Case Study: Red Bull Proximity Marketing Campaign Distributes Mobile Coupons via Bluetooth

After reading the article, personally I thought the concept is quite refreshing; literally helping marketers today to take their campaigns, and reaching out to their target audience, anytime, anywhere....and everywhere.

Some leaning points I've picked up from the case study are as a smart marketer, using proximity-marketing to reach out to targeted consumers may be worth considering as part of an integrated digital marketing campaign, simply because of various benefits received namely:

1. Low-cost and cost-effective - content delivered via such medium platform is engaging, interactive, and informative; and the distribution of rich media content and applications to mobile phones, laptops, and other Bluetooth-enabled handheld devices may be low cost and pretty cost-effective.

2. Effective human touch-point: A highly effective touch-point for mobile content delivery in reaching out directly to target consumers because they can provide a clear call to action to them , allow instant gratification, and deliver the content at no cost to them.

3. Potentially & possibly attracting a segment of pass-by-foot traffic - to visit the store and end up purchases from this group - generally, such consumers will be more receptive and result into some impulse buying simply due to receiving an offer that is within their immediate reach, and does not require too much effort on their part to make a purposeful route to the store.

4. Enhance mindshare of the brand - and, it can integrate with the pre-existing network of digital banners or kiosks, and increasing connection with target consumers.

5. Real-time measurements - unlike traditional advertising, proximity marketing is done in real-time and marketers can manage and measure their campaigns immediately, and quickly changes to further enhance their campaign if need to.

However, proximity marketing might also be largely overlooked because marketers are bombarded with all the new-age marketing channels, and using such marketing method may be left out in the entire plan.

Whilst integrating a proximity marketing campaign may sound like a good concept or with some proven benefits like possibly resulting into an unexpected in-store traffic sales from passers-by or get more mindshare. There are some other complementing actions worth considering taking in order to further help boost up brand exposure or increase sales, such as:

1. Combine with social media - using social media pages to direct targeted consumers to opt-in to receive the mobile marketing messages - this helps to get more sign-ups.

2. Create a mobile website - it’s a must to have a mobile website design instead of a traditional website design that will put consumers off.

3. Keep the mobile site user friendly - make sure mobile website is user friendly and simple as consumers are reading or viewing the content from a smaller screen.

4. Be mindful of time - in sending out the mobile messages as it will appear silly of marketers if targeted consumers receive messages at odd hours.

5. Create Mobile-Friendly emails - mobile-friendly emails, including the subject line should be kept short as consumers' attention is usually short-lived.