By Kelly Bosetti MIRM, CMP, CSP, Realtor®

Mobility, in terms of telephonic-based communications, has become ubiquitous in everyday life—on a truly global scale. What was once simply a means of sharing spoken words; cell phones have evolved to become a traveling information submittal and retrieval device, entertainment center, educational resource, camera, video recorder, gaming palace, geo-locator, social messenger, plus a whole lot more. And, with advancements accelerating at an almost exponential pace with respect to hand-held technology, it’s no wonder that savvy folk quickly realized potentiality within the realm of advertising.

By now, most of you—unless living in remote hermitage—have heard of and/or actively engage with text message-based advertising. While these campaigns certainly have their place in the overall “marketing mix,” such activity is considered “old school” by the 1s-and-0s promo techies. Today, the buzz is Bluetooth marketing which is already widespread in Europe, yet just beginning to make its way to the states. Below are two scenarios depicting how you could benefit from Bluetooth marketing.

First scenario: Suppose you are a busy sales exec, going from one property showing to the next. Things have been so hectic that your personal secretary could never keep pace with your appointments. Suddenly you are out all afternoon at appointments and have to leave your sales center or property. Before hustling out, you turn on your engaging kiosk that can satisfy all those inquiring minds—instantly, right to their cell phones. All they need to do is enable their Bluetooth function, if it is not “defaulted” already. Instantly, the required info appears on the screen of their hand-held and you have now presented your property without you being there.

Second scenario: Let’s say you have a community or development that’s nearby or just a few clicks away from a major entertainment, sporting event and concert arena. You’ve tried plastering flyers on peoples’ car windshields in the parking lot, but it has not generated any tangible results. How can you get this fertile source of potential homebuyers into your sales center? One viable solution is to employ proximity marketing. Send your sales staff out to this nearby venue as proximity marketing “hot spots,” walking the parking areas before and/or after the events. Simply equip these people with a compact, “backpack-style” walking billboard along with a battery-powered mobile proximity device; let them stroll around, and see how many folks “ping” on their cell phones to receive information, directions, upgrades, offerings, etc. you want to present. It’s simple, straightforward, and bottom-line business enhancing for sure.

Bluetooth marketing has the power to reach cell phone users, which in today’s world is about 80 percent of the population. The technology is a win-win for just about any business application. You have a new and unexplored marketing channel to reach out to potential clients and they have real time access to your services.

Kelly Bosetti is CEO/President of CEA Marketing Group, a full service marketing & advertising agency with specialties in mobile and social media marketing.