To beacon or not to beacon, that is the question.

More and more articles are touting the opportunity of beacons in location based marketing. They can deliver spot on marketing messages as well as time sensitive offers to consumers who are opted in to the app provided by brick and mortar owners. They can also provide information, push valuable time sensitive updates and emergency messages and more. But for every message about how useful and profitable beacon use can be, there is always someone describing them as "transitional". A step in the process of refining location based marketing and immediate messaging. The more time passes the more the question seems not to be what's next, but more what is the right solution? There are any number of new solutions that have similar capabilities to beacons that can be used to deliver messages to smart phone users. They all have limitations and they all require the user to opt in, which is seen as THE biggest hurdle. In order to see the benefit of these technologies we must first answer the nay sayers about the challenges. Then explore which solution is the right solution for the setting or campaign.

Consumer opt in and app adoption is an excuse. - While marketers continue to complain about app adoption rates as a reason why beacons will not help, a recent Gartner survey shows that adoption is maturing among consumers. While it does mention fitness apps as the main example, the underlying tone of the article is that consumers will add apps into their daily lives if they perceive value. While a recent study shows eBay and Amazon show the highest adoption rates, Wal-Mart was shown ito get the most continuous usage among those that adopt its app. One must consider the sources of these reports, but considering Wal-Mart has also begun to sell its app data to marketers, it would make sense that adoption has been good enough to create an additional revenue stream for them. Again, the underlying message here is for the app to show enough value to the customer, to get them into the habit of using the app when they visit a location, or at the very least leaving on their device so that offers can be pushed to them. The biggest concern after that, will be how much space these apps take up in the memory of the phones and how many is too many apps.

Beacons vs. ? - Once past the adoption rate discussion and how to show consumers value through the app, the delivery message naturally comes next. How to get that value to the consumer and get them use to interacting with the app in order to gain the adoption rates to make it worth while, yet not bombard them to the point they become numb to the notifications. During this process another question should come to mind and that is are beacons even the right application for the campaign and setting? There have been numerous articles on the value of beacons and the many uses that have been found as retailers and venues discover new ways to connect with visitors. From travel applications for Airlines, airports and hotels, to venue applications like baseball stadium seating, restroom and concession maps, to the obvious theme park applications like ride wait times and park maps, to retail uses to push coupons, highlight specific new merchandise and offer reward points, to museums highlighting each individual display. Even hospitals and zoo's have been getting on board with beacons. But in all of these situations beacons may not be the best answer.

Other technology and examples. - We all know stores that have apps and offer free wifi like Starbucks, McDonalds, Home Depot and Target. While some of these locations may combine wifi and beacons to target very specific locations down to the aisle, others like McDonalds may not necessarily need that specific a solution. Pushing offers to a customers phone once they are signed in, may be all they need. If you think in terms of venues like stadiums, if the goal is just to provide information and connect with visitors, beacons would need massive rollouts to make sure as wide a net as possible could be cast to help everyone that has opted in. Airports are another good example where rollouts for specific shops in the plaza area are a good fit for beacons, but for airlines with multiple gates and for the airport in general wanting to push links to gate and flight information, massive rollouts would be required with beacons. The problem then becomes one of cost effectiveness and mapping the massive amounts of them to be rolled out to get good coverage. But fear not young marketers, there is a technology which could eliminate the hassle of mapping, and coverage of large areas, while still getting your signal to the consumer / visitor. Tone is a technology that uses signals that cannot be heard by the average person yet can be read by smart devices with the app installed. We all know apps like Facebook chat and even google chrome are keeping your cell microphones on, and using them as listening devices to better help anticipate what you will be looking for next. While may seem creepy it is being used by more apps than you may be aware. At the same time it also adds value. Tone can be used to push a signal embedded into music, ads, announcements and more to push information to an app that has been opted into. For larger venues like sporting events this allows the home team to reach all the fans that have the app installed to let them know there will be autograph opportunities or ticket discounts on the next game, charity events, merchandise and concession discounts and more. Not to mention additional sponsorship opportunities. For concerts this would allow the artists to push not only their app but merchandise and their latest release by triggering iTunes to load or Amazon Music, alert fans to VIP ticket availability and meet and greet opportunities to connect with fans better. For stores wanting to push general sales and direct store traffic better they can send tones through the Muzak system to alert customers of sales on specific items they have higher than normal inventory levels of. The best part of Tone is that it can be implemented with existing apps and sound systems or devices already able to emit sound. Now that smart devices are becoming mobile POS systems, the applications and ability to reach consumers right at the point of sale are endless. It also goes without saying the amount and type of data that can be collected when combined with Wifi and beacons will give specific insight as to what motivated your customers or visitors.

Then bottom line. - This has been a very high level view and there is a lot to consider when looking at a strategy to connect and engage your customers / visitors. The best part, is the opportunity to connect with them on a personal level through their devices and add value. Getting them into the habit of adopting the app and technology, to get the most out of their visit is the beginning of what could be building brand loyalty at a personal and customized level in the very near future.

Open to new opportunities and offers. - If you think this type of targeting is a good fit for your business or you want to discuss it more please feel free to reach out to me and I can answer any questions on this and where to locate providers who offer this type of service. ([email protected])

Thoughts? Feedback? Feel free to engage each other here and keep this an open forum. Comment here so we can keep the conversation going. If you enjoyed this article please see my others at https://www.dhirubhai.net/today/post/articles/650596?trk=mp-reader-h

Hire me! - Bryan Gissiner has been in Digital Advertising for over 20 years in everything from retail to Founding his own tier two ad network. Currently, he help companies utilize the right mix of current advanced technologies and marketing to outperform all of the other available alternative solutions in their target markets. He is a regular contributor on LinkedIn with a large following of other experts from a number of different areas.

Bryan Gissiner has worked on both the publisher and advertiser side helping them to find ways to save budget and increase return on those budgets, often making them 2-3x more successful.

Connect with me! - , please go to www.dhirubhai.net/in/bryangiss, @bryangiss on twitter or contact directly [email protected] and send me an invite with specific requests, to discuss how he can bring his experience to add value to your company and help it continue to grow revenue and ROI.