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June Challenge: Using QR codes for marketing.

Real Estate Agent with C21 Solid Gold Realty, Brick, NJ, 732-920-2100 NJ RE 0573010

June 03, 2011 10:59 AM

This month's ActiveRain Challenge is to "Create a marketing piece that incorporates a QR code, MS Tag or other mobile marketing application." This is my submission.

I've been adding QR codes to my open house flyers. While still 'perfecting' it, I've found that it both gets attention and is helpful for follow-up information. I've found that following a recommendation to create a QR code with short URL works best. Less clutter.

In my latest open house flyer for 1114 Del Dor Drive, Point Pleasant, NJ 08742 I've incorporated 2 QR codes. I've place one that takes the user to the public MLS information page for this listing. The other takes the user to search page including Waterfront home for sale in Point Pleasant, NJ.
Open House at 1114 Del Dor Drive, Point Pleasant, NJ 08742 on Sunday June 4th and 5th, 2011
This beautiful home has the scenic Point Pleasant Canal in it's backyard. Itis so relaxing to sit on the deck or patio (or better yet in the built in pool!!) and watch the boats wander back and forth between the Barnegat Bay and Manasquan River. The home is located on a dead end street so privacy doesnt get much better. With 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, an attached 2 car garage, beautiful kitchen with granite countertops, central A/C (altough there is a great breese off the water & nearby ocean that usually keeps a pleasant tem,perature), a wood burning stove and hardwood floors in the living room and LOTS more this home needs to be seen to be appreciated.

While I provide other pages of information at the open house (about the area, area comps, etc) the feedback I've gotten is that people find it useful. In fact, in my area, it seems most are not familiar with QR codes. Another thing to chat about for a few minutes and build a little more of positive experience for the potential buyers to take with them.

Thanks for taking the time to look through my post! I hope the QR codes worked (if not, please let me know!). In closing, I've added some more pictures below (which can be seen on the listing page brought up by the left QR code above. If you're in the area, please stop by and visit me on Sunday from 1 to 4pm! It's a Great Home.

Open House at 1114 Del Dor Drive, Point Pleasant, NJ 08742 on Sunday June 4th and 5th, 2011

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Location:: New Jersey Ocean County Point Pleasant Point Pleasant Borough

Groups:: Active Rain Newbies; New Jersey Real Estate Experts

Tags:: open house; waterfront property; ocean county; point pleasant nj; point pleasant canal

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Rainmaker
409,878

Bruce Kunz

C21 Solid Gold Realty, Brick, NJ, 732-920-2100 - Howell, NJ

REALTOR®, Brick & Howell NJ Homes for Sale

Terkel: Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate the comment - and knowing someone else does something like it!

Jun 23, 2011 12:58 AM

Ambassador
874,899

Connie Harvey

Pilkerton Realtors - Brentwood, TN

Realtor - Nashville TN Real Estate

Bruce that's a good idea doing the 2 different QR codes for the different information. I'm not using them yet. Not sure what I think about them.

Jun 23, 2011 07:54 AM

Rainmaker
409,878

Bruce Kunz

C21 Solid Gold Realty, Brick, NJ, 732-920-2100 - Howell, NJ

REALTOR®, Brick & Howell NJ Homes for Sale

Hi Connie.
I've found they are conversation pieces if nothing else. There are lots of applications. Unfortunately phone screens are so small there are usually page formatting problems. If it for later use, I suggest they send the scanned address to themselves in an email. They can then click in the email on a regular computer.
I also convert the original (usually very long) address into a short URL before making the QR code. That code is a lot cleaner and works almost 100% of the time.
I'm no expert by any means, but let me know if you have and (easy) questions!
Thanks for commenting!

Jun 23, 2011 09:28 AM

Rainmaker
707,424

Pacita Dimacali

Alain Pinel - Oakland, CA

Alameda/Contra Costa Counties CA

Bruce

Good for you. I've only put QR codes on Just Listed/Just Sold postcards, but haven't pursued it. Nice to see other folks embracing this new tool. Good job

Jun 23, 2011 06:03 PM

Rainmaker
409,878

Bruce Kunz

C21 Solid Gold Realty, Brick, NJ, 732-920-2100 - Howell, NJ

REALTOR®, Brick & Howell NJ Homes for Sale

Hi Pacita! Thanks for stopping by & commenting! The postcards are a great use for them!
I actually learned today (in Craig's Classroom) that it's a good idea to put the short URL in the QR code frame. That way, people can just enter the code if their phone isn't reading the QR code properly. Always learning something!

Jun 24, 2011 02:19 PM

Rainmaker
1,114,424

Jim Frimmer

HomeSmart Realty West - San Diego, CA

Realtor & CDPE, Mission Valley specialist

Your QR codes are kind of pretty. I’ve never understood why bar codes and QR codes have to be ugly. Are all codes supposed to be ugly?

Jun 25, 2011 04:39 PM

#10

Rainmaker
1,077,267

Sharon Alters

Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty - 904-673-2308 - Fleming Island, FL

Realtor - Homes for Sale Fleming Island FL

Bruce, we use QR Codes on our flyers to take buyers to an individual property website. I like your idea about the waterfornt search as well.

Sharon

Jun 30, 2011 03:59 PM

#11

Rainmaker
68,838

Cari Dandy

Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty - Scottsdale, AZ

Homes for Sale - Scottsdale AZ

Bruce, I liked the green background on your QR codes, too! I hope you are getting good luck using them. We have a lot of older people in this area with just the simple cell phones (or unbelievabley, none at all), so we dont' get to many people even texting for info! But I'm sure it will all take off someday!

Jul 05, 2011 08:11 AM

#12

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Robert and Lisa Hammerstein -201-315-8618

Keller Williams Valley Realty - Hillsdale, NJ

Bergen County NJ Real Estate

Bruce - I haven't used QR's yet in print adds but I do put them all over the internet. Not sure I'm really seeing any activity on them yet. I do like what you have done with them though. Nice job.

Jul 06, 2011 02:46 AM

#13

Rainmaker
409,878

Bruce Kunz

C21 Solid Gold Realty, Brick, NJ, 732-920-2100 - Howell, NJ

REALTOR®, Brick & Howell NJ Homes for Sale

Thanks to all for stopping by!

Plain Microsoft Tag sample

Jim:I agree most codes are rather ugly, but some are becoming a bit more "pleasant". This "plain" Microsoft Tag offers some color and I've seen others with shapes.

Frank & Sharon: They are still conversation pieces around here. I just learned recently that it's best to point only to Mobile Friendly results since they are using a phone. Gotta do better with that!

Cari: Many "seniors" around here are getting into the "smart phones". Grandchildren and their pictures are a great inspiration!

Lisa & Robert:I dont' so much use the codes on the Internetbecause I'm thinking people can click a link easier than taking a picture. I recently learned it is good to include the URL in the code frame. If it doesnt' work, the user can type it in instead. Another advantage of using shortened URLs!

Again - THANKS for stopping by!

Jul 06, 2011 06:44 AM

#14

Rainmaker
710,824

Wayne Johnson

Coldwell Banker D'Ann Harper REALTORS® - San Antonio, TX

San Antonio REALTOR, San Antonio Homes For Sale

Bruce-Very creative use of QR codes. What comments are you getting from people who are using them to get more information? I've wondered if this will reduce the number of calls you get from potential Buyers. But on the other hand, if you give them enough info that they do not need to call and they screen themselves out because the property is not fit, I guess that's OK. Except you don't have a chance to recommend something else that might be a better fit.

Jul 09, 2011 06:26 PM

#15

Rainmaker
565,723

Diane McDermott

Realtor®, GRI, Landis e2 Real Estate, LLC - Charlotte, NC

Charlotte NC Real Estate Market

Bruce, I've used them on flyers (the single property site I use includes them) but haven't created my own - yours look really great and that view from the back deck of the house is awesome!

Jul 19, 2011 09:16 AM

#16

Rainmaker
409,878

Bruce Kunz

C21 Solid Gold Realty, Brick, NJ, 732-920-2100 - Howell, NJ

REALTOR®, Brick & Howell NJ Homes for Sale

Hi Wayne:Thanks for stopping by! Comments on the codes are either "what are those things" or "yeah, I know what to do with them". I usually ask - either way they can help a conversation. When doing open houses, I bring along black & white printouts of area listings in the same price range and usually a similar style. The QR codes help people look-up perhaps more information than I am providing - and in color. They say knowledge is power so I say lets empower. Pretty much the same as providing an IDX search solution on a web page.

Hi Diane:Thanks for stopping by as well. I use Picnik (with guidance from Craig's Classroom!) The home does have really nice backyard & a fun view. Not beachfront, but it's fun to watch and sometimes interact with all the summer boaters going by.
Bruce

Jul 19, 2011 10:25 AM

#17

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Tammie White, Broker

Franklin Homes Realty LLC - Franklin, TN

Franklin TN Homes for Sale

Bruce, I use QR codes on property flyers. It links to a single property mobile website. Then I get a text immediatley telling me they accessed the website. Great marketing tool.

Jul 26, 2011 02:31 PM

#18

Ambassador
2,067,047

Respect Realty LLC

Respect Realty LLC - Milwaukie, OR

Brokers - Oregon / SW Washington Real Estate

I've used them a couple times on signs saying see where our open houses are this weekend on the back of my car and they go directly to Google maps with my information and the house addresses.

Aug 06, 2011 06:38 PM

#19

Rainmaker
409,878

Bruce Kunz

C21 Solid Gold Realty, Brick, NJ, 732-920-2100 - Howell, NJ

REALTOR®, Brick & Howell NJ Homes for Sale

Wow, Todd! That is a great idea! I guess it keeps you driving "friendly" too!

Hi Tammie. That's great, too. I'm still working on mobile sites. Thanks for the encouragement!

Aug 14, 2011 12:36 PM

#20

Rainmaker
274,310

Ella Reape, Realtor 603-821-1140 ~ Selling Homes Throughout Southern New Hampshire

Keller Williams Realty Nashua NH - Nashua, NH

Luxury Homes Division, Keller Williams

Thanks Bruce, for the great post. I love the way you dress these codes up with color. I have heard that you can capture cell phone numbers of possible buyers that scan these QR Codes. Have you had any luck with that?

Sep 09, 2011 12:01 AM

#22

Rainmaker
409,878

Bruce Kunz

C21 Solid Gold Realty, Brick, NJ, 732-920-2100 - Howell, NJ

REALTOR®, Brick & Howell NJ Homes for Sale

Hi Ella. Thanks for stopping by and for your great comment! I have heard there is tracking available, but I've not gotten that far yet. It would be cool (not scary I hope) to be able to call someone while they are looking at my site!
Bruce

Sep 09, 2011 02:19 AM

#23

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940,581

Suzanne McLaughlin

Sabinske & Associates, Inc. (Albertville, St. Michael) - Saint Michael, MN

Sabinske & Associates, Realtor

Hope you had great luck with the QR codes and selling this property, Bruce. Have a good one!

Jun 25, 2014 01:10 AM

#24

Rainmaker
2,321,497

Rebecca Gaujot, Realtor®

Perry Wellington Realty, Adam Conrad, Broker - Lewisburg, WV

Lewisburg WV, the go to agent for all real estate

Hi Bruce, I used QR codes when they first came out, but haven't done much lately with them. I would give them different colors, etc. Perhaps I may get back to using QR codes.

Jul 02, 2014 03:56 AM

#25