advantage of new media to
communicate with your customers and prospects. We recommend that you add these
to your sales and marketing activities rather than replacing what you are
already doing. This is because we firmly believe that new media is not
replacing old, but adding to available communication possibilities.
QR
Codes
One of the more exciting examples of new
technology is the QR code. QR stands for Quick Response, aptly named because
the contents of the code can be decoded at high speed by devices including
mobile phones equipped with a camera, net books and laptop computers, desktop
computers, cameras and televisions.
QR codes are the new way for customers and
prospects to reach a web page, a location (using geocodes) or obtain
information about products and services. Add a QR code containing contact
information to your business card and someone can add you to their contact list
by reading the QR code with their cell phone or computer. Add a QR code to
individual products on your web site and enable customers or prospects to
download product details and a phone number for ordering, or link to a YouTube video.
QR codes were developed in 1994 by the Japanese
company Denso-Wave as a way to track parts in vehicle manufacturing. The code
is a 2-D symbology because it stores information both horizontally and
vertically and thus is able to hold much more data than a one-dimensional bar
code.
The typical barcode holds a maximum of 20 digits,
while a QR code can hold up to 7,089 characters. In addition, QR codes take up
about one-tenth the space of a bar code. This ability to hold a great deal of information in a small space is
what makes QR codes so valuable for sales and marketing.
QR codes are
quite common in Japan and their use is growing in Europe. In the United States,
QR codes are just beginning to appear but are expected to spread rapidly. A QR
code may be applied to many substrates – paper, plastic, even cloth – and on
many surfaces, including curved ones – walls, floors, billboards, t-shirts.
About the only limitation is ensuring that the QR code is of sufficient
resolution to be read by the mobile phone or other device.
An example of how
QR codes are being used is the Google program Google Places, a way for businesses to manage their presence on
Google. Any business that is selected by Google as a Favorite Place receives a window decal that includes a QR code that
takes the viewer to the Google Place Page for the business. Google has already
distributed 100,000 Favorite Places decals and is planning a second round of
50,000 more.
With Google
promoting QR codes, they are likely to become very important in search
marketing. Google suggests that if your web site contains a QR code, search
engines will see a new image and index it, and might in the future index the
content in them.
Many mobile
phones, including iPhone, Blackberry, Motorola Droid and any phone that runs on
the Android operating system, have application software available for scanning
QR codes. Some phones may have the app already installed on the phone; if not,
it can be easily downloaded and installed. One feature is necessary, though –
the mobile phone must have a camera. After reading the QR code, a phone with a
web browser can connect to a URL, download an MP3 file, dial a phone number or
send an e-mail.
QR codes have
other uses besides marketing material. An educational organization can direct
people to reference or training materials. An online product catalog can use a
QR code to provide complete product specifications. Retail locations can use QR
codes to provide additional information – such as a restaurant providing
nutritional information for items on the menu. A QR code on a direct mail piece
can take the recipient directly to the web site of the business offering the
product or service.
Variable
data printing
High speed copying in both black and white and
color has been a standard service offering of PaperGraphic Printing since the early 1980's. Once digital printers began to replace analog
copiers, the possibility of variable data
printing (VDP) was realized.
VDP enables various elements of a document –
text, graphics and images – to change from one page to the next with no
degradation of print speed or quality. From a production standpoint, VDP is a
continuum from the simplest mail merge (changing the name and salutation of a
letter) to versioning (customizing the document for a defined group rather than
for a specific individual) to 1-to-1 printing where each document is completely
unique. An example of simple VDP is a post card that is printed with the name
and address of the intended recipient. If the photograph on the post card and
part of the sales message changes depending on the demographic characteristics
of the recipient, that’s versioning. If the post card contains a photograph of
the recipient as well as text with personal information, that’s 1-to-1
marketing.
VDP requires three things: a document template
containing all the information that stays the same from page to page (the
static data), a mailing list containing addressing information and recipient
characteristics, and a database containing all the information that changes
from page to page (the variable data). The static template also indicates the
location of variable data elements within the document.
VDP has many applications: 1-to-1 direct
marketing, customer relationship management, explanation
of Benefits forms and other insurance documents, catalogs, promotional material
and lots more. Its popularity is based on two advantages: for advertising and
marketing material – particularly direct mail marketing campaigns – response
rates generally rise as the level of personalization goes up. And for
informational documents such as insurance benefit booklets, VDP allows a
booklet to be created that contains only the information pertinent to the
insured person – no more and no less.
Call
us for QR codes and digital printing
We invite you to call us to discuss how QR codes
and variable data printing can benefit your business or organization. We’ll
help you generate a QR code that is appropriate for your intended application
and add it to business cards and marketing materials – either now, or at the
next printing.
At PaperGraphics we can teach you how to
make more money through our ManagedMarketing™ program where we can handle all
of your printing needs but also teach your staff how to prepare, invite and
close the sale with your prospects. In fact, we are the only printer in this market
that is certified to do so.
If your
organization or business needs to increase sales we can help. Call us at 254-773-7391 to set up a no obligation consultation where we assess
your current situation and offer a plan of attack that works for your budget.
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