robgee123

Hey Warriors, I hope you're all well.

I have only been in this 'offline game' for about 8 months now & I'm doing okay...

The thing is I hate wasting my time on things that DON'T WORK & QR codes, to me, have been a massive vacuum of time. I have tried everything to try & sell this service to new & existing clients & NONE of them have even shown the slightest bit of interest!

Does anyone else feel the same as me or am I missing the boat here?

-Robbie

Two cannibals are eating a clown & one says to the other "Does this taste funny to you?"

MdJones

Hi Robbie,

I feel your pain. What is the largest reason the client says no to the QR code? In my experience, I only sell the QR code paired with other services, and I sell custom designed QR codes to fit their brand, and/or marketing campaign. Other services you can pair are like mobile website, with coupons, contact info, SMS etc... The QR code is only a tool to access info faster, not the solution. You can also make recurring income with monthly hosting, and analytics reports.

Custom Branded Handcrafted QR Codes, mobile site builder, loyalty rewards, mobile coupons ad SMSQRlicious
Increase mobile conversion rates.

mrgoodfriend

QR Codes are really cool for the ones that know what they are. Problem is, they're best for use with smart phones, and only about 15% of smart phone users are QR Code users. If I had a dime for every time.....

Justin B

What I've noticed is that QR codes in the UK, which is where 'robgee123' is located, don't seem to be in use anywhere near as much as maybe the US. I myself have only noticed the odd QR code about and the majority of people using them are not using them correctly.

The majority of them direct you to a NON Mobile site, so it would seem that whoever is promoting the use of the QR code has no idea the real purpose behind them. This in itself is a massive opportunity to help these business profit from their existing marketing.

I think we still have some way to go over here in the UK with QR codes and its up to us as offline consultant to get the word out.

Anyone using QR codes MUST have a mobile website as they are being scanned from mobile phones.

robgee123

Absolutely! I see QR codes on mail shots from my local shop (store) & they have QR codes on them, which direct you to their main website?? WTF!?

I keep meaning to contact these people but think I'll just be wasting my time because I have no track record or solid proof that this is what they NEED to be doing.

Furthermore how would you set out a price point for a 'semi-national' company like this. It just all seems like a bit of a waste of time to me!!

-Robbie

Two cannibals are eating a clown & one says to the other "Does this taste funny to you?"

lint631

I think they are best paired with a marketing package including a mobile website. I had some success giving service professionals free qr codes that when scanned, input their business name and phone number into ones mobile phone. I had a few that liked this and wanted to know more. The more was a mobile site I could direct it to.

WPMobileSalesPro - Mobile Web Sales Tool

STLSEO

As mentioned above, it's good to offer them with other services. QR codes can do so much more when incorporated with mobile landing pages/sites. Pretty good sms package to offer.

alfid

I've heard of QR codes and I somewhat know what they are for. I just wonder what's the reason they were even created though? Is it supposed to make mobile interaction more secure?

MdJones

They were first invented to track Toyota car parts faster and more accurately then barcodes. The benefit in marketing is it is a faster way to link to the web, or download information. Not necessarily more secure, but convenient.

Custom Branded Handcrafted QR Codes, mobile site builder, loyalty rewards, mobile coupons ad SMSQRlicious
Increase mobile conversion rates.

magneticweb

The point as far as I can see is that it's no good trying to sell QR codes alone. Either use them as a bonus to clinch the sale of a mobile web site, or offer them at a very low price as a "loss leader" to get the mobile web site job, and maybe sell them a Facebook Fan Page, coupons, etc as well.

Best to wise up on them and all the advantages they can mean to the business concerned before you ring up or go in there to make your pitch.

Philip Gegan
FREE Guide to Wordpress Security
50,000 Wordpress Sites Hacked Each Day!

YellowGreenMedia

QR codes have never lived, only in the minds of marketers, the general public (like local business owners) have no clue after all these years of what QR codes are.

I know that some WF members will jump in to tell me that i am wrong and QR codes are the next best thing, but if i was going to advice you, i would say drop the QR codes, most people don't know them and even if you sell some QR code service your client will be pissed at at you for the poor ROI

Good luck

martbost

I think QR Codes have their own special place in marketing. If they were dead, you wouldn't see them on just about every form of printed media that advertises something. I saw a massive QR Code that covered the entire side of a cargo van the other day while I was driving down the interstate.

I do however, believe that they should not be over-used, which could result in the return customer getting confused as to which one is for what.

John Ayling

If you can't sell the benefit of QR codes, then you definitely can't sell the it as a feature. A QR code is a feature - who the hell cares about QR codes?

Business owners want conversions (aka sales).

John Durham

Never was alive. IMO

Murdock Lois

QR codes are not as relevant as they used to be

Madhavi

I second this point... if you can scan the code with your mobile and it still takes you to the main website, then what's the use?

On the other hand, I see a potential customer for a mobile optimized website there, if what the business does is worth it.

STLSEO

A lot of businesses are utilizing them in the wrong way. Businesses need to share informative and relevant content to consumers rather than trying to sell them every five minutes.

I think if used properly, QR codes can be very effective.

Mr Bill

Lol...I was waiting for that. What bunkum! :rolleyes: Apparently in some countries some people lack the skills to explain things. They are a useful tool (especially in restaurants!) and if used correctly can see a tremendous return for businesses.

John Durham

QR codes are a solution looking for a problem.

Alessandro Zamboni

QR Codes, at least in Italy, are starting to be everywhere right now.
If only 15% has a smarthphone for checking QR codes in USA, I think in Italy we are on around 5%.

For what I did until now, qr codes are good if attached to other primary services (bonus for mobile site creation for example.)

See you soon,
Alessandro

Mr Bill

QR codes are a solution to a problem.

The problem: How to get people with mobile phones to visit a URL in a novel and easy way instead of having to fumble and type in a bunch of characters and symbols.

The (perfect) Answer: Hold your phone up to this graphic and press one button.

The real problem is how to get lazy marketers to explain it that simply.

One QR Code Scenario: Restaurant; you've just ordered your meal and sitting at your table waiting for it to be delivered. You see a table tent with a QR code and a slogan. "Scan here to save 10% on this and every other meal (plus other bonuses)" You scan, fill in a simple web form with name or just mobile (maybe a post/area code) and you get sent a 10% discount voucher for THIS meal instantly. Then you're sent a text message by the restaurant owner when they have more specials. You bond with that restaurant, love getting their specials sent by SMS (e.g. Tuesday is our slowest night - book a dinner for this Tuesday and get your normal 10% discount plus a free drink with every dinner! - Tap here to make a booking now!")

...plus dozens of other great marketing ideas which can all be started with a simple press of one button (on your scanner app).

What's not to love? A little education and technology meets savings and finally a real way for businesses to make money and consumers to save money meet. Thanks to the QR code.

QR codes aren't dead...only some marketer's imaginations are dead. No disrespect to the OP but...why are we even having this discussion?

dmbrennan

No where near dead by any means but there are not being utilized properly.

With the growth in all things Mobile, QR codes need to invite someone to use it and the landing page had better be "Mobile Friendly" or fugetaboutit!

Example, the local automotive services station has one on a window, service counter etc so when his customers are waiting for repairs, they casually scan the code and find that there is a free tire rotation just for showing the pic on their smartphone to the service rep. That in turn will keep that customer coming back and looking for another coupon. Some business owners don't agree with giving away a discount month after month to possibly the same customer but hey, they keep coming back and that's the main thing right...

--Dennis

beeswarn

A QR code is just a method of displaying binary encryption to be read later. It isn't marketing in any sense of the word. It's just a tool.

Mr Bill

The same could be said of a website. I don't see your point.

TrumpiaTim

QR codes was really only effective when combined with mobile keywords or an overall mobile marketing strategy.

EricIM

Yeah, as said above, it's a tool that works best with other tools. Couple good uses I've seen are in trade show booths to get more info or to enter into a contest. There is also an element of surprise, as in what's on the other side of the code, so using it as a way to engage a prospect and then getting them in a survey funnel or whatever also works.

rich100k

So what is it that differentiated a good use of QR codes from a bad one? Here are six key factors to think about when using QR codes:
1. What is in it for the user?
Only use QR codes if you are giving consumers something interesting with which they will want to interact.
2. Tell them what it is you are offering them when they scan
Everyone likes to know where they are going.
3. Tell them how to get there
Chances are they might not know what a QR code is, tell them what they need and how to do it.

4. Give them a fair chance of getting there
Where are you placing the QR code? Is it somewhere they have time and ability to scan? Is it high-dwell? Do they have signal? Is it in their eyeline?
5. Make sure they get there
Use a short URL. The shorter the URL the simpler the QR, the simpler the QR the quicker it will scan (the scan will activate). Use dark colors as the contrast helps scan quicker. Test on as many devices.
6. Count them when they get there
Use Google Analytics or another tracking service. Track your conversions and attribute conversions to your QR code.

WillR

Haha, so true. This is what I have always believed. If they really were such a great time saving tool then they would already be a lot more popular than they are now. Sure they might save a second or two of typing in a url but it's not really that huge a deal. You have to go and open your QR code reader app, etc. In the time it takes you to scan the code you could probably have typed in the url quite easily. Have you seen how fast people hammer out text messages these days?

QR codes are still a gimmick and I'm yet to see anyone prove me wrong on that point. They are not a standalone product or service you can sell to people, they are simply a little gimmick you can add on.

The only people making money with QR codes are those people designing custom QR codes or those people offering QR code tracking services.

Sure, they might make going to a website a little quicker but that was never a problem that needed solving. Have you ever heard someone say, oh damn, I wish I could just type this url in quicker so I could get to their website quicker? No, because it's not an issue.

Therefore QR codes are indeed trying to solve a problem that does not exist and that's exactly why they have been such a flop.

.

➨ Here's How to Make Your First $177 Online
This Week Using the Piggyback Method...

.

PaulKlein

Trying to offer or sell QR codes on their own have not been a big part of my game. Most small businesses don't understand the process or need for them, so it takes some education to get them in the game. However, branding them with a QR code in a bigger marketing package, they take that.

zoro

Agree, and well said. If marketers would only think of new and novel ways to engage prospects, QR Codes would become second nature to those with smart phones.

Dante2k

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

QR codes are one of the best marketing tools to come down the pike! Just don't think of them as stand alone products but as leverage to really get your prospects thinking about the possibilities and seeing you as the expert who can bring them really valuable solutions.

Most business owners don't understand what QR codes can do for them in their marketing efforts. These little codes can drive traffic to your door.

Explain to your clients how most of today's market use mobile phones to find what they want more than computers or any other media. They also look for coupons and discounts so what better way to grow your lists than to offer gifts when they scan your code and come to your mobile optimized landing page to leave their number or email and get the gift, report, special offers, reports, valuable info or what ever else the client deems appropriate according to his business.

QR codes are viral. Put your code into anything you print or anywhere your public might view it and when they scan your code, if they like what they see, they will share with friends.

QR codes are persistent. They don't blow away like the newspaper ads. put them on flyers that you put up, on your business cards and table tents, in your windows, on your marquee....anywhere. Also you can periodically change the offers at the url the code links to.

Once I have mentioned these thoughts to clients, it never fails that they keep asking more about it later.

Open your prospects eyes (after you open your own) everytime you market your mobile marketing services to them. Tag $25 bucks onto the package for each QR code or throw it in as a free add-on. Whatever you think best in each case.

Nah, QR codes might be a hard sell alone but it's gold as a sales tool.

Just my thoughts, Hope it helps some.

KingMedia

The reason you see QR codes all over the US is because print advertisers use them as an "up-sell" to the business paying for the print ad.

About 90% of all qr codes lead to a lonely UN-optimized site that does not ask for an action.

"Oh, contact those businesses and your in!" - not really. These businesses just don't get it.

Direct Connect Group

Hi KingMedia

I agree with your point that most of the QR Code landing pages remains un-optimized.
Our effective landing page optimization tactics can help in achieving better results.

Some of them are:
• Keep your landing page very focused and pretty simple
• Tell people where they have landed
• Offer multiple calls to action
• Experiment with your registration forms

wackiin

I dont think there Dead I dont think they ever took off here
i give my clients access to make there own but i dont charge and i dont waste my time on them
If they want one login and make it that simple

RobAus

QR Codes are fairly useless IMO, as first you need to have a device that can scan or use them, let's say 50% of people for measure, then you need to know what they are, then you need to be bothered to scan them. I heard somewhere recently that a large business publication in Australia had a response rate of something like 0.01% of people clicking through. It just seems like it's adding an extra step for me, why not just say go to the website, because at least people might remember it when they're on the net sometime, but nobody (I don't think), can remember a QR code..

EkinDirect
CustomLogoCases

Mr Bill

Rob, with respect, how can clicking one button (to scan a code) be more steps than having to open a browser, look at a web address, remember how it's spelled, type in a heap of letters and pressing enter? All those extra steps (of having to remember and type in an address) can be circumvented by the push of one button - it's more like removing a heap of steps, not adding an extra one. It's a one-step shortcut to a website. It's the mobile equivalent of a hyperlink.

Imagine if every time you wanted to visit a link on the internet you had to remember the link and type it into a browser's address bar? The internet would die overnight. A link makes it super easy to visit a website from a mobile in exactly the same way as a QR code makes it super easy to visit a web page from your desktop machine.

Being "against" QR codes is like being "against" hyperlinks.

YellowGreenMedia

This made me LOL really hard

Mr Bill

As always, :rolleyes: we all appreciate your useful and fascinating insights and input Yellow. You always add so much to this topic.

scoutfilmmaker

QR codes seem to help me at least. I run a few organizations at my school and have used QR codes on posters to direct traffic to my websites/to information about meetings and stuff and thus far they have been sucessful...

kbrady

I have been looking at the value of QR codes myself and wonder if they are just a fad. Is it easier to type in a URL or scan a code? I think the general public finds QR codes a bit too techy. Depends on your market I guess.

cdubay

QR codes can stand alone as a profit maker if used in the correct niche. There’s an old adage in business “follow the money”. The Money in this sense are the large corporations who have spent thousands researching a product before investing in it. Do they always get it right? No, but most of the time they are on the mark. Today, QR’s are the hottest and newest mobile marketing device going. Coke-Cola, Starbucks, Kraft, and many other large corporations are using them extensively and with good results. Study what they do and apply it. Hands down video is the most engaging media type available to us. QR codes are perfect for this. How does this apply to us as small businessmen? Here is a couple of suggestions I use which bring in a monthly ongoing residual income. Mr.Bill was right on about restaurants. They are an idea target market, especially sports bars, lounges etc, where people gather to socialize and pass time. Table tents with a nice graphic background to the QR and text leading in can serve to offer up promotions, lead into a text or Emailer campaign, or just entertain by leading them to a video. A video that YOU create for the business. Very nice generic slideshow video’s can be created cheaply thru Animoto. It just takes some pics garnered from Google Images, or the business itself. Professional quality video with Adobe After Dark can be made for about 75.00. Hook em first with the generic, create one Hi-res video as your showcase, and they get very interested. Sell em for abut $150.00. Gathering the pics or short movie clips, writing a 4-5 graphic messages, takes about 20-30min. Then ship it off to Fiverr and have it put together. Avg video length is best at 90-180 sec research shows. My residual income however comes from the Real Estate industry. Everyone wants to see a 3D tour of a prospective home. New homes come in every week. You create the slideshow video, cover graphic image/QR code, subout to a printer for the real estate sign. Your cost is +/- 0, brokers cost is $50.00/per sign. They are happy to have it. Hope this inspires you guys to incorporate QR’s into your marketing packaging. Is it a Get Rich quick method. No, but it’s solid and steady. Here's a quick generic example of a graphic QR

Happy Marketing
Chris

WillR

Chris,

Just on a side note, please try and split your posts up into paragraphs. I can't even start to read something when it looks like that... and you'll find a lot of others are the same.

.

➨ Here's How to Make Your First $177 Online
This Week Using the Piggyback Method...

.

johnwarhem3

The above was pretty cool. A great sign of the power behind QR codes.

watsonovedades

how can i start a sms campaign when a client scans a QR code from a flyer? is there service to storage phone numerbs like aweber does with emails?

cheers

Whatever your mind can conceive and BELIEVE you can achieve
Follow me on Twitter - @DineroConPc
I talk about Affiliate Marketing Methods

shane_k

I understand warriors saying have a QR code on a table tent with an offer, or using a QR code to send someone to an offer on your site.

But you can do the exact same thing by just putting the URL page on that same table tent, or any other marketing piece.

As for trying to make it aound like remembering and typing in a websites URL is really, really hard, c'mon really?

I bet if you tested a 100,000 people, had half of them open up a QR code scanning app, click on the button and then get directed to a website, versus the other half who had to open up a browser window type in the URL and get sent to the same page, the difference in time would be would be like 1-2 seconds.

Not only that but if you think about all the lousy QR code scanning apps out there. It's a pain to have to find an actual good one.

Maybe what phone companies should do is have a built in app this way they can control the quality.

I was a huge QR code fan when I first started hearing about it, and especially when I started seeing them appear in many different areas of my city. But then I started realizing the only people raving about them were the people who were selling them to others.

I certainly don't hear my family, or friends or anyone I know for that matter raving about how they have helped them.

They are like a novelty item that you see at a gift shop that is cool when you first buy it, but then it just sits there.

Daniel Evans

I think the novetly has worn off somewhat.

It's not really something I explored too deeply to be fair though!



Daniel

jayc470

I have to agree with Dante2k. Many of the posts refer to QR codes as a fad and somewhat irrelevant. QR codes are huge in the Asian markets and have been a part of life there for years.

Rather than thinking of QR codes as just a tool, it should be presented as a relationship builder. QR codes, first and foremost, should be used to connect with the client and obtain their opt-in information. This allows for the obvious connection moving forward providing valuable info, incentives, etc.

The majority of restaurants and other businesses have no clue who just visited their store. QR codes allow an opportunity for businesses to find out who their clients and prospective clients are and help them with future buying decisions. The easiest sales are to existing clients and interested prospects.

Retention + Increased Frequency + Higher Spending = Huge Profits

QR codes can also enhance the promotional efforts of any business for their goods and services. (i.e. Scan here to for a short video to learn how you will benefit from this product. Or - Scan here to learn more about our upcoming events).

If presented in a fun and engaging way to consumers, QR codes can be very effective for lead capture, client retention, and increased sales.

YellowGreenMedia

Are you talking for everybody now? isn't that a bit over the top, Bill?

I'll let you be, i know you have friends in high places here so i will be off getting me some hyperlinks for my sites...

Later.

cdubay

Thanks Willr, I was tired when I wrote it and not even thinking about its readability.
QR and SMS- you can indeed run a simple, local SMS campaign from a QR
Here is a quick example.
<center>
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj546/cdubay/?action=view&amp;current=QRSMSSample.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj546/cdubay/QRSMSSample.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<br/><br/>
</center>

cdubay

OK, calling it a night after that one with the HTML instead of the image.
lets try it again.