Tag Archives: qr code marketing

QR Codes Aren’t Dead, Just Badly Beaten

QR Code Hit or Miss

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Editor’s note: Torsion Mobile kicks off a daily feature – QR Code Hit or Miss (check it out). We are gathering QR Code uses large and small and analyzing them for effectiveness.  Our goal is learning from both successes and mistakes already made in deploying a key component to the future of mobile marketing. What follows is some observations about QR Code use to date by Torsion Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer Brooke Benschoter.

After recently spending a few days with some of the best and brightest in the advertising agency world at the BOLO 2012 conference — it dawned on me that QR Codes are getting a bad rap. A few of the folks I was with actually blamed a QR Code for the failure of a campaign they had launched for a client.  Some declared they were giving up QR Codes and would never use them again. All I can say, as the mobile explosion is about to go off, is that is like giving up print or online in the advertising and marketing tool box. And as a fellow marketer, I have to ask — who in their right mind would do that?

The QR Code or the Quick Response Code was invented in 1994 to track the manufacturing process at Toyota – Japan. It wasn’t until about 2009 that anyone thought to use it in marketing or more specifically, to tie the world of print and internet together at time when they were clearly going head to head for a share of the marketing and advertising dollars spent.

Is Slapping a Strategy?
If you look at the use of QR Codes since that time, they are often slapped on materials from t-shirts to freeway billboards (now come on, scanning at 65 mph?) with little thought to the strategy and what experience actually scanning the code delivered to the end user – the customer – the person we are all here to persuade to do something.

Many brands were guinea pigs for the mindset that just using QR Codes was enough to make the brand appear cool. No thought was given to the landing page or website the consumer would be experiencing.  When QR Code-driven campaigns failed, it was the fault of the odd little square rather than the creative and account management people at agencies who made the decision to use the tool in the first place.

Time for Honesty
No marketing executive would use any other tool in his or her toolbox with such lack of regard or gay abandon.  No advertising guru would place a billboard or buy a radio spot without thinking about what exactly the purpose was and what the expected return on investment would be. Perhaps because QR Codes cost little or nothing but ink to deploy, decision makers diminished the investment as well. Using a disruptive technology for the sake of disruption is poor judgment, no matter what business you are in.

QR Codes are finding their way into other areas of life as businesses see them as a strategic way to deliver information, take orders or connect with their target customer on a more operational level. QR Code integration may well be led by the commerce that will be generated as mobile use grows.

If we are honest with ourselves as marketers, we had the first chance and we blew it. To have a “do over,” we need to be educating consumers, telling them what they will get by scanning a QR Code, offering the a url to type in if they prefer and then delivering a quality mobile experience once they get there.

I believe we advertising and marketing people owe the QR Code an apology and more importantly, a second and more strategic thoughtful chance.

Brooke Benschoter, APR has more than 25 years of experience in communications and integrated marketing including award-winning branding, advertising and public relations with organizations such as Pioneer Hi-Bred, Meredith Corporation, ITAGroup, National Pork Board and Drake University.  Her career started in broadcast journalism as a reporter, producer, and anchor and grew to include agency management and consulting experience at what is now Meyocks Group and Strategic America.  Brooke calls herself a branding geek, having worked with brands that include Kraft, Home Depot, Compaq Computer, Better Homes and Gardens, Tone’s, Frito Lay, USS Iowa, and Mary Engelbreit. Most recently, Brooke was Senior Strategic Consultant for Strategic America, a premier channel and field marketing agency.

 

via 2d code

A Large QR Code Made of Entirely of Coins

QR Code Hit or Miss

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Phot0o via 2d code

An Estonian bank set a new Guinness Book of World Records for the largest mosaic made up of coins. 53,757 Euro  5 and 10 cent coins went into the image of a bank card that included a QR Code – which actually resolves when scanned. Reported on 2d Code, the feat was was accomplished in eight hours by 412 SEB Estonia Bank employees. This is apparently the 5th world record set by the bank.

How to Use QR Code Campaigns With Mojaba

QR Code Hit or Miss

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QR Codes in a garden landscape

Connecting the physical with the digital - Two Rivers Landscaping uses QR Codes and Mojaba to show off completed projects and market for new customers.

QR codes are so popular these days, you’re bound to run into a few every time you step outside. They’re useful in so many marketing campaigns and can immediately connect a consumer to a business just with a smartphone scan.

Since anyone scanning a QR code will scan with a phone, the best possible experience for the user is one that is built specifically for mobile. So why not build a Mojaba mobile site for your client’s next QR code campaign?

You already know how easy it is to build a site in Mojaba, but did you know that Mojaba also generates QR codes for published sites? And not only the home page, but Mojaba provides a QR code for every panel of your mobile site. So you can design a landing page specific to the QR code campaign, print out the custom QR code, and display it anywhere you’d like.

Take a look at this QR code campaign built for a local landscaping business. A simple laminated sign on a stake shows branding, contact information and a QR Code. Someone walking by the garden can scan it to see who did the work. On the mobile-optimized site, they’d find useful information like services provided by the landscaper and how to contact them.

This is a great example of how mobile users get information on the go. Make it easy for them to find your client by meeting them on mobile.

See a great example of QR codes and mobile sites in action? Let us know in the comments below!

QR Codes vs. Mobile Visual Search (MVS)

QR Code Hit or Miss

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We talk a lot about QR codes at Torsion Mobile, mostly because we’re so frustrated with poor QR code usability cases. But we know QR codes aren’t the greatest thing to ever happen to the mobile landscape, clearly. Only about 20 percent of smartphone users even use them.

So we’re always looking out for QR code competitors — that’s why we were intrigued by this proposal that QR codes are on their way out, and something called MVS (mobile visual search) is on its way in.

MVS is a technology that uses the native camera in a smartphone to scan a physical object (as opposed to a barcode) to find information via a web search. You may be familiar with MVS via Google Goggles, which is a product of Google Mobile:

There are several conveniences that we think will make MVS very attractive to users in the near future. Check out some of the differences between QR Codes and MVS:

QR Codes vs. MVS

We’re not saying that people will start adopting MVS like, tomorrow. Most people don’t know what it is and haven’t yet tried Google Goggles. And MVS is still in its infancy, you can’t search everything — the Google folks recommend scanning only “landmarks, books, DVDs, wine and artwork” (see video above). But rest assured that eventually the masses will know they can search by snapping a photo.

For Marketers

You can take advantage of this new technology by educating your client about MVS — and encouraging them to educate their patrons. A client who has an MVS campaign instead of a QR code campaign can gain some major points with consumers, merely because of the “cool factor” of having something new in their marketing. In the near future, it’ll be simple: “Scan this [insert scannable object here, eg. book, text, label, etc.] with Google Goggles and get a 10% discount!” Make sure Google Goggles can find your client’s “scannable object,” and then make a mobile landing page for the deal. Presto. A new, cool way to interact with consumers.

Look out for more information about the growth of MVS. We’ll keep an eye on the trend as well, so let us know if you see any successful marketing campaigns using mobile visual search.

QR Codes vs. SMS: Determining Value Between New and Old

QR Code Hit or Miss

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QR Code scanning is emerging, SMS is the has-been. How do you determine value for your clients?

SMS sometimes get a bad rap. We’ve all seen those annoying “Text 1212121 TODAY to reveal the name of your true love!” And American Idol and other voting shows make use of SMS for viewers’ picks. These two prominent uses may have contributed to labeling SMS promotions as voter-based, trivial or old-fashioned.

And with increasing smartphone penetration and the advent of QR codes into the public eye, SMS may seem even more outdated. Why text when you can scan, tweet, message, post, blog, email, share — all from your phone?

So the question of the day is: Are QR Codes replacing SMS? Despite the obvious evidence, we say not yet — there’s still room for SMS.

Here’s what we found from Mobile Marketer.

Nowadays consumers cannot go a day without seeing a QR code – whether it is on a magazine page, billboard or bus shelter. In past years, SMS calls to actions were seen just about anywhere.

QR codes are still somewhat novel. With greater smartphone adoption, more users are able to (and want to) scan codes. And they have ample opportunity to do so. Increasingly, instead of incorporating SMS into their mobile strategies, many marketers are simply using QR codes to encourage users to visit a site.

But there are pros and cons to both campaigns. QR codes can lead to a number of things: mobile websites, video, giveaways, surveys, etc, but they don’t take feature phones into account. There is still a large portion of mobile users (over 60 percent) that don’t have a smartphone. These users can’t scan QR codes, but they can still use SMS services. SMS is the only non-voice way to reach the 234 million U.S. mobile subscribers, and, often, it’s much easier for a consumer to receive a text message than download a QR code scanner and scan a code. So, we say that SMS will stay relevant, even with the buzz of new technologies.

“SMS will be as strong as ever, but we will also see it placed alongside other mobile options like QR codes and the mobile Web. Offering multiple channels encourages engagement and campaign creativity, ultimately driving increased customer loyalty and overall revenue from mobile marketing campaigns.” —Doug Stovall, senior vice president of sales at Hipcricket, Kirkland, WA (via Mobile Marketer)

And it’s important to remember that mobile is shifting all the time. Already, there’s buzz around the web about a new technology called Near Field Communication, or NFC. Techies are excited about NFC’s capabilities to share information between an NFC-enabled device and an object equipped with an NFC chip. When this technology grows into its own, it could allow you to buy something by swiping your phone over it, or share schedules, contact info or maps with someone in a matter of milliseconds.

Currently, there aren’t many devices that can handle NFC communications (though it is rumored that the Windows Phone 8 will have NFC capabilities). And the even greater challenge is equipping objects — whether for retail or sharing purposes — with the NFC chip.

In the short term, marketers must learn to embrace new mobile media campaigns while remembering the value of previous ones. There will never be a time when all mobile users will have the same technological capabilities, so catering to the new and old can reach the widest number of users possible.

What are your thoughts on SMS campaigns? QR code campaigns? Have you seen good examples of both in action? Tell us below in the comments.

[image via Email Marketing Blog]