HOW TO USE

QR CODES
You’re trying to convince your boss to transition away
from old school print media, but old habits die hard.
What do you do to boost website traffic, convert more leads, and grow your social media
presence using stuff like direct mail, local commercials, or even flyers?

Some might argue (more on that later) that one way is to get a QR code on those bad boys.

Although QR codes (quick response barcodes) are no longer brand spankin’ new to the market-
ing scene, they have become more widely utilized, and the barrier to entry is lower than many
marketers might think. Not only that, there’s a multitude of creative uses of QR codes that help
engage others with your brand and bridge the gap between outbound and inbound marketing.

With that in mind, this ebook will cover how to get started with your first foray into creating
QR codes, and for the sake of healthy debate, delve into whether they’re actually still relevant.
(That’s right, you might leave this ebook thinking you don’t need QR codes, after all.)
03 The Most Remarkable Marketing Campaigns EVER
HOW TO CREATE A QR CODE
STEP 1
Find a QR Code Generator
There are many out there, but the key is finding the
right one for your needs. Some things to look for
when choosing a QR code generator are whether you
can track and analyze performance, if it allows you to
design a code that is unique to your brand, and if it is
compatible with common QR code readers. Although
STEP 2
Create, Design, and Link It Up
The fun part of creating QR codes is customizing the
design of the codes to your brand. Want your code to
look like your logo? Go for it. Want it to reflect your
website’s design scheme? No problem.
But after that’s said and done, the most important
thing to consider is your end goal. What do you want
to accomplish when someone actually uses your QR
code? If you’re at an event, for example, you might
there are many other options out there, a very well
regarded one is Kaywa. It allows you to create your
QR code very quickly with its generator, downloads
in multiple file formats, and makes it easy for you to
change your destination link at any time with ease.
want to distribute business cards with a code on
them that automatically links to your vCard so it’s
easy to save your contact information. On the other
hand, you may be gunning for more leads, so perhaps
you should link to a landing page on your website to
download the awesome presentation you just gave.
Keep your end goal in mind when creating QR codes,
and just like any call-to-action, make it worthwhile
for the scanner.
04 The Most Remarkable Marketing Campaigns EVER
HOW TO CREATE A QR CODE
STEP 3
Test It
In all the excitement of creating your first QR code,
don’t forget to check to see if the QR code “reads”
correctly, and be sure to try more than just one
reader. A good place to start is the free tool Google
Goggles, which takes a picture and then tells you what
STEP 4
Track and Analyze
Just like any marketing campaign, you should track
and analyze how much traffic comes from each
specific code, and how well that traffic converts
(if conversions are something you’re interested in
improving). Are people scanning your code but not
redeeming their offer once they get to your land-
link or item it “reads to.” Another great free tool
is QR Code Reader, which automatically takes you
to whatever it “reads.” Both are easy to use and well
worth the quick test before launching any QR code
(especially if you’re new at it).
ing page? Or are they not even compelled enough
to scan your QR code? Knowing this will help you
troubleshoot and adjust your poorly performing QR
codes to more closely mirror those that work well –
or to adjust the assets and campaigns surrounding
those codes, if that’s where the problem is occurring.
05 The Most Remarkable Marketing Campaigns EVER

BUT WAIT... ARE PEOPLE EVEN USING QR CODES?

WHERE QR CODES STAND

There’s a lot of heated debate about whether QR codes

are relevant in 2014. There’s no doubt we still see them
around – but you should second guess their relevancy
before incorporating them into any campaign. Let’s examine
where QR codes stand in today’s marketing landscape.
A 2013 survey found only 21% of American smartphone
owners say they’ve ever scanned a QR code, and just
2% say they scan a QR code at least once per day.
You might think that, in an age when consumers tend
to keep their smartphones close by at all times, an
application that connects the physical and digital
worlds -- kind of like Instagram, FitBit, and thou-
sands of other apps do -- would take flight.
While some people argue -- marketers especially --
that QR codes are still alive and well, a whole other crop
argue they’re dead as a doornail. So, we decided to look
for success stories and data to see whether QR codes
really are still a thing. Though we could hardly find a data
point that was less than two years old, here’s what we did
find, (and what it might mean) for QR codes in marketing.
First, let’s tackle the limited data we did find – which
suggests that QR codes are not widely used. For exam-
ple, Inc’s 2012 research found that 97% of consumers
don’t even know what a QR code is. Digital business
analytics company comScore found that 6.2% of the
total U.S. mobile audience scanned a QR code on
their mobile device in 2011.
Since 2011, the number of mobile users has increased,
especially among the younger population, while QR
codes seem to have maintained steady popularity and
visibility. According to comScore’s report, the number
06 The Most Remarkable Marketing Campaigns EVER
BUT WAIT... ARE PEOPLE EVEN USING QR CODES?
WHERE QR CODES STAND
of people who have scanned a QR code seems to
have plateaued since 2012: As the number of smart-
phone users continues to rise, the number of con-
sumers scanning QR codes remains the same.
So why are some marketers so attached to QR codes?
Are they in denial that the trend is out of style, or
are some of them actually seeing real success? After
all, it’s understandable that we’re constantly looking
for ways to bridge offline and online marketing in our
internet-driven world -- so to us, links you can “click
on” in real life are a godsend.
Data from MarketingCharts suggests that the average
marketer’s view on QR codes is “somewhat at odds
with the consumer statistics. Whereas relatively few
consumers say they’re actively scanning QR codes,
marketers are finding them to be quite an effective
mobile marketing tactic.” To be specific, of the mar-
keters who responded to an Experian survey about
the effectiveness of QR codes as a mobile marketing
tactic, 29% of them rated QR codes very effective,
and another 66% effective.
So what does this data all mean? Basically, QR codes
appear to be working for that small, stagnant popu-
lation that knows how to use them. While QR codes
aren’t “dying,” they’re certainly not thriving. The
question is why, given how many consumers have
smartphones nowadays.
There are a number of reasons why QR codes might
be going “out of style,” but the most important
is probably that they’re often misused. They’re in
subway stations where there’s no WiFi, on TV com-
mercials that have an air time of a second or two, and
some of them lead to broken links or landing pages
that aren’t optimized for mobile. Once a consumer is
disappointed by the mobile experience behind a QR
code, she may never scan one again.
For those of you who use QR codes properly and
offer great mobile experiences behind them, this is
probably very frustrating. But even when QR codes
are used properly by businesses, the bigger issue is
that many users don’t know how to use them prop-
erly. They have been poorly adopted in the United
07 The Most Remarkable Marketing Campaigns EVER
BUT WAIT... ARE PEOPLE EVEN USING QR CODES?
WHERE QR CODES STAND
States and haven’t really broke out of the tech-savvy
crowd. And although mobile devices incorporated a
preloaded version of a QR code reader into their sys-
tem (Apple’s is built into Passbook, not the camera
itself), that isn’t very widely known or used. It turns
out that the action of taking out your phone, opening
a QR code reader, holding the camera from the app
up to a QR code with steady hands, and pressing a
button isn’t super.
Marketers who believe QR codes are alive are already
drinking inbound marketing Kool-Aid -- they’re just
trying to use an offline channel to drive website visits.
So, what are other ways to bridge the online/offline
gap and draw more people to your website?
One practical solution is to lock down a short, mem-
orable URL and give people that URL – perhaps
even alongside a QR code if you’re looking to keep it
around. Consumers are becoming more and more fa-
miliar with their smartphones, and nowadays, typing a
URL into a mobile browser is not a problem for most
people. Just make sure that these URLs are short and
that they contain a unique UTM tracking code so you
can measure your success. (HubSpot customers: you
can create that right within your software.)
If QR codes are a part of your marketing strategy
and you believe they bring you success, I suggest that
you run an A/B test or two to gauge their effective-
ness. For example, at your next event, you could
include a QR code on half of your programs, and a
shortened, easy-to-remember URL in the other half,
both linking to the same page on your website. Put
separate UTM tracking codes on the QR code link
and shortened URL so you can compare how many
people visit from each, and voila -- you can see if
your audience likes to use QR codes. Just because
QR codes don’t work for some companies doesn’t
mean they won’t work for you, and this type of
testing is the only way to know if they work for your
unique audience.
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