What Is A QR CODE?
What’s a QR Code? & Why Should I Care?
To answer these questions, let us start with a little history about the QR ("Quick Response") Code*. The QR Code was developed by Denso Wave back in 1994 as one of a number of bar codes that were used for tracking automotive parts for companies like Toyota. QR Codes have evolved from the automotive industry to the mobile phone to satisfy people’s desire for a quicker way to receive data. Today, a Mobile QR Code is a two dimensional barcode readable by a mobile device or phones that has been big in Japan since 1998, widely used in Europe the last several years, and is only beginning to get traction in Australia and the United States. For more on the QR Code see our FAQs.
Using a fancy Marketing Term, QR Codes are in an “early adopter” stage in the United States and industry experts believe QR Codes will be common place within 18 to 24 months!
With this said, why does this matter to me?
Quite simply, the future of online and offline marketing will be affected by the QR Code technology. The sooner you embrace it, the sooner you will see the huge potential it offers to users and to all marketers both online and offline!
A little more explanation without all of the techie jargon and keeping it as simple as possible!
Mobile QR Codes are a cell phone readable bar code that can store phone numbers, web site URL’s, email addresses, contact information and pretty much any other alphanumeric data you would like to encode and store within the QR Code.
Think of a QR Code as "print-based hypertext links" and if you know what this is you will get the idea.
If not in the simplest sense a "print based hypertext link" is a URL encoded into the QR Code and when a camera-enabled mobile phone with QR Code reader software installed on it is pointed at the QR Code, it will fire mobile phone or device browser and go straight to the encoded URL.
But it doesn’t stop there – a QR Code can also contain a phone number, an SMS message, business card data or just plain alphanumeric text, and the mobile scanning device will respond by decoding the data within the QR Code.
It doesn’t matter whether the QR Code is upside down or wrapped around a curved surface, the encoded message will still get through.
The need to jot down on paper a phone number or try to type in a long URL on your tiny cell phone key board will be no more.
With a Mobile QR Code, you can simply
Point & Click = Get Data Instantly
While there is some room for improvement in the mobile phone readers and decoders in the United States and they are coming, large areas of the world are already showing the true power of QR Codes.
Some of the world’s largest companies are using QR Codes in their marketing campaigns today!
Mobile QR Code Advertising is beginning to pick up steam with both online and offline marketers seeing the benefits of using QR Codes in driving a higher click through rate than traditional print advertising. A company in Australia saw an 18% click through rate with one of their recent marketing campaigns. The true power is now available and in your hands today so that you can provide instant data transfer of a website URL, phone number, SMS text message, business contact information, or any other alphanumeric text that you want transmitted.
Say what you want to say, to whom you want to say it with a mobile QR Code.
Get your QR Code Here today!