Oct 11 2010

A Quick QR Code 101

What’s a QR code? QR stands for quick response and is a square barcode that makes getting URLs, SMS (text), contact information or location coordinates onto a phone–fast. With a barcode scanner app installed, point your phone’s camera at the code to read its contents. How can you use a QR code? A few ideas:

  • Eliminate your business card, or at least begin to phase it out by putting a QR code on your printed and electronic materials
  • Include a QR code in your next presentation (yes, as a slide) and link to your contact information
  • Google is a QR advocate. Their “Favorite Places” campaign puts QR codes in the windows of local businesses that point to their online listing page.
  • Put a QR code on a t-shirt and use as part of a teaser marketing campaign or as a conversation starter at networking events
  • Have an upcoming conference display? Include a QR code on your presentation board and/or on your handout materials.
  • Putting together a conference? Include a QR code on attendee badges to make exchanging contact info easier.
  • Change your avatar to a QR code (for a short time)

A few, free QR code generator platforms:

  1. http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
  2. http://www.qurify.com/en/
  3. http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/
  4. http://code.google.com/apis/chart/docs/gallery/qr_codes.html

How have you seen QR codes used? Share your experiences in the comments.

My number:

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Link to this post:

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SMS (text) – Test it out to receive a message:

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33 Comments on this post

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    October 11th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
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    October 14th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
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    October 21st, 2010 at 2:19 pm
  1. tires said:

    Humm I have seen this actually in the past week, saw a friend using it on his iPhone, unless I am mistaken, hehe.

    Till then,

    Jean

    October 11th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
  2. p90x reviews said:

    I love the barcode scanner app, and plan to get it soon for the new phone I bought. Thanks for the QR code generator links.

    October 12th, 2010 at 12:45 am
  3. p90x reviews said:

    I was able to use the bar code scanner on my old phone to check product codes are toy stores, so it helped when you needed to find a particular toy.

    October 12th, 2010 at 12:50 am
  4. Digitürk said:

    Very good..
    Thanks..

    October 12th, 2010 at 5:58 am
  5. Crysta said:

    We’re discussing how to use these at an upcoming trade show, potentially as posters or handouts at the booth. The code would lead to a landing page that contains all our relevant show info – speaking sessions, networking receptions, booth hours – plus related white papers, demos or podcasts. We could also put the code on a pre-show direct mail piece sent to attendees, with a landing page that would let people schedule meetings or demos or RSVP to a reception.

    Love the t-shirt idea – we could put them on our booth staff!

    October 12th, 2010 at 10:05 am
  6. Computer Tips Tricks said:

    I’ve seen this quite lots of time from some downloads and always din’t know what are they, but now I get it!

    October 12th, 2010 at 10:17 am
  7. textbook rental said:

    I’ve seen these QR codes… In fact Continental Airlines (and maybe some other airlines) let you use these on your PDA phone instead of a boarding pass. I was a bit worried the first time I tried, but TSA is obviously trained to see these!

    October 12th, 2010 at 11:49 am
  8. car battery said:

    I had never actually heard of QR code. Seems like an extremely useful and time saving feature if supported widely. Perhaps even a replacement for signatures in the future.

    October 12th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
  9. Essay said:

    How to make a QR code for visiting card. There must be some standards of QR code so that every decode machine and decode it.

    October 12th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
  10. Ben Smith said:

    Here’s the QR code t-shirt I printed a while back. Ended up getting blogged about! http://blogs.motivators.com/2010/08/scannable-qr-shirts-promote-ben-smiths.html

    October 12th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
  11. Taylor said:

    To add to this, I have also seen companies (in addition to creating a QR code for materials, home websites and contact info) creating a QR reader app specific to their company.

    I’m excited to see all the marketing/promotions being done with QR codes, and I feel this is only the beginning of them becoming much more mainstream in the future.

    Great post!

    October 13th, 2010 at 7:18 am
  12. Tom said:

    Really enjoyed the post. I am a big fan of QR codes and think they are a great way to change an ad from static to interactive. I can’t seem to find a good reader for Blackberry though. Any suggestions?

    October 13th, 2010 at 9:06 am
  13. Ceci Dadisman said:

    I’m loving Google’s new URL shortener even more because it automatically gives you a QR code for each URL PLUS stats on the clicks. I’m totally addicted….

    October 13th, 2010 at 9:22 am
  14. Amy said:

    Does anyone have any app recs for Blackberry?

    October 13th, 2010 at 9:52 am
  15. Bethany Grabher said:

    It’s amazing how many creative ways businesses are using QR codes! I ran into this billboard yesterday at the Denver Airport http://yfrog.com/5zfkxsj

    I wonder if I’ll ever use the ebook the QR code connects to or if I’ll do business with 1st Bank, BUT, I’ll remember the billboard!

    October 13th, 2010 at 11:04 am
  16. acai said:

    Great post! The code would lead to a landing page that contains all our relevant show info – speaking sessions, networking receptions, booth hours – plus related white papers, demos or podcasts. Keep on..

    October 13th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
  17. Dina Giovale said:

    Hi Sarah, What are your thoughts on QR codes over Tag codes? We have been testing them and some phones or readers seem to read/scan the Tag code a little easier than the QR code. Anyone else have any similar issues?

    October 13th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
  18. Jasmine said:

    This QR code looks really interesting. At least it’s more promising and should be more useful than then plain old barcode! :)

    October 14th, 2010 at 3:13 am
  19. Tajiana said:

    Great post. This is a hot topic right now in our office. For BlackBerry users, my scanner is located in my BlackBerry Messenger… Group Scanner. I just click it and point my phone at the QR Codes. On this blog post, the only one that didn’t work is the large size for the text message. It didn’t pick it up for some reason…

    October 14th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
  20. Web Development said:

    QR code is new concept for me. Thanks for information about it and free resource of generate it.

    October 15th, 2010 at 4:26 am
  21. Digitürk said:

    Does anyone have any app recs for Blackberry?** Reply?

    October 15th, 2010 at 5:06 am
  22. Laptop Briefcase said:

    This is the first I’ve heard of QR Codes. It does sounds like there could be some useful applications. Then again, I think a lot of people would need to have the bar code scanning app for this kind of promotion to be worthwhile. Perhaps something like this won’t take off for a while yet.

    October 15th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
  23. Michelle T said:

    I’m glad the US is finding more useful ways to use QR codes, I’ve been seeing QR codes on billboards in Japan years ago!

    Here is an example of how QR codes have been used by FirstBank recently for their marketing campaign
    http://creativity-online.com/work/firstbank-while-plane-idles-you-neednt-books/21609

    October 19th, 2010 at 1:29 am
  24. Matt said:

    I’ve read about them and seen several magazines use them. I had no idea they were so easy to create and deploy – i’ve actually put them to use in several places in the last 30 minutes.

    October 19th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
  25. QR CODE said:

    Thanks for the info! I was looking for a QR code generator site and you helped a lot!

    October 19th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
  26. textbook rental said:

    These QR codes are really catching on! I’ve heard this from other places on the web, but it’s nice to see you recommend it.

    October 19th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
  27. Printable Coupons said:

    How about for a Nokia? I tried using that feature on my E71. 10 minutes later, still nothing.

    October 20th, 2010 at 7:59 am
  28. sell textbooks said:

    Does the android read and pick up on these codes?

    October 20th, 2010 at 10:28 am
  29. sell textbooks said:

    Does the android read and pick up on these codes? I am getting an upgrade to a smart phone next month and I want to pick one I will be cool with for the next year or so.

    October 20th, 2010 at 10:29 am
  30. Laptop Briefcase said:

    On second thought, I don’t see much future with these QR codes. They are just too restrictive as it would only work with a smart phone with the necessary app. Who’s going to take the time to decode some cryptic code that could just as easily be displayed as text. I’m sure most of the time they would have to include the text version too so as to not leave out non-smart phone users. Maybe in 5-10 years when everyone has a smart phone, this might be a better idea.

    October 20th, 2010 at 2:38 pm