Bananas: Now with QR Codes

I can now scan my breakfast fruit.

You can scan my business card as well. At the risk of sounding quite shallow, the main reason I added a QR code to my card is because it is a cool conversation piece. I get a lot of comments when I hand them out; however, there are a lot of great reasons to add QR codes to your campaigns and collateral as well.

Here are 10 of my favorite and most compelling ways to use QR codes. 

1. If your content is frequently changing but your hard collateral doesn’t, think about keeping it fresh with QR codes. You have a lot of assets in the field–brochures, business cards, trade show banners–and you want the links to reflect current information.
2. QR codes are a great way to add rich information to your interactions without having to include lengthy URLs that come from your video sites or product catalog. Just make sure that your landing page is adaptive and mobile friendly.
3. Customers see additional engagement as something fun. My kids love to scan QR codes off of Heinz bottles and more. So now I’m interacting with ketchup in ways I’ve never contemplated.
4. You can help sell your product while it sits on a shelf in a retail location. Now your potential customers can scan your item, watch a video and compare several products in your line.
5. QR codes make it easy to incentivize purchasing behavior with coupons and loyalty tracking. QR codes can offer information thatseems like secret insider stuff, encouraging both loyalty.
6. Social interactions are easier to track with QR codes.
7. Badge swipes at trade shows aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Someone walking by your booth might just scan a sign to enter a drawing or download information.
8. Educational materials in a reseller training class can instantly become memorable with multimedia links and take home summary materials packed with QR codes. Then when you need to update that material, just update the link not the field manuals.
9. Viral can become something done offline when you put QR codes on physical objects. This works great for free downloads, swag, contests and time-sensitive offers.
10. Microsites can make it easier for your prospects to learn more about you and your products and your services. This is particularly useful if your website is 500 pages or more or your product set is fairly complex.

Why are bananas never lonely? Because they hang around in bunches. Are you keeping up with your bananas? Maybe it’s time to add QR codes to your campaigns.