Viral Marketing

QR codes are a fun new outlet for creative talent. I know, people complain about the fact that the user must have a smartphone with a scanner and know how to use it, and it only works with mobile. Your laptop is unlikely to have a scanner on it.

But if your audience is smart phone friendly, it is a really cool tool to have available. I think that is true because making it effective demands some imagination.

For those who don’t know, QR codes are barcodes that are read both horizontally and vertically, unlike traditional bar codes that read only one way. Because they are read in two directions, they contain a large amount of information, and are used to send those who scan the code to a URL.

I will tell you right now, that if you are sending people to your website’s home page with your QR code, stop reading and stop working in marketing. The value of a QR code is where you send the audience. It has to be somewhere that enhances what the audience was experiencing as they came across the code. So if you make bottled water, place a QR code on the back of the water, so your audience is taken to a place that explains or demonstrates the value of your bottled water over tap water and over your competitors. Give them an instant value.

Here are some other ideas for using QR codes:

1. On your front window. Lets say people love the warm rolls from your bakery in the morning. Offer a QR code in the window that takes them to your twitter feed and let them know that you will tweet each morning the moment those rolls come out of the oven.

2. On the back of your running team Tee shirt. During the race, other racers can scan your shirt as they run. It can take them to a place that shows a fun and inspiring video of the course, the cause the race is run for, your team, etc. It is an audience that has a bit of time on its hands.

3. The hole you sponsor at a golf outing. It can be a preview of the hole, show where the traps are, and how best to approach the green.

4. As a decoration on the cake at your next company anniversary. You have done the logo before, so this is unique. It can link to a special video of your team celebrating.

5. In your corporate video. You can interrupt the video with a QR code that will take the viewer to a related site as you explain your product offerings. Many in your audience may not need additional background info, but those who do can stop the video as their smartphone brings up the new URL. They can continue the video once the side presentation ends. The your multi-media presentation will not soon be forgotten.

Bonus Suggestion:

5. On your headstone. You heard right. Visitors can scan the code that will take them on a slideshow of your life so they remember that it is a person not a grave. Go ahead and write a Go-Daddy URL into your will now.

The point is, it QR codes are not necessarily successful or unsuccessful as a tool. It is a matter of what you can come up with as a way to use them that counts.