Quick response (QR) code scans were up 700 percent last year — and smart marketers are taking full advantage of their ability to reach targets.

Maryland’s Capitol College, for example, conceived an exemplary QR code campaign with the help of Baltimore-based Echo Communicate that leveraged direct mail, online and video.

The school shipped 20,000 prospective students postcards with barcodes that linked to personalized promotional video tours of its campus. The video included virtual tours of classrooms and dormitory rooms, and even featured a virtual admissions counselor.

Success with QR codes, says Robert Blakely, Echo Communicate vice president of business development, is dependent upon a seamless interplay between the code and its online destination.

“People are going to scan this code with a mobile device,” Blakely says. “If your QR code takes them to a non-mobile-friendly site that doesn’t interact with the customer or is hard to read on a mobile device, then it won’t serve any purpose.”