| A lot of people today wonder about whether | | | | campaign, but the most important thing is not to |
| Bluetooth Marketing, and proximity marketing in | | | | pass your service on as spam. Proximity |
| general is legal, as people claim it can be | | | | marketing is not just about broadcasting an image |
| considered as SPAM and annoying. | | | | on to the passers-by mobile phones. It has a lot |
| On the one hand, we must first see whether | | | | to do about the content of the message (be it |
| these marketing approaches are legal. Obviously, if | | | | video, image, audio, etc.) and the value the |
| they are not, there is no point discussing it any | | | | recipient of your message gets from receiving |
| further, we can simply dismiss the discussion and | | | | your message. For example, just sending out |
| file a law suit against anyone running such | | | | your logo via Bluetooth to anyone passing by |
| campaigns. The legal framework is different in | | | | your shop, might seem like a good way to |
| every country around the world, and in some | | | | increase awareness and brand recognition, but |
| cases dramatically (take for example the death | | | | things are not always like that. |
| penalty). However, the European Union, now has | | | | The first time an end user experiences proximity |
| some common guidelines across all its member | | | | marketing and receives your message there's a |
| countries, and so do the United States, for each | | | | sense of novelty, and interest about the new |
| state. Therefore, each country might have its | | | | way in which the message is received, but the |
| own laws and I would be interested if any of you | | | | user quickly gets accustomed to this, and sees |
| out there live in a country that has any specific | | | | the message for what it really is. When proximity |
| laws about proximity or text marketing, I would | | | | marketing has become more common though, |
| be very interested to find out. Please leave a | | | | (which, incidentally, is not too far into the future) |
| comment by clicking the yellow post-it note. | | | | messages such as these will be considered spam. |
| I am only aware of E.U. regulations by the | | | | What you need is to provide some true |
| European Commission, and I also came across this | | | | value-added services to your customers. Give |
| article, by Victoria Southern, a solicitor with | | | | them some reason to want to use your |
| Pinsent Masons, discussing the legal framework | | | | proximity marketing service. |
| regarding SMS and Proximity marketing, in the | | | | Among the available online resources is also the |
| U.K. She concluded that proximity and text | | | | Mobile Marketing Association website, which |
| marketing are both legal, as long as specific | | | | contains a code of conduct for mobile marketers, |
| guidelines are adhered to, such as the ability to | | | | and also provides a number of other resources |
| opt-out for the consumer in SMS marketing, and | | | | such as mobile advertising guidelines, etc. These |
| obtaining the consumer consent before sending | | | | can be useful tools if you are looking to run a |
| them any content. | | | | successful campaign, and want to avoid common |
| Even with the legality of the approach established, | | | | pitfalls, and it's a good place to start. |
| however, we all know (too well sometimes) that | | | | In general, I would say the legal issues are easily |
| some marketing approaches, though legal, can be | | | | overcome. What is more difficult, and also of |
| extremely annoying. In the case of proximity | | | | more value and to the point, is picking the right |
| marketing especially, where the consumer is | | | | one out of all the proximity marketing services |
| required to opt-in, we must take special care to | | | | you can offer to your audience, and run a |
| ensure they have good reason too, otherwise the | | | | campaign which benefits everyone: the marketer, |
| campaign is destined to fail miserably. I have | | | | the end-user, and the service provider. Happy |
| written a separate article with some advice and | | | | mobile marketing! |
| tips on running a successful proximity marketing | | | | |