QR Codes are an event marketer’s best friend. When used strategically, they give brands the opportunity to connect with attendees beyond the booth, turning in-person interactions into memorable, immersive digital experiences. In fact, according to a recent survey by Bizzabo, 45% of event organizers ranked attendee engagement as their top priority, even over budgeting and attendance.
Whether you’re planning your own event or showing up at an industry conference QR Codes can transform the entire event experience. And here at Bitly, we know this all too well. We recently attended Advertising Week New York and heard from industry leaders about the power of connecting with customers, but we also learned a lot about activating our own exhibit space thanks to the power of Bitly QR Codes.
We sat down with a few members of our brand team to get tips for integrating QR Codes into any event so you can leave a lasting impression on attendees. Let’s get into it!
Set clear objectives for your QR Code strategy
QR Codes are a game-changer for events, giving brands the opportunity to connect with attendees in new ways. But before you dive headfirst into planning, you need to set clear objectives for your QR Code strategy—and it all starts with understanding your audience and setting your goals.
Think about your attendees. Who are they? What interests them? How might they prefer to interact? At Advertising Week, for example, we knew that the attendees were tech-savvy marketers who would be walking around the busy exhibit hall with smartphones in hand. This made using QR Codes throughout our space a natural decision—and a great way to drive more engagement at our booth.
It’s also important to consider your objective, whether it’s boosting brand awareness, fostering attendee engagement, or collecting valuable leads. Knowing your goals will serve as a guiding light for how you integrate QR Codes into your event experience.
“For this event, our primary goal was to drive brand awareness by engaging and delighting attendees at our exhibit space. We wanted to create an emotional connection, but we knew there would be competition from even bigger exhibit spaces, so we used QR Codes to capture the engagement in our space and continue the opportunity for connection online.”
Morganna Nickoff, Senior Brand Manager
A number of other brands at Advertising Week used QR Codes to achieve a specific, desired outcome as well. TikTok, for example, aimed to drive app downloads through the use of a QR Code, whereas Snapchat created a Halloween-themed AI experience that was accessible through the scan of a code. Before integrating QR Codes into your exhibit space at your next event, set a clear objective and tailor your strategy to align with your goals.
Use QR Codes to bring your story to life
QR Codes are the perfect tool for doing more than simply sharing information—they give you the opportunity to bring your brand’s unique story to life. This approach can create a deeper emotional connection with your audience, leaving a lasting impression that extends well beyond the event. To enhance your event experience, consider incorporating interactivity into your exhibit space that attendees can engage with by simply scanning a QR Code.
Our team embraced this approach and used Bitly QR Codes to create a tactile experience for Advertising Week attendees who stopped by our booth. By scanning our QR Codes, visitors could access in-depth customer stories and even engage with real-world QR Codes on products showcased throughout the exhibit.
“It’s infinitely more powerful to show than to tell, so we used Bitly QR Codes to direct attendees to our customer stories online and bring each story to life by bridging the physical experience with the digital where they could dig deeper and learn more.”
Morganna Nickoff, Senior Brand Manager
The more engaging and memorable your experience is, the better! Bring your brand’s story to life and transform your QR Code usage from simply conveying information to crafting an exciting experience. Plus, in a crowded event space where multiple brands are eager to capture attendees’ attention, QR Codes help you keep your audience hanging out in your space for longer.
Design and customize your QR Codes
When it comes to visual appeal, customizing your QR Codes is your ticket to creating an experience that lets your brand shine through. Seamlessly integrate QR Codes throughout your exhibit space and enhance the overall aesthetic by considering each placement carefully. Go beyond standard black-and-white QR Codes and incorporate your brand’s signature colors, logo, and other unique visual elements.
Integrating your QR Codes in a visually appealing way is important for maintaining consistency, but it also helps you ensure that your QR Codes are a natural part of your overall booth design. For attendees who aren’t already familiar with your brand, this can create a more cohesive experience and strengthen brand recognition.
At Advertising Week, we used Bitly QR Codes throughout our entire exhibit space, but we also wanted to give attendees the chance to connect with us after they walked away from our booth. We created custom Bitly-themed M&Ms and placed a sticker on each pack with a QR Code that pointed scans to more information about the Bitly Connections Platform on our website. Now that’s tasty!
“We customized each QR Code to ensure they were integrated into every design as a natural element. Having the flexibility to customize and design our QR Codes made each one look more engaging and branded than a standard black-and-white code.”
Daniel Wiersema, Senior Social Media Manager
Make your brand identity shine and provide a clear CTA, or call-to-action, so attendees know what to expect after they scan the code. QR Codes are a real-life call-to-action button, so don’t miss this opportunity to bridge the physical world with the digital!
Strategically place QR Codes in your space
The right placement can make all the difference when integrating QR Codes into your exhibit space. There are a number of key factors to consider when using QR Codes to maximize engagement and provide a seamless experience for attendees.
When deciding where to place QR Codes inside your booth, think about visibility and relevance. First and foremost, ensure that your QR Codes are placed at eye-level so it’s easy for folks to quickly scan the code. Next, consider the context and relevance of your QR Code placement. At our Advertising Week exhibit, we wanted to make sure we gave attendees enough content at first glance to pique their interest and entice further action.
“Using QR Codes within an event space is all about extending the experience, so you have to ensure you give attendees a reason to scan. We added QR Codes to the signage within our space that showcased our product’s unique use cases and made sure to still drive a deep understanding of these stories right within the space. After reading, people could easily scan to learn more.”
Daniel Wiersema, Senior Social Media Manager
Use QR Codes to gamify the experience
Who doesn’t love a game or a free prize? Yes, it’s true—your event attendees are likely there to network and learn from industry experts, but that doesn’t mean they’re above having a little fun. One of the best ways to drive engagement with QR Codes at your exhibit space is through gamification. After all, some friendly competition never hurt anyone!
By giving attendees the chance to win an exciting prize or receive an exclusive discount, you can significantly boost the number of interactions you have with your audience. At Advertising Week, our team leveraged the thrill of gamification in a number of ways throughout our space.
We encouraged attendees to play our Bitly Cares plinko board—every visitor was invited to “drop the puck,” and in turn, we would “donate a buck” (or more) on their behalf to a charitable cause. We also gave folks the chance to win a three-month Curology subscription, a Smalls Cat Food Starter Pack, and even raffled off a Rad Power Bike!
“People love games and winning prizes—it draws them in and invites interaction. With QR Codes, rather than having attendees fill out a physical form to enter into a raffle, for example, we made it easy for them to simply scan and fill out a quick form. It’s all about being intentional with the experience you’re creating.”
Vicente Casellas, Creative Director
And while gamifying your booth experience with QR Codes certainly captures attention, it also extends the time attendees spend interacting with your brand. If your objective is to drive more brand awareness, then that’s a huge win!
Maximize QR Code engagement opportunities
To truly take advantage of QR Codes within your event marketing strategy, think about all of the possible opportunities for engagement at the event. Keep in mind how event-goers might navigate through the exhibit hall even beyond your physical space. Pay attention to bottlenecks and popular areas where attendees may be walking by or hanging out, and look for opportunities to engage them further with QR Codes.
And while you may be inclined to think about the QR Codes you’re using inside your booth, consider the impact you could have outside your booth. When designing your space, add a QR Code to signage or displays outside that can easily be scanned as attendees stroll through the broader event space or wait in line for their next coffee.
“How does your booth fit into the larger footprint of the event? Where is the foot traffic? Your exhibit space is finite, so you want to give attendees the opportunity to connect even when they’re no longer inside your booth. Be sure to consider any other opportunities for using QR Codes outside your space, like on printed materials, so when people walk by they can easily scan and learn more.”
Daniel Wiersema, Senior Social Media Manager
Think outside the box (or the four walls of your exhibit space) and consider collaborating with neighboring booths to create cross-promotion opportunities that increase engagement for your brands and provide added value to attendees. By embracing the full event space and extending your QR Code engagement, you create a cohesive and immersive experience that resonates with attendees and amplifies your brand.
Track your QR Code performance
As a marketer, your work doesn’t end once an event wraps up. You’re always looking for new ways to understand your audience and their engagement preferences so you can fine-tune your efforts. That’s why tracking your QR Code performance isn’t just a best practice—it’s the key to continually improving your event marketing strategy.
After the event, take a look at your QR Code scan data in Bitly Analytics to get a better picture of how each performed. If a particular QR Code performed well, use those insights to replicate that success at future events. At the same time, if certain QR Codes didn’t drive the action you were hoping to see, review where they were placed and what content they pointed to in order to better understand what you could improve.
Our team used Bitly QR Codes throughout our Advertising Week exhibit so we could easily gather valuable scan data without having to do too much heavy-lifting.
“Because Bitly QR Codes come with built-in analytics and tracking, we didn’t have to overthink it or create extensive UTM links for tracking in Google Analytics. Now we can easily look at scan data to see which QR Codes drove the most engagement. This gives us insight into how the different use cases we showcased resonated with the attendees and we’ll use that intel to help inform our activation next year.”
Morganna Nickoff, Senior Brand Manager
An added bonus? You can use QR Codes to collect attendee feedback for future improvements. Encourage event-goers to provide their real-time thoughts by scanning a QR Code and you’ll ensure attendees know that their opinion matters.
Event marketing isn’t for the faint of heart—it’s exciting, fast-paced, and full of challenges and opportunities. But with QR Codes, any event marketer can take an experience from drab to fab. Transform your next event by incorporating gamification and storytelling, create an on-brand experience with the strategic placement of customized QR Codes, and use scan data to make more informed decisions.
As you plan your next big event, rest easy knowing Bitly QR Codes can help you create immersive experiences that attendees will love. After all, the possibitlyties are endless!
