I thought I'd share this with you all today, as it's highly relevant to our class. I was in a meeting with one of our publishing groups who was toying with the idea of using QR codes in the print magazine. Their goal was to drive traffic to the website, but there wasn't much understanding and planning behind the initiative from the beginning. I addressed my concern with using the codes arbitrarily and posed the question, "Why will people go through the extra effort on their end to scan these codes?" That got people thinking. During our meeting, within 45 minutes, we were able to come up with a huge number of ideas that would benefit our readers, our advertisers, and our own business - not only in the print publications, but also at the events that we attend and in promotional materials.
Now, I know that QR codes are still a bit new and a lot of people haven't quite caught on to the appeal, but I thought it was a fun conversation to have. By the end of the meeting, I wasn't the most excited one in the room - the more experienced, conservative folks were! The people who have seen publishing go through twists and turns and ups and downs and multiple platforms over the course of decades were actually embracing something as alien as QR codes, and thinking of marketing applications on their own. I don't know about you, but I thought that was a pretty cool moment for us. Getting print publishing executives to go into completely foreign territory and try new forms of digital marketing (and get excited about it) can sometimes be challenging. But when it all meshes, it's really, really fun.
For any of you in the marketing fields, have you used QR codes in your business? What kind of response have you had? For those of you who aren't in marketing, have you clicked on any QR codes as a consumer? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
Now, I know that QR codes are still a bit new and a lot of people haven't quite caught on to the appeal, but I thought it was a fun conversation to have. By the end of the meeting, I wasn't the most excited one in the room - the more experienced, conservative folks were! The people who have seen publishing go through twists and turns and ups and downs and multiple platforms over the course of decades were actually embracing something as alien as QR codes, and thinking of marketing applications on their own. I don't know about you, but I thought that was a pretty cool moment for us. Getting print publishing executives to go into completely foreign territory and try new forms of digital marketing (and get excited about it) can sometimes be challenging. But when it all meshes, it's really, really fun.
For any of you in the marketing fields, have you used QR codes in your business? What kind of response have you had? For those of you who aren't in marketing, have you clicked on any QR codes as a consumer? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
