Luckily, the folks at Brandspark International have compiled a survey of QR code awareness and usage from several demographics of potential customers. Among the findings are that the demographic that has shown the most usage of QR code usage are young males, ages 18-34. Overall, men and women reported the same level of awareness of QR codes, but the kicker statistic is that 28 percent of men surveyed reported to have used a QR code. Just 16 percent of women surveyed.

The survey also showed that at least 80 percent of people between ages 18-49 are aware of QR codes, but for those over the age of 50 who were surveyed, that number drops to only 70 percent. Even worse, only 7 percent of the 50+ demographic reported having used a QR code, a sharp drop from the 23 percent reported by the 35-49 age group.

With all ages and genders combined, the study found that 19 percent of people have used a QR code, while 77 percent of people were aware of them.

Essentially what this means is that in the current marketing landscape, one out of five people are willing to engage themselves deeper into advertising they find intriguing. While that percentage of people is anticipated to grow over time, one out of five people are open to the prospect of that deeper connection with a product, making the importance of a QR code and its content that much more important so as not to lose out on that opportunity.

For more on the study by Brandspark International, read a full report here: http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/qr-code-scanners-likely-male-young-21019/brandspark-qr-code-demos-feb-2012jpg/

Lisa Barone over at OutspokenMedia.com is responsible for the angry rant, which reads more like a furiously educational QR tutorial. Examples of where Cosby went wrong and where other outlets did themselves right are abundant. To top it off, they’re all used as parts of seven steps to a successful QR campaign.

In this case, the QR code represents a 1 to many marketing strategy, rather than the 1to1 solution that CodeZ QR specializes in, but even what starts as a 1 to many campaign can ask a question or two on the landing page from a QR code and suddenly bring things to a much more personal level. Many options of creativity and specificity are available when using QR codes the right way.

Without further adieu though, please take a few minutes to read Barone’s piece on her experience with Cosby’s QR code. It is a fantastic read, and a great reference point for anyone looking to avoid common mistakes in a QR marketing campaign.

See the full article here: http://outspokenmedia.com/online-marketing/qr-codes-best-practices/

Whether it’s in sharing personal information, documents, or anything else that taps into a customer’s personal device containing their own information, data security should be of the highest priority.

The following is an excerpt from that article over at Inc.com talking about ways to integrate new means of creativity into new means of marketing.
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Using QR Codes to Market Your Business: What Content to Offer

A QR code or other 2-D tag can link to just about anything. But whatever content you send back to user must be something worthwhile. “You need to interact with people in a way that’s going to be interesting and fun,” Ochman says.

McGuire says consumers don’t want to be bombarded with more brand information or plain advertising. Customers who scan the Microsoft Tag
on a Bonterra bottle may be greeted with a recipe, a pairing suggestion, a coupon, or a holiday video message.

“It’s just up to the brand to be as creative as the want to be with the tag,” she says. “Then, actually give consumers information that would enrich every day life.”

Jordan says some companies he’s worked with send slideshows or sweepstakes entries back to users, while clothing companies will send fashion tips.

“Anything really that can be presented in a digital or image format can be returned back to the consumer,” he says. The codes can be formatted specifically for contact information so that someone’s phone number and e-mail address are immediately added to your contacts. In Japan, foods commonly link to nutritional information or cooking tips. Sports Illustrated used a JAGTAG in its swimsuit issue to link to outtakes from the photo shoot—which became a big hit with readers.

“Making it as relevant as possible is extremely important,” says Spyro Kourtis, CEO and president of The Hacker Group, a marketing firm based in Seattle that has been pushing QR codes for its clients (and has one on its own building). “Just going to a generic home page is wrong.”

Marketing professionals say a common flaw occurs when companies don’t keep mobile devices in mind when designing campaigns. The content has to be able to fit on a phone screen; any video should be short and to the point.

“You’ve got 20 seconds playing a video to convince them you’re the hippest thing since sliced bread,” Whiting says. 
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To read more, see the full article here: http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/12/how-to-use-qr-codes-to-market-your-business.html

A recent article from searchenginewatch.com talked about some of the most recent statistics on QR usage.
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QR Marketing Evolving Rapidly [Study]

Rapid adoption of QR codes and other action codes is only part of the story in a new study. More important is the way that marketers are learning to use them more effectively.

Nellymoser Inc. released a study of all 2011 issues of the top 100 U.S. magazines. It found that advertising drove the 439 percent increase in action codes from January through December. In January, there were seven advertising codes for each editorial code. By September, the ratio was nearly 25:1.

“In the beginning of the year, it was really very much an experiment,” says Roger Matus, Nellymoser executive vice president. “It seemed like somebody in the company had said, ‘Hey, we oughtta do mobile, and I heard about this thing. Let’s stick it on there.’”

Researchers scanned every QR Code, Microsoft Tag, Spyderlynk SnapTag, BEE Tag, JagTag, Digimarc watermark and other codes with an iPhone or Android device, activating every campaign, running every video and visiting every web page. QR codes accounted for 61 percent of all codes in the first quarter, growing to 72 percent in the fourth quarter. Microsoft Tags lost share, falling from 39 percent of all codes in Q1 to 25 percent in Q4. All other tags accounted for only 1 percent each in the last quarter.

Nellymoser is a mobile marketing and technology company that works mostly with publishers and ad agencies, handling the backend of scan
marketing – from user experience and business logic to hosting and analytics.

By Q4, more than two-thirds of all action codes (1327 or 70 percent) were accompanied by information that described what happens after the
scan, which is considered a best practice. On the other hand, there was a move away from embellishments such as customized codes or icons showing a phone to give people the idea.

Another evolution, Matus says, was the disappearance of SMS alternatives to scanning. “At the beginning of the year, people were worried there weren’t enough smartphones, so they would have also a texting option. Now only 3 percent have that,” he notes.
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To read more, see the full article here: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2142062/QR-Marketing-Evolving-Rapidly-Study

More and more, we’re not the only ones talking about that kind of stuff. A report by security firm AVG has found a drastic rise in the use of QR codes by malware distributors recently. Whether it’s faulty security certificates, rootkits or just bogus websites prompting downloads, malware distributors are adapting to new technologies as they come around.

The biggest threat in this is that smartphones are now being used much more for payments, shopping and billing purposes. With that data being stored on smartphones, the potential gain for hackers and data thieves is much more desirable than it has been in the past.

To read more, check out a story from PC Advisor right here: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/security/3332531/qr-codes-being-exploited-by-hacker-distribute-malware/

A matter of trust

The issue is that users have to trust the integrity of the code’s provider, and assume that the destination it leads to is legitimate. This is almost impossible for individuals to gauge, because the QR code actually conceals the site and content it leads to. And as we’ve seen in social engineering exploits from the email worms of the early 2000s, triggering human curiosity to see what might happen when an attachment is clicked, or a QR code is scanned, often leads to big security problems.

Furthermore, QR code-scanning applications running on smartphones can provide a direct link to other smartphone capabilities, such as email,  SMS, and application installation – further extending the potential risks to mobile devices. Let’s look at how a potential QR code-based exploit could be mounted, and then at how to defend against it.
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As has been talked about here plenty, knowing where a QR code comes from and where it will go are crucial factors in data security. QR codes have been described as a jumping off point from the offline world to the online world, and that is part of what makes them so valuable in 1to1 marketing.

But taking every measure to eliminate risks is essential for such a marketing campaign. CodeZ QR provides the security of eliminating risks by creating legitimate 1to1 QR codes from behind the corporate firewall. With more and more information being stored on smartphones - particularly the type of information used for shopping, banking and making payments – the importance of customer safety continues to have its stakes raised.

Over at PCworld.com you can find an in-depth list of ways that the bad guys of the internet are trying to steal data and personal information.

Featured among the topics on this list are two issues directly relatable to QR codes. One is the direct mention of QR codes and urging customers to know what they are scanning and where it comes from. The other is what they refer to as “clickjacking,” where URLs can take people to undesired locations and attempt to pry personal information from the user. There are also methods used where embedded code on a link that will litter one’s Facebook or Twitter with the link, reposting it for others to fall victim to the same trap.

That same type of clickjacking is what can make URL redirecting in one’s QR codes a risky endeavor, and why operating behind the corporate firewall is the safest, most secure way to go about a 1to1 marketing campaign.

Read the entire article here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/249300/new_digital_spam_how_bad_guys_try_to_trick_you_how_to_avoid_the_traps.html

Something as important as data security is something worth stressing continually. As new technologies develop, so do new ways to exploit users of those technologies. An article on mobile malware at StartUpSmart.com detailed the rapid increase of mobile malware as more and more cell phone users upgrade to smartphones.

Read an excerpt from the article below.
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Malware targeting mobile devices is evolving “frighteningly” fast and has the potential to be even more destructive than ever before, according to a worrying new report.

The AVG Community Powered Threat Report is based on the online security firm’s community protection network traffic and data, collected over a three-month period and analysed by AVG Threat Labs.

It provides an overview of web, mobile devices, spam risks and threats, with statistics obtained from the community protection network, described as an “online neighbourhood watch”.

Information about the latest threats is collected from customers who choose to participate in the product improvement program, and shared with the community to ensure its protection.

According to the latest report, the rise of mobile devices has led to rapid growth of mobile malware, primarily targeting Android-based devices.

“Malware targeting mobile devices [is evolving] frighteningly fast, and the magnitude has the potential of being even more destructive than before,” the report said.

“At the end of 2010, numbers [were] already indicating that new mobile devices were overtaking new purchased PCs… While consumers are going mobile, so are the cyber criminals.”

“We have witnessed the use of the same malicious intent tactics targeting mobile devices: social engineering, stolen or fake certificates to sign malware, rootkits and other tactics.”

In 2011, AVG reported on the rapid growth of malware targeting Android devices, presenting examples of malicious code and infection methods.

According to AVG, this trend continues to grow against a backdrop of the “enormous” growth of activated Android devices in the past six months, from 100 million devices to 200 million.

“Cyber criminals have now clearly discovered phones as an interesting target… 2011 saw a surge in both Android users and Android malware samples,” AVG said in its report.

“In December, Google removed another 22 malicious apps from the Android market, making the total for 2011 pass the 100 mark.”

AVG chief technology officer Yuval Ben-Itzhak says the convergence between computers and mobile phones now applies to malware.

“As phones become more like computers, so do the risks,” Ben-Itzhak says.
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Read the full article here: http://www.startupsmart.com.au/technology/mobile-malware-evolving-frighteningly-fast-report/201201275200.html

When headlines such as “Scanning QR codes can infect your smartphone” pop up on internet sites, new customers with limited experience in the technology will obviously be weary. Risks will drive customers away in no time, and if your company is capable of protecting customers from risk while offering the best, most specifically targeted 1to1 marketing strategy available, that’s a combination destined for success.

CodeZ QR offers just that; 1to1 marketing from behind the corporate firewall, making it the best option available for a true 1to1 campaign. Don’t let a customer’s trust in this new technology be hampered by any bad experiences with you company’s mobile marketing.

While many websites have developed their own services to shorten URLs (Youtube, Twitter, WordPress), doing such a things is not affordable or feasible for all outlets. QR codes on the other hand are much more abundant in use, and relying on a third party URL shortening service can put an unreliable middleman into a 1to1 marketing campaign.

Keep your company’s QR codes behind the corporate firewall. Keep your 1to1 marketing truly 1to1. CodeZ QR can do all those things for you company.

Read more about third party URL shortening here: http://chrisking.info/url-shortener