Most of the scans an advertising billboard or a bus shelter panel gets happen in the few seconds someone is standing or driving past it, which rules out a phone number people are expected to remember and dial later. A QR code aimed at a landing page built for that exact offer catches the moment instead.
Size and contrast matter more here than on a business card: roughly a tenth of the distance it will be read from is a workable rule. A dynamic code also gives each placement its own scan count, useful once a campaign runs across a billboard, a magazine page and a postcard at once. Dynamic tracking needs a free account.
Setting up a code for a print or outdoor ad
Build a landing page for this ad, not your homepage
A code that opens the same homepage as every other ad cannot tell you which placement worked, and it makes the visitor hunt for the offer they just saw. Point it at a page built for this specific ad and offer.
Choose dynamic if the campaign runs in more than one place
A separate dynamic code per placement — billboard, magazine, direct mail — gives each one its own scan count, so you can see which is pulling its weight without any of the codes changing what they look like.
Size for the actual viewing distance
A phone reads a code from roughly ten times its width. A billboard read from 15 meters needs a code around 1.5 meters wide; a magazine page read from arm's length needs only a couple of centimeters.
Proof it at full size before the print run
Print or project the ad at true size and scan it from the real distance it will be viewed from, not from your desk.
Matching the code to the medium
Billboards, transit ads, magazine spreads and direct mail each put the reader at a different distance with a different amount of time to react.
Billboards and large outdoor
Read from tens of meters at highway speed, so the code needs to be large, high-contrast, and paired with a short prompt like "Scan for details" since drivers cannot linger.
Magazine and print ads
Read at arm's length with time to look, so a smaller code with more visual design around it works, but keep at least a quiet white margin around the pattern.
Direct mail and door hangers
Handled up close and often set down before being scanned later, so the code should still work well after being folded or creased — avoid placing it across a fold line.
Tracking which ad is working
A dynamic code shows a running scan count, and on paid plans the time and device type of each scan. Running one dynamic code per placement, even for the same offer, is the only way to compare a billboard against a print ad without guessing. MakeQR never sees where any of this happens geographically, only that it occurred and roughly when.
Changing the offer without a reprint
Campaigns change: an offer expires, a promotion moves to a new landing page, or the phone number in a call center changes. A dynamic code lets the same printed ad keep working by updating where it points, instead of leaving an expired offer live on a billboard that is booked for another month.
What an advertising code contains
A web address to the landing page for this specific ad and offer. Nothing about the ad's design, budget or placement is stored in the code itself — it only carries the link, built in your browser.
https://example.com/promo/spring-saleSizing an advertising code correctly
Use the distance-times-ten rule: divide the expected reading distance by ten to get the minimum code width. A poster read from 2 meters needs a 20 cm code; a bus shelter panel read from 1 meter can use a smaller one, but never below 20 mm regardless of medium.
Print it at least 20 mm (2.0 cm) wide
Why advertising codes get scanned less than expected
Too small for the distance
A code sized for a business card printed onto a billboard is unreadable from a car. Recalculate size for the actual viewing distance every time the medium changes.
One shared code across every placement
Using the same code on the billboard, the magazine ad and the direct mail piece makes it impossible to tell which one drove any given scan.
Low-contrast brand colors
A pale color on a light background may match a brand palette but fails to scan in bright sun. Check the contrast warning before finalizing colors.
Static or dynamic for an advertising code
Static works for a one-time flyer or an ad that runs once and is never reused, where there is nothing to track and nothing that needs to change later.
Dynamic is the better default for any paid placement: it lets a running campaign move to a new offer or landing page without a reprint, and its scan count is the only way to see whether a specific ad placement is earning attention. The first two dynamic codes are free forever.
How dynamic QR codes workWhere advertising codes get used
- A highway billboard with a large code and a short prompt driving to a seasonal offer page.
- A magazine ad linking to a landing page with more detail than the print space allows.
- A direct mail postcard with a code that credits a specific discount code on arrival.
- Product packaging with a code pointing at a registration or rebate page.