What is a QR code anyway?

I excitedly posted this on our Yoder Concrete Construction, LLC Facebook fan page and waited for responses of how cool it was. I got nothing. Well, not exactly nothing. My husband suggested that I explain what it is and what to do with it because he really wasn't sure how to get whatever it was. I thought he was the only non-techy one looking at the post. However, after reading Why the QR code is failing, it made me realize that maybe only a small percentage of the population know what to do with this. And when you consider our target audience, many being the construction type, that percentage might drop even more. Or even if you know what it is, you may not have the technology to do anything with it. With it being posted on Facebook, you might want to click on it to see what happens. (Nothing. You need a smart phone.) I can see where this could be confusing.

For those of you who don't know, this is a QR code, or quick response code. If you have a smart phone, you can download an app that will read this code like a scanner reads a bar code. The first one I created takes your smart phone right to our website. (How cool is that!) My initial intent was to place the code on all of the work trucks and any new promotional literature. But I have struggled with this for the same reason as the writer of the blog stated. Why would you have it go to your website when you most likely have the URL spelled out in the same place anyway. Then I received a catalog of one of our suppliers, and on the back of the catalog was a QR code. It said to scan the code to download their contact information. (Way more cool!) So now, easy at that, I have that company's contact information in my Droid. That is much handier than sending me to a website that I don't have time to look at anyway. 

So now I am trying to decide if the QR code would be useful to our business. Am I too far ahead of my target audience? Or is the QR code even going to catch on as a good marketing tool? When it comes to concrete construction, what is a good use for the QR code?  If I owned a bed and breakfast, I could use it  to download my recipe for blueberry crunch muffins. If I had a restaurant, it could be a coupon for a free appetizer. Concrete? not so sure. 

Do you have any suggestions for me? I want to be on the cutting edge of marketing technology, but maybe that doesn't make sense in the construction industry. (I am looking for some encouragement here.) What do you think?