They’re called QR Codes or Quick Response Codes, which are a form of barcode with a twist. The QR Code has been used by Japanese marketers and businesses for a number of years now and is the brainchild of Japanese company, Denso-Wave. Thanks to the amount of Smartphones being used today we are now starting to see the QR Code taking off here in Australia.

Have you ever tried to type a complex web link into your phone? You know the kind that has all sorts of odd characters and letters and numbers. It’s a major hassle and more often than not most people just give up.

However, if the web link was made into a QR Code you’d just point your smartphone at the code, press scan and the phone would do all the work for you.

What sort of information can be included in a QR Code?

• Contact details – Imagine being able to scan someones details straight into your contacts
• Web addresses – No need to type the address the QR Code takes you directly to the right page
• Text Messages – You can have the text message already prepared in the QR code
• Links to Video and Audio – Go straight to instructional videos, presentations, promos
• Coupons – Offer your customers specials that can only be accessed by QR Code

Mobile phones like the iPhone, Blackberry and other camera equipped phones all us free QR Code reader to scan the codes. We have some links at the bottom of this article of several different readers. They all read codes but offer some different functions.

Using QR Codes.

From a consumer point of view this is fantastic news, you no longer have to remember web details, just point your phone at the code and you have instant access to the business website, their blog, a video link, an info link, a special discount coupon page, or just to a page giving more details about the business.

For businesses it means being able to provide a higher level of service to their clients allowing more focused communication, even when they’re not with them. Business strategies will start to change very quickly as marketers and ad agencies realise the potential of the QR Code. It really is a win-win scenario.

The other really great benefit of using QR Codes for business is that if you do it correctly, you get data from the codes that give information on how many people respond, (roughly) where they come from and when the codes are scanned.

Giving businesses the ability to track response levels makes them extremely powerful in being able to create and deliver meaningful offers and information to your clients and customers.

How do I make a QR Code?

Again there are lots of resources on the web for making QR Codes. If you only need one or two codes then these will usually do the trick. There are also lots of specialised software applications for producing QR Codes in volume.

What to watch out for.

What is important and perhaps most important, is that wherever the code takes you it has to be optimised for viewing on a mobile phone. There is no point whatsoever in just sending someone to your web site if it can’t automatically adjust itself to the phones screen size or that it isn’t designed for the small amount of real estate on a mobile screen. Unfortunately we see it all the time, QR Codes sending people back to company websites. Completely Ineffective.

There are two massive potential problems

1. Most websites have too much content to fit comfortably on a phone screen. So if the person is patient enough to wait, they then have to zoom in and scroll the screen somehow to read your information.
2. The other problem is that it probably just takes too long to load the site. So they give up.

So make sure that if you are going to use QR Codes in your marketing efforts you do the work to make sure that where they end up is designed to work with a mobile phone.

Our team have been working with QR Codes for clients now for almost 2 years. You can benefit from their expertise by working with us on your next campaign.

We’ve developed a significant amount of experience in deployment and implementation of QR Codes as well as tracking usage and can really fast track your plans to utilise this amazing technology.

So get in touch with one of our QR Code Ninjas at info@jetprintvisualmedia.com.au and they can help you include these powerful marketing tools into your products and services.

QR Code is registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.

Of course it is a work in progress, but the new platform we are using will allow us to add, change, adjust on the fly which gives us so much more flexibility, than we had before.

We hope you like the new format and welcome your comments and suggestions.

You’ll find a few of our old Blog posts which we have brought across from our old site, we thought they were interesting and didn’t deserve to die, hope you enjoy them too.

Cheers

There aren’t too many things in life that are as incredible as the experience of being able to get up close and personal with whales. It’s whale migration season right now and If you’re planning on visiting Queensland over the next few months make sure you put time aside to go for a whale watching cruise at either the Gold Coast, Sunshne Coast or Hervey Bay. You’ll be absolutely captivated by the power, the grace and sheer size of these beautiful animals.

According to the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service NPWS whale sightings heading North at the moment are hitting record numbers with more than 1000 whales being tracked past Cape Solander.

While we haven’t seen any just yet when we have been out in the water surfing it won’t be long before they start showing up. It was about 5 years ago that I was fortunate enough to experience almost 100 whales in several pods heading south just off the point from Point Arkright here on the coast. The were leaping out of the water just like the photo, it was incredible.

I’ve got a good feeling in my bones that this year is going to be a cracker for whale spotting.

Full Story over at www.coastalwatch.com

Image (c) www.coastalwatch.com, great site for latest surf reports and surf news.

Here are some photos that we have just had taken at the first completed home at Residence on Regatta. The home is the “Courtyard” design and 4 generous bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, stylish living spaces and of course a waterfront aspect. Imagine yourself sipping on a morning espresso looking over the Lake, mmm.

Posted via email from Residence on Regatta

On a lonely sugar cane farm on the Sunshine Coast of Australia you could be mistaken for thinking sneaky alien vandals have been at work.
Due to the closure of the sugar mill some time back, local cane farmers now grow their cane for garden mulch. In one of the fields where rolled up bales await transport either an enterprising farmer or marketing vandal spraypainted smiley faces onto all of the bales.
You cannot help but get a smile on your face as you drive past, because it just looks like they had so much fun.
Now the farmer has put up a sign saying that the happy cane is available.
Brilliant marketing or the work of extra terrestrials, who knows. Either way anything that can make you laugh is a great thing in my book.

Wish that PicPosterous let you put some detail around the photos, anyway.

We were in Brisbane city last week heading up Queen St Mall when who should be having their photos taken but a group of Stormtroopers and Darth Vader.

Given where we were I would have though Darth Maul (Mall) may have been a good choice too. They were using them to launch a new range of Nike sports wear featuring Star Wars characters. Now I love Star Wars but I though the hoodie was so so.

When I sent the shots through I thought we were out front of Rebel Sports but clearly it was Foot Locker, so maybe my heading doesn’t work so well. Perhaps it should have been something like “Darth Vader slips in from death star to fit out his crew”

Everyone was having some fun so thumbs up to Foot Locker for doing something different.

See the full gallery on Posterous