Posted on October 21, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Just because you don’t get QR Codes doesn’t mean they won’t become relevant in the future of marketing & customer engagement

For those of you have been reading this blog over the past month know that I’ve been covering the various use cases for QR Codes and how to effectually implement QR Codes for marketing and customer engagement. You can thank Kipp Bodnar who introduced me to QR Codes a  few years ago and Robert Rice who re-energized my QR Code infatuation earlier this year for that. Since then I’ve done a lot of research on how to measure QR Codes, create QR Codes for various types of content such as Facebook like actions, vcards, mobile websites and help launched two QR Code projects in Raleigh, NC. One being the state fair QR Code scavenger hunt and the second being a community wide event adding QR Codes to posters so people could scan the QR Code for scheduling information.

I’ve also added a lot of QR Code focused blogs to my Google Reader and met virtually some very smart individuals who have been using QR Codes for years and/or have created QR Code generators/analytics platforms such as Nick Ford and Dan Smigrod. The use cases for QR Codes are growing rapidly in the last six months and recent reports have stated that QR Code scans are up 500%. Not to mention both Google and Bit.ly implementation of QR Codes with creating short urls and providing analytics with them. Also we implemented QR Codes for checking into locations with TriOut by providing businesses with custom quick check-in QR Codes.

But even with the growing list of case studies and major brands using QR Codes I’ve seen a few blog post and tweets saying they have their doubts about the future of QR Codes or  they don’t get QR Codes and don’t see a practical use case for them. Some are saying the same about location-based services but that argument is for another blog post. Regardless this reminds me of four years ago when people said that @Twitter was a fad and Facebook was irrelevant and blogging was for people who just stayed home in their pajamas. Look at where we are today.  I’m NOT saying that QR Codes and/or other 2D Codes or even Microsoft Tags are the next big thing or run to add  QR Codes to your next “social media marketing campaign strategy” #jk so you can look cool and sell to your clients that you half way know what you’re talking about but I’m saying don’t doubt the technology and give it time.

In the mean time here are a few QR Code blog post and examples that I hope can show you the value of QR Codes and various ways you could potentially use them in the future.

• 101 Uses For Quick Response (QR) Codes: Creating Audience Engagement With The Next Killer US App
• 8 QR Code Generators that provide analytics/tracking
• Why QR codes are killer app for driving sales and brand loyalty
• Loyalty Measurement System with QR Codes
• List of massive brands using qr codes
• Allure Sees 444,572 Mobile Barcode Scans Using Microsoft Tags, Largest Campaign Ever
• QR CODES USED TO DRIVE EVENT TRAFFIC

Update

Looking for a fast QR Code Reader / Scanner? Try my new iPhone app: CLICK HERE

What are your thoughts on the future of QR Codes?

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