15 Great Business Uses For Your Smartphone Camera
Who said that the camera on your phone was only good for taking snapshots?
Today's mobile devices feature some pretty powerful cameras, they also feature some awesome apps that can turn your camera into a productivity machine. If you thought that your camera was only good for creating “photo art” on Instagram, think again! Below are 15 ways you can use your mobile camera for your business.
Turn Printed Documents Into PDF's
Who needs a scanner when you have a smartphone. Instead of filling you filing cabinets with paper you'll most likely never read again, turn those docs into PDF's you cans store online. Cam Scanner is a powerful mobile scanner that will let you do this for free, though paid versions are available. It's one of my most used mobile apps and connects with many third party cloud services like Dropbox and Evernote.
Create Awesome Video Of Your Staff In Action
Create on the fly videos of you and your team to share on social media. Show the human side of your business, and all of the quirky things that happen behind the scenes. Apps like Lapse It (time lapse video) and Social Cam (editing and sharing) make using your camera an exciting way to create great looking videos.
Use It As A Mirror To Avoid Embarrassment
About to enter an important meeting? Before you proudly display to your potential client the remnants of that burrito you just ate, take a minute and check yourself in the mirror. No need for an actual mirror, use an app on your phone and use your camera as a mirror. Many apps available on Android and iPhone.
Create A Visual Checklist For Your Employees
Are your employees ignoring your daily checklists? Maybe they are visual learners and can't appreciate what an awesome checklist you've created. If checklists are an important function of your business, why not liven them up by adding visuals to the list? Use your camera to take shots of what the display case (or bathroom) is supposed to look like when finished. Importing images from your phone to your computer is seamless if you use an app like Dropbox, which automatically streams images from your phone to your computer.
Need a good program to create these great looking checklists? Try Clarify, by Blue Mango.
Turn Your Phone Into A Flashlight
Lights in the stockroom out? No problem, turn the flash on your mobile phone into a high powered flashlight. You'd be surprised how bright it is. Here's a free app for Android as well as the iPhone.
Create Instant Testimonials
Have a really happy customer that just made a purchase? Ask them if you could take a picture or video of them in their excited state. Great fodder for social media! For images, use an app like Skitch and let the customer write something directly on the image. For video, use an app like Vine to create a short video testimonial you can create and share in under a minute.
Have A Face To Face With Your Employees
Out of town and need to have a talk with one of your employees? Maybe a text message won't do, why not use your phone to host a video call? Mobile apps like Skype and Google Hangouts make it easy (and free) to have a quick video conference with someone.
Document Your Belongings Before You Travel
Has the airlines ever lost your luggage? Yeah,…..let's just say that the airlines aren't known to be super helpful in situations like this. Before you head to the airport, take a minute to snap a picture of your luggage, and it's (unbroken) contents, so you have something to counter the airline personnel when they question whether your guitar was broken before you got to the airport. Bonus, take a video of the condition of your rental car before leaving the lot to save yourself a headache later on.
Take Pictures Of Your Business Cards
Going to a trade show? Instead of keeping all those business cards in your nerd pocket, why not use your mobile camera to snap and store them digitally? Use an app like like CamCard to scan a digital version of a business card and add detailed notes for a later follow up.
Send Product Images Instantly To Potential Customers
Customer calls your store asking about a new product? Take a snapshot of it with your camera and email them a visual while you're still on the phone to increase your chances of making an instant sale.
Use To Scan Bar codes
Whether you're doing price shopping or just checking out how other businesses are using QR codes, the camera on your phone can scan QR codes as well as traditional bar codes. The Google Goggles app works on Android and iPhone, and does much more than just scan bar codes.
Digitize Your Printed Brochures
If you lost the digital file or the printer is out of ink, use the Camscanner app to create a PDF version of it you can email to customers.
Remember What It Looked Like
Before you take something totally apart, take a picture of it so you remember how to put it back together. Also works for display cases and anything else you want to remember before you change it around.
Use It To Capture Your Computer Screen
Did your computer just crash and it's displaying an error code you may need to fix it? Did a website just give you a crazy looking temporary password or reference number you're afraid you'll lose? Whip out your phone and take a picture of the screen before you lose it forever.
Create a Virtual Filing Cabinet
Use your camera as a catch all to digitize and save just about anything. Save digital copies of receipts, letters, invoices, statements, etc. I personally use Evernote to store all of my documents, though SpringPad and Google's new app, Keep, are all very worthy replacements.
And Finally………..
Take Lots Of Pictures Of Your Family
When things start to get stressful with your business, break out the gallery and be reminded of what life is all about : )
Gary
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