Ok your going to finally adopt to the QR code so called revolution. Your obviously a late adopter but your boss thinks you should do it. Everybody else is doing it.

Some tips to getting it setup.

First you have to make the web page that the content is going to go to.

Second you need to make sure to shorten the link. The longer the link the more complicated the code. The more complicated the code. The more difficult it can be to scan.
Use this site to shorten the url. Bitly.com

Third. Now that you have your shortened url. You need to create your code. Use this site to create a QR code.Kaywa

Forth. You’ll have to download the file and add it to your material. Be sure to use the largest one. You can always reduce the size later in the design. If you need to go bigger? Most designer have Adobe Illustrator and you can auto trace the file and convert it into a vertor QR code file. This will allow you to blow it up and cover that corporate office building.

Good luck. What do you think about QR codes? Do they work? Are you a fan? Tell me what you think in the comments below.

So I wanted to test out whether of not folks actually use QR codes. Is it just a fad that Marketing Professionals are using to get us to take a second look because it is something new. Not because we actually use it.

We had a booth at a local networking event. There were at least 1000 people in attendance. We had a contest to see how fast a person could scan a QR code. The fastest scan every hour received a $5 gift card to Starbucks.

To start I asked every person.” Have you ever scanned a QR code.” ” A what ? ” So I point at the sign. ” Oh yeah I did that once”. So I explain the contest. Now the real test would have been to time them on how long it took them to find the app and remember how to use it. However we only timed the amount of time it took them to  open the app after they figured out what they were doing and I walked them through how to scan it.

So they would pick up the phone. Open the app. Scan the code. Then wait for the browser to find the website. Generally on the first try it took folks close to 45 seconds. After a few tries they could get it down to 15 – 20 seconds.

The problem with this is that I had to talk most of the people in to it. I had to pump them up. %50 had never scanned a QR code the other half with the exception of one guy did not scan regularly. That guy sold QR codes… So are they practical? Do people use them? I don’t know. I don’t really think they do . However I was able to use the QR code to keep people at my booth 5 times longer than most. It is new. Unfamiliar. Interesting. Practical? I’m not so sure.

So if you plan to use QR codes in a Marketing Campaign. What should you know? Click here for some QR code tips on how to make it easy to scan.

So generally speaking I can be a skeptic about some things. Honestly I’m not a huge fan of QR codes. Some folks will tell you that it is next hot thing. If your not on it your getting left behind. I’m not so sure. Of course I sympathize with the marketing professional. The temptation is to be an early adopter. The boss sees it on other companies materials and wonders why don’t we have one of those black and white boxes? So all the big companies are doing it. I understand that in some parts of the world they can be popular. I’m not so sure about here. At best people are curious so they give your material a second look because it has one of those boxes on it.

So I decided to test my theory that most people wouldn’t actually know what to do with it. Find out what happened here.