While on vacation seven years ago, entrepreneur Rico Elmore couldn't find a pair of sunglasses that would fit on his not-so-small noggin. Elmore's hefty-head experience spawned an ah-ha moment, and today he is the proud proprietor of Fatheadz Eyewear, a company that makes oversized sunglasses and extra wide eyewear for folks with large heads.
Always looking for ways to innovate, Elmore has recently been using mobile marketing, and QR codes in particular, as part of his plan to engage customers.
QR codes (Quick Response Codes) are commonly aimed at mobile phone users. If you have a camera-equipped smartphone with a QR code reader, your phone can scan the image of a QR code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network or open a web page in your phone's browser.
"In early 2011, I was flipping through an outdoor retailer trade publication when I saw a QR code in the magazine," says Elmore. "I thought it was very cool and decided to look into how we might start using them in our marketing."
Within 60 days, Fatheadz had integrated the use of QR codes into their campaign involving the ongoing sponsorship of race car drivers.
"For all of our sponsored drivers, we give them a 'Hero' card they can autograph and give out to their fans," says Elmore. "We put a QR code on the back, and when the fan scans it on their mobile device, up pops our web page."
Once on the website, fans can see information about their favorite race car driver, including which sunglasses they wear -- and buy them. Elmore says the QR code campaign has increased web traffic by a whopping 10 percent.
What's next? Elmore says he plans on expanding the use of QR codes to prospective retailers by printing them on business cards and other marketing collateral and then linking them to product videos on his site.
Dan Hollings, an expert on mobile marketing, says that video is one of the most effective uses of QR codes.
"The key is to create a short video (under three minutes) about your product or service or some useful information relating to your product or service," says Hollings. "Then post the video on your website, YouTube and Facebook and link a QR code to it that brings the visitor to the video. It's as simple as that."
Even though QR codes are relatively simple to set up and use, many small businesses don't know where to begin. To start, check out Qr.net and createandtrack.com, just two of the hundreds of sites that offer QR code creation.
Once you've created a code, Hollings says you can then easily link it to a video, your website or a podcast. Once you know where you want to send your potential clients, the next step is to promote it. Publish your QR code on your business cards, flyers, DVDs, brochures, mailers, signage or any other material you give to potential clients. Hollings says he's even seen them placed on complementary coffee mugs at conferences.
Still feeling a bit shy about bringing QR codes into your marketing mix? Get your feet wet by using one yourself. Now that you know what to look for, you'll see them everywhere. So download a QR reader on your smartphone and scan away. Who knows, you might just end up with a pair of your favorite racecar driver's sunglasses.
Has your small business been doing anything with QR Codes or other forms of mobile marketing? We would love to hear your comments.
This article originally appeared at Xero.com, online accounting software for small business.
Karen Leland is a freelance journalist, best-selling author and president of Sterling Marketing Group where she helps businesses negotiate the wired world of today's media landscape -- social and otherwise. For questions or comments, please contact her at kleland@scgtraining.com.
Follow Karen Leland on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Karenleland
Great Article. Don't forget Tagginn on your list! We offer QR Code & MS TAG Generating with Tracking Analytics to know exactly when and how people interact with your code. We've got a Free package available!
We like very much dynamic feature which basically means that you can reuse already printed QR Code multiple times (it can point today to one URL, tomorrow on some other and you don't need to change already printed code)
It is simply not yet a mature enough market for most applications. Until more phone makers start selling devices with native scanners pre-installed and instantly accessible from the lock screen, QR codes will involve a lot of hype and very little in the way of marketing results.
Ypu are right. Only 14 million Americans Used QR Codes in June 2011... which is not a pretty bad number. Check this article for more relevant stats about the topic: http://www.powerretail.com.au/multichannel/14-million-americans-used-qr-codes-in-june-2011/
As a small business owner, I like the idea of the a link to a short video, etc. But I'm still waiting and watching the whole QR thing to guage consumer acceptance. (For one thing, QR codes are UGLY -- they look like digital poop!)
Maybe QR codes are the next big thing, but for now, at least, I'm sticking with a catchy domain name with a good call to action.
Please only use direct QR codes people and then redirect the users from your dns.
I have a 60 second overview at www.Cognation.net/QR
I will never understand stuff like this. How could someone not be able to type, "creating QR codes" into Google? Are we *really* that sad as a populace?
First, I must say thank you very much for linking to interlinkONE's QReate & Track application in this article. That put a smile on the face of all of the employees here today.
Also, you did an excellent job on this post! While there certainly are best practices to follow when incorporating QR Codes into someone's marketing mix, it really can be done by all sorts of small-businesses.
I've seen a tremendous increase in QR Code usage in direct mail, in magazine ads, and on other printed materials recently... and I'm absolutely thinking that will trend will continue to rise.
Thanks again,
Jason
I find this interesting -- from my experience, most folks don't want to take the time to watch a video, no matter how brief, about a product.
They typically only want to use a QR code as a time-saver, a quick short-cut to go to a web page for getting something done quickly -- subscribing to something or making a reservation, etc.