QR-Code - a two-dimensional bar codes

QR-Code in real estate

QR Code, EZ Code and Datamatrix are all names of two dimensional barcode – 2D meaning it can be read at a glance rather that from left to right like standard bar code. Actually, there are about 70 such codes in use today to automate information transfers. QR codes however have taken off, mainly because smart phones have the ability to read these codes, opening the possibility for marketers everywhere.

With an iPhones, Blackberrys, Droids and others,  user simply points the built-in camera at a QR code. The phone captures the image, decodes the embedded data and asks the user what they want to do with the information. It can connect a smart phone to a web site, provide contact information, play a video, call, e-mail and text a contact, all in just a few seconds.

Take business cards for example. In the past, we saved business cards in a Rolodex. A QR code, printed on a business card can automatically transfer a business card’s information directly into a smart phone without having to enter any data.

Other applications for this technology are endless. A QR code on the side of a ferry could give you the boat’s schedule. A product package could supply an operating manual. A political candidate could send you to their website, a tee-shirt could express an opinion or a restaurant could give you driving instruction in the yellow pages.

This is “mobile tagging” and it’s an important part of the cell phone revolution – similar to “object hyperlinking“, where we connecting real objects to the Internet. For marketers of net-connected object is a ton of global commercial potential, a potential in my opinion that should include Hood Canal, Harstine, Treasure and Stretch Island real estate.

Want more – see this video how it works or a CBS Early Show segment

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