Many people out there don’t have good idea about QR codes. So, firstly, I’m going to tell about what are QR codes and how can they be scanned and generated. If you already know this, you can skip to the latter part of the post, where I tell about uses of QR codes for mobile marketing.
What is a QR code?
A Quick Response (QR) code is a two-dimensional code which is readable by camera phones. From the barcode, information such as text, photos, videos, URLs etc can be retrieved.
The use of QR code started in Japan by Toyota co.
This is the QR code for my blog generated by SPARQcode.com
How does the cellphone camera read the code?
The cellphone camera reads the barcode and gathers the information related to it. I used my iPhone 4 earlier today and used the Google mobile app [iTunes link]. The image search feature of this app helps to scan you the barcodes.
There’s also an independent app available, i-nigma [iTunes link]. This app is also cool, it’s really fast. You just place your camera over the barcode and the information is immediately retrieved. Super fast!
i-nigma is supported on variety of handsets across different manufacturers. Here’s the compatibility page for the app.
How to generate a QR code?
You can easily generate a QR code using a site like SPARQcode.com. QR Barcode generator is very easy to use. Just register for an account and you can create QR codes for your Facebook, Twitter, your website. If you have an office/restaurant, you can also create barcode for a point on the map.
There are lot more features on this QR Generator page. You can create QR codes for vCards, SMS, even for links of different appstore apps. That’s cool!
There’s also QR code alternative for SPARQcode. This is developed and marketed by Microsoft.
QR Barcode also shows number of times the barcode has been scanned in the dashboard. For a free user, 250 scans are allotted, you can upgrade to Pro as your business advances.
How to use QR Codes to Market Your Business?
Almost everyone today has a smartphone. When people are in stores, and your products have QR codes on them, the customers can scan the code and obtain additional information related to your product. This information might include link to your website, your contact information, or link to your social networking accounts.
This is definitely very much beneficial for your small business. Mobile marketing is in work here.
Here are a few ways that you can use QR codes to spruce up your small business marketing strategies.
- Distribute Freebies: You can use QR codes to distribute out free stuff. This way people will get more chance to interact with your company. Also, people will automatically market your free stuffs to other people, their friends or relatives.
- Product catalogs: Sellers can distribute catalogs/brochures which contain the product details. These product details can contain the QR barcodes, which will help customers to interact with the sellers. They can simply scan the barcodes and get further details of the product, i.e. product availability, any discounts on products, etc.
- Business cards: Just print your QR code on visiting card and people will get a curiosity to scan it up. QR codes marketing is developing and as I said, many people are unaware of it, you can out stand from your competition. These QR codes can re-direct to your contact information, social networking accounts, etc.
- Poster, TV advertisements: You can put up a poster advertisement in your local area marketing about your business. Or you can book a slot for a Television advertisement. People coming around these ads can explore the QR codes to get more information about your products.
- In storefront window: Google was reported to send out QR codes to shop owners in the US. These shops were then listed in the Google Places.. It was a great opportunity to market your shops, restaurants on the maps. If you didn’t get QR code by Google, you can generate your own QR codes and place it outside your shop windows.
Conclusion
You can also add QR codes to your website, e-mail signatures, blogs, etc. The search engines will see a new image and index it accordingly. At some point soon, the search engines will likely recognize QR codes and possibly index the content in them.
So, how many of you use QR codes for your business, or will be using after reading this article?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post. I love QR Codes. I use them on my business cards. Thinking bout using them some more later this year to market my site a bit more.
Hang on – this post was titled how to use it in marketing and all you give are 8 dot points at the end?!!
I tried to get Nokia to install the reader on their phones a few years back (always ahead on the pack but in this case too far…) as I recognized the huge scope for them….
Maybe this article can be rehashed with a bit bit ‘marketing’ in it rather than the history (yawn)
Hi Matt.
Thanks for the comment. Many people do not yet have much knowledge about this technology. So, I thought I’d refresh a little history before the actual thing. Even I had little knowledge before making this post.
I’ve elaborated the marketing bit more now.
-Mahesh.
I really enjoyed your thoughts on QR codes and would like to thank you for creating awareness. Here at Scanlutions (www.scanlutions.com) QR codes are just one of the digital marketing tools we are using right now…although it is becoming the most popular! Keep spreading the word.
QR codes are a great Idea and I can only see them getting more and more popular and not just for marketing, I think they can be used in so many different ways. They are also now available to everyone as most of us have smart phones now.
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