What a difference 10 years and millions of smartphones make.
Ten years ago, many advertisers and publishers, were excited about the :Cue:C.A.T., a “revolutionary” print-to-web technology from Digital Convergence.:Com that promised “with one swipe, the ‘Cue:C.A.T. reads any product code and instantly transports you to the corresponding Web page associated with that product.’” While the hype surrounding this handheld scanner was great, it never lived up to its promise, even being ranked the “#1 Dumbest Technology Product Yet” by PC World in 2009. Its failure can be attributed to the technology limitations of using a scanning device tethered to your computer, lackluster advertiser and publisher support and the lack of widespread device availability, even after the distribution of millions of free CueC.A.T.’s to Wired and Fortune magazine subscribers and through Radio Shack stores.
Today, a form of the C.A.T. is back, albeit it in a new form factor in the guise of smartphones loaded with scanning software that can easily scan the 2 dimensional codes generated using open source technology like QR (Quick Response) Codes and DataMatrix codes or proprietary technology like Microsoft Tags. Other codes that are out there include NeoMedia’s qodes, MaxiCodes or JagTags.
These codes are encrypted with a wide variety of information to connect the real with the virtual worlds and are easily decoded via mobile smartphone’s that scan and interpret the code’s data to take you directly to the encoded information. As stated in a recent Harvard Business Review Blog article “How Barcodes and Smartphones will Rearchitect Information” by John Sviokla, a former Harvard Professor “For many years I’ve wanted to be able to link any physical object (e.g from the marketplace) to anything digital about that object (e.g. all the information in the marketspace). I call this linking of physical information to the digital information about it FindIt! search, and I think we are finally starting to get there.”
In this posting, I want to help you understand what these “new” codes are, and identify ways that your business might use these codes in connecting “your marketplace and marketspace” through your marketing and communications mix.
What are these codes or tags?
These codes go beyond the traditional bar code that we commonly see on consumer products in that they are two-dimensional codes that provide greater information capture and retrieval from the pixels that are scanned both horizontally & vertically. The best way to see how they work is to watch a live demonstration of the scanning in process:
How to use tags or codes
There are several steps to take to effectively utilize these codes. Among these are:
- Decide on the marketing communications strategy for your products, services or business
The first step in pursuing the connection between real and virtual worlds possible through QR Codes, is to determine your overall marketing and communications strategy, so that this component can be built into your tactics.
- Decide on the information to include in your tag or code
The type of information to include in your tag or code can vary significantly but could include URLs, vCard contact information, calendar event, phone #, e-mail addresses, geographic location, SMS #, e-mail addresses, pictures, product descriptions, product specifications, Google Places sites, coupon codes, photos, videos, etc.
- Determine the technology to use
There are various ways to generate your code including: Zxing Generator, Kaywa QR Code Generator, Beetagg Generator and Microsoft Tag Generator.
- Generate the QR code or tag
Don’t overload your code with data as this will reduce the size of the pixels in the code possibly leading to encoding errors. Shorten the URL for your scan’s destination to reduce any potential for errors in the generated code. Make the landing page for the scan a mobile page. Since consumers are scanning with a mobile device, they’ll want to get directly to the content they are seeking.
- Test your code or tag to make sure it works
Test with a QR scanner or app on your smartphone. The available scanner software is going to vary depending on the type of phone you are using (Android, Blackberry, iPhone, etc.).
For a list of scanners see Mobile-Barcodes.com or QR Code.
To find out more about tags and QR Codes:
Publications & websites for more information: 2D Code, BeQRious, Wikipedia on QR Codes
Twitter Accounts for more information: @jagtag, @microsofttag
To find out more about the latest trends in e-business and marketing, you can follow me on Twitter @thewebchef
ÃÂÂÂÃÂÂ
Sign up for the free IB Update — your weekly resource for local business news, analysis, voices and the names you need to know. Click here.
