The Purpose of QR Codes
Providing smartphone users with information, quickly and simply, is what makes QR Codes and mobile marketing go hand in hand like PB & J. They enhance your marketing campaigns, allowing you to reach, engage and convert a wider target audience by linking from offline to online platforms.
The return of the QR Code
Over the years, a wider mobile network coverage coupled with an increase in smartphone web content has created the perfect conditions for the return of the QR Code. Coupled with the integration of a Code reader in the latest iPhone and Samsung phones, they have become much more accessible, eliminating several inconvenient steps, and granting quicker access to valuable information that gives more transparency. Beyond that, the advent of the branded QR Code means they offer a more meaningful connection to brands and products through design.
Feels like everyone has a smartphone
That’s because almost half of the people on Earth have one. In 2020, the recorded number of smartphone users reached 3,5 Billion people worldwide, roughly 45.12% of the global population. This growing distribution of mobile devices has transformed the way we approach marketing and advertising to more prominently include mobile channels.
Mobile-first indexing
Back in 2016, Google announced its mobile-first indexing initiative wherein Google Search focuses on a page’s mobile content for creating its search index and ranking. As more and more people are shifting from desktop to mobile devices, it seems more practical to fashion a system that prioritizes mobile-friendly content. Though they will occasionally crawl a desktop site with their traditional Googlespiders, Google's aim is to completely switch to mobile-first indexing .
This means focusing on mobile-friendly content is more important than ever before.
QR Code technology is accessible
People now keep track of their favorite brands and products through their mobile devices, which is what makes QR Codes especially attractive for marketing. Targeted to mobile users, QR Codes are cost-effective, universally applicable, and help you reach your target audience in the offline world and connect them directly to your digital platforms.
Amplify your brand identity
More design options means more flexibility when it comes to customizing your Code, enabling you to add value and brand consistency to your mobile campaign. Whether the goal is to create a branded Code that integrates into your company logo or one that follows a specific theme, there are many possibilities at your fingertips. You can upload your own image, logo and select colors for the background, foreground, and layout of the mobile-friendly landing page. Additionally, you can add a custom frame with your own CTA, and adjust the shape and color of the Code’s edges.
What can QR Codes do for you?
Plenty in terms of optimizing your marketing campaign. With QR Codes, you have the flexibility of adding more content, in different formats, without compromising the design of your packaging, disrupting your brand identity, overloading your audience with text, or overspending on printing.
Brand transparency
The CEO of Campbell’s Soup, Denise Morrison, stated that the most important ingredient in building brand trust is transparency. Consumers want to know more about the products they incorporate into their daily lives, and QR Codes give you a unique opportunity to offer buyers comprehensive information about your products and services without making them search amidst the noise of the internet.
Using our PDF QR Code can help inspire people to do business with you by giving them access to your company’s past success in an easy to download, mobile document. You can also offer additional user guidelines on the packaging or provide buyers with satisfied customer reviews in order to establish brand loyalty.
Object hyperlinking
Since the Internet hardly extends beyond digital platforms by itself, object hyperlinking aims to extend it to the physical world by attaching tags with URLs to tangible objects or locations.
QR Codes do just that by linking in-store products to Internet resources, enhancing the value of the shopping experience for buyers. This is a simple, easy way to enhance shopper’s experience and how customers interact with your product and services.
A Video QR Code can take scanners on a visual experience of your responsible sourcing. It can really get across a brand’s message or product information the consumer needs to know. Or, if you are a musician or artist, create hype by adding a video to stickers you hand out so people can see a preview of your past shows or expo.
Measuring metrics
Tracking your metrics allows you to know where and when your print marketing is most effective. By incorporating a Dynamic QR Code to posters, flyers or billboards, you get a chance to optimize your campaign by knowing the total number of scans, location by country and city, operating device and time scanned. This provides you with a concise CSV report, with which you can compare the number of times a Code was scanned, total and unique metrics, with the amount of marketing material distributed. Giving you a good idea of when and where it was most successful.
How can you benefit from using QR Codes?
We can highlight all the great opportunities you could get from including QR Codes in your marketing, but the best way to learn is through examples. Below are a few snippets from fictional brands to inspire you.
Show, don’t tell
You are Emily Bates and you are applying for a new position, and you know you are perfect for the job, up to the task, but how can you translate that with a simple resume and a cover letter? Hiring managers have to sift through, sometimes, hundreds of applications so it is important to stand out. With an Image Gallery QR Code, Emily gave her hiring manager instant access to samples of her work without any additional bulk of paper.
Give your audience a sneak peek
The Three Sparrows had taken a year off to work on their new album, occasionally teasing their fans with pictures on social media of them working in the studio. A month before dropping the completed album, they posted an MP3 QR Code every week with a short preview of a different song and a customized button that allowed fans to preorder it on their favorite digital media store.
Sharing is caring
To better understand the needs of his patients in order to improve his services, Dr. Andrew Webber wanted to gather feedback. Prior attempts with a paper questionnaire proved to be ineffective with the added filling of paperwork on top of their daily responsibilities. So, he decided to try out something different by implementing our Feedback QR Code on their business cards, fill-out forms, and appointment cards. This gave them the flexibility to edit the questionnaire topics any time, and have completed forms directly submitted to their preferred email address, to view and organize on their own time.
Be an early adopter and go green
Springfield City took the first steps into modernizing their services and going green by creating an app that provides valuable information to residents and tourists alike about the city’s sights and attractions year-round. This reduced their print costs and carbon footprint in one swoop. Their low download stats, however, showed that they needed to boost their app marketing strategy. By printing an App Store QR Code on their office windows, they made the downloading process easier for mobile users, directly linking them to the app store relevant to their operating system.
WiFi connection with just one scan
Handing out written instructions on how to connect to the WiFi? That is so last year. Grand Hotel & Resort wanted to really get with the times and optimize their customer service. Adding a WiFi QR Code on table tents at their counter and breakfast bar, guests only needed to scan the Code to get instant access to the hotel’s WiFi network, improving their experience.
Optimize your event marketing campaign
Making event details available on print marketing was not the issue for Verge Event Management. They wanted to make them accessible to their target audience and memorable for new attendees, which is exactly what they achieved with our Event QR Code printed on posters and vehicles. Just by scanning, people were able to save details directly to their mobile devices, like date, time, location and contact information. Additionally, the Dynamic QR Code’s tracking feature helps them optimize their traditional marketing to understand where and when they could best target their audience.
FAQ
QR Codes were originally invented to replace Barcodes at supermarkets as they can store more information and are easier to scan. Now, QR Codes have a wide range of uses across all types of industries such as in education, marketing, and logistics.
Static QR Codes are useful if you only need to generate them once. They cannot be tracked or edited after they’re generated but free to create. Dynamic QR Codes, on the other hand, require an active subscription so you can track and edit the content even after they’re printed. This gives you more flexibility in running different marketing campaigns using just one QR Code.
Yes, you can! All Static QR Codes are free to create for commercial or non-commercial use not prohibited by law.
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