Embracing The Future
In 2006, there were less than three billion subscriptions to mobile-cellular telecommunications services. By the end of 2011, that number more than doubled to roughly six billion, the International Telecommunications Union estimated.
With mobile devices becoming a staple of modern society and the preferred way of accessing digital content, today’s successful businesses are embracing proximity marketing in order to engage with mobile consumers.
Proximity marketing helps companies and service agencies by harnessing the targeting power of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology, allowing them to bring a variety of marketing messages to consumers who are both nearby and looking to make a purchase.
Who Can Use Proximity Marketing?
Just about any business or service that is operating from a fixed location can implement a proximity marketing strategy. Some examples include:
- Major retailers, such as Ikea or Macy’s, can send store maps and coupons or offers to apply for their credit card or to enrol in their loyalty or rewards programs.
- Hotels can inform guests about on-site events and promotions or can offer to enrol them in loyalty or rewards programs.
- Restaurants can send special menus/daily specials, coupons, offers for loyalty programs, or perhaps send trivia questions or other games to help them pass the time while they wait for their table to be ready.
- Shopping malls can offer a proximity marketing benefit to their tenants by putting together a package of coupons or offer a discount at any mall retailer.
- Travel hubs such as airports and public transportation centres can provide maps or display ads that can be sold to local tourist destinations.
- General information about a product or service can be delivered through proximity marketing even if the fixed location of the business or service agency changes.
Public officials giving speeches at community centres can, for example, provide important public-service announcements or event information to constituents in the audience. Also, trade-show vendors marketing their products at a convention can send promotional or educational information to the attendees from their current “popup location.”
Recently, Lynx, a maker of body sprays in the UK, was looking to connect with university students. To do so, the company put together a proximity marketing campaign at several campuses throughout the UK. A large floor decal was installed in a high-traffic area of the student union as a “download spot,” where students could use their smartphone to download a Lynx-branded dating application. An average of more than 500 students per day downloaded the application, giving Lynx high visibility and making it a hot topic of discussion in their target market.
The Future Is Mobile
With more than six billion mobile phones in the hands of consumers today and with the numbers steadily climbing, phones are becoming a basic necessity of the 21st century. This makes just about every consumer with a smart phone potentially susceptible to a proximity marketing campaign. Local Mobile Marketer offers the perfect solution. With our market leading platform and beacon technology businesses and service providers are able to easily create and implement their own bespoke proximity marketing campaigns at low cost.
