Smarten up on smart tags

pv Now, you've probably noticed I-lthese Rorschach-like squares popping up in ads throughout magazines, including the one you're holding in your hands right now.

They' re two-dimensional barcodes, called QR (Quick Response) codes or smart tags, that hold significantly more data than traditional one-dimensional barcodes and can be scanned by smartphones to forward the user to more information on the Web. All that's needed is a smartphone with Internet access and an app that reads either QR Codes or Mobi Tags. Many building product manufacturers are already using QR codes, not just for marketing, but also printing codes on product packaging and signage to direct consumers in the store or contractors on the jobsite to installation videos, safety instructions, or other needed information.

Mister Landscaper, for one, has begun placing QR codes on its products, sales sheets, displays and shelfstickers at Lowe's stores. "We developed a way for customers to engage in store to promote purchase confidence and, after they've left the store, to help them install the product and drive interest in additional products," said David Apple, chief marketing officer for Augme Technologies, which designed the mobile platform. "Mister Landscaper's mobile strategy helps them stand out in the store and adds true value to the cusotmer experience away from it."

CertainTeed began rolling out its mobile strategy last summer. "QR codes serve as a useful tool for contractors in the field who typically only carry mobile devices," said Eric Nilsson, vice president of corporate marketing. "The technology provides them. our distributors. and consumers with quick and easy paperless access to installation manuals, FAQs, videos, safety sheets, technical information, and additional resources via their smartphones."

Dealers can also create and use their own codes. The creation part is simple. Free code generators are available at Snappr.net, Icandy, SnapMaze, and other sites.

Next, figure out where you want to put the codes and what you want to direct customers to. Codes can be printed on:

. Ads

Business cards

Product sales sheets mugs, etc.)

. Promotional items (t-shirts.

. In-store signage

Product packaging

. Trade show name tags

Trade show booths

Surveys

The codes can direct customers to your general website, but experts suggest sending them instead to a special landing page unique to each code. Think it through. Remember that the customers are mobile. Where do they come in contact with your code? What do they need at that moment? They can:

. Watch a video (demo, installation. sales-oriented).

. Complete a form to get more information.

. Download a coupon. Schedule an appointment.

. Participate in a contest or game. Access a store map. View sample projects.

. Submit questions or reviews.

. Link to a tool. such as a board foot calculator

Check inventory. Initiate a sale.

Join you on Facebook, Twitter or other social media platform.

. Receive bilingual translation. "The possibilities," Certainteed's Nilsson noted, "are endless."

Big Boxes Stake Out Smart Tags

Lowe's and Home Depot have begun placing'smart tags' throughout their garden centers to provide shoppers with instant access to product reviews, planting instructions, and videos.

Lowe's has created a mobile version of its website, better suited to consumers who visit on their smartphones. The chain has also placed the coded tags on plastic markers on plants and trees, to take shoppers to videos on planting, including what soil to buy.

"Those little plastic tags on plants always had minimal information," said one consumer. "Now, with the bar codes, you can scan them and figure out immediately what is going to grow in the sun, when to plant, and how far apart to place plants.

Home Depot has tagged its ouf door patio sets with the codes and is promoting the codes nationwide with a 30-second commercial.

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