Where have all the developers gone? Josh Daltry
QR Codes are the DVDs of Barcodes.
Their scalable & pixelated patterns can hold an significantly greater amount of information than the typical UPC including images, messages, and URL destinations. Their adoption by the mobile phone industry had led to widespread incorporation of QR codes into most major brick & mortar marketing campaigns. It’s a pretty common practice at this point – driving individuals whom experience physical channels of advertising back to the web in order to close the marketing data loop – but effectively blending this into your own marketing efforts seamlessly can take finesse. Making sure you properly keep track & organize the QRCs that are active within your campaigns is a crucial step in the integration of QRC mobile marketing.
Test Before You Distribute
If you’re having fun mixing in your logo or corporate colors be sure to test your QRCs once actually printed on the marketing collateral. The difference of a few millimeters in size can be the difference of a ‘scannable’ or ‘un-scannable’ qr code. Many times the color balance, resolution, or gloss of a high-quality monitor will allow you to scan on-screen codes that will not work once printed. The entire point of QR codes is to make it easier for your target market to not only experience but interact with your brand – so if they’re unable to scan the code it sort of defeats the purpose. Don’t be afraid to include the actual destination URL as well in case someone without a QR code scanner still wants to manually navigate to the landing page or special offer.
It’s All About the Camera
Even with enhanced mobile technologies being prevalent for the last decade, there are still many shortcomings to some of the value-add features that have been incorporated over the years, such as the digital camera. If this is your first mobile marketing campaign using QRCs – you have no idea what types of devices will most commonly be used to scan. This means that someone using an iPhone 3 with barely 3 megapixels of detail will need to be very up close and personal with your mobile marketing collateral to make a successful scan.
Shorten URLs for Higher Contrast
Shortening the URL contained within the QR code means there is less information to store within the code’s surface area – which means bigger squares and a simpler pattern for lower resolution smart phones to recognize. Services like Bit.ly will shorten URLs and create QR codes for each of the URLs you enter – although you need individual URLs for each QR code you’d like to track. Another service which doesn’t require multiple destination URLs for mobile marketing data tracking is QR Create which will shorten your destination URL and serialize any number of QR codes.
Serialize and Close the Mobile Marketing Data Gap
Once you’ve added QR codes to your marketing campaigns, the next step is capturing all of the data associated with when, where, and what collateral is scanned. Using QR Create you can assign labels or individual contacts to each QR code. When your QRCs are scanned you’ll receive a summary email letting you know which specific code was scanned, approximately when & where as well. You’ll know within a moments notice what trade shows are paying off, who your top salesperson is, or which store has the most mobile-enabled customers.
For more ideas on how to integrate QR codes into your mobile marketing campaigns, or to discuss bridging the brick & mortar marketing gap – please contact us anytime at atomni