Use Your Cell Phone to Scan For Information!

We've all seen the bar codes that are used everywhere from grocery stores to department stores, from supply houses to small businesses. They are featured on nearly every product you buy and they look like the image above.

Well...get ready for a new bar code called a QR code (Quick Response) that is going to begin having a huge impact on business information and how it is delivered to you via your cell phone in the coming year.

While conventional bar codes are capable of storing a maximum of approximately 20 digits, QR code is capable of handling several hundred times more information.

Expect to see QR codes in magazine advertisements, on billboards, web pages or even on someone’s t-shirt. Once it is "scanned" to your cell phone, it can give you details about that business, or details about the person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a coupon which you can use in a local outlet.

The reason why QR codes are more useful than a standard bar code is that they can store (and digitally present) much more data, including URL links, pictures, GEO coordinates, and text. The other key feature of QR codes is that instead of requiring a chunky hand-held scanner to scan them, most recent cell phones can scan them. The full Wikipedia description is here.

For a short YouTube explanation by Marcello Di Pietro: click here

Any business, no matter how small or large, could use QR codes in a number of ways. You might auto generate one next to every product on your web site containing all the product details, the number to call and the URL link to the page so they can show their friends on their cell phone.

You could add one to your business card containing your contact details so its easy for someone to add you to their contacts on their cell phone, without any typing!

Below is an example of my business contact information, including a photo, company logo and link to my website. All you need is the READER application which is available for download to your phone at several Internet sites. The QR code can be as small as your thumbnail or as large as a billboard.

Add your QR code to any print advertising, flyers, posters, invites, tv ads etc. containing:

• product details
• contact details
• offer details
• event details
• a coupon
• Twitter, Facebook, MySpace IDs
• a link to a YouTube video
• Or, in my case...Access to individual homes for sale, mortgage information, Open Houses, mapping and more.

What is it really all about? Well, some may not see it, but its yet another example of the blurring of the edges of media, as we all continue our journey to a completely connected world.

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