Seeing a customer scan your QR Code feels like taking the first sip of a crisp, light bodied lager on a sweltering day—it’s refreshing, rewarding, and worthy of celebration. It’s a sign that your marketing efforts are working and that your QR Codes are doing the heavy-lifting of connecting your business to your customers at the right place and time.
From digital marketers at large enterprises to mom-and-pop pizza shops and rising TikTok influencers, creators and businesses of all shapes and sizes are using Bitly QR Codes to (re)imagine the possibilities and connect with their audiences and customers in new ways.
We sat down with one such innovator, Sam Evans, Digital Marketing Manager at Modus Brewing, to learn about how this independent, family-owned, and quality-obsessed brewery is leveraging Bitly QR Codes to elevate their brand, boost awareness, and engage with customers at every touchpoint.
Show your support for local craft breweries! Visit Modus Brewing to learn more and give them a follow on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
The QR Code journey at Modus Brewing
After traveling to the U.S. and getting a taste of the flourishing craft beer scene there, husband and wife duo Grant and Jazz Wearin decided to act on their passion for delicious beer and open the brewery of their dreams back in Australia. Since starting their operation in 2014, Modus Brewing has grown and expanded over the years, always staying true to their “Beer first, no shortcuts,” mantra. Proudly run on 100% green energy, this formidable brewery has innovation in their DNA (and on tap), so it’s no surprise that Digital Marketing Manager, Sam Evans, wanted to introduce QR Codes into the mix when he joined the team last year.
“When I first came on, one of the things that I realized we were really lacking was understanding what our digital marketing was doing. We didn’t actually know how it was performing and what return we got on it—we just kind of guessed. We couldn’t see that distinct customer interaction from start to finish.”
And when the opportunity arose to enter into the Australian Craft Beer Awards Hottest 100 Craft Beer competition, Sam knew that integrating QR Codes into the mix was a sure-fire way to help put their best foot forward—and to be able to measure their efforts.
Competing to become the leader of the pack
With hundreds of breweries competing and thousands of beers nominated each year, securing a top ranking in the competition isn’t a small feat. This people’s choice-style annual event asks craft beer lovers to vote in order of preference for their top five favorite beers of the year. Rank in the top 100 and you walk away with more than just bragging rights. Making the list means widespread recognition of your brewery across the country.
“People notice you if you get the number one rank. It’s always very difficult and a huge task to win—breweries actually campaign for months.”
Eager to get in on the action and throw their proverbial pint into the ring, Modus Brewing knew they needed to find a way to make it super easy for fans of their beer to vote and help them rise through the ranks. That’s where Bitly QR Codes came into play.
“We used Bitly QR Codes to launch our campaign and understand the data, where people were coming from, and how they were interacting with the campaign.”
Making the connection easy with Bitly QR Codes
Before using Bitly QR Codes, Modus Brewing launched a number of marketing campaigns but were in the dark about which touchpoint resulted in a specific customer action. For this competition, however, they leveraged QR Codes just about everywhere you could think of in order to help boost votes for their Mexican-style lager, Modus Cerveza, in particular.
From QR Codes on beer cans and packaging to posters hung on Modus Brewing’s walls and in bathroom stalls, Sam took advantage of every opportunity to promote their beer for this highly regarded competition.
“We wanted to start introducing some granularity into how we looked at our marketing. We had QR Codes on every bit of point of sale that we printed out. Is a specific poster working? Is a refrigerator sticker working? We could keep track on a very granular level what all of our different marketing materials were doing.”
Even internally, in order to generate excitement and motivate their staff to go out and get more votes, Sam created a leaderboard that they would review weekly. Each member of staff had their own unique QR Code so Sam could track who was bringing in the most votes each week from customers.
The result? Modus Brewing racked up 16,207 votes through QR Codes alone.
Building the buzz and winning big with QR Codes
Like the perfect beer recipe coming together, leveraging Bitly to drive more customer engagement with their promotional campaign was a key ingredient in making the connection between Modus Brewing’s beers and the Hottest 100 Craft Beer competition.
Thanks to their innovative promotional efforts (and incredible beer), Modus Brewing ranked #30 on the competition’s list for their beer, Modus Cerveza. As the top-ranked beer in town, they could now officially call themselves “Newcastle’s highest-rated beer,” which means their local advertising efforts got a little credibility boost, too. Securing this spot also meant that their brand awareness improved across bottle shops and breweries throughout Australia. Now more people know about Modus Brewing and how they’re paving the way to brew a better standard of beer.
Keeping the QR Code momentum going
The possibitlyties are endless when it comes to using Bitly QR Codes to make instant connections with customers, and Modus Brewing is always coming up with new ways to engage with their craft beer-loving patrons. From using QR Codes to promote limited release beers and share the backstory behind each to making it easy for customers to scan a code and order their next beer from their seats (or the bathroom, no judgment here!), the creative applications of QR Codes are unlimited.
“Knowing that there is a very low barrier-to-entry for the general public in Australia to use QR Codes, we use them everywhere. People love them because it’s more convenient [to scan a code] than type in a website URL.”
As any growing business knows, understanding your customers, what drives them to engage with your brand, and how they are engaging is key to unlocking success. Here at Bitly, our mission is to be a catalyst for connections. With the Bitly Connections Platform, customers can shorten and customize links, create QR Codes, curate their Bitly Link-in-bio, and track performance all from one place.
Feeling inspired? Get started today or find out how other industries are using the Bitly Connections Platform to imagine the possi(bitly)ties.