Proximity Marketing

26 Jul Proximity Marketing

Proximity marketing or Hyperlocal marketing is the use of location based wireless technology to directly connect and distribute highly personalized advertising content at specific locations. In short, it means that you market your products or services at the right time, the right place and to the right people. Examples include advertising, information on local facilities, retail, gaming, social applications, distribution of media at concerts and the list goes on.

So how does it work?

Proximity Marketing can be distributed by the marketer via localized broadcast by using beacons, Wi-Fi etc. and engaged by consumers who carry portable devices such as smartphones, tablets, and notebooks with location determining technology. It is also extremely flexible and can be adapted to different technologies depending on the need. Some of them are:

Bluetooth: Retail marketers can connect with the customer’s Bluetooth enabled portable device using a broadcast device called beacons. The process involves a beacon scanning the area while broadcasting an ID number to detect the customer’s Bluetooth enabled device. Once a Bluetooth enabled device with a special app enters into the desired radius of the store, the signal is picked up and the app lets the user know there’s a beacon nearby. The beacon then send out a permission request to push content. Once the customer grants permission, the content is pushed to the customer’s phone.

There are currently two beacon standards: The widely used Apple’s iBeacon which transmits a UUID signal that’s picked up by an app and Google’s Eddystone which can broadcast a UID similar to iBeacon, a URL and a telemetric signal.

NFC: Retailers determine customer’s location using NFC or Near-Field Communication tags that has an RFID chip with certain commands. An NFC enabled phone can activate the tag by bring the device close to the NFC tag on the product. NFC is largely used in Mobile payment apps like Apple Pay and Google Wallet. But nowadays retailers are favoring NFC since it is a cost effective and efficient way to pull customers into engaging with their products.

Geofencing: A location based service that sends messages to smartphone users when entering certain areas. The technology uses GPS to determine the customer’s location. It has proven to be effective outdoors but not so much indoors.

Wi-Fi: Retail and business outlets provide Wi-Fi hotspots that their customers can connect to. When a customer does connect to the hotspot, a range of advertising content is pushed to the device.

Proximity marketing is paving a new way of providing low cost, real-time location based marketing that is tailor made for the customer. It also helps businesses keep track of the data to improve advertising effectiveness. All these advantages make proximity marketing a promising solution to keep a customer centric focus when compared to traditional advertising media wikipedia reference.