BlueCapra

Using Technology To Solve Problems and Create Solutions

The Versatile Bar Code – 9 Faces Of The QR

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9 faces of the QR - Krispy Kreme Doughnuts sign with QR bar codeTechnology is a great thing.  Smart phones are becoming more popular and the efficient transfer of information from the people who have it to the people who want it is always needed.  This information transfer is often in the form of websites or apps but can also a variety of other sources such as RSS feeds and QR bar codes.  Even though we are moving toward a more digital world, much of the communication and information we receive is in print form or other method of one-way communications.  To help bridge the gap between print and digital communication, we have the QR, or Quick Response, bar code.

QR bar codes have a variety of uses and they are becoming more popular.  It is common to see the strange looking square symbols on products, menus, and buildings.  A while ago I wrote a post entitled Practical Small Business Technology Marketing about the benefits of QR bar codes and a few ways to use them to help your business.  As with all technologies, there are improvements and updates.  In an effort to stay up-to-date with those advances, I have compiled some information concerning the creation of QR bar codes, their possible uses, and the results when scanned on a smart phone.

UPDATE: If you are using QR codes, check out my other website ScanThisGuide.com.  It has tons of QR code reviews from real products that you can learn what to do and not to do.  Plus, you can download my free ebook that has more in depth QR code goodness.  Now, back to the post…

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Practical Small Business Technology Marketing – Part I – Barcodes

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Technology can have a huge impact on the marketing efforts of small businesses.  Most of the technology is low cost or free but requires time and a little knowledge to take advantage of.  This series of posts will focus on practical examples to apply technology to small business marketing.  In this first post, I will detail some practical ways to implement barcodes into small business marketing, with a focus being on QR barcodes.

QR linking to this post

Smartphones are popular.  Those “magic phones” can do a variety of tasks and most people that have them are rarely out of arm’s reach of the devices.  Most modern smartphones are capable of scanning barcodes through embedded or third-party applications (one such application that I have used is RedLaser).  Through these applications, you can check prices of products online and at local stores as well as get more information on the products themselves.  But not all barcodes are equal; there are many variations to the common (or not so common) barcodes.

The standard barcode that most of us are familiar with is considered a one-dimensional (1D) barcode.  They are printed on practically all products you buy, encoding a limited amount of specific information that businesses use to identify the product.  By utilizing algorithms and encoding methods, more information can be added to the barcode within the same physical space, increasing the density of the information available.  With this extra information, smartphone makers and application designers are able to trigger distinct events, such as links to websites, contact information, and text messages among others.  There are many different ways to encode the data, but one of the most popular is the QR, or Quick Response barcode. [Read more…]