QR codes bring your brick store online
Mobile marketing is currently picking up speed as more and more people switch to smartphones. Especially for local businesses this is an amazing opportunity to gain some traction online as well as offline.
How much this will cost you largely depends on the professionalism and scale you are thinking about. The cheapest option comes for the price of a few flyers or stickers.
I’m talking about QR codes, which basically pack information into a square with pixels like the one you see below. Here’s a bit more about the topic from Wikipedia.
Using them to link your brick & mortar store with your web presence is as simple as navigating to a free QR code generator and entering your URL. Once you created the code you save the image to use it as you like.
A link to guide them all
To give you an example let’s say you wish to create a flyer for teaching locals about the location of your store. By integrating a QR code with a Google Maps link users are able to see the location on a map, get directions to reach it or even save it to their contacts.
Another way to spread your store products or discounts online is creating dedicated micro sites for those. To really leverage this include easy forwarding options such as Email, Twitter and Facebook on these pages. If you now add a sticker or paper slip to the physical product or promotion users can tell their friends about your amazing stuff in only a few steps. To encourage people to do so you could think about some gaming element or a group discount.
Keep it simple, stupid!
One word of advice, however: When you add a QR code to a print product don’t make it too small (less than around 2cm diagonal). The smaller the code is, the more difficult it is to scan it. Same is true for color options. Advanced QR code generators allow extensive modifications to suit your design guidelines but colors also interfere with scanning.
For the early adopters
If you and your business always ride the latest wave of technology you should start digging into NFC. This means Near-Field-Communication and allows wireless short range data transfer. It really isn’t all that new but it never really picked up until recently. Now it’s the latest hype in mobile marketing. It allows geeky stuff such as paying with your smartphone or triggering media on a mobile device. Watch the video below for a short explanation.
Outside Japan this technology is just starting to gain a foothold. Most mobile phone manufacturers started including NFC capability to their new devices and services around it will shortly start to pop up like wild mushrooms.
As this needs some technological background small businesses without boundless marketing budgets should think twice before engaging loads of time and money they should rather spend on thousands of flyers or business cards with a simple but efficient QR code.
Do you already use QR codes on your print materials? Tell us about it!
