With all the hype surrounding QR codes these days, it's easy to become star-struck by these convenient – and sometimes even fashionable – two-dimensional barcodes. Yes, it is true that QR Codes are fun and an easy way to engage your customer – but that all depends on your audience.
A recent Mobile Marketing Daily article mentions that SMS – whereby a consumer texts a mobile keyword to a short code – is much more valuable to the CBS broadcast station than other solutions.
To draw more primetime viewers, CBS has opted to not use QR codes. Instead, the station is using SMS calls to action within its print advertisements.
Each ad has a call to action that prompts consumers to text a specific keyword to a short code to learn more about specific shows in the station’s fall line-up.
“Everyone has phones that support SMS,” said Philippe Browning, vice president of advertising and operations at CBS Mobile, New York as the Mobile Marketing Daily article states.
“QR codes have an added barrier with a download and although we are interested in it and have experimented with the technology, it doesn’t have the same value of a text," he said.
For the media industry, which tends to cater to the broadest range of consumers, it seems that QR codes just haven’t caught on yet. So, what this teaches us is that while QR codes seem to be all the rage, it’s wise to take a step back from the hype and make sure you pick the right mobile text marketing tool for the right job.
According to a recent BusinessInsider.com article, there are a few things marketers can do to incorporate QR codes within their campaigns so all does go well.
Tips that this article suggests for marketers who want to boost their chances of campaign success with QR codes include:
- Making sure that your QR code has a shortened URL with only a few large pixels and a small white border for easy scanning.
- Providing instructions that teach people how to use the QR code, since not everyone is familiar with this technology.
- Wherever you print your QR code – on a poster, print ad or billboard -- make sure it is the correct size and at eye level with your customer.
For the majority of corporations and businesses in America, mobile keywords and short codes are still much easier to use than QR codes. The reason for this just might be that we’re still at the very early phases of the technology’s adoption – especially in the U.S.
As the Mobile Marketing article maintains, everyone has phones that support SMS without having to download any applications or other software like a QR Code reader.
It’s true that advertising a mobile keyword and short code on your print advertisement eliminates an extra step for some consumers who either are just not as savvy about technology or not interested in taking the time to make their phone QR Code readable.
But while the Mobile Marketer article goes on to say that “SMS is particularly useful for print advertisements because it makes a static medium more interactive by connecting readers to digital content,” so do QR codes.
It all comes down to customer preferences and which tool might be best suited to help a specific business reach its ideal customer – whoever that might be.
That is the philosophy upon which Trumpia was founded. The leading All-In-One Multi-Channel Marketing platform, Trumpia helps you harness the power of SMS text and QR codes – along with email, IM, voice broadcast and social media marketing at no additional cost.
No matter what your strategy ends up being when it comes to QR Codes and SMS text, it’s assuring to marketers everywhere that Trumpia offers both. These same marketers have enjoyed great success by incorporating both options in one campaign – giving their customers maximum flexibility and the highest level of choice.
