1. At Conferences & Events
QR codes can be a great tool for marketers to use at conferences, events, and trade shows. At Dreamforce, for example, HubSpot put QR codes on everything: handouts, unicorns, presentations, and our stand-in. It gave our visitors an easy way to gather information from us quickly without having to jot anything down. During the HubSpot sessions, attendees could quickly get a copy of our presentation to take notes or follow along. The key was to put the QR code in as many places as possible to make sure anyone could access information quickly and easily.
The next time you're participating in an event, consider places you could add a QR code to content you produce. Configure the QR code to send people who scan it to a targeted landing page on your website, especially one with a form to help you generate leads for your business.
2. On Business Cards
It's a pain to transfer a person's information from their business card into your contact database. You need to input their name, title, email address, and phone number. But some people are making this easier now by putting QR codes on their business cards to shorten the process. By scanning the QR code, all of the information from the card can immediately be pulled into your contact list, making a normally tedious process much shorter and more efficient. This can be a much easier way to capture leads you generate from in-person communication and networking. In B2B, anything that can be made easier or more efficient is helpful.
3. In Print Advertising
When people see advertisements in newspapers, magazines, or signage, they often ignore them. But with a QR code, many people become interested in what other information it leads to. A QR code can help your print advertising stand out and actually help a business connect with other businesses. Moreover, QR codes can help businesses gauge the success of the ad by knowing how many people scanned the code and visited the landing page (and even converted!) on their website. With the millions of ads that people see every day, a QR code can help it stand out and make an impression.
Marketing Takeaways
Making information easily accessible to your target audience makes all of the difference. Using QR codes will allow you to provide more information than you normally would have been able to in a simple, condensed fashion.
As a best practice for B2B QR code use, always be sure to link the QR code to a targeted landing page on your website that includes a lead generation form. QR codes are not only useful for directing traffic to your website. They can also be useful for generating leads, so test different offers and optimize the performance of your QR code usage!
What other ways are you using QR codes?
Photo Credit: Jeroen Steeman
Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
Christopher Powers 1:27 PM on October 03, 2011
I'm starting to see these used more and more by larger companies but haven't seen smaller businesses take advantage of it.
As a web designer, I create a lot of "contact us" pages for my clients which list the important information for their potential client or customer to keep in their address book. Now, the program I use that creates these contact us pages, I have the ability to add the QR Code right onto the webpage.
So a website visitor, a future client or customer of that business, can take their smart phone & take scan that QR code directly from the businesses' website and get whatever data we configure. The client can offer their entire address contact information or even "special offers, discounts or reward" just for scanning that little square.
Its an exciting new technology and I really hope more smaller businesses take to the technology. Great article, I really hope it encourages others to start to adopt the newer and quicker way to share contact information and really virtually limitless information to their potential client or customer.
Chris Powers
Powers By Design
www.powersbydesign.com
Zsuzsa Jakab 2:06 PM on October 03, 2011
I completely agree, QR codes are a yet underused but terrific marketing tools.
I was wondering about the business card option actually; how can I generate the kind of QR code that will drag my contact information automatically into the scanning person's address book?
On this site for example (http://qrcode.kaywa.com/) I only see QR codes generated from links, text, phone number, sms..
Gary Hennerberg 2:14 PM on October 03, 2011
We put QR codes on back of our business cards for a recent conference. One code went to an opt-in website, the other was for all the contact information. But I was amazed at the number of people who had no idea how to scan them, or that they needed a special app on their phones. But over time they'll get it. More about our QR experience here: http://www.hennerberg.com/blog/?p=72
Ann 3:42 PM on October 03, 2011
Agreed! They are here! I have just put a QR code on my business card, but it seems as if only certain programs will read it. My Blackberry program will not read it on the card, but reads it on my screen.
Maybe it needs to be bigger. What is the optimal size for every program to read smaller QR codes?
Or ... please recommend a good program - for BB and iPad.
Justin Dupre 8:41 PM on October 03, 2011
QR codes are one of those tools that can really help connect the online and offline environments. With more people owning smartphones today, a QR code placed in a poster can generate traffic to a site.
Thomas 3:50 AM on October 04, 2011
Hi everybody,
QR-codes are everywhere and can be very useful for entreprises. I couldn't more agree with the article.
Also, we have developped a start-up which transforms business cards in QR-codes, allowing people who receive the businesscard (or an email) to add the contact to their address book in one click! The codes we generate point at a URL with a Vcard.
Our offer includes:
* Create as many QR-Codes as you ordered.
* Access 24-7 to the QR-Code.
* Unlimited updating of data: Change your contact details as many times as you like - no cost and no change to your QR-code.
* Statistic reporting of scans each month: track how many people have interacted with each code.
* Privacy and secured hosting of data.
Send the contact details of your staff thanks to an Excel spreadsheet given to info(at)myqbc.fr, within 48 hours, you will receive all the codes.
You can check out our website to see our video : http://myQuickBusinessCard.com/
Regards,
Thomas
Carrie Taaca 3:42 PM on October 04, 2011
Hi Rachel,
I have a quick question for you. Can you contact me?
Thanks,
Carrie Taaca
Higher Level Group
Maxine Horn 3:43 PM on October 04, 2011
We and 100's of creative firms, designers and innovators around the globe are using QR does to authenticate our innovation concepts and creative works and protect our IP.
Take a look at www.creativebarcode.com for more details
Mark Gottlieb 1:40 AM on October 10, 2011
As always, great content from you.
My latest Mark the Marketer blog on 103 Ways to Use QR Codes to A
http://markthemarketer.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/103-ways-to-use-qr-codes-to-drive-sales-and-more/
Mark
Andrea 2:56 PM on October 18, 2011
We prefer QR Codes served on Cookies
Martha France 1:24 PM on November 01, 2011
Our clients are using QR codes for several innovative B2B applications. For example, QR codes are being used to manage customer accounts across distributed sales forces. When a sales agent leaves a company, the corporation uses QR codes in the process of re-assigning accounts and prospects. QR codes on printed marketing materials are redirected from the former sales person’s contact information to the newly assigned sales person’s profile.
Find more examples on our press release http://www.docustar.com/cincinnati_digital_marketing/news_article/qr_codes_that_mean_business/