Using QR Codes for Marketing
Using QR Codes for Marketing
What is a QR code?
They come to us from Japan where they are very common. QR is short for Quick Response (they can be read quickly by a cell phone). They are used to take a piece of information from a transitory media and put it in to your cell phone. You may soon see QR Codes in a magazine advert, on a billboard, a web page or even on someone’s t-shirt. Once it is in your cell phone, it may give you details about that business (allowing users to search for nearby locations), or details about the person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a coupon which you can use in a local outlet.
The reason why they are more useful than a standard barcode is that they can store (and digitally present) much more data, including url links, geo coordinates, and text. The other key feature of QR Codes is that instead of requiring a chunky hand-held scanner to scan them, many modern cell phones can scan them.
There are a number of practical ways QR codes can be used for marketing and promotions in a many different settings. QR Codes can be integrated into just about any type of printed materials, including:
- Event Displays
- Print Advertisements
- Business Cards
- Brochures, Posters and Flyers
- Postcards and Mailers
How could you use a QR code?
Your business, no matter how small or large, could use QR codes in a number of ways. You might auto generate one next to every product on your web site containing all the product details, the number to call and the URL link to the page so they can show their friends on their cell phone. You could add one to your business card containing your contact details so its easy for someone to add you to their contacts on their cell phone.
Add them to any print advertising, flyers, posters, invites, TV ads etc containing:
- Product details
- Contact details
- Offer details
- Event details
- Competition details
- A coupon
- Twitter, Facebook, MySpace IDs
- A link to your YouTube video
How do you generate a code?
You can easily generate a QR code using a site like Kaywa.com or you can use the Open Source code to generate codes for you if you have a smart developer on hand. Google also has a tool.
What next?
Generate your QR code for your business or contact us and we can do it for you. Then we add it to your next piece of marketing and advertising material!
Steph Zahalka is the founder and CEO of Jungle Branding Co., a premier award-winning brand agency based on the Gold Coast Australia, serving clients across the globe.
Recent winner of the prestigious Female Entrepreneur of the Year Stevie Award 2020, Steph is a brand strategist and designer who has been featured on the cover of a nationally recognised ‘women in business’ magazine (GCGIB) and regularly appears on podcasts and events around the Gold Coast as a speaker, panel expert and interviewee where she reveals her unique process for building a wildly in-demand brand for ambitious entrepreneurs, modern CEOs, influencers, thought leaders, and service-based business owners.
Steph believes that, when done right, branding is the door to connecting with your people, your audience on a deeper level. Human to human connection that makes your audience ridiculously obsessed with not just your brand, but YOU and your vision that ultimately makes a positive impact on the world.
