Quick Response Codes Create New World of Opportunities for Mobile Marketing

Woburn, MA, (02-22-2011) – You’re looking at an ugly black box, but do you know what’s inside this matrix – or Quick Response (QR) code – and how to read it? In a variety of industries, you’re already behind your competition, if you don’t.

By the end of this article, you will see how QR codes are transforming the way virtually all industries can market to their customers and drive traffic to their products and services. Even if you’ve started to use QR, we’ll give you more ideas about how to get to the next level. The fact is, QR codes are coming to countless locations near you as a revolution in mobile marketing sweeps through corporate America.

What exactly are QR codes?
In a way, they are the next generation of barcodes, only much more versatile and advanced. They are designed for consumers on the run, allowing them to use their Blackberries, iPhones, Androids, and iPads to scan value-added data, even from a distance. The software decodes and transfers information to a web site or landing sites like other apps, SMS, social media, text messages, calendar appointments, YouTube, v-cards, music downloads, and geo locations.

How does QR work?
Consumers simply download free software onto their camera-equipped smart phones, which capture information in real time. The codes unlock limitless possibilities on the mobile advertising terrain as they help customers make decisions. Shoppers can make purchases on the spot, or they can defer decisions until they have time to view the content such as special promotions or educational videos.

Why Is this Killer App So Cool?
While American marketeers are now discovering new opportunities, they aren’t the first to use this technology. QR was launched in Japan several years ago and then migrated to Europe. Today, it is about to explode in the States, as advertisers react to reports that scans have increased by more than 400% since 2008. Indeed, major retailers and advertising firms, along with social media outlets, are seeing how traditional advertising will never be the same. According to an industry analyst, “To bet against QR codes is like betting against smart phone growth.” Consider, for instance, that over 300,000 Android phones are activated every day.

What are the forces beyond this buzz? In our fast food, on-demand world, QR is instantaneous, interactive, and far-reaching, with over 100 apps that read the codes. Our world is also cluttered with stimuli, and the ad we see in the morning may be off the radar at night – but it’s still stored in our ever-present web cell browsers!

Already, QR has become a rage in some college settings, but these codes are also going mainstream, especially since they have been featured on mass media like CBS TV: CBS NEWS: THE EARLY SHOW - The Secret Behind QR Codes. A blitz of media coverage – in traditional and social media outletsÑis expected to follow.

Marketeers see this as a means of reaching customers in virtually any industry. It gives them a chance to develop new campaigns, track results, and partner with printers in innovative ways. Printers have a great opportunity to go beyond traditional digital and offset jobs and infuse energy into their shops. They have discovered that QR codes are platform-friendly for all formats and any size run.

How Are QR Codes Being Used?
From paper to packages, from canvas to cars, from jello to jets, the uses for QR codes are virtually endless. This is particularly true in the world of print, as traditional formats find new life during this exciting evolution.

Some quick examples:

• Business cards: share your contact info, web site, or a simple “scan this” to call me.
• Product packaging: provide how-to-install videos via scan codes.
• Trade show graphics: get product information out, get contacts in.
• Books: offer sidebars about authors, spin-off games, and exercises for text books.
• Trains, buses, and planes: go to schedules and routes, book reservations.
• Restaurants: find nutritional information and menus, get specials and coupons
• Take-out menus: tap your phone to place an order.
• Product/service posters: link to your site or landing page.
• Direct mail: enter sweepstakes or other special contests.
• Real estate signs: link to a video virtual tour.
• Appliances: access owners’ manuals.

This list is just the tip of applications as QR is inspiring a new wave of strategic and creative approaches to marketing campaigns. What works best depends on the unique characteristics of your products and services aligned with the needs of your customers and prospects. For tried-and-true executions, you can draw from many sources for innovative ideas.

To learn more about mobile marketing, perform your due diligence by reading literature, checking out the competition, and consulting with industry experts. Learn the basics about the technology and how to install the software.* And consider fundamental principles like how to optimize your displays and customize your messages for particular audiences rather than using generic information. Sources like full-service printers can add considerable value. They can help you generate the codes, produce the material, and provide one-stop creative and fulfillment services as well.

You’ll find there are many options to weigh, but you have the chance to show your customers that you are on the cutting edge of this technology if you start planning now.

What Does the Future Hold?
The future of QR codes is today, and this wave of mobile marketing will surely continue to spread. Soon, we can expect enhancements such as adding variable data to the codes. Another big benefit will be the next generation of iPads and other tablets, which will provide more marketing opportunities and easier viewing, thanks to larger displays.

Marketing campaigns will become more refined, and consumers will become more sophisticated and begin to demand this kind of application. Which brings us back to the reason why QR codes are already proliferating. We are, after all, an on-demand society, and this is another way of feeding a hungry market.

Today, some people may still be wondering what those funny-looking black modules are all about. Well, the ugly boxes are attracting lots of attention as they begin to dot the landscape. Indeed, they are creating beautiful visions for marketeers who are responding to the Quick Response revolution.

* Service Point can provide information on locations to download software if requested.

About Service Point
Service Point provides tools and services for greater efficiency in document, print, and information management via networked service centers, online, and through On-Site Services programs with client firms nationwide.

Service Point USA is a subsidiary of Service Point Solutions. It employs over 2,700 people across 8 countries through a network of 140 services centers and 840 facilities management programs. SPS is headquartered in Spain and listed on the Madrid and Barcelona stock exchanges (ticker: SPS.MC).

Contact:
Michele Blackstone
781-497-7765
michele.blackstone@servicepointusa.com

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