Now that QR codes are becoming more ubiquitous, it may be time to step up the use of them in your marketing campaign. QR code usage grew more than 80 percent between the first and second quarters of 2011 alone. While using them as a shortcut to your Web site may seem like a great idea, QR code users want more these days. Companies need to offer some type of incentive to get smart phone or tablet users to scan those little black and white boxes.

You may think directing users to a page where they can sign up for your mailing list qualifies as an incentive, but most QR code scanners would not. If you want to offer a coupon or other incentive, link directly to the incentive itself. Not all users would sign up for your mailing list, even if it offers coupons or other savings in the future.

When generating your QR code, you want to be sure it can be read by as many types of devices as possible, so make sure to test it out as often as you can. Once the code is generated it’s time to start thinking about placement. While you can place a QR code just about anywhere, think about whether people would actually use it before deciding on locations. For example, billboards would be incredibly difficult to scan, especially for people who are driving and placing QR codes on Web sites seems a bit superfluous when you could just use a hyperlink instead. Adding QR codes to posters, product packaging and advertisements makes much more sense since users are more likely to have the time to get their smart phones out and scan the codes in these situations.

You’ll want to make sure your QR code is large enough for people to scan, so make sure you test it once again at the actual size before committing to code size and placement. QR codes placed on posters should be placed at or as close to eye level as possible, but this will depend on where the poster is hung. For example, you wouldn’t want to place a QR code at the bottom of a poster that is going to hang very low to the ground, such as on the side of a bus stop shelter.

QR codes can be a great way to increase your business when used properly. Make sure to offer something of value to your customers or potential customers to get them to click on your code.