Over 97 million smartphone users across the United States will use their device to scan a QR code this year – and the numbers are growing every year. QR codes are easy to use, inexpensive to set up, and offer various innovative marketing options.

Have you considered integrating QR codes into your marketing? You should! Check out these 10 unique QR code marketing ideas to use with the QRStuff QR code generator.

1. Enhance Business Cards

Forget the regular business card. Create a virtual one or leave a link to your LinkedIn profile or site contact page. Besides that, you can place a link to your personal introduction video. This will give your potential customer a small overview of your solution and the background.

By printing a QR code on your business card, you can redirect the holder either to your portfolio or customer reviews. The code can also send him to a booking page where he can schedule a Skype meeting with you. This transforms a simple handshake into an interactive experience.

2. Boost Social Media Engagement

Use QR codes on your promotional items to direct people to your Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter bio. You can also use QR codes on any physical marketing collateral that you’re using, such as posters, flyers, or even product packaging.

By scanning the code, you redirect customers to your social media challenge, hashtag campaign, or even a virtual event live stream. This builds engagement and also encourages your target customers to post their experiences and interactions with your brand, hence expanding your reach and building a community of people around your brand.

3. Simplify Event Check-Ins

Event check-in can feel redundant and take a long time. But no more. With QR codes, attendees can scan a code and quickly fill in their registration information. They skip most of the paperwork, but you can further reduce it when you let customers scan a QR code with maps, schedules, and speaker information with their smartphones.

Ditch the paper, point them to everything they need on their phones, and create a better experience. Plus you can track attendance and save attendee data to learn from their actions and behavior later on.

4. Offer Exclusive Content

Use QR codes to share exclusive content your customers can only unlock by scanning. Make it a behind-the-scenes video or a special discount, and they’ll feel surprised and privileged.

You can also create a release of this exclusive content—each QR code will grant access to one part of a story or unlock one exclusive offer at a time. This way, you will keep your customers engaged and excited about your brand, creating even more hype. Plus, you can develop a tailored exclusive experience for each segment and make your customers feel special—you know their preferences and can offer them hyper-personalized exclusive content.

5. Improve Customer Feedback

Set up QR codes on your receipts or packaging to redirect customers to a feedback form. This is a great practice to get feedback on service, product, overall experience etc. Embedding QR codes within your feedback process makes it super easy for them which increases the likelihood of obtaining insights.

You can also incentivize feedback by offering customers small rewards like discount vouchers, a chance to win a prize draw etc., to make them complete the survey. This not only increases the quantity and quality of your feedback but also helps increase customer retention.

6. Provide Instant Access to Wi-Fi

Use a QR code to allow guests connect to your Wi-Fi without having to enter any login info or passwords. This works great for retail stores, coffee shops or locations for special events so your customers can get Wi-Fi access easily.

You can also customize the page your guests see when connecting to your Wi-Fi to share promotional materials, special deals, products or services. This creates another form of customer stimulation with easy access to your audience.

7. Create Interactive Print Ads

QR codes bring static print ads to life. A QR code can be scanned to take a reader to a 3D product page, watch a video, or even purchase the product from the ad. Going further, you can tie the QR code link to augmented reality and send your customers straight to their mobile devices to see this product in their own space.

This immersive experience can double or even triple the conversion rate of traditional print ads and the ad will stick with the reader far longer afterward. This is an entirely new and effective channel for print advertisers, and you can track scan and conversion rates. Try new ways to reach customers before your competition starts, too.

8. Facilitate Easy Downloads

Print QR codes on all your promotional materials to drive mobile visitors to download your free app. Beyond apps, you can use QR codes to empower easy downloads of digital materials like e-books, whitepapers, exclusive music tracks, etc.

Trade shows, conferences, product launches—all occasions where you want to provide rich resources to attendees without expecting them to manually type URLs to download. When downloads are quick and easy, you instantly broaden the distribution and adoption of your materials and, in the process, create a higher level of engagement and affinity for your brand or message.

9. Enrich Product Packaging

Provide a QR code to access an online user guide, site recipe or how-to videos. This a great way to give your consumer a little extra, which might be a pleasant surprise. In addition, QR codes can direct your consumers to reviews, product care, how to recycle, and know more about the component product. The additional content will assist the consumer in learning the new product and generate a deeper connection with the brand. And you can always update the information to ensure it is up-to-date and in season.

10. Drive Traffic to Your Website

Create QR codes to send traffic to your website landing page. These are especially useful for special events, product launches or limited-time sales. You can also use these QR codes in your email marketing campaigns, direct mail pieces or outdoor marketing.

Anytime you give customers an easy way to access your website, you’ll gain more website visits and higher conversion rates. Measure the QR code performance using analytics to learn more about your customers and what they respond to. Then, use that data to target your customers with other similar offers—allowing you to build your business faster.

QR codes are the ultimate shortcut for modern marketing. Whether through your business card or your social media, engage in brand new ways. Test ideas and get creative today with the QRStuff QR code generator.