• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, November 17, 2011

Mobile barcodes as marketing tools have been alternately heralded as the next big thing and dismissed as little more than a novelty. A new white paper from the MMA aims to help demystify barcodes by providing a white paper that explains “in clear language” how the technology can be applied to different media, retail store locations, coupons, and other contexts. It also includes definitions, attributes of different code types, and examples of barcodes currently in use.

The paper further outlines best practices such as creating a compelling experience; telling consumers why and how to engage; setting up a campaign to collect meaningful data; measuring success; reducing the complexity of code; optimizing for mobile; and code-testing.

According to a study by 3G Vision, mobile barcode usage in the U.S. nearly doubled in the first quarter of 2011. And barcode technology company Scanbuy earlier this month reported the number of active users for its scanning technology increased 300% during the third quarter from a year ago.