QR Codes: Making Print and Mail Interactive

By incorporating Quick Response Codes, in-plants can help their organizations integrate traditional print and mail with mobile and Web channels, increasing response rates.

If you had the privilege of attending the lunch session at Graph Expo 2010 entitled "Integrated Marketing: What's Next for In-plants," I'm willing to bet that you came away with enough content to prove one thing: the worlds of marketing and communications are changing fast. Channels such as social media and mobile marketing are becoming more important with each passing day.

If we primarily provide services such as print, mail and fulfillment, new marketing channels can be a scary thing. They will directly have an impact on our business. However, while volumes of traditional media may not go back to where they once were, there are opportunities for us to grow our business with these newer channels.

If we can commit to taking the approach of offering multi-channel marketing services to our organizations, we can offer value. We can help them save time and money by automating certain marketing efforts; we can provide better reporting by integrating channels into the solution; and we can help increase the success of their campaigns by using multiple channels to reach people.

Let's discuss one way that we can start to integrate traditional media with a new marketing channel: Quick Response (QR) Codes.

Today, in order to grow your business, it is important to understand and seek out ways to connect traditional print and mail with other popular channels, because your customers are looking at all channels of communication in an effort to reach their own customers. QR Codes are becoming popular because they can easily engage a customer with immediate response. Learning how you can implement the technology and then showcase your capabilities to current and prospective customers will only add to your marketing efforts.

The best way to begin transitioning QR Codes into your in-plant's service offering and effectively market the new capability to your customers is to integrate the technology into your own printed materials. For example, Sir Speedy of Tampa printed its own direct mail promotion complete with the recipient's customized QR Code to engage interest. When customers received the mailer, they were encouraged to scan the code and, upon doing so, were taken to their own company's Web site.

Showcasing the QR Code technology and usability first-hand to customers has proved beneficial in garnering interest and, ultimately, more business. Showing customers the numerous ways QR Codes can be incorporated into current materials will spark ideas on how they can use QR Codes in their own initiatives.

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