Level Up Your Technology Marketing Strategy with QR Codes

It’s the Silicon Valley mantra that launched a thousand startups and shaped a behemoth industry that affects more aspects of life than you might realize: move fast and break things.

Facebook ditched Mark Zuckerberg’s now-famous motto a few years ago, but for young tech companies, the principle remains the same: disruption is everything. Over the past decades, the essential everyday tasks have been turned on their head by innovative platforms and companies rethinking everything from how we book our vacations and travel from A to B to how we order and get food. There are also hundreds of tech companies revolutionizing behind-the-scenes, such as how we communicate in the workplace or do business.

As a tech company with a big idea to share with the world, you’ll want to get your product out there and fight for your place among tech’s biggest players.

The tech space, however, is hugely competitive, with hundreds of startups proposing a multitude of innovative customer-facing and business-orientated solutions every year. To make your ideas and products stand out from the rest and find a market fit that will ensure your product’s survival, you’ll need a confident and refined technology marketing strategy to beat the competition.

But how can your tech company build an effective campaign to get your product — and your idea — out there?

When the startup ecosystem is so fierce, marketing for tech companies is crucial, and there are a plethora of tech marketing strategies you can employ, from email marketing to social media and much more. But it’s likely that there’s one crafty little method that you should be keeping in your technology marketing toolkit to help you reach users: a QR Code marketing strategy.

But how can QR Codes help you get your product noticed? And what is a QR Code used for? There are many different QR Code types that you can utilize to propel your product to success.

Why QR Codes should be in your technology marketing toolkit

When developing a tech marketing strategy for your product, there’s one clever tool that can help your message and product reach beyond the digital sphere: QR Codes. 

Intuitive and easily accessible for all, QR Codes can help your product reach a broader public and advertise your mission or product’s features via media-enriched print campaigns. For a tech company like yours, QR Codes allow you to explore technology marketing that speaks to the innovation of your product and inspire those you’re trying to reach with your idea.

How does using QR Codes for technology marketing achieve this? For one, their ubiquity is a good thing: consumers are used to interacting with QR Code technology everywhere they go. For marketers, QR tracking offers you ways of measuring the success of your campaigns, so you can see where your product is making an impact. The data you collect can help you understand where to go next with your campaigns.

All set to take on the rest of the tech industry with your amazing product? Then let’s look at our top technology marketing tips for QR Codes.

Leapfrog from print to digital platforms

Your product might be digital, but how consumers or industry figures connect with it might not be. Providing a seamless platform for users to pivot from print marketing materials to your product, QR Codes are the missing digital link between billboards, posters, direct mail, and your app or website.

Calculate your ROI for print ads

The ability to connect print to digital with QR Codes is not only useful for users, but it benefits marketers, too. For this, you’ll need to take a deep dive into the differences between Static vs Dynamic QR Codes. 

Dynamic QR Codes are where marketing and technology really collide. With the tracking data, you’ll be able to access the time your QR Code was scanned, the operating device used, the location by city and country, and unique vs. total scans.

Even better, Dynamic QR Codes can be integrated with Google Analytics, meaning that you can track everything from when your QR Code was initially scanned right through to when your product was used, or if someone made a purchase. When developing your digital marketing technology strategy, you’ll be able to follow your users every step of the way. 

Leverage digital and print campaigns

A digital marketing strategy with QR Codes gives you flexibility over your campaigns.

For each QR Code you design for your tech marketing campaigns, you’ll have an automatically generated and customizable QR Code short URL. This short URL can be used in the digital campaigns running alongside any campaigns featuring the same QR Code. 

For example, you can use your short URL on social media posts or email marketing campaigns to give users the option to access your content via mobile, tablet, and desktop. And if you use a QR Code on both print and digital mediums, you can compare the ROI for each and optimize your technology marketing strategy.

Customization is key

No matter whether you need them to be large or small, QR Codes can be customized to fit your technology marketing needs. 

To ensure that they’re scannable, we recommend that you follow our minimum sizing guidelines of 2 x 2 cm (0.8 x 0.8 in) for Dynamic QR Codes and 3 x 3 cm (1.2 x 1.2 in) for Static QR Codes. You can also use different QR Code styles with customized colors, custom frames with CTAs (calls-to-action), different edges, and your logo in the middle. 

Editability

The most successful technology marketing strategies are flexible and can quickly adapt to changes. Your product is about to launch, but you need to update some features? QR Codes make this easy to solve.

By opting for the Dynamic QR Code, the content you connect with your campaign is always editable. Swap out a link, edit a headline, update your CTA button, and even change your type of QR Code with just a few swift clicks.

Companies need effective tech marketing strategies

In 2020, tech’s big five comprised the world’s most valuable companies: Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Microsoft — all of which grew from much scrappier beginnings into the household names we know today. 

And, as inspiring as their growth might be, unicorn status doesn’t happen overnight. To reach your goals and make your company’s mission succeed, you’ll need all the essential elements for tech success: funding, a great team, a disruptive mindset, and, most importantly, a brilliantly innovative idea.

So you’ve already laid the foundations for a successful startup, and you think your tech company can deliver on a great product that either consumers or other industries can get on board with. But how can you create growth for your business — the kind that comes when the public (and investors) seize on your product or idea as the next Uber or Airbnb?

The answer lies in successful strategies for technology companies like yours, who seek out new ways of engaging with an interested, increasingly tech-savvy public. According to a 2021 report, 22% of companies questioned said one of the biggest reasons for their company failing was a lack of a successful tech marketing strategy. Competition was also a huge factor, with 20% citing a crowded market as the reason why their idea didn’t survive in the long run. 

However, both of these factors point to one critical factor: the need for a well-considered marketing plan for your technology company. 

When marketing and technology are as natural a fit as ketchup on french fries, considered marketing strategies for technology companies will ensure your product stands head and shoulders above the rest.

How to market technology products with QR Codes

Your bold idea means that investors are all ears, and your product is ready to ship and take on Silicon Valley’s brightest? Kudos! That’s the first step in getting your tech the reach it deserves. 

To take your product even further, you’ll need to implement a marketing plan for your technology company. From building a budding social media following to getting you noticed at conferences and big public events, QR Codes for technology marketing can help you grow your business across different channels.

1. Grow your social media channels

A social media presence is crucial for growing your business within the tech sphere — and the Social Media QR Code can help you get it done.

By using the Short URL you generate with your Code, it’s also possible to integrate QR Codes in emails into your newsletter or email marketing campaigns and leverage your social media and email marketing reach in one. 

2. Bring users directly to your app

If your product is mobile, the App QR Code will be a key piece of your technology marketing toolkit.

This nifty Code allows you to direct users directly to your product on either the App Store or Google Play Store, no matter where you choose to market your business. It’s ideal for giving conference-goers quick and easy access to your product: just like in the example below, you can add the Code to your presentation or other materials.

3. Boost event attendance

When seeking new audiences and investors, industry networking events and conferences are a key part of getting your product noticed. 

Use the Event QR Code to ensure the right people visit your events at the right time. Whether through the flyers you distribute at other conferences or publicity events or via direct mailouts to important tech industry PR figures, the Event QR Code enables everyone to RSVP with a quick and simple scan.

4. Improve user experience

Alongside a great technology marketing strategy, you’ll need your product to be a great market fit for it to take off. Why not ask your users what they think and get some critical feedback?

A Rating QR Code streamlines the rating collection process for tech companies. If your tech has a physical product — such as the smart speaker in the example below — you could implement this as a product QR Code on the packaging.

Marketing and technology with QR Codes: how to move forward

Transforming your business from bootstrapped startup to the new crown jewel of the tech world won’t be easy. But by using the digital marketing technology available to you, you’ll be able to make an impact and get the awareness your product needs to go further. QR Codes for technology marketing can help you reach users on the other side of the digital divide and provide a bridge between the print campaigns you’ll use to promote your brand and the innovative product you have to offer.