You’ve seen them. You look for a second and when your brain doesn’t recognize them, your eyes just continue to on.
However, that is about to change.
Why? you ask. With one click from a cell phone camera and you, the creator of the code can send someone straight to your company website’s well crafted landing page, or to your LinkedIn page, or to YouTube for a video. How about a new email or SMS text message. Even a phone call. Easy to make, easy to use. They can save you thousands and earn you more.
QR stands for Quick Response. It’s a bar code that is read by QR readers installed on cell phones with cameras.
If you are not using them in your business marketing and customer service strategy, you better start. The ease of use coupled by the proliferation of smartphones destines this technology to grow at an unprecedented pace.
Why will QR codes will catch on very quickly? Here are four good reasons.
Ubiquitous – Smart phones have proliferated to the point that they’re everywhere you like. When you go to a business meeting or conference, how many people will have one lying on the table?
Free – Smart phones require a downloaded application to read the QR Code- but there are a plethora of free apps and likewise free programs online to make the codes. The QR code can be encoded with text, a web address, a vcard (Outlook contact business card), a SMS text message, a phone number or other data. Once read, the smart phone responds by going via wireless to the hyperlink destination. Or creates a text message, gets a phone the number ready to call. Creates an email.
Benefits the audience – My wife love it! It’s an easy way for her to get instant gratification. I have to tell you that my wife is not addicted to her computer as I am. She would tend to NOT run and type in a URL or go out of her way to respond online to an ad or offer. However, now that she has an iPhone, she swears by the QR gods that made her life easier. She can get further information and instructions and coupons and more. When we were driving around looking at houses for sale in our neighborhood recently, she lamented that there were not QR codes on the signs so she could snap and go rather than find the flier bin empty.
Really, the uses are endless. A contest. A special code. A pre-formatted email or sms message. Details about a purchase about to be made. Facts about a house for sale. A how-to install video. Ingredients. Background information. I would love to find them on the sticker of the new car I am interested in so if I am there after hours, I can either get more information or request an appointment for a test drive.
Benefits to business – When coupled with an appropriate landing page, a well defined call to action and a mechanism for tracking, your company can experience lowered costs, improved customer service, marketing and sales opportunities.
If you have a creative idea on how to use a QR code, please leave your comments. In a future blog, I will be explaining how I have helped a comedian, a bood author and a musician use this fantastic, technological innovation to help improve their business and to engage their fans and customers further.
If you would like to discuss how a QR Code campaign might benefit your business, please contact us and let’s discuss.
Nice article and so true. Unfortunately many use the QR Codes wrong for example just putting obvious to long URLs into it leading to a mobile unfriendly webpage.
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I use free version of http://tagomobile.com for qr code tracking. Also you are able to reallocate qr code link at any time.