Using QR codes in marketing

Here at the South by Southwest Interactive conference, QR codes are everywhere. If you don’t know what they are, here’s the Wikipedia description. (In short, they are smartphone scannable codes that send users off to a website or mobile application. They often allow the originator to grab a potential new customer.)

Problem? Too many of these babies are all over the place here. It’s as if each company said, “We need to get something out there with a QR code on it – and it doesn’t matter what it says or links to. Just get it out now, now. We only have two weeks till the event kicks off!”

Fail.

None of them (that I saw) thought of a hook to make themselves stand out among the sea of other QR codes. Moral of the story? Take a little longer to think through your marketing effort before you launch it.

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5 Replies to “Using QR codes in marketing”

  1. I do like the idea, but you are right. they are everywhere..
    I have a qr code for my contact info on my iPhone. so if i pull up the image from my photo library someone could scan it. however only one person has scanned it. everyone else just wants a card.

    UGH

  2. We’ve been thinking about using them here – I don’t think that there are many missions organisations that have ventured into the world of the QR code yet. But, I don’t want to just go and slap them on everything we do, they must have a purpose, and you still have to put the web address on your materials because not everyone knows about this or can use it yet.

    I am pleased to see in your picture one in a different colour. I was getting worried that they always had to be black.

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