Coming soon: Scanner Codes on Law Firm Business Cards
You've seen the scanner codes on supermarket items, airline tickets and computer gear. They are bar codes, which contain computer coded information. When read by a scanner or smart phone, the code will produce information like product reviews, in-store availability and price comparisons.
I talked to a chief marketing officer in New York, and his firm is going to put them on the back of their business cards.
This will allow a person with an iPhone or Droid smart phone to take a picture of the code, using an app like Google Goggles. This will launch a program to create a v-card, so that the person getting the card can instantly save the information on the business card to their Outlook contacts. The bar code can also contain information about the lawyer's practice area, bio and firm.
This technological advance hopefully will mean the end to glossy, printed brochures. No longer will a lawyer tote the expensive brochures and inserts to a potential client, who will have to find a storage place for the (often) oddly-shaped brochure. Instead, the recipient will just read the scanner code with their PDA.
It reminds me of the old days when people with Palm Pilots could beam their business cards to each other. This is just as cool and as much fun.
Great idea although it won't be long before the paper business card is gone for good and replaced by ecards.
Pity about the glossy brochures - I'll be out of a job!
I've been reading a lot about the new phone scanning technology lately... very exciting and certainly good for the trees of the world!
I miss beaming business cards with my old Palms and Treos... that was a great feature! Of course, if more people had Bump, it would be less of an issue. I wish Apple would buy Bump and integrate the technology!