Smartphones are everywhere. Mobile payments and location-based services are already drawing people to take out their phones while they’re out and about, and QR codes are another way your business can connect to customers through their smartphones. QR codes are easy to generate and provide a great way to convey information directly from the real world to the digital world. Here’s how to put them to work for your business.
You can read these codes via the camera on a smartphone in combination with special apps. On Android phones, the apps Barcode Scanner and Google Goggles (both available for free in the Android market) will translate the QR codes into links that take you to websites, maps, social tools, contact information, links to downloads, or other things linked in the code. Scanners for the iPhone include QR Scanner, QR Reader, and Scan (QR Reader is $2; the others are free in the iTunes App Store). Many shopping apps that scan barcodes will scan QR codes as well.
To take things to the next level, sites like qrstuff.com offer analytics to track the use of your codes, or can put that code on products such as T-shirts, hats, coffee mugs, and even chocolate. A new art project celled QR-3D is cataloging QR codes woven into clothing and other textiles.
The mobile space is a hot place to build your brand, and with more and more people carrying and actively using their smartphones while out and about, QR codes are a great tool to reach out to those customers in new and interesting ways. Stay tuned to the PCWorld Business Center to learn more on how to leverage mobile tools to get the word out about your business.