There are a few months of the year when you, the jewelry retailer, need to focus all your advertising efforts. Those months are December, February and then perhaps Mother's Day. The rest of the year you are faced with various marketing decisions that have you deciding between special offers or gimmicks.

There are traditional methods of marketing for jewelers, unfortunately their effectiveness is waning as the digital world makes its way further into the physical world.

If you're trying to figure out, "What's next?" in marketing for you, the answer is QR codes.

Also known as 2D barcodes, some might even call them matrix codes, but the correct name is QR codes. The QR stands for Quick Response and they were originally created in Japan but have made their way around the world because of the growth of smartphones and because they are so useful.

The QR codes are essentially a fast way to find out more information about a product, service or advertisement right from your mobile device instead of having to wait until the next time you are at a computer. Simply snap a photo of the QR code and the information is instantly on your phone.

The information you link to can be a website, a video, or some other content that the creator of the code has developed. In the USA, QR codes first made their way into magazine ads, cigarette boxes, movie posters and other places that had extremely high traffic or viewership. Naturally it's the younger generation that quickly understood the QR code concept. This means most smartphone users under 30 understand this, and that's your bridal customer base.

Want to get the attention of potential bridal customers? Step into the digital age with the QR codes.

Of course, there is a great deal more to it than the technology, but the idea is sound and simple: shoppers in your store scan the barcode inside the showcase using their mobile device. You might have to show them how to download a free barcode scanner. Once she scans the code in the showcase the shopper is taken to your mobile website or some other mobile-enabled content and provided with information that you, the retail jeweler, control.

Depending on your website, you could lead the customer through additional online activities to collect usable sales data and even have them add products to their online wish list. Remember the idea here is that the customer is standing in your store, browsing around and getting information about products or designers without interacting with your sales staff. Allowing them to add items to their wish list means they can look at them in the future from their mobile device or from your website. It also gives you the oppertunity to stay in touch with them.

Adding QR codes to your other marketing also gives shoppers a way to quickly look at your online information when they are not in your store. QR codes could be placed in newspaper ads, on direct mail envelopes and other ad where people would have a chance to scan the code. A billboard on the highway is not a good place to put a QR code, but a billboard at a traffic light could be. A large sign in the corridors of a subway station is not a good place for a QR code, but at the subway platform or bus stop might be.

Simply consider the possibilities that you can create interaction with people in the real world because the curiosity of the QR code made them scan the photo. This new approach removes the need to keep throwing out random offers to get customers back in the store. Instead a new digital dialogue can be established with your shoppers; building and maintaining a relationship that benifits both them and your jewelry store.

Are you ready for mobile marketing?

Give us a call to talk more. 973-413-8211