Belly Up to the Barcodes, Boys!

Barcodes have come a long way from the UPC codes that took grocery stores by storm in the 1970s.

On one day recently —Black Friday, 2010—product barcode scanning was 30 times higher than the same day in 2009. Thirty times in just 12 months! If my retirement fund behaved that way I wouldn't have to keep working until I'm 80. But that's another story.

In order of popularity, toy scans beat out electronics (#2) and housewares (#3). But books beat out everybody. Seems that folks with smart phones also like to read. Hmmm. I thought they liked to text each other and compare notes on who had more electronica on their phone. Shows what I know.

Anyway, the huge increase in barcode usage started with the acceptance of smart phone technology. Just a few years ago smart phones were simply clever ads on TV. Today 30% of us—phone-using Americans, that is—have smart phones with their myriad downloadable applications. "Apps" for the cognoscente.

Among those apps are ways to find the best deal on a specific item in a specific geographic area, price comparisons, manufacturers' coupons, and offers from restaurants where you can relax between forays into the maelstrom at the mall.

Jumping on the barcode bandwagon, Big Box retailers like Toys R US and Target as well as cyber behemoth Amazon are using barcodes to push product.

Toys R Us stores have barcode scanners so sales clerks can scan mobile e-mail coupons straight from the smart phones. Target lets customers earn points simply for entering the store and scanning certain items. No purchase necessary.

Amazon lets users scan items in brick-and-mortar stores see if they can get a better deal through the online retailing giant. (Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and muse wasn't Times' Man of the Year a decade ago just because he had a pretty face!)

But barcodes are a lot more flexible than just aiding shopaholics. They have a real place in marketing for smaller companies, too! Companies like yours and mine.

For instance, want to get people from your corporate brochure or business card to your really kickin' website? A QR code does the trick. Point. Click. Show off your flash.

I mean, how impressive is that?

QR codes are also popping up on road signs, billboards, window posters, bus signage, newspaper advertising, church bulletins, sports programs and even clothing.

I've seen them on "For Sale" signs in front of million dollar houses; take a cyber tour of your dream home and never leave your car.

Click on the sign in the restaurant window to see the daily specials.

Click on the politician's roadside sign and watch him tell you his policy statement on road congestion while you're stuck in traffic.

Click on the barcoded tee shirt worn by a landscaping company employee and see what the company can do to help your weed-infested lawn even as you see guided tours of their favorite success stories.

Once you know what QR codes and a bit of imagination can do for your marketing, you'll see a thousand uses.

It's what you do with it that counts.

Belly up to the barcode, boys. It's almost closing time and you need to get with it.

RU ready for QR Codes?

QR—or quick response—codes are starting to pop up like whack-a-moles at the County Fair this summer. Or to paraphrase the brilliant possum philosopher, Pogo: “A few months ago I couldn’t tell you what a QR Code was, and now we’re doing them!” Such is the speed of today’s technology evolution.

If your grandparents were thrilled with Ferris wheels and dunking stools, today’s younger, hipper crowd demands laser tag and virtual 3-D games on the midway. QR codes get you into their new world of direct marketing.

So what exactly is a QR code and what can it do for you, a marketer of a small or mid-sized firm?

Let’s say you have a need to communicate a message to a specific audience. So you come to Paul&Partners.

“Help us get the word out about our new widget,” you say. “We don’t have a big budget, we want the approach to be cutting edge because our product is cutting edge, we want to know about who responds, and oh yes, we need it fast.”

Cha-ching! A perfect solution for QR codes!

My head is spinning like a Merry-Go-Round, full of ideas and ready to catch the gold ring for you. Here’s my game plan:

Step #1: We develop a mailing piece incorporating the 1” square box with a vaguely checkerboard QR code pattern.

Step #2: Cognoscenti know that they can scan the QR code with a smartphone which leads to a microsite we also develop for you.

The microsite tells about your widget and why it’s the best widget ever. But it’s interactive, too. The recipient can sign up for your free newsletter…or download introductory offer coupons…watch a short demonstration video…share the information with a friend…or enter a contest to win his very own widget, absolutely free of charge! Then the microsite politely asks the respondent for his contact information. (Yep, that’s the gold ring!)

Step #3: The recipient leaves what he wishes to share, then closes down the microsite. Instantaneously you know you had a visitor. You know who he was and what information he wanted to share.

Step #4: We send out a “thank you for visiting us” email or text message on your behalf using the contact information your respondent kindly shared. This message can include more information on the widget, “must-have” widget accessories or other “would you like fries with that?” upselling.

If QR codes are designed to give you fast access to and real-time responses from your customers, QR codes are also designed to let your customers choose how involved they want to become and how much contact information they are willing to share.

Guessing the number of jelly beans in the jar has never been easier.

By combining technologies, you are entering the next generation of direct marketing. You are reaching out to the Gen X and Gen Y crowd on their own terms. And you are being proactive to generate pre-qualified business leads.

Trying not to sound like techno babble, the strength of this approach is its multi-channel nature, culminating in a closed loop system that tracks, analyzes and measures the value of your campaign. Try saying that with a mouthful of cotton candy!

The whole process builds an involved customer base as it reinforces brand loyalty.

And that’s just as sweet as Auntie Em’s peach pie which won the blue ribbon at the county fair again this year.

You’ll see her pie on display next to the whack-a-moles.

Want to make extra money working at home?

In days of yore, maybe you could make a living—or at least earn enough to pay the phone bill—by stuffing envelopes at home in the evenings and weekends. The kids could help, too, it was that easy.

No more. Today’s mailshop is surprisingly high-tech, and getting more so.

Mom and Pop lost out about 20 years ago when barcodes, presorts and postal reports became de rigueur. The required software and equipment cost more than the kitchen table crew made in a year. Exit Mom and Pop.

As computerization expanded, the high-tech movement gained momentum. Mail had to be reliably “machine readable.” That meant addresses in specific fonts…in exact locations…and with enough density and contrast to enhance machine readability.

Precision and predictability became the mantra. Mailshops that couldn’t deliver both joined Mom and Pop in the unemployment line.

Because high-speed machine processors had trouble with self-mailers, newsletters and other flapping multi-sheeted mail, mailshops bought tabbers to close the gap and stop the flap.

Merlin ratcheted up the ante yet again. Merlin confirmed addresses didn’t smear, run or chip, that they were straight and not dot-matrixed. Mail that didn’t pass Merlin lost postage discounts. A lot of mailhouse equipment was rendered obsolete overnight.

Merlin changed inkjets, too. After Merlin, mailshops stocked a variety of inks to support different paperstocks. Since Merlin monitored address quality, machine operators had to know which inks to use on gloss stocks…newsprint…60# white offset. Use the wrong ink, and you’ve bought a postage problem.

Basic meter inks went high tech, too. Tiny metal fibers embedded in the ink alerted postal machinery that the meter was legitimate and not an illegal facsimile. Mailshops replaced their meters.

Even affixing stamps has evolved. Not long ago, all stamps were lick ‘em and stick ‘em. Mailshops bought stampers that could do the trick. Now USPS sells mostly pressure sensitive stamps and mailshops have new stamping equipment

Virtually every facet of mailshop production has changed in recent memory. Mom and Pop wouldn’t recognize the computers, high-speed readers, computerized equipment or the complicated software needed to run today’s basic mailshop. A study issued last year by a printing industry association determined that getting into the mailing business requires a minimum investment of $500,000 for equipment and $400,000 for salaries. Mom and Pop wouldn’t have a chance any more.

And changes are still coming. By next year, intelligent barcodes will be mandatory. Once again, mailshops will be replacing equipment, buying multi-thousand dollar licenses, and adding software to support the 65-digit barcodes.

But not all changes are hardware/software. Staff has evolved in sophistication, too. They have to know complicated rules on mail preparation, where to buy special stamps, how to schedule drop shipments. They have to be researchers, politicians, technicians and manual laborers.

Procedural changes are afoot as well. Starting in late November, all presorted mail must be NCOA’d. Mailshops miss that little detail at their own peril.

As the USPS has propelled this evolution, the USPS (Direct Mail Manual) has grown thicker, attesting to the operational complexity mailshops face today. Once a modest directory, the DMM today is the size of the DC Yellow Pages. That complexity has taken a toll. Seemingly contradictory requirements cause confusion and misunderstanding on a regular basis between mailshops and postal workers. Worse yet, the USPS does not uniformly follow its own guidelines, though it is making efforts to resolve discrepancies.

To that end, the USPS has just announced Service Standards for mail delivery. For years the USPS has held mailers accountable for badly prepared mail and non-deliverable addresses. Now the USPS will hold itself accountable for mail delivery.

Using intelligent barcodes to track mail through the postal system, the Service Standards call for most standard mail to be delivered within 11 days; First Class in 1-3 days; periodicals in 1-9 days and packages in 2-8 days. Facilities failing to meet the Service Standards will be penalized.

Mailshops are rejoicing. For years clients have held mailshops responsible for mail entered into the postal system. (“You touched it last! Now find my missing mail!”) Finally the USPS will hold itself accountable for delivery.

So where is the mailshop industry heading? Obviously, to ever greater computerization, to faster, more complex machinery and more expensive software. That’s inevitable as the USPS seeks to increase volume and reduce cost. Probably to smaller, more targeted and more personalized mailings. That’s the predictable outcome of postage rate increases and the success of alternative media.

Yes, the mailing industry and USPS are in a dance together. The Post Office plays the tune, but the mailing industry pays the piper.