We all love solving a good puzzle and here at Hampson Solutions Ltd we seem to be elbow deep in codes right now.
Every now and again a new marketing craze comes along, generates a hysteria of noise and then fizzles out just as quickly. If you are into marketing, and let's face it, anyone who is in the business of behaviour change and promoting healthy living is definitely into marketing, you will have developed an internal filter system to help you work out which new communication techniques are here to stay.
You might have seen these strange little pixely squares on brochures, posters, buses and business cards. They are 2-dimensional bar codes, the QR standing for "quick response", developed by the Japanese automotive industry as a smart way to quickly track auto parts. Their versatility and application has led to them becoming rapidly adopted for a wide range of uses.
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They are simply a barcode of characters, and instructions on what to do with them. You can use a QR code to send someone your electronic business card, direct them to your website, make a phone call, open up a YouTube video, direct them to the app store or show someone a location on a map. And the rest. Offline to online: Their most popular use has become to take people from offline marketing, such as promo leaflets, posters and business cards, to further online information on a website. To scan one of these QR codes you need a QR code reader, free and readily available for all smart phones from their respective app stores. |
There are a number of QR code generators freely available online so creating one to promote your service is very easy and only takes a few minutes. Then you can plaster them all over your marketing materials.
Because we are a bit geeky here at Hampson Solutions, we have spent a little extra time and effort getting to really understand these little codes. We've started to see them as a piece of art, as they can be altered and tweaked and customised you know. Below are a small selection of the bespoke QR codes we've created.
As well as looking great and adding to your brand, there is another benefit to having a customised version of a QR code created. Unfortunately, as with many shiny new things, there are always people out there who want to spoil it for you. There have been incidences reported where scammers have stuck a scam QR code sticker ontop of a legitimate one on a poster taking unsuspecting users to alternative sites. With a custom QR code you can give your service users reassurance that the code is genuine.
