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"We just started using them," explained Abby Suiter, practice manager for Daniel Island Animal Hospital. "…It’s all about clicking a link, so you don’t have to type in an address. You just scan it."

"We are using QR codes to try to get information out to potential patients and anyone who is interested in orthodontics as efficiently as possible," added Dr. Michael Zetz of Daniel Island-based Crescent Moon Orthodontics. "QR codes give you a way to give somebody information or access to information really easily."

Both Suiter and Zetz say they have added QR codes in their practice exam rooms, so patient families can literally tap into additional, relevant information while waiting.

The QR code program works in conjunction with Wildfire’s new mobile site. The codes are used for a variety of purposes and are located in an assortment of locations throughout Wildfires many restaurants in Chicago and it’s surrounding suburbs. Wildfire has placed the QR codes on everything from posters, to tabletops, to windows. The QR codes help Wildfire to endorse any upcoming events and promotions in order to keep customers “in the know” with the ultimate goal of increased customer participation in store events and promotions. The program gives Wildfire an opportunity to to interact with their guests all the while generating buzz for the restaurant and creating a unique experience for the diner.

"As the number of people with smartphones continues to escalate, marketing to the mobile customer is becoming increasingly more critical to the marketing mix.

20.1 million mobile phone owners in the U.S. used their devices to scan a QR code in the three-month average period ending October 2011. In the big scheme of things, this isn’t a large number. However, the number of people using QR codes is expected to grow.

1. Reinventing the Shopping Experience

2. Enhancing the User Experience

Perx, a smartphone app from Singapore-based Maiplay Pte. that’s designed to replace all the cards in a consumer’s wallet with a single, easy way to get loyalty rewards.

they scan the QR code provided by the merchant when they check out. That, in turn, serves just like a stamp on an old paper card and counts towards the shopper’s next reward; Perx notifies the consumer instantly when they’ve reached that milestone. Meanwhile, users can also “spin the wheel” for a chance to win instant prizes.

despite the rapid increase in smartphone usage, only around 25 percent of companies have bothered to create a mobile smartphone version of their sites and only 13 percent have created sites specifically for tablets.

Currently, over 90 percent of people in the U.S. have mobile phones and estimates of smartphone users generally run between 70 and 80 million people in the U.S. It's even more important if you're trying to reach those oh-so-valuable 18 to 34 year olds: 42 percent of smartphone owners fit this age bracket. Looking at it another way, fully 62 percent of mobile users aged 25 to 34 own a smartphone. And, as I reported in my last column, 40 percent of smartphone and tablet users break them out when they're watching TV.

There are two ways to access applications on a mobile device. The first is to simply fire up the mobile Web browser and load a Web application. Existing Web sites are designed for mouse interaction. Mobile interaction is with the finger, thus most Web sites need to be optimized for the mobile Web.

Recouping even the typically modest investment needed to deploy a QR code often depends on a few key steps. One is offering those who read the code something they can use. "The codes are a bridge," Strack says. "When the user crosses the bridge, there needs to be something of value." That might be useful information, a coupon or another promotion.

Similarly, the site to which the code leads should be developed specifically for mobile phones. A website designed for computer monitors usually is difficult to view on a phone, Pinto notes.

Finally, in order to reap the full benefits of a QR code, you want to find some way to gather information from the user, such as an email address, so that you can contact them again. The QR codes and the scanning applications don't capture this information.

New program helps visitors to learn more about the city.

QR code use is the ideal way to share this information.

It allows visitors to the city to play a game where they must scan the barcodes at various different locations found throughout Dallas. When they perform a scan, they are provided with a trivia question or a task that must be completed. Each time they answer correctly or finish the required activity, they gain points. Those can be accumulated in order to earn prizes.

• USPS – the Postal Service is now running its second campaign that uses a QR code. In this case, it is offering discounts of 2 percent to companies choosing to use their mailers with the barcodes printed on them. This benefits both the companies and shows that there is still a place for snail mail in this increasingly digital and mobile world.

• Coca-Cola – the soft drink giant placed a QR code on its containers throughout the 2012 Europe Cup soccer tournament, giving scanners exclusive videos from the tournament, as well as an easy way to obtain the free SmileWorld social app.

• Proctor & Gamble – PGMobile shopping trucks were launched last month by the beauty and home products corporation, distributing free samples as they patrolled New York City. Both the samples and the truck were emblazoned with quick response codes that could be scanned by smartphone users.

It found that Android devices lead the way in overall popularity at 51% followed by iPhones at 38%. 

The numbers for Android devices are skewed even higher for the young age group at 58%, showing that marketers must ensure that their sites are equally optimised for apps and web browsers via Android devices as they are for iOS devices.

88% of consumers who shop using mobile apps on Android tablets report the highest levels of satisfaction compared to 71% of iPad users. Similarly satisfaction among Android smartphone users is 69% versus 66% on iPhone

Giving the consumer an option to scan a QR code which leads them to a website that is not optimized for the device they use to scan it is like sending someone with a broken arm in to get a full-body physical. People use QR codes to take action directly, so don’t make them jump through hoops, pinching, zooming and navigating through a messy desktop site. Give them what they want: a mobile experience.

the QR codes that perform far better are the ones that offer consumers a benefit for scanning.  This means providing a discount, special offer or inclusion in some sort of exclusive program in order to provide customers a return on investment for their time. Of course, clever marketers can find plenty of ways to provide a reward for scanning while still integrating plenty of branding as well.

Mark Donovan, senior vice president of mobile and senior analyst with comScore, believes that the popularity of QR codes is ramping up because of the increasing popularity of smartphones. “I think that we’re seeing things like QR codes just start to reach critical mass,” said Donovan. “Today, one in three people in the U.S. owns a smartphone. It’s a good and fairly ubiquitous way to reach those people and there’s still some novelty to it, which can be interesting to consumers.”

The main benefit of QR codes is that they make it easy to direct the consumer wherever you want to lead them. Anything businesses can do to engage potential customers will enhance the “stickiness” of that company in a person’s mind. With enough compelling engagement on your part, potential customers just may become lifelong customers.

QR codes have been misused and overused lately, but the fact remains that they are a great way to link the printed world with the digital one. Once a PDF document is printed, all the functionality of its hyperlinks are lost, but a QR code can bring a print reader right back to the web.

In just the two years since the release of Apple's iPad, the U.S. tablet market has reached a "critical mass," with nearly one in four smartphone owners also using a tablet in the three-month period ending in April, according to data released by market researcher ComScore.

Tablet use among smartphone owners has more than doubled in the past year, going from 9.7 percent last year to 23.6 percent this year, ComScore found.

"Tablets are one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies in history and are poised to fundamentally disrupt the way people engage with the digital world both on-the-go and perhaps most notably, in the home," Mark Donovan, ComScore's senior vice president of mobile,

Because there are various types of phones, with various types of communications technologies on them, there are also many types of mobile marketing: SMS MMS Mobile Web Apps Bluetooth Location-Based QR Codes Banner Ads Mobile Websites

Mobile Website is an optimized website for viewing on a mobile phone.  Since smart phone screens are generally around three inches wide by four inches tall (or thereabouts), viewing a regular website often displays the text and images too small to read. By optimizing websites for mobile devices, your company can deliver a better web experience for the small screen user, thus increasing the chances that user might interact with the site the way you want them to.

A perfect example of a well-done mobile website is that of pizza maker Papa John’s. Pick up a smart phone and browse to papajohns.com. (It won’t work in a web browser, you’ll have to see it on your phone.) The site is designed so the on-the-go visitor has just a couple of options and can quickly do the most likely thing a mobile user will want to do on papajohns.com: Order a pizza.