It can be tough to get new customers to walk through your door. There are probably so many people who live near your place of business but just drive past it every day. It’s too bad you can’t rewire people’s cars to disregard their drivers’ steering patterns and instead drive them directly to your business.

Well, actually, maybe it’s not too bad that you can’t do that. After all, you’d end up with a store full of hysterical, screaming people who were too shaken up by their out-of-control ride to enjoy your amazing selection of merchandise.

Hmm…maybe instead of rewiring the cars themselves, you could infiltrate a GPS here or there. That way, your future clients will be less freaked out because they’ll still have a choice about whether or not to follow the directions, but they will be strongly encouraged to do so by an authoritative voice with a British accent.

Wait. We’re not kidding this time. You really can do that.

Here’s How

Maybe “infiltrate” is a strong word, but you can, in fact, get your the GPS function of your local targets’ phones on your side – by using a QR code. We’ve talked before about how camera phones can scan QR codes that you include in your marketing collateral, which will direct the phones to specific websites. Well, instead of jumping to a website, a QR code could also input the address of the most local branch of your business into your target’s phone GPS. It’s a neat trick that most people haven’t seen yet, and you’re likely to get a few people who are inspired to take the trip. And a few more who’ll think your company is cool for doing something different.

Or…

There are also slightly more subtle ways to use QR codes when encouraging new local customers to visit. Let’s say you have three locations. You could set up three web pages with printable coupons, one for each of your locations. Then, when you send direct mail pieces, you can include QR codes that direct each recipient to the web page designated for the location closest to his address. Since your target will only be seeing the information pertinent to the most convenient branch, he won’t have to sift through less relevant information about your other locations and will be more likely to do business with you.

Or…

A million other possibilities. The marketing world is only just beginning to come up with uses for QR codes, so these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. But we wanted you to know that if you’re trying to reach out to local targets, there’s plenty QR codes can do to help.