This is a continuation of our 5 day Gold Nugget Series on QR Codes. Normally we publish our Nuggets in this public area of jWAG, but we're can't publishing this one except to our Gold Subscribers. This is also a little longer than what we want to publish as a daily Nugget, but it's worth it.
Today we have for you 6 effective ways to use QR Codes in your advertising.
These first 4 examples are used all over Europe. We've had first hand experience seeing dozens of people scan QR Codes in these locations.
1. Bus station signs. Think about this. People are waiting in a bus terminal or at a bus stop. Many stand around with nothing to do except play with their cell phone. Putting a QR Code on your bus stop sign will turn your ad from a simple sign into a real world method of interaction. Curiosity will make the potential customer scan, and then your mobile website needs to do the selling. European bus stops create a pre-disposition to scanning QR Codes because commuters can find out when the bus will arrive by scanning a QR Code for that bus stop. Find out if your local bus system is implementing a similar system any time soon, but don't wait. How many bus stops are within walking distance of your store?
2. Signs inside subways or train stations. Just like at a bus stop, these high foot traffic areas often have people waiting for a train, playing with their cell phone. Putting a QR Code on a subway sign will increase the likelihood that it will be read and interacted with. WARNING: Make sure your local subway system has cell phone service before you try this.
3. Signs inside trains and buses. Many of the commuter buses and trains we've seen have ads inside. This is another situation where you have people standing around with few options of things to do, and in this digital age, playing with a cell phone seems to be the most popular. Give them something else to do, like read your mobile website.
4. Put a Google Favorite Places signs in your store window. You can download the Google Favorite Places sign from your Google Places account, but before you do, you need to make sure you whip your Places information into something you are proud of. Ask your webmaster for help on this if you are confused. Again, we have firsthand experience seeing people scan the Google sign, read their phone and then walk into a store.
These next 2 examples come from our first hand experience in and around the NYC metropolitan area.
5. Bumper stickers or large car magnets on vehicles at street fairs. While walking through NYC street fairs, we've seen QR Codes on bumper stickers on parked ad buses and ad vehicles. In a sea of advertising and flier hand-outs, the ads that stand out in the crowd are the ones that create curiosity. QR Codes do that pretty effectively right now and it's a green advertising method that people will capture and keep in their phone. We suggest getting a large car magnet made for yourself and get it positioned somewhere in your next local town fair or even put it on your car next time you go shopping at the mall.
6. Restaurant placemats. Admittedly, we've tried placemat advertising many years ago while working with an early social media website. It never worked and it was a waste of money. However, until QR Codes become common place in everyone's advertising, you can capture the curiosity factor of people waiting for their food. Usually, the restaurant placemats give some offer if you rip the coupon out and redeem it later, but why not give the person an easier, and perhaps less food stained way of capturing your ad? All the other ads on the placemat are stuck in a 2" x 3" box. You can expand yours out to a full mobile website.
In tomorrow's Nugget, we'll give you an advertising methodology and 2 iron clad QR Code ideas that are effectively used all over touristy locations in Europe so you can capitalize on these methods before anyone else does.
