What’s black and white and can help you better engage with your customers? A QR code.
These fuzzy black-and-white squares offer a way for small businesses to turn an offline interaction into an online connection. Once consumers scan the code on their smartphones, they can be directed to mobile websites, videos and other forms of digital engagement.
There are several websites where you can create your own code for free or by paying for additional capabilities like stats on the number of scans by various devices and per location. Popular code generator Kaywa offers free and paid services that let you select whether you want the code to take the scanner to a website, dial a phone number or send a text message. Then you just enter the site, number or message and click “Generate.”
To read a QR code, you need a scanner app. If you search your app store for “QR code scanner,” you’ll find many options.
You can deploy QR codes on business cards, flyers, posters and other marketing materials, and even within your store. But the codes shouldn’t just take people to your website. They should provide some form of worthwhile content, according to Stephanie True Moss, editor and publisher of QRmedia.us.
“A QR code is simply a trigger,” Moss says. “It will take the scanner away from whatever the code’s on to something else, so that needs to be valuable enough for someone to devote their time to it.”
Retailers can put a QR code in their windows, letting potential consumers who stop by after-hours shopping through the store’s website.
Restaurants can put a QR code on their menus, directing the scanner to a video of the best dishes.
If you’re promoting a concert, you can include a QR code on the flyer, allowing people who haven’t heard of the artists to access a video of them performing live. QR codes can also provide discounts and directions.
Although these codes are fairly common sights, many people still don’t know what to do with them, so you should include some basic instructions.
Also, make sure the code directs people to a mobile-friendly site.
If deployed effectively, QR codes can provide a trackable form of marketing that can turn observers into customers.