You’ve seen them around, on packages, on business cards, on billboards. Quick response, or QR, codes have become one of the biggest tools in marketing. Customers scan the codes with their phones and are sent to a website where they can access additional information about the products they’re looking at.
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But marketers don’t always use them correctly, says John Sonnhalter, of B-to-B marketing communications firm Sonnhalter. In the latest episode of Executive Briefing, he identifies two of the most common mistakes companies make when using QR codes.
The first mistake companies make when using QR codes is not thinking about where they’re sending the consumer, Sonnhalter says. \”They send people to a non-mobile site … and you need a microscope to read it\” because the type is so tiny on the smart phone screen, he says.
\”If you’re going to send people someplace, make sure that where you’re sending them is mobile-ready.\”
The second mistake is using QR codes \”just to be cool,\” he says. \”You need to have a plan. A QR code isn’t a mobile marketing program.\” It’s a tool in your mobile marketing program. And you need to make sure how you’re using that tool makes sense.
\”(Customers) aren’t going to watch a 12-minute video,\” Sonnhalter says. You need to wow them from the start because they’re not going to come back. Focus your message on the information they want, and make sure it’s easy to read and use.
Click on the video below to hear more about QR codes in mobile marketing, or watch the entire January Executive Briefing at mdm.com/executive briefing.
