Who says an old dog can’t learn new tricks. Zig Ziglar, 82-year old motivational maverick, salesperson, and author just published his 12th book, Find Your Success Code: Born to Win, which features a QR Code® that takes up one third of the front cover.
Ziglar is no doubt pulling out all the stops to hit another home run just as he did nearly for decades ago with See You at the Top, which sold 1.6 million copies and is currently in its 25th edition.
Like Madonna’s tactic of staying relevant by doing duets with Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera, Nicki Minaj, or Cee Lo Green, Ziglar is staying relevant by using today’s technology to drive his point home – find your success code. According to Publishing Perspective, QR Codes might become commonplace with publishers.
Vibe Magazine Tries to Push the Needle with QR
Last year, Vibe magazine introduced its first digital magazine, available only via a QR Code on the cover. Though the hip hop magazine had been featuring QR Codes inside for three months, this was the first time it graced the cover. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to test the code, which was without the http:// necessary for most readers to open the link in a browser.
Learn the lesson… TEST, TEST, and then RE-TEST with lots of different phones and in lots of different ways.
Other Uses of QR Beyond the Cover
If you are authoring corporate coffee table books, CEO biographies, company history books or success stories like Steve Jobs, there are many other uses of the emerging technology to consider.
Here are a few starts on how you can leverage QR codes in your publications:
- Use a Twitter QR Code so readers are prompted to follow the author or tweet comments about the publication
- Link to templates or applications for tracking personal improvements (think Self Help)
- Link to a shopping list of ingredients the reader needs (think Recipe book)
- Link to a map and describe the location (travel books)
- Link to an audio file demonstrating pronunciation (think Language guides)
- Link to a video demonstration how to perform what you’re describing (product guides)
- Link to additional content relevant to the article, game, contest (think Facebook)
- Conduct surveys, gather feedback (think readership studies on your corporate magazine)
Obviously as a marketer, uses of QR Codes are endless. If you decide to use them in your materials, here are the five golden rules.
- Provide some instructions to the reader so they know how to use the code
- Drive to mobile friendly content that enhances their learning
- Include the URL in case the reader prefers to gain the information via a computer, not a mobile device
- Add value to the reader by making the additional content relevant
- Track the performance of your codes or what’s the point
- Test the codes before publishing (do we really need to say why you have to test… see the Vibe comments above)
For nine more ideas on how to turn your book or magazine into a multi-media experience, visit Start a Wildfire. Now take a 15-minute brainstorming coffee break to re-think and re-invent your existing publications and approach, just like Ziglar did.
QR Code® is a registered trademark of DensoWave.