QR codes or Quick Response codes are amazing tools that have been the best solution for many activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is so much that people don’t know about them. In the marketing area, they are the best ways to bring together traditional and digital marketing strategies. Let’s take a look at how QR codes are capable of this!
What are QR codes?
Everybody knows the barcodes, which are pretty much in every product that we buy and use. But nowadays, we can find everywhere a square with dots and pixels, and many people don’t know what they are and how they work. For that reason, let’s dive into them. They were created in Japan in 1994, and the Japanese are constantly seeking to improve the different work processes. Denso Wave was the company that came up with this new form of bar code to keep track of the automotive components they design and produce. The mastermind behind them was Masahiro Hara.
QR codes are so useful, but the structure can be complicated; however, every code has a defined structure, which allows the scan to be successful and gives the user all the information that the code has. The design is divided into:
- Version Information: Identifies the code.
- Format Information: here is the information about the level of error correction and masking of the code.
- Data and error correction keys: it is the main information of a QR code.
- Required Patterns: everything in a QR code that is not corrupted or covered.
- Positioning pattern: the direction is determined here, which makes a 360° scan possible.
- Alignment Pattern: this ensures that the QR can be scanned even if it is on a curved surface or at a difficult angle.
- Time Pattern: this allows the decoder to determine the width of any QR code.
- Quiet zone: this zone allows the QR code to be isolated from the environment, thus allowing it to be printed on any image.
Even when they work in marketing, QR codes are a helpful tool in many areas. Moreover, these days where physical contact is limited, and we depend on many digital resources. They are thriving these past months, and many things can be expected from them, but what are the benefits of marketing? Check it out!
Benefits of QR codes
There are many ways to use them, but in marketing, they have become marketers’ best friends for limitless reasons:
The union of the offline and online world
QR codes should be seen as the link between the digital and physical world, with them you can access from any device with a camera to whatever they offer, from a landing page to the main website, some can even give you a complete catalog and or a video of how to do it. Along with this is added how cheap they are, just by printing them in an advertisement, a poster, and even on the product wrappers, any user can access them.
Social Media
These codes are incredible for sharing your social media accounts, and not only that, ‘like’ buttons, retweets, and shared content are available with them. They allow the creation of strategies based on the power of sharing, just encouraging customers or users to share what they like through a QR code.
Call to Action
QR codes are incredible for calls to action; it’s pretty normal in traditional and digital marketing adding a ‘call us…’ or ‘email us for more information, but what about putting a code right there with the necessary information or that lead the user to make a call or sending an email in less than 5 minutes. But not only that, these codes can have lots of information that will be very catchy for the user.
Making a Purchase
Curiosity is embedded in our nature, so with a QR code, you picked the interest of potential customers right there. They can observe ads or flyers on their way to work or walking down the street with a great call to action, and when they scan it with their phones, it will appear as a gift, a discount of a landing page catching their attention and push them to make a purchase, all this with a small square.
Contributing with SEO and Lead Generation
QR Codes are amazing to generate traffic to the website and landing pages that contribute to SEO optimization, especially because they are on the offline and online ads uniting both aspects of a campaign.
Customization and Printed Cost
Any QR code can be customized to match the campaign image from colors, even to put the logo inside the code all these to give an identity to the code. Also, they reduce the printed cost because you don’t need to change the code to change its content. These codes are known as dynamic codes: they can present different content in a period, but the square and the pixels never change, which translates to no need to change the printed ads. Another great point is that the code can be partially damaged but is still working, it’s a normal occurrence with printed advertisements, but if the important parts of the code are still visible, the scan will be successful.
QR codes are the best tool nowadays for many things, from marketing to the health area, and they are here to stay. Our lives are changing, technology is advancing, and they will be there to offer so many things to come. Keep in touch with the magazine to find out more about QR codes and other tools.
Don’t miss any posts on our social media!
Facebook: 786 Magazine
Instagram: @786.Magazine
Twitter: @786_Marketing
LinkedIn: 786-magazine
Telegram: Magazine786
