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11 Good QR Code Marketing Ideas

One of the fastest growing trends in modern marketing is the use of a QR code. Many smartphones have the ability or can download an app that has the ability to quickly scan these codes so that consumers can get more information about a particular product, service, or company. You’ll find these codes in everything today, from television commercials to newspaper ads to direct mail solicitations. Business logos are even showing up with QR codes.

This 2D barcode can do a number of things, from taking a user to a mobile website to placing a phone call directly to your sales department. If you aren’t using QR codes yet, then you should be! Here are some places for you to start that are fast and easy to implement and could reap some massive results for your organization.

Top QR Code Marketing Strategies

1. Business Cards Are the Way To Go
The business card is still one of the most effective methods of providing people with your contact details. Many are using QR codes on their cards already, but there’s a surprisingly large majority of people who don’t use them at all. You can use them to direct people to social media links without overloading them with printed links and give more info than ever before without overwhelming the card’s recipient.

2. V-Cards Are Often Ignored
Email signatures are an effective marketing method when used appropriately. It’s often treated as unused space, but it’s also a detail that is seen in every email that you send out every day. Having a v-card with your contact details in that space is a good start, but adding a QR code to this space is an even better way to increase your exposure without really any extra effort.

3. Labeling Is Where It’s At
Customers can draw information from any label to compare and contrast products. If you’ve got a QR code that lets them do instant research about the benefits of your product, then you’ve given them another tool to help them choose your items over what your competitor offers. You can even include discount codes or instant coupons to people that can help them save a little if they choose to purchase the item in the store.

4. Scavenger Hunts Are a Common Method
Having a list of different QR codes, sprinkled around your community, can help customers have a good time hunting down a specific bargain, free item, or other unique benefit. These aren’t always easy to pull off and you’ve got to have some clear rules in place, but the reward is that you can get people into places they normally wouldn’t choose to go. For co-branding or networking, this method of using QR codes is pretty awesome.

5. Specific Promotions? Specific QR Codes
QR codes are a fantastic way to create specific discounts that are easily tracked in your marketing campaigns. You can know how many scans/visits/downloads you’ve received instantly, at any given time, and this helps you to know how effective the ad placement or medium chosen was. This helps businesses determine, for example, if a newspaper campaign is more effective than a direct mail campaign that targeted a specific zip code.

6. Storefront Displays Are Perfect For a Code
A store might not be open around the clock, but your QR code can be scanned around the clock and that gives you an advantage in business, even if your doors are closed. You can use the code to take the potential customer to your online ecommerce platform where they can place an order for the items they came to purchase in-person. This gives you the chance to turn what would have been a lost opportunity into another sale. Put the code in your window or on your door and let it work its magic.

7. Shameless Promotions Work Too
Putting your QR codes onto your company apparel helps people to recognize that you really do have something pretty good to offer and you’re not afraid to put it out there. Throw a blown-up QR code on the front of a t-shirt and let people mingle on the street, engaging people and encouraging them to scan the shirt. Shoes, pants, hoodies – they’re all fair game as long as you’re comfortable wearing the product.

8. Promote From Within the Visual QR Code
You can put your own logo into a QR code that is then scanned. It’s just one way to further the level of promotion that is available to you. Generate your own code and then work with it in a photo-editing program to put in lots of different images, from your logo to a trademark you might own to virtually whatever you want. If you do edit your image, however, make sure to test it before you put it out on your products.

9. Automatically Populate a Shopping Cart
Removing barriers to a sale is what a QR code is all about. You don’t want to let anyone escape out of your sales funnel once you’ve started the process! With your code, you can have your ecommerce platform automatically populate a shopping cart with the item a customer wants. This eliminates a lot of the indecision that comes and lets the customer complete a transaction a little more quickly too, which many find to be a valuable service.

10. Create a Text Marketing Campaign
SMS text marketing has some of the best results the marketing industry has ever seen when it comes to open rates and interactions between business and customer. You can program your QR code to send out a text message that can add that user to your text campaign lists. You’ll need something of value, like monthly discounts, to encourage a continued sign-up, but in return you’ll get an active customer who will likely buy something that they find to be valuable.

11. Supplement Your Inventory
If your vendors don’t use QR codes, then you can use them on their behalf by posting your own programmed codes next to specific items. Galleries are using this as a means of providing a potential customer with more details about an artist that is featured. You could use this to provide access to clinical research about the benefits of a product, give a compare/contrast feature with a product’s competition, and so much more. There’s really no limit to what you can do.

About The Author
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