Even if you haven’t been keeping up with the latest trends in marketing and brand development, you’ve likely seen the square boxes filled with static popping up on posters, event announcements, direct mail pieces, bus shelters, even clothing and jewelry.

So, now that you recall seeing QR Code on a billboard you passed on the way to work, I’ll tell you how to make a professional and environmental impact with these “more than words can say” images.

QR Code is a 2-dimensional bar code — like the bar code on a price tag or piece of registered mail — readable with the appropriate scanner and embedded with information. Although not newly invented, but rather new to U.S. consumers, QR Code was originally created by an inventor in Japan working with Denso-Wave, a Tokyo based technology company in 1994. As an unlicensed technology, developers throughout the world continue to find creative ways to incorporate an image that easily can be encoded with a message.

The “quick response” or “QR” in the 2-dimensional matrix barcode is a characteristic that makes them popular with mobile media and out-of-home marketers, on items like bulletins, posters, bus shelters, magnetic car decals, and even tombstones.

Users are ready to reveal the embedded information of a QR Code after they download a reader to their smart phone or mobile device. Keep in mind, most phones with the Android operating system likely come with a code scanner. Do a search within your phone for “code scanner” and you’re likely to find it right away.

For iPhone users there are a bevy of code scanners that can be downloaded with no cost to you. Blackberry users will find that the “Blackberry Messenger” application comes with a code scanner too. Once you open up the app or download it from Blackberry world, scroll to the “Scan Group Bar Code. (Blackberry users may find it difficult to decode low resolution QR Code.)

Regardless of what type of phone or operating system your mobile works on, once the scanner application is ready to read, it will look like you’re about to take a picture. Position the camera over the code, taking up much of the screen real estate. It is likely the scanner will automatically read the code and reveal whatever information is embedeed therein.

The thing that makes QR Code an attractive component to an overall marketing campaign is the ability to immediately interact with users via text message, mobile media site, image, vcard and more.

QR Code can be an effective piece of a marketing campaign for a number of industries. Realtors can take advantage of strategically placing the 2D image on the “For Sale” sign of a new listing directing users to beautiful pictures of the home or a text message with the scheduled Open House dates.

Restrauanters can take advantage of nearby bus shelters embedding QR Code with a text message featuring the weekly beverage specials or pictures of the daily meal special.

It may sound appealing to get started creating QR Code and including the images on your website, business cards, social media messages and more. But consider determining a concise plan. It doesn’t make sense to start using these 2-dimensional images if you do not have a clearly defined strategy for which your business is working.

– Erika Pryor, Ph. D., Soft Tech Enthusiast, YP Advocate, Digital 411 Talktainment Radio Host, geek hiding in plain sight

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Digital 411 premieres Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time on Talktainment Radio. Join Dr. Pryor as she breaks down the world of digital and lets you in on the next big thing.