How To Use QR Codes In Your Marketing

When used properly, the addition of a QR code can increase ROI and engagement from every single piece of marketing you are already spending money on. There is a comprehensive segment on QR codes in our free eBook 'The Ultimate Small Business Guide to Mobile Marketing' and some specific examples in our article ‘Chuck and Norris's Examples of How To Use Qr Codes From New York City’.

Since writing these guides however, I have been spending more time with businesses on their mobile marketing and wanted to give you some additional practical help.

Firstly, EVERY piece of marketing should have a QR code on it. That means your invoices, business cards, posters, signs and adverts... EVERYTHING!

Now we've established that, for each individual piece of marketing go through the following steps:

STEP 1

Get clear in what context people will be seeing that QR code. Will they be existing customers, prospects (people who are thinking of buying from you) or suspects (people who could buy from you, but don't know you at all)? Will they be out and about, in the office or at home? Will they be busy and looking for quick information or bored and looking for entertainment?

STEP 2

Decide where you want the QR code to take them - is it a particular page on your website, your Facebook page, a page where people can leave reviews or a place they can download your mobile app? One of my friends is a Manchester City fan, and he showed me his season ticket recently (which had a QR code on it). The QR code led to a page on the club website which was not mobile optimised, and which said "stay tuned, we're going to do something with this page very soon". Don't make the same mistake! If you are going to use a QR code then make sure you are sending them to a mobile-optimised page which has good content or is set up for a specific conversion you want them to make.

STEP 3

If you are sending people to your website, you can use a 'Tracking URL', which means you can see how many people have scanned your QR code. For example, if you are producing flyers, you can use these URLs to test multiple versions of a flyer to see which gets the best response. You could test 5,000 flyers in colour, and 5,000 in black and white. After a few days, you can check your analytics and see which attracted most visitors to your website, and which produced the most online conversions (you will need to have ‘goals’ set up to do this – read more about using analytics for conversions here).

STEP 4

Produce your QR code - this is very easy to do. If you get stuck, give our office a call on 01332 343281, we'll do one for you at no cost (they take a few seconds to produce). Remember to check your QR code with your own phone or tablet before printing or publishing! Make sure you are happy with the journey your customer will go on.

STEP 5

Produce your marketing piece. It helps to include some text to encourage people to scan the QR code, something that makes them curious or that gives them a benefit - for example "Scan this QR code with your mobile to get an exclusive money-off discount". You can read more about special offer ideas here.

STEP 6

Evaluate the results, and learn for next time. What worked well? What didn’t? What will you change for next time?

So get started! One thing I talk about in the book ‘The Ultimate Small Business Guide To Mobile Marketing’ is how important it is to integrate several forms of marketing together (and not just rely on one), and QR codes are a great way to link your offline marketing with your digital strategy.

Article by Will Williamson