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Six QR-Code Generators for Marketing

Posted by Timothy Lorang on Fri, Jul 08, 2011 @ 04:00 AM
 

 

 

QR Code Generators for marketing resized 600In my last blog, QR-Code Marketing for Restaurants and Small Businesses, I talked a bit about what a QR-Code is and some basic guidelines. Today I wanted to cover a few free and easy to use QR-Code generators or tools. In my next blog we’ll talk about some of the things you can do with QR-Codes. This list is in no way exhaustive and really doesn’t touch on the many fine companies that generate and manage QR-Codes for businesses and marketing campaigns. This is aimed at small businesses and companies such as restaurants that need to do it themselves. These are some QR-Code generators and sites that I found useful and easy to use.

  1. IMP Website Kaywa resized 600Kaywa QR-Code: This is a basic QR-Code Generator. Put in your URL, text, phone number or SMS (short message service) text and click the “Generate” button. You can grab the permalink to the code, grab an HTML code that you can past into your website or download a PNG graphic file of the code. On the right you can see the Kaywa generated the QR-Code of my website.



  2. quiQR forsqure EMTU 2 resized 600quiQR: quiQR makes a reader for your iPhone as well as this QR-Code generator. This too will generate a QR-Code based on a URL, phone or SMS. Two added features are a way for adding contact information and a feature for a business such as a restaurant to add their Foursquare venue ID. The Foursquare feature seems a bit buggy as it added a few extra slashes to the code and it really didn’t connect. You can achieve the same goal by putting your Foursquare URL into URL generator of this or any QR-Code Generator. To the right is code that goes to a specific Foursquare account.



  3. PingTag RQcode LinkedIn infoPingtags: Set up an account in Pingtags and you can generate a QR-Code that points to your LinkedIn information and gives your contacts a way to connect to you via LinkedIn. This seems like the perfect code for your business card. Check out my LinkedIn information in the QR-code to the right. This actually seems like a lot of information on your smart phone, but it beats carrying around your resume. Pingtags is still in beta so there may be some changes ahead.




  4. Likify Image Media Partners Facebook 2likify: Likify is another application in beta and a way to make a simple mobile web page that says: “Like me on Facebook.” It is supper easy to set up. Enter your Facebook page URL, some text and upload a 300 x 250 pixel PNG file of your logo and you are good to go. You can even load a coupon that will show on the screen after you “like” the page. Like Image Media Partners by using the code on the right.








  5. Snapmyinfo TimLorangSnap my info: Snap my info is a pretty nifty sight for making a QR-Code into a business card. Set up an account with all of your contact information and get a QR-Code that should trigger the e-mail function in your smartphone. Simply e-mail the link then Snap my info will send you a .cvs file that you can import into your address book. This could also be the code you would want to put on the back of your business card. Scan the code on the right and down load my contact information.





  6. linkblot IMPlinkblots: This was really my favorite QR-Code generator because it can be very useful for small businesses. Using their interface you can generate a mobile web page that has your logo, e-mail and address with buttons that will dial the phone, “like” your Facebook page, Tweet the QR-Code, play a video or a slide show and link to a web page. Not only does it do all that but it keeps statistics and tracks of your code. I sent out a tweet from the application on my smartphone and got over 80 views in a couple of hours. The free version is a great way for a small business to try a very powerful tool at no risk and an excellent option for those who occasionally need a professional looking mobile landing page. They have professional packages for power users. Take a look at my linkblots page by scanning the QR-Code on the right. I’ll be talking more about linkblots in future blogs.

We have looked at a few tools that can help anyone generate a QR-Code for marketing, social media or lead generation. On Monday we’ll look at some specific ideas and things you can do with QR-Codes, especially for small businesses like restaurants. If you would like some more information about how your business can use QR Codes in marketing contact us for a free analysis and consultation.

Do you have a great example of how to use QR Codes? Tell us what you are doing in the comments section below.

Photo Credit: linkblots  

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Comments

I like the work that is being done at QR Code Pros Inc.
Posted @ Sunday, July 10, 2011 8:26 PM by Mo Jones
It actually looks very interesting. I've signed up and I'll give it a spin. Here is the URL in case others are interested: http://app.qrcodepros.com/ 
Posted @ Sunday, July 10, 2011 8:59 PM by Timothy Lorang
Any comments, feedback, feature requests would be greatly appreciated. We are constantly updating based on user input. Allan - QR Code Pros
Posted @ Monday, July 11, 2011 6:14 AM by Allan Tone
What about ones that have built-in analytics? Do any of these have that? I'd like to be able to do some tracking. 
 
I know I could create my own analytics by creating custom shortened links for web pages, but don't know if that would work for the other media forms and I'd rather see it all in one spot to get a good look at QR codes collectively. 
 
@BarbChamberlain
Posted @ Monday, July 11, 2011 11:26 AM by Barb Chamberlain
Allan, quick feedback for you--Your site design has one of my pet peeves built in. I really don't like having to register before I can read or see anything about what it is I'm signing up for.  
 
@BarbChamberlain 
 
@BarbChamberlain
Posted @ Monday, July 11, 2011 11:28 AM by Barb Chamberlain
Barb, 
Look at Linkblots, http://www.linkblots.com/ 
They track number of scans and locations. I haven't delved into QR Codes Pro very much yet, http://app.qrcodepros.com/ but it does have reporting and it looks like a hook to Google Analytics. 
 
I usually make a unique URL either for my landing page, my webhositng platform can make and track unique URL, or through a URL shortener like bit.ly, to see how much traffic came from each source. 
 
Tim
Posted @ Monday, July 11, 2011 12:04 PM by Timothy Lorang
Thanks, Tim. I'm trying to understand whether you'd be able to see stats for every type of scan/action, whether the QR code loads up a web page, VCF, video, or other file type. Can I route all of them through a bitly? But then I'd still have to dig back through the bitly reports and pick out the ones I used for QR codes, rather than seeing QR codes as their own subset. 
 
I like your linkblots page featuring multiple ways to connect with you (gave you a Facebook thumbs-up from there). 
 
barb
Posted @ Tuesday, July 12, 2011 1:19 PM by Barb Chamberlain
Barb,  
I haven't seen the a comprehensive solution to analytics or stats for this yet. The ones I do see can tell if the code was scanned and even give a geographic location but not what action was taken. That is where the unique URLs like bit.ly come in. I usually customize them so it is easier to find them.  
 
In my website platform I can generate unique URLs for any page and campaign so I can see who came from a tweet or a QR code, but that is part of the analytics package of my web site and not anything to do with the QR Code service. But that way I could, using the unique URLs, make one code for a poster and one for a post card and see which ones bring in the most traffic. 
 
I'd be interested in any other ideas you have. 
 
Tim
Posted @ Tuesday, July 12, 2011 2:21 PM by Timothy Lorang
Hi Tim, Is there a way of having your logo in the design?
Posted @ Saturday, July 16, 2011 3:19 AM by Rob
Hi Barb, thanks for the feedback. Actually Tim pointed you directly to the application, inadvertantly circumventing our actual website atwww.qrcodepros.com.  
 
Allan
Posted @ Saturday, July 16, 2011 6:35 AM by Allan Tone
Rob,  
Yes, you can customize QR Code designs and include an image or logo. Most of the basic, free QR Code Generators cannot do it but bothwww.qrcodepros.com andwww.linkblots.com can include a logo in the code. Perhaps Allen Tone or Brian Raines could address this.
Posted @ Saturday, July 16, 2011 12:47 PM by Timothy Lorang
Hi Rob, 
QR Code Pros does not have the ability to automatically include your logo within, or as an overlay on the QR code. There are readability issues with automating this feature.  
 
Generally what we do is to copy the QR code from our system into Fireworks, or Photoshop then place the logo over the code. Next we pull out our iPhone and scan it with 5 it 6 different readers, all the while adjusting the size color and placement so that it can be read by most, if not all the readers. We are actively looking for a way to automate the procedure, but as of yet we haven't found one... sorry
Posted @ Saturday, July 16, 2011 12:59 PM by Allan Tone
Rob - at linkblots we allow you both overlay graphic as an embedded logo and/or perform an operation that allows you to replace either the white or black portion of the code with a transparent layer to reveal an image below. Both of these are advanced techniques that require testing. At linkblots we give you a mechanism to regenerate the code with all these features removed so you can feel free to explore many options. You can download code graphics from linkblots in .png, .jpg, or .pdf for further manipulation in any graphics application of your choosing. It is fun to play with - I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. - Brian
Posted @ Monday, July 18, 2011 7:24 AM by Brian Raines
You might be interested in creating rounded & colorful QR Code using this generator http://en.unitag.fr/qrcode . 
 
It is free to use !
Posted @ Saturday, July 23, 2011 10:41 AM by Alexis Laporte
Some uses of QR codes I have seen recently - QR codes on headstones linking to memorial sites, QR tattoos including the world's first animated tattoo, QR codes on products to special promotions, QR on a tshirt at a conference which gave full contact details for the person wearing the shirt, QR code on a tie, etc. There are some brilliant sites showing uses of QR codes. In Europe, we are very slow at adopting QR, whereas in Japan etc, they are simply everywhere.
Posted @ Monday, August 01, 2011 11:27 AM by Lindsey Annison
Great list and reviews! You can find these QR Code Generators and many others in a searchable directory at http://QRmediaGuide.com or in a list of over 100 QR Code generators at http://QRmedia.us/qr-code-generators-list .
Posted @ Monday, August 01, 2011 12:31 PM by Stephanie True Moss
I might look into http://justScan.it - simple and nice QR code generator, supports tracking and many datatypes, including URL, vCard, phone, SMS
Posted @ Friday, August 05, 2011 10:55 AM by Vlad
Comments have been closed for this article.