Say you’re running a print media campaign wherein you intend to promote a video to market your products or services. Or you want to share a video privately amongst a group of people.
How will you do it? The main challenge here will be getting the audience who is offline to see your content that’s online.
There are two common ways to share a video via print media promotions.
One way is by mentioning the name of the video on print media creatives. For example, flyers, banners, brochures, etc.
But to watch it, your audience has to first go to the required video streaming platform. This could be YouTube, Vimeo, OTT platform, etc. Then, they need to type the video name and find the exact video. Only after that, they can watch it.
To overcome this issue, the second method involves adding a link to the video. As people enter it into their phone’s browser, they will be directed to watch the exact video. Of course, you will add an instruction (CTA) that tells your audience what they need to do. It could be anything such as—Visit here to see the video online. Or Watch the trailer here.
But the problem is—a link is not actionable alone. That means to see your video, people will have to pull out their smartphones, open their browsers, tediously type the entire link, and finally watch the video.
But both of these sound like quite long processes, don’t they? Well, they actually are. They’ll need users to put in both time and effort. And to be honest, not many people will bother doing that.
So you must make it easier for them to take action. How?
Well, you can use a QR Code to do it for you. A QR Code is a 2D barcode that, just like a barcode, stores alphanumeric information. But unlike a barcode, it doesn’t store limited information. It can store up to 7,089 characters.
Hence, QR Codes are also called advanced-level barcodes. You would’ve already seen them being used for marketing and payments. Similarly, they can also be used to share videos. And we call it—a Video QR Code.
B. What is a Video QR Code
A Video QR Code, when scanned, takes the end-users to watch the encoded video online. Hence, users do not need to manually type the video’s name or link anymore.
All that they need to do is—open their smartphones and scan the QR Code. It’s as easy as clicking a picture.
And when taking action becomes easier, your conversion rate also improves. That’s because taking an action now becomes pretty easy for the audience. You know, the easier the process, the better it is.
C. Why it makes sense to use QR Codes for videos
Before discussing the use cases of a Video QR Code, let’s see why it makes sense to use one in the first place.
Well, quite obviously, a QR Code makes content accessibility better and easier. Your audience only needs to pull out their smartphones and launch open the camera to take a scan.
That’s why many marketers love adding QR Codes to their creatives. They make the print media creatives actionable real quick.
Also, with a QR Code, it becomes possible to assess the performance of your print campaign. Thanks to dynamic QR Codes!
Yes, you can track the scanning activity of a dynamic QR Code. It’ll help you see QR Code performance in terms of:
- Total number of scans
- Scans by location and even the exact GPS location
- Scans by device, browser, etc.
With such insights, you can learn a lot about your audience. And doing so is the key to optimizing your campaigns for better performance.
D. What are the possible use cases of a Video QR Code
You can use a Video QR Code whenever you want your audience to watch a video. It could be to:
1. Boost the performance of your YouTube Channel
Since you can easily take the audience to your YouTube videos via QR Code, it can help boost channel engagement.
Just create QR Codes and print them on flyers, and posters, or even have it online via social media platforms or email.
2. Upskill your marketing efforts
QR Codes are one of marketers’ favorite tools. Since they are not only actionable but also trackable, they help you gauge the campaign performance well.
Since we’ve already discussed this in detail in the previous sections of this article, let’s move to the next one.
3. Share tutorials and trailers
If you’re a manufacturer, you’d want to share tutorial-based videos with the customers. These will help them know how to assemble or use the product. In fact, you can also give them videos-based recipes.
And as discussed previously, Video QR Code will help you do so easily. No need to worry about the limited printing space on your packagings.
In addition to the above, you can also use them to:
- Share the trailer of an upcoming movie, web series, etc. via banners or billboards
- Help students in your classroom see the working of a complex mechanism such as blood circulation
- Share your work samples (motion graphics, 3D and 2D animations, etc.)
All that you need to do is—create a Video QR Code, add it to your print media creatives, and add an appropriate CTA.
Remember that a CTA is important to guide the users. It clearly tells them what to do and what to expect after scanning the QR Code.
Now that you know what a Video QR Code is and how it works, the next question is—how to create one.
E. What do I need to create a Video QR Code
To do it, you will need an online Video QR Code Generator. Now, again the big question is—how to find a suitable Video QR Code generator?
You must first know what type of QR Code you want to create—static or dynamic.
Based on how the data is stored, a QR Code can be either static or dynamic. A static QR Code stores the data directly. Once created, it cannot be edited. To do that, you’ll have to create a new QR Code altogether.
On the other hand, the data is never directly stored in a dynamic QR Code. It only stores a short URL that redirects to the actual data. Hence, it can be edited anytime you want. Yet your QR Code remains the same.
In fact, a dynamic QR Code also allows you to track its scanning activity. That means you can monitor how many people have scanned your QR Code, where did each scan come from, and when did it come.
However, a static QR Code doesn’t allow you to track any such details.
So if your use case is promotional, you must create a dynamic QR Code. The analytics it offers will help you understand your audience better for more focussed campaigns in the future.
Once, you decide on which type of QR Code you need, you can go ahead to find a suitable Video QR Code generator.
If you look for one online, you’ll see a list of results. How do you then decide the best one for your use case? By comparing all of them, right?
But opening each one of the links and comparing them will take way too much effort and time.
And you don’t really need to do that. How? Well, we’ve compiled a detailed comparison chart of top QR Code generators. You can go through it to decide the best one for your use case.
F. How to create a Video QR Code
To create one, you’ll first have to upload the video on a platform to generate a link:
1. To allow public access to the video, you can upload it to sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion
2. To allow only private access to the video, you can upload it to a cloud storage service such as Google Drive, Amazon S3, or Dropbox
3. Copy the sharable link to the video and head on to a QR Code generator
Using Scanova QR Code generator for a demo, here’s how you can create a Video QR Code:
1.Go to Scanova. Click on Create QR Code
2. Select Website URL category from amongst other QR Code categories.
3. Enter the link and click Create QR Code
4. Next, you’ll see two QR Code designs. You can choose custom QR Code with logo or with background
Note that a customized QR Code attracts more scans than a black-and-white one. Hence, to attract maximum scans, design your QR Code.
5. Once your QR Code is ready, say after you design it, you can preview it. If everything looks fine, proceed to download.
6. To download the QR Code, you need to create an account. Here, Sign Up to get started with a 14-day free trial.
6. Once you Sign Up, click on the download icon. A pop-up will appear prompting you to specify QR Code image size and format. Once you enter the details, click Export
Note that you must ensure that the image you export is of the right size. This is important to ensure the scannability of the QR Code.
That’s it. Your video QR Code has now been created. You can add it to your print media creatives with an appropriate CTA.
G. How to edit the QR Code
You now know how a QR Code generator can help you create a Video QR Code, and the next question is—how to edit it.
You can do this only if you selected the Dynamic option while creating the QR Code. Here’s how you can edit it:
1. Login to your Scanova account and go to My QR Codes.
2. Select the QR Code you want to edit
3. Here you can edit the following things:
Content: You can edit the video link you linked to a QR Code
Advance Settings: You can enable password protection, GPS location, and lead generation
Design: You can edit the design again the way you want to
4. Click Update QR Code
That’s it. Your QR Code will be updated. No need to print it again.
H. Best practices for using a QR Code Video
1. Add an appropriate CTA
CTA translates to a ‘Call-to-action’ statement. It is a small instruction that tells the users what they need to do. And this kind of small text nudges them to take the required action.
It could be anything such as ‘Scan here to watch our video’.
3. Add a design to the QR Code
If you are planning to use Video QR Codes for promotions, you should consider adding design to them. That’s because visually appealing QR Codes attract the audience’s attention to get more scans.
4. Test scan the QR Code
It is always advisable to test scan the QR Code before putting them out for your target audience.
And it’s recommended do to so using 4-5 different handsets having different browsers.
5. Choose an optimal printing format
To use the Video QR Code on print media creatives, it’s recommended to download it in high-resolution vector formats such as SVG, EPS, and PDF. These formats ensure that it doesn’t get pixelated no matter whether you zoom in or zoom out.
That’s all you need to know about a video QR Code generator. It helps make it easier for you to share a video with your audience. They don’t need to manually type and search for anything.
They can simply scan the QR Code to access the video. This makes the whole process easier and hence, increases your conversion rate.
Still have any queries? Ask them in the comments.
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