The QR — or ‘quick response’ code — was invented in 1994 but had appeared to fall largely out of use before the COVID-19 pandemic, which revived their popularity.
Even now that the world is edging back towards normality, you don’t necessarily have to leave QR codes out of your digital marketing mix. Here are several ways you could still use these little black-and-white squares, which many phones’ built-in camera apps are now capable of scanning.
Direct users to a download page for your app
The way a QR code works is that, when someone scans it with their device, they will be provided with further information from an online source.
Hence, if your company has its own app for customers to download, QR technology presents you with a way to send the customer straight to where they need to be. Whether that person is using an iPhone or Android handset, scanning the QR code could bring up your app’s listing in the relevant app outlet.
Quickly show exactly where your premises are
If the customer would need — or could at least benefit from — visiting these premises in person, there’s the obvious question of how the customer should figure out how they would get there.
Yes, they could just enter your corporate postcode into Google Maps to get directions. However, you could make things quicker and easier for them by showing, on your company’s website, a QR code the visitor would be able to scan to produce the directions they need.
Push customers towards your social media pages
A company’s social media page is something that, in theory, many people could easily check out but, in practice, relatively few people probably would.
Those holdouts could, however, be more inclined to access those social media pages were QR codes to serve as especially speedy entryways to them. You could even incentivise usage of those codes by advertising the opportunity for people to pick up a discount through scanning them.
Send the customer a menu
Let’s assume you run an eatery where you are reluctant to use traditional, card-based menus — perhaps due to lingering COVID-related concerns or simply an eagerness to make your business more eco-friendly.
In this situation, your business could display a QR code — such as one on the company’s website or premises — so that the customer can see the entire menu on their phone’s display. Conventional menus can then be left for the less tech savvy, like people without smartphones.
Run a creative competition
Our graphic designers know to integrate QR codes in an array of quirky ways when putting together visual publicity materials for clients. These designers could even, if you wish, insert QR codes into certain imagery where the viewer would not be openly told in advance that the codes are actually there.
Consequently, people who do scan any of these codes could be treated to an ‘Easter egg’ of sorts, like a small prize — with the code sending the user to a webpage explaining how to claim this prize.
