Proximity Marketing is wireless transmission of an advertisement "file"
(Usually a really good offer) to cell phones (or any bluetooth or WiFi
device) in the local area of a business.
The transmission is picked up by cell phones that have bluetooth
enabled. The manufactures of Blackberry and Iphones block this
kind of transmission even though they have their bluetooth turned
on. All other phones that has their bluetooth activated will receive
an invitation to accept an offer. The consumers bluetooth must
be activated before they can receive any content.
The consumer must accept the invitation before the content is
sent. They can say "YES or "NO". If the consumer is concerned
about being pinged everywhere they go, they can easily make
their phone "INVISIBLE" and keep their bluetooth turned on
so their earpiece or other device will continue working but they
will not receive any invitation or message from the merchant.
This feature is in every phone deployed with bluetooth.
I personally feel that an intrusion is something you cannot avoid.
With Proximity Marketing the consumer has the choice of
receiving or rejecting the offer being sent or totally blocking
all content and offers.
Most consumers (especially those on vacation) would want
the content sent to them as it gives them all the news and
specials going on in the area they are in. Why would I want
to buy pizza from Pizza Hut when just a few feet from me
is Captain's House selling two pizzas for the price of one.
Once the user receives the file "Ad", they can re-send and
distribute the content to other devices encouraging a viral
marketing behavior.
Let's talk a little about the Bluetooth device.
Many Bluetooth manufactures make claims how their
devices can reach distances of 250m, 1km and up to 16
kilometers.
Here are some basics to understand so you will not be fooled.
There are three types of Bluetooth.
- Class one (transmits up to 100m)
- Class two (communicates up to 10m (most phones are class two)
- Class three (rarely used and travels only short distance)
up to 7 connections simultaneously. In other words - with a class one
transmitter, communication or download to 7 phones at once is
possible, where a three transmitter is capable of communicating
with 21 phones. This is the Key to understanding effective Bluetooth
Marketing.
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