QR Codes are one of the new ways businesses are promoting their companies and advertising their services. QR stands for “quick response,” and the qr code is a 2-dimensional code that holds thousands of alphabetical and numerical characters. The way to activate a qr code is to take a picture of it with an iPhone, Android powered cell phone, or other smartphone. The qr code looks sort of like a grid. Its usually a 1 inch square, and has a checkerboard appearance.
When the smartphone takes the picture, the qr code makes the phone follow a link. The link can be to the company's website, directions to their storefront, open the email or messaging application on the phone to send a message to the business directly, or a variety of other functions. Using qr codes can be very beneficial to the company, especially with the technological age right now. Just about every person now has a smartphone, and use it to its full extent. Businesses might have to explain how to use the qr codes for awhile, but eventually the clientele will catch on. By allowing the qr codes to do the advertising for the business, the company is now free to use their time in other ways. Many companies use qr codes to give their clients promotional prices or coupons, as well as special alerts to deals that are otherwise not advertised.
A qr code can be put onto almost any material. T shirts, trucks, trailers, buildings, business cards, brochures, basically anything you can imagine can be printed with a qr code on it and are popular media to have these codes on them. There are stories of companies giving their interns a t shirt with a qr code on them and sending them to a baseball game, meet-and-greet, or other social event wearing the t shirt and getting their business some massive publicity.
There are many ways to use qr codes in your business. Real estate agents use them on their business cards and online on the houses being listed under them. Answer-phone services use the codes as a direct dial to their lines, as well as using the codes to generate text messages and emails to a pre-determined number or email address. Some qr codes can be tracked, meaning that the business owner could see who is scanning the code, where it was scanned, and how often it has been scanned. Then there is no question to how popular the codes really are! Qr codes are just one more way to get businesses recognized and producing lucractive promotions for the company.
