We’ve covered bluetooth proximity marketing before, that usually consist of a small module or something based on a PC or laptop, but I found a new app today that turns your cell phone into your very own mobile proximity marketing system.

ProxiBlaster offers several proximity marketing solutions in both software-only versions, and software and hardware combinations. The most notable solution is their Mobile ProxiBlaster software, that’s available for download directly to your cell phone. it then allows you to run your own mobile marketing campaign just like a normal push-bluetooth marketing campaign. According their website;

“…This is the first proximity marketing software specifically written to operate on a cell phone or PDA ! Mobile BlueCast turns your cell phone into a mobile proximity marketing machine ! When running this software on your cell phone you are literally a walking digital billboard broadcasting your message or advertisment to every cell phone you walk near!…”

It looks like it’s only available on a select number of phones, and has only been tested on the Nokia N95 and M93 successfully so far. It’s intended mostly for Java-based devices, but you can download a demo here, or download the app directly by going to “http://proxiblaster.com/mobile/mobilebcast.jar” on your device.

I think it’s a great idea, despite the privacy concerns surrounding the push-marketing aspects. It’s a free way of advertising your message and people can simply reject the invitation if they choose.

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MsgMe is a platform that aims to be the easiest web-based SMS/MMS campaign creator and manager available. It allows for the creation of otherwise complex mobile marketing campaigns by almost anyone, via a step-by-step guide to create rich mobile experiences for it’s users.

Whether you’re a blog owner, or a rock band, the tools provided by MsgMe allow for an effortless deployment of almost any type of SMS-based mobile campaign. From subscriptions to polls and surveys to coupons, the platform will let you do it all.

With distribution channels such as widgets and “Send2Phone” it’s easy to get your user to interact with your new mobile content. Premium content such as videos, MP3s, ringtones, and wallpaper can even be incorporated into campaigns for brand awareness and customer loyalty.

What stands out the most is the ease of use and the intuitiveness of the control panel when creating a campaign. You start by registering a keyword to identify your brand or message, and then begin to build your campaign using a series of sub-keywords and options that can be presented to the user. There’s to many options to list, but as an example we’ve setup a test campaign that uses some features that might be beneficial for site and blog owners that publish content often. Here’s what you do…

Simply text “MMW” to 67463, which is MsgMe’s shortcode, to see an example of a working campaign. You should then receive an SMS with a set of options. We’ve setup a simple poll, and a “news” section which will return our latest post in a series of SMS messages. Give a try and reply “A” to see our latest post. There’s a ton more that can be incorporated, but this shows a feature that I like personally, which is the use of an RSS feed to distribute content via SMS which is great for mobile readers of a blog. There’s a great analytical system as well to let you know who’s been accessing your content, and how often.

It’s well worth testing out, and by far the easiest self-managed SMS mobile campaign platform that I’ve tested in a while. Version 2.0 of the MsgMe platform is coming out in May as well which will include several updates and enhancements, so stay tuned…

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BlueBite is a bluetooth proximity marketing system we’ve talked about before, that uses bluetooth and wifi technology to beam content and advertising directly to mobile devices.  It’s had it’s privacy issues, but when done correctly it can be a great marketing tool.  Ace Marketing and Promotions thought so too.

The two companies have a cross-marketing agreement that will allow Ace Marketing to offer the proximity marketing services provided by BlueBite, and will provide its clients with a revolutionary interactive, and situation specific, consumer experience to help them market their products or services.  Since Ace already covers nearly every aspect of marketing across all mediums, the bluetooth technology is a nice compliment to their already impressive portfolio of services.  In the words of Ace’s CEO…

“…This partnership means individuals will be able to truly interact with advertising, downloading and redeeming a digital coupon for example, or viewing exclusive out-of-home video content that pertains to what they are doing at any given moment. This new medium enhances and simplifies everyday activities such as shopping and travel. And since the transmissions are independent of cell phone carriers, the content is always free…”

Ace Marketing has already deployed BlueBite’s technology in a few major markets like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, and BlueBite has already transmitted 30-second videos of CW’s shows at strategic locations, two-for-one beverage coupons at nightclubs around the country and content to drive booth foot-traffic at trade shows.

The two companies plan to set up bluetooth “hotspots” in shopping malls, sports arenas, concert venues, airports, transit hubs, and other high-density foot traffic areas. Every deployment will allow mobile phone users to opt-in to receive various digital content, via Bluetooth and WiFi, when they are in the vicinity of the target location.

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The iPhone has undeniably changed the mobile marketing landscape, and for good reason.  It was reported that iPhone customers are 12 times as likely as others to use their device for mobile video and mobile TV, as well as basic internet usage overall.  With more and more Apple-inspired cell phones from LG, Samsung and others that mimic iPhone attributes like the touch screen and user interaction, it’s become a dream for mobile advertisers.

With the release of the upcoming SDK and the access for third-party developers to market their wares via the ever-popular iTunes interface, advertisers and brands alike will be chomping at the bit to use the “it-factor” of the iPhone to boost brand awareness.

Beyond building simple “iPhone-versions” of websites and WAP sites that brands have already been using since the launch of the iPhone, the SDK will allow for the development of custom widgets, games, and other software platforms that will use the features of the iphone as a ladder to concrete brand awareness.

Just this month, Intuit unveiled an iPhone-specific version of it’s popular Quicken Online mobile software to be available via the new iStore, as well as new games from the likes of  Sega, EA, and Namco.  It should be interesting to see how creative brands will get, and which apps will stand out from the rest.

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TellMyCell, a provider of mobile content distribution services, announced recently that it has consistently been serving more than 20 million monthly text messages since January of 2007 for it’s client’s mobile marketing efforts.  Hey, they might just be on to something here don’t you think?

The company offers a “complete turnkey mobile marketing solution” that features the normal direct-to-consumer campaign approach with things like MMS, SMS, Voice, and WAP, but takes it a step further by offering a suite of tools to manage, track and evaluate all delivery methods, and outcomes.  Through the use of an API, the company can integrate with it’s partners ad systems to “lower the barriers for both publishers and marketers to distribute content to cell phone users.”

TellMyCell sits on the same SS7 network as all the major phone carriers, and operates an independent SMS, MMS and VOIP gateway.  By not being just an aggregator, TellMyCell can offer the best pricing for all their client’s mobile content delivery and are able to reach all cell phones in the USA and Canada.  According to TellMyCell’s founder and CEO, Moe Green,

“…No other company lives and works in the space between technology and creativity. Agencies don’t have the required mobile technology credentials and technology enablers are out of their depth on consumer marketing.If companies want to produce brilliant, relevant and rewarding mobile marketing, we believe that’s where the company has to be…”

The company has also made strides in the areas of mobile coupons and gift cards with their CouponTxT and GiftCardTxT services.  The coupons can be delivered directly to the consumer’s phone with either a text message or as a full color coupon with a barcode ready to use.  CouponTxT has the fulfillment built-in on the backend, so it redeems right at the POP (point of purchase), which means an easier time for the retailer, and bypasses the problem many mobile coupon technologies have faced, which is how to redeem barcodes directly from user’s cell phone screens.

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In my quest to find new and innovative ways to utilize a mobile device for just about anything, I’ve always been intrigued with the idea of using image recognition technologies with mobile devices to interact with the things around you in everyday situations. Unlike mobile barcodes, image recognition doesn’t require any special applications, or device features to operate, it can work with any mobile device made that has a camera, If done correctly.

SnapTell claims to have solved many problems faced when trying to recognize images taken with camera phones. Things like blurred images, and shaky hands can produce images that are hard to recognize. Since SnapTell works by taking images sent to the platform and comparing it against it’s central database to return relevant content, it’s essential that the image is readable even though it might not be of the best quality. How does it work? Their website says they use….

“…a highly accurate and robust algorithm for image matching that we call ASG. Image matching is the problem of efficiently matching a query camera phone image against a database of images. Our technology offers unprecedented scale in detecting a matching image in a large database of images. Scaling of image matching is achieved using patent pending indexing techniques to organize all the features in any of a database of images for the purpose of efficient lookup…”

They claim their technology will work on almost all camera-phones made world-wide, including those on the lower end of the market that feature a VGA camera and offer low-resolution photos of 640×480 and lower. It also works in real-world conditions where there might be a lot of issues including lighting artifacts, focus blur, motion blur, perspective distortion and incomplete overlap with the database image. They claim photos of magazine print ads, outdoor billboards, posters, product packaging, branded cans, and bottles and logos can all be used with their solution with no problem.

The coolest thing they offer, and the reason I found it noteworthy was the fact that they offer a “Text Extraction” solution as well that will actually pick text out of images taken with camera phones and use that text to initiate a search query. If someone takes and sends a photo of an image that isn’t in their database, it can automatically extract any text and use it for a search. It can then still return relevant content about that image without it even being in the database. Pretty cool.

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In part one, we discussed how beneficial bluetooth proximity marketing can be, especially for small local businesses.  The fact that one can incorporate a simple system into their storefront that can consistently broadcast a marketing message, or branded content for a small, one-time fee can prove to be very efficient to a small marketing budget.

We also discussed the fact that once a bluetooth hotspot is installed and active, it’s simple to offer use of your hotspot to other nearby businesses and organizations so long as it doesn’t interfere with the message you’re trying to get out.  For offering use of your network, you can charge a small monthly access fee, and actually turn a profit after recovering your initial costs for installing the system.

So where do you start?  A bluetooth proximity marketing system consists of a central bluetooth server that holds some special software that allows it to constantly search for bluetooth enabled devices in it’s range, as well as a bluetooth “dongle” or some sort of bluetooth transmitter.  The server holds the information you wish to transmit to your patrons, or the advertising message you wish to broadcast to the masses.  The bluetooth transmitter is constantly seeking out available devices to connect to.  When the transmitter recognizes a device, the server automatically sends a “connection request” to the mobile user asking if they’d like to connect with the server to download or access your content.  If the user accepts, the server makes it’s connection with the device, and the content is transfered to the user.

There’s a slew of companies, mostly overseas, that offer one or more parts of a proximity marketing system.  To purchase a complete system from most companies could cost several hundred dollars, and even more depending on the range and the amount of features.  Some companies offer small servers that can be placed at kiosks and posters, and some offer elaborate wifi-based systems for easy content addition.  But, what if you’re not looking for advanced features, and extended connection capabilities.  What if you just want a simple solution for your small business or personal marketing efforts?  What if you don’t have the time, money, and know-how to purchase the different parts of a system and put it together yourself?

The key component of the system itself is the software that power’s it’s operation.  It tells the bluetooth transmitter to constantly seek connections, and when it finds an opt-in connection request, it tells the server what type of content to transmit, and whether that particular user has already received that content or not.  Without this software, your solution is useless.  Sure, you can purchase and download some bluetooth software to run on any computer with a USB bluetooth adapter connected to it, but it limits your broadcast area, and limits the server location to where ever your computer is located.

There’s a 100% open source (and 100% free) version of the bluetooth server software available called BlueZ.  BlueZ is a linux-based bluetooth protocol stack, specifically made for use in proximity marketing systems.  As with most open source software, it’s in it’s simplest form, and requires the configuration on a linux server to operate.  So how in the world do you configure this?

There’s a relatively new company in California called AirCable.  They produce a variety of linux-based server hardware, and bluetooth connection solutions, at very reasonable prices.  They offer a product called AIRcable Server XR™, which is perfect for proximity marketing, because it comes pre-installed with the BlueZ software.  The server itself comprises all the aspects and necessary components for a wide-range bluetooth proximity marketing system.  Another valued feature is the fact that the server can broadcast your signal up to 30km.  This is unmatched by any other solution I’ve come across.

Upon purchasing the server, all that needs to be done is the loading of the content you wish to transmit via bluetooth.  Once setup, just place the server anywhere there’s a power outlet, and leave it alone.  You now have a marketing tool that never needs updating, and more importantly, never needs another dime from you.

In part three, I’ll discuss opening up your bluetooth server to other businesses to allow you to recover your initial investment, and to even turn a profit, as well as incorporating affiliate offers to monetize your hotspot further.

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