Website Video Spokespeople.

We’ve all seen them.

You arrive at a website wanting information when your browsing is unexpectedly interrupted with a talking head.  It’s like walking into a furniture store to look at new sofas. A salesperson comes over to help you before you’re four steps in the door. All you want is to get comfortable, have a look at the goods, sit on a couple sofas and compare prices. You say you’re “just looking” and they back off for a bit. The sales tactic is annoying as hell, but it’s expected when you go to a furniture store, or a car dealership or any other high-priced retailer.

But unlike the predictable, smiley retail salesperson, website video salespeople spokespeople are overly intrusive. People don’t want their private Internet surfing interjected with sales pitches delivered by uninvited strangers.

I get more than a handful of unsolicited emails every week trying to convince me that my clients can’t compete without this “technology of the future,” that their 3D Video Technology will “captivate visitors” and “increase conversions.”  All the vendors of this technology say it’s “proven” to make your website “stand out from the crowd.”

Their claims seem unrealistic to me because whenever one of those engaging spokespeople automatically pops up on my screen, I look for the nearest “close” button, mute my speakers or leave. But I could be wrong! Perhaps I’m just in the minority and missing the value that I’ve been told so many website owners and visitors have come to rely on.

I conducted a little survey using Survey Monkey to find out.

How do you feel about website video spokespersons that automatically run when you arrive on a website?

There were 86 respondents invited from my business Facebook page and Twitter account. Most of my connections on these networks are tech-savvy and familiar with Internet marketing, advertising and social media.

Two comments were submitted.

1)  they creep me out
2) I think video is powerful on a website, just don’t think it should start automatically. People could be taken off guard particularly if they are at work, etc.

I was surprised by these results. I figured most people are like me and would vote for “annoying” or “hate,” but I couldn’t believe there were not at least a couple votes for “love” or “okay.”

Suggested Best Practice for Website Video Spokespeople: Most people enjoy videos. Videos can be useful, engaging and fun. But think twice before you enable auto-play!

What are QR Codes?
They’ve been described as paper-based hyperlinks. You use a QR app (I like QR Droid) on your smartphone to decode QR codes. Then you’re given information or redirected to a website.

QR Codes are popular in Asia and Europe and are starting to hit the mainstream in America. Once you know what they are, you’ll start seeing them in many places.

A typical QR Code looks like this. When you scan this one with your QR decoder, you’ll be asked to “like” Creative Flavor’s Facebook fan page. (Go ahead! Try it! )

There are many ways to incorporate QR codes into your marketing. FastCompany has 13 creative suggestions. Here are 4:

1. QR Codes on business cards. OK, not the most creative idea ever. In fact, this is probably the de facto way many businesses use QR codes. Rather than overload a business card with all of your contact info you could include the bare minimum for reaching you, then create a QR code that leads people to your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Plaxo, Yelp, FourSqure, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Whrrl, and MySpace profiles. Little muss, little fuss.

2. Labeling. Somewhere, a restaurant patron is enjoying wine from your vineyard. They notice the QR code on the bottle and quickly scan it. That takes them to a mobile site where they can learn more about your wine, your vineyard, and links to where you can buy a case for delivery…all before the check comes.

3. T-shirts. Put your QR code on your t-shirt for some shameless self-promotion. Or, make a bigger impression by printing up 100 t-shirts and put them on 100 interns and have them attend a public event like a ballgame, street fair or campaign stop. For more engagement from the crowd, put different messages on the shirts, so people take more scans of more of your codes.

4. Get the phone ringing. QR codes can also make a phone call. If you want to get the phones ringing–at your business or at campaign headquarters–you can create a code that will dial a predetermined number. Likewise, QR codes can generate SMS text messages.

Read the rest of FastCompany’s QR Code marketing ideas.

I’ve seen real estate professionals include QR codes with a link to property listing information. That would have come in handy when I was house hunting and would find nice looking properties, but couldn’t get more information about it since the information box was empty!

Where to get QR Codes?

There are plenty of free QR code generators available. I like QR STUFF because it’s so easy to use and offers basic customization. For instance, when I get tired of black QR codes, I can try out purple or red instead, just to change it up.

Give it a try! What are your ideas for using QR codes? Feel free to post yours here.