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How To: Use QR Codes for Marketing

by Mahesh Kukreja on January 7, 2011

Many people out there don’t have good idea about QR codes. So, firstly, I’m going to tell about what are QR codes and how can they be scanned and generated. If you already know this, you can skip to the latter part of the post, where I tell about uses of QR codes for mobile marketing.

What is a QR code?

A Quick Response (QR) code is a two-dimensional code which is readable by camera phones. From the barcode, information such as text, photos, videos, URLs etc can be retrieved.

The use of QR code started in Japan by Toyota co.

QR code for MaheshKukreja.com

This is the QR code for my blog generated by SPARQcode.com

How does the cellphone camera read the code?

The cellphone camera reads the barcode and gathers the information related to it. I used my iPhone 4 earlier today and used the Google mobile app [iTunes link]. The image search feature of this app helps to scan you the barcodes.

Google iPhone app Google iPhone app

There’s also an independent app available, i-nigma [iTunes link]. This app is also cool, it’s really fast. You just place your camera over the barcode and the information is immediately retrieved. Super fast!

i-nigma is supported on variety of handsets across different manufacturers. Here’s the compatibility page for the app.

i-nigma 4 on iPhone

How to generate a QR code?

You can easily generate a QR code using a site like SPARQcode.com. QR Barcode generator is very easy to use. Just register for an account and you can create QR codes for your Facebook, Twitter, your website. If you have an office/restaurant, you can also create barcode for a point on the map.

There are lot more features on this QR Generator page. You can create QR codes for vCards, SMS, even for links of different appstore apps. That’s cool!

There’s also QR code alternative for SPARQcode. This is developed and marketed by Microsoft.

QR Barcode also shows number of times the barcode has been scanned in the dashboard. For a free user, 250 scans are allotted, you can upgrade to Pro as your business advances.

SPARQcode.com Dashboard

How to use QR Codes to Market Your Business?

Almost everyone today has a smartphone. When people are in stores, and your products have QR codes on them, the customers can scan the code and obtain additional information related to your product. This information might include link to your website, your contact information, or link to your social networking accounts.

This is definitely very much beneficial for your small business. Mobile marketing is in work here.

Here are a few ways that you can use QR codes to spruce up your small business marketing strategies.

  • Distribute Freebies: You can use QR codes to distribute out free stuff. This way people will get more chance to interact with your company. Also, people will automatically market your free stuffs to other people, their friends or relatives.
  • Product catalogs: Sellers can distribute catalogs/brochures which contain the product details. These product details can contain the QR barcodes, which will help customers to interact with the sellers. They can simply scan the barcodes and get further details of the product, i.e. product availability, any discounts on products, etc.
  • Business cards: Just print your QR code on visiting card and people will get a curiosity to scan it up. QR codes marketing is developing and as I said, many people are unaware of it, you can out stand from your competition. These QR codes can re-direct to your contact information, social networking accounts, etc.
  • Poster, TV advertisements: You can put up a poster advertisement in your local area marketing about your business. Or you can book a slot for a Television advertisement. People coming around these ads can explore the QR codes to get more information about your products.
  • In storefront window: Google was reported to send out QR codes to shop owners in the US. These shops were then listed in the Google Places.. It was a great opportunity to market your shops, restaurants on the maps. If you didn’t get QR code by Google, you can generate your own QR codes and place it outside your shop windows.

Conclusion

You can also add QR codes to your website, e-mail signatures, blogs, etc. The search engines will see a new image and index it accordingly. At some point soon, the search engines will likely recognize QR codes and possibly index the content in them.

So, how many of you use QR codes for your business, or will be using after reading this article?

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5 Free Security Softwares – Must Use

by Mahesh Kukreja on February 21, 2009

Here are 5 Free Security Softwares that you can use to combat your fear against Adwares, Viruses, Trojans, etc.

1.Avast Home Edition: Best Free Antivirus

Avast is one of the best antiviruses I recommend to my friends. It is free and has many features which many of the Antiviruses lack. I have known it for more than 3 years. Until now no virus, Spywares, Adwares, Worms or Trojan has been able to invade my computer. It protects you from IP attacks as well. It has Web Shield, Standard Shield, Email Shield, P2P Shield etc. It has a very nice user friendly interface and the scanning is faster than most of the Antivirus out there. Use it to know it better.

Link:  Avast Home Edition Homepage

2. Comodo Firewall Pro: Best Free Firewall

Comodo is very well known in the field of security, especially web security. They provide many free and paid products but the best ever software they produced is their Firewall. Its free and no other firewall is as good as this one. I have been a tester of firewalls. If you search on internet about leak test you will know that the only Firewall to pass the entire leak test is no other than Comodo Firewall. I personally downloaded leak test softwares and tested it myself. It passed with 100% score. It is very powerful and no software can transfer data to internet without your approval.

Warning: This software is very powerful. It sometimes become annoying approving access to softwares (after some days it will be OK, it won’t disturb you much) but if you are very much concerned about security then this is the best.

Link: Comodo Firewall Homepage

3. Key Scrambler Personal: Best Free Anti Key logger for internet users (Browser Add-on)

Are you worried about key loggers? Someone might have installed a key logger in your computer and using it to get your usernames and passwords. That person might know which sites you are visiting. Well do not worry much, here is the best solution. Use Key Scrambler. It works as a layer between any monitoring systems (Key loggers etc). When you type anything this software scrambles whatever you type. For example you typed “Apple” but key logger will not be able to catch it, instead it will get wrong data like “:T7$n”. So you are safe from key loggers. I am using it for more than a year.

Link: Key Scrambler Personal Homepage

4. RoboForm: Best Password Management Software

Ok so by using Key Scrambler you are safe from key loggers but think if you do not have to type you username and password at all, no data will be stolen. This is what RoboForm can do. RoboForm is the best in Password Managements. It can store your passwords and you can secure all your username and password data with a master password. You do not need to remember all your login data. With one click you can input you login data in website and login without typing anything. It saves a lot of time, especially if you have lots of memberships/login. I have membership at more than 100 sites, so I use RoboForm to mange my logins. You can use RoboForm for free with full feature and automation if you have not more than 10 logins.

Link: RoboForm Homepage

5. Advanced System Care Free: Best Free Utility for Windows

OK I agree this is not a security software, than why is it listed here. Just two reasons, first it has Spyware Removal, which detects the presence of Spywares and removes them and also protect from them in advance. The other is Privacy Sweep; (remember we also need to be protected from data theft). You need to remove the tracking cookies placed by many website. Some are safe but some might be harmful. Privacy Sweep removes those data and makes you system cleaner. (I also advice to use the ‘Junk Clean File’ option in it. You can save lot of hard disk space.)

Link: Advanced System Care Free Homepage

Hope this list is useful for you.

-Mahesh.

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