QR Codes: a powerful communications tool for small businesses

So here is an article about a big brand, Glamour magazine, using QR codes to allow users to “like” the Facebook pages of their advertisers. Seems really cool and breathes new life into an “old” medium.

The QR code contains information or can direct you to a web page, say Facebook, to get more information. You could also direct someone to a coupon or allow them to read or write reviews.

Here is a QR code that I pulled from the web:

This QR Code will take you to the BBC programming page if you scan it with your phone equipped with a QR reader.

This particular image will take you to the BBC programming page.

I hadn’t seen any small businesses in Delaware use this until about a month or so ago, and I couldn’t wait to use it. Here are some of the benefits:

Engagement is easy to track. If your QR code direct users to a landing page, you can immediately track the effectiveness of a particular medium, say, direct response mail.

It’s cool. The image in this post allows the BBC to directly brand itself in the design. That links the brand with this technology and informs the user that the brand is trying new ways to connect with its audience.

It is nearly free. The QR code patent has not been exercised, so the barrier to entry for small businesses is low. QR codes can be printed in any color, so there would be no additional costs to include them in printed materials.

It recognizes the increasing mobility of the typical user. In 2009, according to the Pew Center, nearly a third of Americans use the internet with a handheld device like a smart phone. The QR code rewards the mobile user for being mobile and is a concrete adaptation to the way an increasing segment of the population accesses the web.

As I said earlier, I couldn’t wait to use this technology for my small business clients, and so have presented identity design with those QR codes on the business card, envelope and letterhead. I will be encouraging them to use these codes on all their printed marketing items from now on.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the matter or examples of its use.