#hipscan

17-11-16

Managed to wash the pots I’d bought for her food. Little cubes that connect together and have a soft bottom circle to help pop out the frozen food. They also come with a texta so you can label them. So clever.

Went to work for a team lunch with my old team. Chinese food and a board game called Dixit. Quite a fun game!! I should get it. Totally won. Heh.

Went to the radiology place to get bub’s repeat hip scan done. Was meant to have done it ages back, but kept forgetting. When we had the 6 month checkup, paed said we might not be able to now, as 6 months is generally the cut off age. According to him and the sonographer, the bones solidify and you can’t see properly as it casts a shadow so you can’t see the cup properly, so need an xray instead. But xrays are not as good as showing everything, as they’re more a slice of time, rather than showing full movement. I love learning stuff. Can you tell I ask a lot of questions of people? 😅

Bub was a trouper through it. That’s my girl. Such a warm day, though. Not the best day to have carried her from work, firstly heading to the wrong radiology place and also taking a wrong turn to the correct one. Oops. Stupid me.

Mobile marketing seems to be growing by leaps and bound on a daily basis. No one knows this better than Hipscan—and we have the tools you need to become a mobile marketing wizard in no time at all.

So what exactly can your Hipscan do for you? How can it help grow your business?

The following three reasons are only a glimpse into how effective Hipscan can be once you learn to utilize the tools properly.

An easier way to build a community and/or network: Believe it or not, there are still some people out there that are relatively new to QR codes, meaning their allure still works. By including social media icons for your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other accounts on the page your Hipscan links to, you stand a much larger chance of having new potential customers join your network. 

Also, the more locations in which you place your Hipscan, the more chances you have of being discovered.

An effective and seamless way to connect your online and offline material: By placing QR codes on printed material such as flyers, business cards, posters and so on, you are linking all of your printed promotional material to your online persona. When you can include video in this—perhaps placing a video on the landing page that is connected to your Hipscan—you add a whole new level to things. Hipscan truly is the best way to bridge the gap between printed media and the digital world!

Used as a call to action: Rather than include phone numbers or e-mail addresses after “contact us today!” or similar verbiage, you can actually have your Hipscan programmed to automatically call or e-mail your business. This is convenient you and the consumer, as it is perhaps the quickest and easiest way to get direct contact.

QR codes by themselves are likely to leave you disappointed in the results. Would you really be inclined to scan a code without any idea what it may lead to? Even a basic ad with a QR code may not be enough. There needs to be a clear call to action in order to get the best results possible. Simply adding a call to action may increase results by as much as 50%. This is something businesses can't afford not to do.

Keep Copy Simple

A QR code at the bottom of a long winded text isn't going to result in a large amount of scans. Instead, a simple ad with a descriptive or witty line will get attention and let people know exactly what the QR code is for. For instance, if the code leads to a coupon for 25% off a haircut, text such as “Spend less and look great” or “Great hairstyles, 25% off when you scan here” work much great.

Make It Visual

Simply text works great. It works even better with a visual. The image doesn't have to be large, but it should be descriptive. In the example above, an image of hair shears or someone sitting in a hair salon would be perfect for letting people know the code's purpose.

Make It Impossible Not To Scan

If you still want to be ambiguous, ensure the code is surrounded by something enticing. Ask questions or make consumers feel as if they have to scan. Think of how many people have joined social networks simply to fit in.

For instance, a QR code which leads to a website about better financial management might ask the question “Wouldn't you love to be master of your money?” A restaurant might tease with “The place everyone is talking about, don't be the last one to know.”

Get creative with a few lines of text or an interesting picture. A code on its own is boring. You must make people want to scan. Make them feel as if scanning will truly add value to their lives.

Many businesses make the mistake of believing SMS, or text messages, are more beneficial to their marketing strategy than QR codes. The reasoning behind this is most every cell phone has the ability to send and receive SMS messages. With QR codes, you must first download an app in order to scan the code.

While this does present a slight problem, you can do far more with QR codes than you can with SMS. Traditionally, scanning a code meant all you got in return was a simple text description, similar to a small web page, or an image. With Hipscan, your QR codes have far more functionality, making them more effective than SMS.

No Connection Required

Since QR code scanning apps don't require anything but a charged smartphone, you don't have to have an Internet connection or even a reliable wireless signal to get information. Scanning the code stores the information so you can view it later when you have a connection.

Send Customers Where You Want Them

When you use SMS, people must first text the message and then receive information. If you want them to visit a website, it would be quicker to just advertise the link. With QR codes through Hipscan, you choose where to send your visitors. It's also easy to change the content on the URL the code leads to. This makes them perfect for changing marketing needs quickly.

Easy To Place Anywhere

QR codes can be as large or small as necessary to fit on different media, such as boxes, tags, clothing and pretty much anything else. Text has to be easy to read, while a QR code just needs to be scanned. This prevents common SMS errors while texting to the wrong number.

Provide More Information

The Most Pampered Pet Owners Will Want to Check Out The New Interactive Site Powered by Hipscan

Mobile phones have gone to the dogs (and the cats) with the launch of a new innovative mobile experience from Touleh. Now the most pampered pets and their owners can use a mobile phone browser to shop at Touleh, get more information or even spin to win an instant in-store discount.

“Creating a truly memorable mobile experience was critical to the Touleh experience,” said Shima Deilami with Touleh. “We were very particular with the functionality that matched our brand image and experience.”

While visitors to the Touleh mobile experience can easily shop for supermodel pet fashion items and find out more about the pet destination where pets just have to be seen, it also has a unique customer experience – a spin to win wheel where valued customers can score instant in-store discounts.

“The spin-to-win wheel was a creative way for us to have fun with the Touleh brand while giving something back to our very loyal customers,” Deilami said. “The creative engagement was the key to success.”

The company is promoting the mobile experience in store using the latest in smartphone technology – QR codes. A customer simply needs to take a picture of the QR code in the store with a mobile phone special reader to be instantly directed to the mobile Touleh experience at www.touleh.net.

“It’s simple to use and customers get something back in return,” Deilami said. “All of our pampered pets can now live in style by their owners using our cool new mobile technology.”

The new mobile website is powered by Hipscan, an innovative provider of mobile experiences for companies worldwide.  Hipscan.com builds innovative mobile experiences to keep your customers engaged with your brand.

When scanning a QR code, most people assume they'll be directed to a web page or some other online media.  This may often be the case, but this doesn't mean that QR codes are limited to being linked to online targets alone, but they can also be linked to text and images.  Even when codes are linked to online content, however, there are a few reasons for scanning even if you don't have an active data connection.

You never know if the content is actually online.  Since content can be a simple image or text, passing up a scan due to an inactive data or WI-fi connection means you are passing up the chance to scan something that could provide valuable or interesting information or content that actually might not be online, meaning that you would be able to load it regardless.

QR code scanners are not data-dependent.  Scanning apps will work regardless of whether you're mobile has got an active internet connection, so if a QR code catches your eye and it does link to online content, your scanner can still give you access to the link so you can visit it later.  Remember, QR codes often link to exclusive content, so even if you pass up the scan with the intention of looking up the content later you might forget and you might not be able to find it.

It's a convenient way to save content for later.  Even if you're not immediately interested in what a QR code is linking to, scanning it and saving it to look at later is a great way to make sure you don't actually pass up something worthwhile.  Additionally, the more often people see others scan, the more widespread QR code usage will continue to become which is great for mobile marketing.  Saving content for later is also a fantastic way to research other QR code and mobile marketing campaigns. 

Hipscan has just made managing your QR code campaign even easier by providing sophisticated analytics that can be accessed from your Hipscan profile.  Automatically implemented and easy to interpret, these analytics will provide you with useful information about who your Hipscan is reaching.

Now your able to measure your campaigns and see how they influence users in the real world.  Additionally, when you setup the Hipscan profiles, you will also get Facebook/Twitter click through information!

Upon generating your Hipscan you'll gain access to your full Hipscan homepage, from which you can change what your Hipscan launches, change its color and size or select options for promoting your Hipscan.  Once your Hipscan has been successfully scanned by someone you'll gain access to the new analytics feature.  Clicking on the analytics link will direct you to a page that reports unique, total and most recent visits; website, Twitter and Facebook clicks; phone manufacturer, network provider, country and state or region of origin and a map representing the places from which your Hipscan has been accessed.  These straightforward analytics provide a dedicated set of information that makes it easy to keep track of how much traffic your Hipscan is generating.

Additionally, you'll now notice the SMS notification feature, allowing you to be informed immediately whenever your Hipscan has been scanned by someone.  Compatible with any 10 digit number on almost fifty carriers throughout the world, this new analytic feature means you can always stay in the know about your Hipscan-powered QR campaign.  Always working to provide the easiest, most useful tools for your campaign, Hipscan is the only full-service QR company to offer this convenient feature.  Try it out today by logging in or creating a new Hipscan and see how our new analytic features can help you manage your campaign.

And as you already know - poised to be the leader in QR codes and QR code marketing - Hipscan is available to users completely - FREE!

Hipscan worked with Verizon marketing campaign that offered San Francisco consumers the chance to win a new smartphone if they scanned the QR code as they entered any Verizon cell store and shared the code with their Facebook friends. If the friend bought a Verizon two-year phone contract, the original customer would receive a free phone.

During the week-long promotion, Verizon's sales increased 200 percent, generating $35,000 in addition revenue. Verizon reached 25,000 Facebook pages as a result of all the code sharing. The total cost of the campaign? A mere $1,000 to develop the Facebook app and print up the materials.

Hipscan provides a variety of website creation and design services built around QR codes. For example, for a monthly fee of $9 and a setup fee of $149, they will create a custom mobile website and promote it too. Given how this benefited Verizon, it might be worth a closer look.