I remember years ago, before there were smartphones, visiting a doctor’s office, and grabbing a magazine. I had about 15 minutes of wait time, and although the chair looked like it had some padding, I believe it was simply an elaborate paint job, that gave the appearance of a cushion, when in reality it was cold steel. I was flipping through a magazine, and came across an ad for a product. It looked interesting, and the call to action was “Please visit http://www.thecompanywebsite.com/thiscurrentpromotion for additional information.”
I had only a few options:
- Find a pen and paper, and write down the webaddress to look it up later.
- Smuggle the magazine out under my jacket on my way out the door.
- Be that guy that rips pages out of a magazine.
- Hope that I’d remember what it was.
I’m not the type to steal the magazine, and destruction of other’s property is never a viable option. I don’t typically carry a pen with me, and it seemed like it was too much work to bother the busy nurse at the desk for one, so I went with option 4.
Needless to say, I never went to the website.
Enter in a new era. A smart advertiser now would have attached a QR code to the ad, and made it so that I didn’t even have to type the web address into my phone. I would have simply scanned the code, and presto! I would have been on the site the author wanted me to visit.
QR (Quick Response) Codes are wonderful little graphics that have hundreds of uses. Basically, they allow the creator of the code to build a graphic that stores the text of a website’s URL. The person with the scanner can “read” the image, and the scanner will direct their device to open up a particular webpage. Every smartphone has a different app that can do this, and so every smartphone user can be automatically linked to whatever the QR code points to, with the push of a button.
These little codes are popping up everywhere. They can direct users to websites, to watch videos, to social media sites, and more. They can link a mobile phone to anywhere on the web, simply by scanning. Looking to increase traffic or customer engagement? Take a look at QR codes.
There are so many different uses for these codes, it does not make sense to try and create an example that would fit everyone. The beauty of these codes is that they are completely customizable for every situation. For ideas on how to use these codes for your business, please feel free to contact us. For a free PDF guide on these wonderful codes, click here.
