Transcript:

I’m Deidra Langstaff of Langstaff Marketing.  For years, we marketers have been telling people all about QR Codes, those little black and white boxes that you see on ads and direct mail pieces, even on some products.  And we’ve been tryin’ to push those for years.  Well, come to find out, maybe they’re not as good as we thought they were even though they are fun and a little entertaining.  It appears that in June, 2011, there was a study that was done and it said that of the 14 million mobile users with Smart Phones, that of those, only about 6.2 percent of those actually used QR Codes.  And in the U.S., with Americans, it’s only about 5 percent. So even after all of these years of really pushing this new technology with the techies and all the young folks, they’re still not that into it.  

And the reason why is, you know, even though it is fun, there’s not really that much to it.  By the time you pull out your phone, your Smart Phone, you get to the app, you get onto your QR Code, you take the picture and actually the image pops up for whatever free offer or website, which is generally what people do because they’re not that creative when it comes to their QR Codes, but by the time they do that they could have easily just Googled and found something cool and fun about that company.  

So, I think QR Codes are definitely on their way out; they’re not as popular anymore.  So if you’re in a business where maybe some people are saying, let’s try QR Codes.  As yourself, when it comes to marketing, you know, what’s really important, just being cool and hip and doing the newest thing or having something that’s really of value?  And I can tell you that most people are looking for something that’s really of value.  

So remember, marketing is everything and everything is marketing.