QR Code Marketing Basics

I've had several great conversations lately about using the open platform QR (or Quick Response) code in some integrated marketing campaigns. First, let me begin by saying that QR is one type of non-proprietary 2D barcode-- but there are others.  Microsoft's

platform is a great example of what I would want to stay away from.  You need their reader, their software, and the platform directs via their site. Not very open. But I digress-- here are some basics you need to consider when evaluating a mobile call to action using a QR code.

1. 

Think about the content that you're going to provide.

If I scan your code and it goes to your regular website, I'm less likely to convert to a customer, but I'm also likely to have a negative brand experience if the site is optimized for mobile.  Don't forget, these are people snapping photos of codes from their phones.

2. 

Consider the location of the code

. If it's on a subway, people can scan it, but they won't be able to go to the intended mobile site (since there's no service in the under-tubes). Did I just make that up? Under-tubes? cool. But also-- don't put it at the bottom, if the bottom is going to be at shoe level. Not bend-friendly.

3. 

Think about the creative for the campaign and how that integrates with the code

.  Tell your creative team ahead of time, so the big checker-board QR code doesn't

look like an afterthought. Contrast is important, but the codes don't have to be black and white to work. Experiment. Just make sure you test everything before it's printed and posted all over the city.

4. 

Putting the same code on a product

for more product information? Make it easy for the customer-- they've gone to the trouble of scanning your code, and you should know which code is on which product, so tailor the experience. Go right to that product, and if you can, even make assumptions about location. (Maybe you're a multi-national and you print different labels for different regions?)

5. 

The more data, the larger the code

, the trickier to focus and scan. If possible, use short links.  Part of the purpose of 4QR is to provide a very short link that can be re-directed, but that encodes into QR as a very readable code.

6. 

You don't need a smart phone to read a QR code

, so be careful not to make assumptions about your audience. A standard flip phone with a camera can read the code, so this goes back to #1-- making sure the content you deliver is optimized for mobile.

7. 

Are people used to interacting with ads like this?  Nope.

  In Europe and Japan, QR codes are a known commodity, but here in North America, the average person has only every seen a code on their FedEx package, and doesn't even know what they're for.  Don't forget to

incorporate some instructional copy

in your calls to action, if you want to maximize response.  (If you know anyone at Rogers/Telus/Bell--- ask them to start putting reader software on phones as standard).  Pretty soon Facebook's 400 million users will be educated on the QR phenom, so that should help too.

8. 

Deliver Value

. Make sure that when someone scans your code, on your ad (or whatever medium) that they get something for it.

is boring. Get them to enter their email on the mobile site for a chance to win something. Ask them for their opinion via comment/forum.  Give them a chance to complain, if that's what you need. 

will get stale pretty fast, so think about what the call to action is.

8b.

This is not the web (sort of).

These people are walking around, reading the paper, standing in a bus shelter, reading a poster at the movies, picking up your product off the shelf-- what do you want them to do?  Usually digital marketers are stuck saying "Check out stores for details" and that sort of thing, because their audience in online (read: at the computer).  Now, they're out and about.  Tell them to BUY!  Give them a coupon they can show at the checkout! Show them something

like when the next bus is coming, or what the trailer looks like for the movies they're deciding on

.  There are lots of things you can do, but the gist of it is that the user is mobile.

There are lots of things I'm sure I've missed.  Leave a comment with something that Marketers should keep in mind when they use QR codes in their campaigns...