You know something is here to stay when you see it tattooed on someone’s forearm—like the QR Code, for instance. While the bar code of old is still around, it is fading in comparison to the bold two-dimensional square matrix of the QR code. Why?

The QR has a larger storage capacity than the barcode and faster readability. It also stores many different kinds of data. A QR Code gives your readers immediate, mobile access to relevant information—so they can link to and share your digital content, like resources, special offers, downloads and feedback opportunities.

By strategically including QR codes in your marketing materials you can direct your readers to very specific and comprehensive information and encourage them to act. For example, when you include a QR code in your call to action, you can lead them to a landing page that makes it easy for them to follow through and provides them with further incentive to engage—with a coupon or discounted service, for example.

You can also use QR codes to drive traffic—to your Facebook page (using Likify), or to specific landing pages on your website, or anywhere that you want to provide relevant information. Because QR codes can store a lot of dynamic information, they help to increase SMO and SEO by driving traffic to your multimedia content, including images and videos.

Where to include your QR codes:

• In printed marketing materials: business cards, brochures, conference programs.
• On receipts
• On event name tags
• On company vehicles
• In your Call to Action

Best Practices

• Be strategic about what content you include in your QR code and where you place it.
• Educate your readers about why you use QR codes and cultivate their level of comfort with them—make it fun.
• Provide incentives that not only encourage them to use the QR code, but come back to your site.
• Experiment with placement, color and size.
• Track the results of your QR code use and adjust accordingly.
• Get creative about how you use QR codes.
• Make sure you have a SaaS CMS that can support QR code usage—with multimedia content, mobile interfaces, social sharing and capacity for QR encoding and reading.

Integrating QR codes into your content strategy could just give you results that won’t fade. Someone else can get the tattoo.