They are appearing everywhere, on buildings, in magazines, on buses and trains. QR Codes are a growing phenomena. They can bridge the gap between off-line and online, enhancing user experience.

There are not the best looking marketing devices, but the alternatives NFC – Near Field Communication, are technical to implement and limited to a few mobile handsets. Digimarc, another alternate, uses information hidden in an image and was originally invented as a digital watermark. The issue with Digimarc, how to easily tell people they should scan the image.

QR Codes on the other hand are supported by many free applications available on most smartphones. People are starting to recognise them and know what to do when they see them, QR Codes are also easy to create, best of all they are free.

We have been starting to use QR Codes more readily now, they allow for an improved customer experience. One of the most popular uses has been on the back of products linking to video tasting notes. You could also us QR Codes as an easy, off-line way, to take users to your Facebook page or to Twitter, just make sure there is enough reward for the effort.

Here is a video tutorial showing how you can create your own QR Codes for free and even get statistics so you can track their usage.