Scan This: Top 9 Ways To Use QR Codes In...

homer Instant gratification may seem at first like a disparaging term, recalling our innate tendency to gauge satisfaction by impulsive behaviors.

You see, we typically choose “now” over “tomorrow”, and “short-term” goals over “long-term” ones.

And although we strive to wait our turn patiently whenever necessary, darn it if we don’t love getting what we want when we want it.

And what’s wrong with that?

-mischievous grin-

Ok, ok… I know… I know…

Patience is a virtue. (It really is!)

But while instant gratification won’t always lead you to success, sometimes it can be a good thing. Dare I say it can even be a productive thing – especially when it comes to your real estate investment business?

Quick Response (QR) Codes Take Instant Gratification to a New Level

Quick Response (“QR”) Codes take instant gratification to a whole new level…

…and they are popping-up around the world more frequently than “ugh” pictures of Miley Cyrus’s tongue.

Oh, wait… What are QR Codes, you ask?

Great question.

funny Quick Response (“QR”) Codes are the small black-and-white squares you may be noticing on certain physical objects in your neighborhood or other business arena. They resemble a funky sort of square-shaped barcode, and they are used as powerful marketing tools in many industries – including real estate.

Curious passersby can engage with a QR Code by using the scanner application included in most smartphones. A curious smartphone owner must simply scan his device over a QR Code in order to activate a predetermined virtual experience, which complements his physical interaction with the underlying physical object.

For example, somebody shopping for a used car might notice an intriguing vehicle while walking through the dealership’s parking lot. Rather than trusting the used car salesman to provide an accurate description of the vehicle, the potential buyer might instead use his smartphone to scan a QR Code placed on the vehicle, thereby accessing a more trustworthy CarFax report online.

By using QR Codes in this way, the potential buyer essentially turned his mobile device into a mouse with which he can “click” on certain physical objects which interest him.

keyhole In short, you can think of QR Codes as gateways from the physical world into an alternate dimension, requiring only one simple scan from a smartphone to activate a behind-the-scenes, VIP experience for business and services alike.

As you can imagine, this merging of the physical world with virtual reality can provide real estate investors with numerous effective tools for enhancing their interactions with other industry participants. And, as an added bonus, the basic tools for creating QR Codes are available for free from a variety of online generators.

For example, I just used Google’s Goo.gl service to create the following QR Code, which opens a gateway to all the lessons I ever published for Real Estate Mogul...

(Feel free to scan it with your own device as a way to familiarize yourself with the process, and check-out a ton of other good lessons while you're at it!)

code

So let’s take a closer look, shall we?

The Top 9 Ways to Enhance Your REI Business with QR Codes

Here at Mogul, it is our hope that the following list will open your eyes to see at least one or two new ways of improving your real estate investing business through the strategic utilization of QR Codes. These tech-savvy tactics are being used by an increasing number of investors across the world, with great results in many instances, and we want to ensure that you are at least marginally familiar with what’s going on.

lightbulb Although we cannot use this lesson to address all the nitty-gritty details of incorporating each QR Code-related strategy into your business, we are happy to describe which results are possible for you to achieve…

…and we hope that you will be inspired to seek more self-education regarding any technological skills which may be required for achieving these results with QR Codes.

After surveying a variety of real estate investors and REI-related media from around the world, we find a total of nine recommended uses of QR codes in the world of real estate investing:

Send curious users to your mobile device-friendly website(s)
Send curious users to your mobile device-friendly video(s)
Make phone calls to curious users’ smartphones
Send text messages to curious users’ smartphones
Send emails to curious users’ smartphones
Share your vCard with curious users’ list of Contacts
Collect phone numbers from curious users who desire follow-up
Help curious users navigate to a specific GPS location
Enhancing your brand as a tech-savvy real estate investor

And Here are 6 Clever Places to Display Your QR Codes

Of course, your ability to achieve profitable results from any QR Code-driven strategy depends largely on where you display your scan-able virtual gateways. After all, virtual real estate is quite similar to physical real estate: It’s all about location, location, location!

So here are the six most highly-recommended places to include your QR Code(s), in order to begin exploring the aforementioned strategies:

On lawns signs and/or flyers for the properties you seek to sell
On magazine ads and/or newspaper ads related to your business
On bench signs related to your business
On your business cards
On the letterhead for your direct mail campaigns
On your vehicle

As you prepare to add QR Codes to any of these items, be sure to add a disclaimer (in small but readable print) that informs curious users about the availability free scanner applications in each major app store – including Android (Google), iOS (Apple) and Windows (Microsoft).

And you will also want to supplement each website-related QR Code with a brief note to identify its underlying URL, as an additional option for any curious users who may struggle with the scanning process. That way, such users can manually type the URL into their mobile device’s web browser and end up exactly where they need to be.

Both Goo.gl and Vyoo.it provide a tiny URL with each QR Code, in order to help you direct users to the appropriate website while conserving precious space around the QR Code itself.

Understand – Understand that QR Codes provide many helpful options for growing and enhancing your real estate investing business.

Identify & Explore – Identify which of the nine strategies above might be best for your business, and explore your ability to utilize QR Code functionality in those ways.

Enjoy – Enjoy a more tangible, accessible and streamlined marketing presence both online and offline.