QR Codes - What are they, and best practices.

Wikipedia defines QR Codes as:

QR Code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside the industry due to its fast readability and large storage capacity compared to standard UPC barcodes. The code consists of black modules (square dots) arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of four standardized kinds (“modes”) of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, Kanji), or through supported extensions, virtually any kind of data.^[1]

Well, that’s all fine and good, but why should this be important to you and your business? I’m going to answer that for you today when I discuss several ways that these codes are being implemented successfully in the business and marketing world.

Today the world is becoming increasingly mobile. We are using our smartphones more and more, being tied less and less to our desktop computers. When we are still using “big” computers, increasingly, they are laptops, iPads, tablet computers, and other phones and devices, which many times have built-in cameras. Combining that internal camera with a barcode-reading application that is often free, you have everything you need to take full advantage of QR Codes.

OK. So what does a QR Code do for you?

First of all, you need to know how to create QR Codes. They are encoded messages (a sort of barcode), when read by a device with a camera and barcode reading software, can interpret the message, and without any typing on the part of the user, generate some type of action, without fear of data entry errors. Here is one of my favorite sites for FREE QR CODE ENCODING: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

To understand this better, lets look at the types of data that are generally encoded into these QR Codes.

URL Addresses: These are known as Uniform Resource Locators. However, think of it as web site addresses. The URL for my web site is technically http://www.akorservices.com. Encoded, this same address looks like this:

If you have a camera and a barcode reading application, you can scan this, and what pops up, depending on your application, will either be my web site, or at least a link to my web site, which if you “click” on it, will take you directly to my web site, without typing in anything else.

You can now begin to see the power of what QR Codes can do for you and your business.

But it gets even better. There are more things that you can encode into QR Codes.

Text: You can type free form text, generally up to 160 characters, and encode it. You could put your “secret” message into a QR Code that they would have to scan to decode.

Phone Numbers: This is a big one. Make it easy for people to call you without having to type in your phone number.

SMS Messages: In english, that means you can encode a phone number and a simple message, and when it is scanned (and sent) will send a text message to a predetermined phone number.

So with all this in mind, here are some of the top creative ways to use QR Codes in your business:

Do you have delivery trucks? How about QR Codes with your phone number, web site address, or marketing message. People will be curious.
Schedules: I have seen them used in bus shelters, and when people scan them, goes right to the web site with the time for the next bus arrival at that location.
Contest entry. People love free stuff and contests. How about your web site address to enter a contest, capturing their contact information for future marketing efforts (please, be ethical on this one!).
Your own paperwork. They hold more information than a standard line barcode. How about printing them on your own paperwork to assist in your data entry process?
Use them on you business cards and promotional materials.
Use them on your own web site to cause readers to take some specific response, or perhaps let them think they are revealing a prize or secret message when they scan the code.

These are just a few ideas. Remember, when you get people to your web site, if you are using analytics, it improves your web site traffic, perhaps improving your web site ranking with the search engines.

This is a win-win situation for everybody.

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