Local marketing is a very important component in your marketing mix.  A study from Amplify Local Marketing showed that 93 percent of shoppers said they used the internet and mobile marketing to find a local shop, restaurant or store and three quarters of the respondents said they eat out three to four times a week — with 95 percent claiming they ate lunch within one mile of their office.

So, how can you reach this audience?  Through QR Codes you can make it easier to order food or even locate your restaurant or place of business.  Check out how this restaurant used QR codes to simplify the ordering process:

Once you scan the code the user is brought to the mobile landing page that offered the user the option to “like” their Facebook page and then order directly from their mobile phone.

Additionally, ninety-one percent of  brands say they’re interested in investing additional funds for local marketing in 2014, with a total growth of 42.5 billion dollars in 2015.  Furthermore, the study showed that 50 percent of all local searches stemmed from mobile phone searches — making QR codes that much more essential to your local marketing mix.

Finally, in addition to local marketing, QR codes also enable the consumer to be easily transferred from a brand’s printed message to its digital message — giving the consumer more information, deals and discounts and more.  By simply scanning the 2-dimensional bar code, the user is engaged in an interactive message.  Once on the landing page, what content the users clicks and the amount of time spent with each piece of information can be recorded and used to create a more personalized and relevant follow up for the consumer — ultimately increasing your response rate and ROI.

Timothy Freeman
President
Print & Graphic Communications Association