My wife and I recently took a trip down to Key West for a little business, a little R&R and a little wedding for our friends. As always, I was absorbing all the different advertisements while walking through the terminal in Atlanta, when one in particular caught my eye.

This advertisement was for a free appetizer at one of the restaurants in the concourse. Pretty cool freebie, but so what, right? I’m not saying a free appetizer is anything to smirk at, but we’ve all seen it before.

What intrigued me was the simplicity of the ad. I regret not taking a photo, but in a nutshell, it included their logo, the headline and a QR code.

What?

That’s right, a QR Code (Quick Response Code). If you’re not familiar, QR Codes are square bar codes you scan with your smart phone to reveal messages.

You can…

• link them to your website
• send a text message
• send an SMS message
• provide a telephone number

…all to your target market in real time.

An obvious benefit is that your niche market continues to engage with your message or website after they have moved on from your original print advertisement. Not to mention, your message is now saved in their smart phone for later use – all of this for less then an inch of space (bigger, if you prefer of course) on your ad.

Technology is moving at break-neck speed, but that doesn’t mean that print is going to be left in the dust. Today’s market has seen incredible examples of companies combining print and mobile technologies from interactive T-shirts to QR Codes popping up on everything printed. Today companies are constantly searching for new engaging ways to deliver their message, and what better way than through the most popular forms of portable media – print and mobile.

… Since we were late for our flight (imagine that), we didn’t have time to stop for our free appetizer, but I’ve got my smart phone ready for the next one. You better believe that.

QR Codes are free to generate.
Here’s the link I use for mine: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
Here’s another: http://delivr.com/qr-code-generator

Let us know how you use your QR codes in the comments or on Twitter @YourCoopNet. We’d love to try some new ideas in our marketing.

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Our mission is to support the growth and prosperity of small businesses by providing creative lead-generating services, blending the best of time-tested and new forms of marketing.

~ Justin Ellett, @justinellett
Founder, OnDemandAdz.com® LLC