Tag Archives: inbound marketing

Sundays gathering and the current shift

It is Passover week and the celebration of the Resurrection of Yeshua Hamashiach (Jesus Christ). This Sunday we will celebrate His resurrection. Crucified on Wednesday and Mary found the tomb empty pre-dawn on early Sunday morning, an event that changed everything, whereas Jesus gave all of us a pathway to salvation and everlasting life. He is Risen!

Then there is 1948 an event not only prophesied by Christ in Mathew 24:32 but prophesied over 2500 years ago when Israel existed prior to the diaspora (the exilation of the Jews from their homeland) “Jesus said.. Learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.” ~ MATTHEW 24:32

When the LORD mentioned the fig tree in Jeremiah 24:5, Hosea 9:10, and Joel 1:6-7, He was always describing Israel. There is no one who could argue otherwise.

So, back to 1948.. 70 years ago, on May 14th, the ancient Biblical Nation of Israel was officially “reborn.” The LORD prophesied, around 3,000 years ago, that the Israelite Jews would be exiled from their Holy Land for around 2,500 Years. After that period of separation, He promised to return them to their Promised Land. We read in Ezekiel, Chapter 37 and verse 21 –

“Thus saith The LORD God: Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them back into their own Land.”

 

In 606 BC, the Jewish exile began. In the exact number of Biblically-prophesied years later, God fulfilled His age-old promise to the Jewish people. He gathered them from all nations of the world, wherever they had been scattered, and brought them back into their God-given Holy Land. I love the mathematical prophecy which is found in the Book of Ezekiel. In Chapter 4, verses 4-6, the LORD said to Ezekiel –

“Lay upon your left side.. For I have laid upon you the YEARS of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety (390) days: so shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when you have accomplished them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty (40) days: I have appointed you each day for a YEAR (430).”

God was speaking of judgment upon Israel, as a whole, but mentioned Judah separately from Israel because (at that time) the Nation was split into two Kingdoms. Judah represented the Southern Kingdom. There were 390 days of judgment against the ten Northern Tribes of Israel, and 40 days against the two Southern Tribes of Israel – which equaled 430 years of judgment against the Jewish Nation.

Israel was taken into captivity by Babylon for exactly 70 years. So, 430 years minus 70 years fulfilled during the captivity = 360 years remaining in the judgment. After the Babylonian captivity, many have wondered where exactly the remaining 360-year judgment was in Israel’s history? We must look to the Biblical “7X Factor” of God’s judgment.

Biblical scholars could not find any specific captivity or dispersion that fulfilled the 360 years left in the judgment, until a closer look into the Book of Leviticus revealed the “seven times” prophetic warning (Leviticus 26:18, 21, 27-28 & 33). In those verses, God warned Israel that if they continued in their disobedience then He would multiply their judgment by “seven.”

God always says what He means, and He means what He says. When we apply the 7X factor to the remaining 360 years of judgment against the Nation of Israel, we arrive at 2,520 years of judgment remaining. Now, the LORD gave the Jews the most sophisticated calendar on Earth. It is both a Lunar and a Solar calendar.

The Jewish calendar uses a 360-day Lunar (and Prophetic) year, and then adds a Leap Month on specific years to accurately coincide with the Solar cycle – which we use on our Julian calendar. The Holy Bible uses 360-day years for prophecies, and expects us to add the appropriate leap months on schedule. So, the easiest way to unravel this prophecy is to first convert it into days: 2,520 years x 360 days = 907,200 days of judgment remaining against Israel, after the Babylonian captivity.

We then convert the 907,200 days into our 365.25 day Solar (Julian) years (the .25 adjusts for leap years), and we end up at 2,483.78 years of judgment remaining. Starting with the 70 years of Babylonian captivity, we arrive at 536 BC. We then add the 2,483 years of judgment which are left – plus one year (because there is no “zero” BC or AD) – and we arrive at 1948 AD! How amazing is that?! God is truly right on time – all of the time.

In the spring of 1948, Israel was officially declared – and globally recognized as – a Nation again for the first time in over 2,500 years. HalleluYah! Prepare to have your mind blown even more… The time period of the Jews being exiled from their Holy Land by the Babylonians to the year in which Babylon destroyed Jerusalem was 19 years. The time period of Israel regaining their Homeland in 1948 to reclaiming Jerusalem as their Holy Capital City in 1967 was 19 years!

I believe that God had mirrored the years of their exile and their return for a sure sign that it was His Divine Hand at work. It was in June of 1967, when the Islamic armies surrounding Israel attacked the Jewish State from every border. They were looking to finish what Hitler started, by attempting to wipe out the Jewish people and the Nation of Israel from the face of the earth.

Though greatly outnumbered by tens of thousands of troops, the small number of Israeli forces not only defended their Nation valiantly but (after only a Six-Day War) they recaptured their ancient Biblical Capital of Jerusalem. Islamists had controlled the Holy City ever since taking it from the Christians centuries earlier. Israel defeated nearly a half dozen hostile Muslim nations in less than one week.

It became crystal clear, to all observers that God was with His beloved Nation of Israel in the War. Scholars and historians call the Israeli military victory nothing short of a miracle. The Six-Day War also mirrored an ancient battle in our Holy Bible to a tee. In the Book of Joshua, Chapter 6:3-4, we find that the Israelite Army won the victory at Jericho in only six days –

“You shall compass the city, all the men of war, going around the city once. Thus shall you do six days.”

By the 7th day, Joshua and his Army had obtained the victory – just as the Israeli Army did in 1967. There can be no doubt that the LORD, Himself, was fighting on behalf of Israel on both occasions. He always has, and He always will…

What does this have to do with Markethive? Keep reading….The Holy Spirit is guiding this letter.

No one can argue that we are not in the season of the end of the Church Age. All the signs are here and becoming more evident as each day passes by.

Matthew 24:37

As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.

Jesus Christ said that end-time events would be like those during the time of Noah. What were those conditions like, and why should we be concerned?

Discussing the time near His return to earth, Jesus declared, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26-27).

It appears people thought they were living normal lives during the time Noah lived, just before the Flood. They were oblivious to the impending disaster. So what was Jesus talking about?

Widespread violence

Since He said that the last days would parallel the society of Noah’s day, we can look further into God’s Word to learn what He meant. The book of Genesis explains what conditions were like at that time.

Not long after God placed human beings on earth, mankind quickly headed toward self-destruction. Following Adam and Eve’s example of rejecting God’s instructions, humanity became increasingly hostile and corrupt. By the time of Noah, “the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

Because of this, God said that He was “sorry” that He had created mankind (verse 6) and told Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth” (verse 13).

God’s grieving was not sorrow for making a mistake. God doesn’t make mistakes. God gave His human creation the freedom to choose between right and wrong (Proverbs 1:29-31), and He was grieved in His heart to see how far humanity had fallen from what He originally intended.

Living in perilous times

It seems God gave humanity 120 years to change its evil ways. God said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3).

The 120 years of Genesis 6:3 refers to the time God’s longsuffering would continue with that generation (Barnes’ Notes on the Bible). During those 120 years, Noah preached a warning message, and God waited patiently for heartfelt reform (1 Peter 3:20).

Living in this evil society that refused to repent, Noah alone found favor in God’s sight as a “righteous” person. We’re told that he was “moved with godly fear” and built an ark (Genesis 7:1; Hebrews 11:7). Because of the widespread violence in the world at that time, God decided to repopulate the earth through this faithful man and his descendants (Genesis 6:17-18).

 

Violence today

The apostle Paul said that before Christ’s return the world would have perilous times, filled with pleasure-seeking, materialism, immorality, violence, idleness and a rejection of the things of God (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

A major reason for God’s bringing the great Flood was that the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6:13).

Consider the age we live in. There’s been an alarming increase in global violence just in the past 100 years. Wars in the past 90 years killed more people than during the previous 500 years combined (“War and Conflict”). An estimated 203 million people were killed by wars just in the 20th century (Matthew White, Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century, 2010, “Deaths by War”).

Between 170 and 360 million people were killed by governments in the 20th century, apart from war. Recently, more civilians have been dying in armed conflicts than combatants themselves, accounting for 90 percent of casualties since 1945. Just in the last decade, war has claimed the lives of an estimated 2 million children and has disabled another 4 to 5 million children.

A silent form of violence is perpetrated around the world by deliberate abortions of innocents. Each year about 44 million abortions are performed globally (“Global Abortion Rates, 2008”).

Globally, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) has documented more than 125,000 violent terrorist attacks since 1970 (“2013 Terrorist Attacks”). Martha Crenshaw, a START board member, reported, “Sadly, it seems to be increasingly acceptable in certain belief systems to kill as many members of the other religious community as possible. Moral restraints seem to be eroding” (CNN.com).

Indeed, things are changing in the world. Jesus Christ said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19). We are currently living in an age where these vices are becoming more commonplace. “We’ve seen a fairly steep upward trajectory in the total of terrorist attacks and fatalities worldwide,” said Gary LaFree, START’s director. “We are convinced that a big chunk of this is real change in the world.”

Substantial research on our Western culture has demonstrated the correlation between media violence and youths exhibiting violent behaviour in society. Studies show that in the United States a typical child will view more than 200,000 acts of violence, including 16,000 murders, on television before the age of 18. Television programs display 812 violent acts per hour. A recent study found that 15 percent of music videos contain interpersonal violence. Still another modern source of violent exposure is access to the Internet and video games (“The Impact of Media Violence”).

As the violence of this age increases, God’s message becomes more fitting: “There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away” (Hosea 4:1-3).

 

Respect for life

After the Flood, human history began again through Noah’s family. God then reinforced the special significance and sanctity of human life.

Addressing Noah and his sons, God said, “Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:5-6).

Following this decree, God pointed to the rainbow as the sign of a covenant that He would never again destroy all the inhabitants of earth with a flood (verses 15-16).

Had God’s instructions to respect life been followed throughout history, it would have had the effect of upholding the sanctity of human life. Now, as in Noah’s day, we’re seeing a growing culture of flagrant disregard for human life.

Examples for us

The Flood of Noah’s day, like the destroying fire of Lot’s day, became an enduring example of punishment for disobedience. The apostle Peter echoed Jesus’ connection between these two events, explaining that God “did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5-6; compare Luke 17:26-30).

Throughout human history there have been many evils committed. Why, then, didn’t God punish every generation of humanity for its sinful behavior? One reason is that God is longsuffering and merciful to His creation (Exodus 34:6-7), not delighting in the destruction of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). In His wisdom, sometimes God chooses to show mercy (Romans 9:15).

Even though all people have sinned and do sin (Romans 3:23), only God can determine when an entire society or nation has violated His laws to a critical point where He will tolerate no more. It was in God’s perfect judgment that He destroyed the world during the days of Noah, allowing it to serve as an example for all mankind to learn from. To learn more about the similar societal conditions that led to the sudden destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Lot’s day, please read the article about Sodom and Gomorrah.

History often repeats

In Noah’s day, the time of punishment came when God “saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

A risk that people take when rejecting God’s merciful call to repentance is that their hearts can become hardened. God says, “In accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’” (Romans 2:5-6).

The first time God brought His judgment on the earth, it was by a great flood of water. The next time God punishes the whole earth, it will be at Christ’s return, when He will “render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword the LORD will judge all flesh” (Isaiah 66:15-16).

He will come unexpectedly

So Jesus Christ’s warning in Luke 17 was that when He returns in great power and majesty to save an unsuspecting world, the vast majority of people will still be eating and drinking, focusing on their everyday lives, unaware of the dangerous times they’re living in. Just as the people in Noah’s day, people in the end times will be ignoring the warning messages and rejecting God’s righteous ways (Matthew 24:37-39, 44).

Noah, the prophet of God, was very likely mocked and ridiculed for preaching “righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). The Bible reveals that in the end times, prior to Christ’s return, people will also ignore warnings to repent. As Peter notes, “Scoffers will come in the last days, … saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’” (2 Peter 3:3-4).

Jesus added, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day [of Christ’s coming and God’s wrath] come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34-36).


20 years ago the Lord gave me a vision and an urgency to get what has taken me over 20 years of intense work to build. It once was Veretekk, the first Inbound Marketing platform started back in 1996 and closed down around 2014. I thought I was done but about the same time I was given a clear blue print vision to build Markethive and to restart from scratch. I built the blue prints and design interfaces based on what I had learned from building Veretekk.

I then came up with an innovative way to fund this new site with what was called the BOD (Bond of Debt) whereas loans were paid back in full in 20 years and in the meantime a percentage of the new revenue would be set aside and paid to the BODs.  We rose over $300,000 within a month and began building the new system.Then came the process of finding a name. We struggled with finding the right name. Names like: etolia.com; ewava.com; prosbay.com; sohogear.com; sohomeme.com; yayacom.com; youdontsay.com; memebubble.com; entreport.com; gear-head.com; freedomfox.com and more, but none of them popped for me.

One evening in basic despair for a name I fell asleep in deep prayer to the Father for a name. Upon waking He gave me the name “Markethive” for which all domains where available, all social networks and all trademarks were available. This name fit my parameters of being 3 syllables or less, two words with both words being common and both words being both a noun and a verb.

Markethive has been registered and used for over 19 years and that domain expired and became available on the day I searched it and I immediately bought it. Along with it I got all the other 20 some TLDs. Then I searched the social networks, the word Markethive was available on all of them. So I set them all up. Then came the Trademark and with trepidation I searched and was shocked, SHOCKED there was no Markethive trademark for any classes, so I purchased them all.

Do you see the divine influence here? Along the way I have experienced amazing miracles. Many many miracles similar to the following one: Early into building this in 1999 I was out of money on the verge of losing it all. Here is what happened (BTW: Just talked to my friend Garry Howard who was my account exec at NonstopNet to make sure the story was accurate).

I had just financed our first real server farm. $1 million dollars worth. We had just launched one of our first private labelled automated marketing programs (For Life Force International via Corey Citron) with over 50,000 members and 5000 paying us $50 per month for it. Our colo (data center) called NonstopNet, financed the deal and we justified the $50,000 based on our projections. Shortly after launching the system, NonStopNet accused us of spamming and shut all our servers down for 4 weeks, destroying the credibility of Veretekk and killing that income. This left me with zero money in the bank and zero capital coming in. We needed a miracle.

So Back to urgent prayer I went.

First out of the blue NonStopNet has a funding withdrawal (in an attempt to go public) and immediately fails. At the same time out of the blue I make $50,000 selling a domain from an unsolicited offer to buy it. I sold it and collected the badly needed funds.

I find a new colo Unified Web, for a fraction of what NonStopNet was charging me.  The bankruptcy trusty called me and told me we could purchase all our servers ($1 million worth) for $10,000 but had to have it all out in 24 hours.

Unified Web was 4 blocks away and sent the guys over to pick it all up and we were back up within 24 hours, owning all our equipment with $40,000 in the bank. OK? I call that divine intervention.

Are we living in Biblical times? Is Markethive a vision? Is the Lord returning in our lifetime? Are the ways things done in the world shifting dramatically? Is Markethive part of all this?

I believe we are. What do you believe? Within a matter of two years our traffic has surged to over 400,000 unique visits a day, over 60 million monthly impressions and 50,000 members. And our growth is about to become exponential. It is all about timing. I am grateful to the Lord for all of this and especially for you and those whom have upgraded to EntrepreneurOne.

Markethive has engines that are growing to become major engines. We are now building the money machines, for you.

Have you upgraded to Entrepreneur One yet? Why not?

https://markethive.com/group/marketingdept/blog/entrepreneuroneupgradeareciprocalblessingitworksbothways

Cryptocurrency adoption is key to financial inclusion

Cryptocurrency adoption is key to financial inclusion "CoinDCX CEO"

Providing financial inclusion for all is Markethive’s main objective.

The answer is Markethive’s blockchain technologies, and integrated entrepreneurial ecosystem.


In a recent article for Nasdaq, Sumit Gupta, CEO of CoinDCX, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, wrote about how cryptocurrencies could hold the keys to financial inclusion. In the article, Gupta cited the World Bank’s most recent Global Findex report which stated that as many as 1.7 billion people worldwide do not have access to formal financial services. However, Gupta noted that two-thirds of unbanked individuals have access to a mobile phone.

The CoinDCX CEO argued that in such a “highly globalized, technology-driven world,” one with 5.11 billion unique mobile phone users and 4.39 billion Internet users last year, “cryptocurrencies could be the answer to ensuring greater financial inclusion and opportunities for all.”

According to Gupta, the vast majority of the unbanked live in poverty-stricken areas with emerging economies. This dual-threat of poverty and economic hardship makes the barrier to entry for traditional financial services too high for low-income individuals and traveling to physical bank offices can prove “inconvenient and costly for those living in rural areas,” he said. Gupta added,


Gupta also spoke of how there are no costs for holding or managing cryptocurrencies which, unlike banks, don’t require a lengthy approval process to get hold of. Further, he claimed that adopting cryptocurrencies can be advantageous to countries where volatility and non-existent financial infrastructure is the norm. Venezuela is one such example, a country where Bitcoin and Dash usage has spiked in an attempt to combat the devaluation of the local fiat currency.

“For these Venezuelan citizens, cryptocurrencies are not just a means for protecting their wealth, but also an alternative medium for conducting everyday transactions.”

Sumit Gupta also said that an inclusive financial system could inadvertently boost socio-economic growth, lifting communities out of poverty. Additionally, he also said that if cryptocurrencies are to have the desired impact in bringing the unbanked into the financial ecosystem, promoting mainstream adoption and a coordinated approach between global regulators and policymakers will be key.

Gupta also spoke of how there are no costs for holding or managing cryptocurrencies which, unlike banks, don’t require a lengthy approval process to get hold of. Further, he claimed that adopting cryptocurrencies can be advantageous to countries where volatility and non-existent financial infrastructure is the norm. Venezuela is one such example, a country where Bitcoin and Dash usage has spiked in an attempt to combat the devaluation of the local fiat currency.

“For these Venezuelan citizens, cryptocurrencies are not just a means for protecting their wealth, but also an alternative medium for conducting everyday transactions.”

Sumit Gupta also said that an inclusive financial system could inadvertently boost socio-economic growth, lifting communities out of poverty. Additionally, he also said that if cryptocurrencies are to have the desired impact in bringing the unbanked into the financial ecosystem, promoting mainstream adoption and a coordinated approach between global regulators and policymakers will be key.

Sumit Gupta also said that an inclusive financial system could inadvertently boost socio-economic growth, lifting communities out of poverty. Additionally, he also said that if cryptocurrencies are to have the desired impact in bringing the unbanked into the financial ecosystem, promoting mainstream adoption and a coordinated approach between global regulators and policymakers will be key.

“Smart regulation is crucial to ensuring a secure and equitable system in which cryptocurrency holdings are protected, without hindering the potential of the technology.”

Markethive is leading this revolution and has the very real potential to be on par as the top utility coin with Bitcoin being the top FinTech coin.

 

Thomas Prendergast
Markethive

Content from AMBCrypto

9 Effective Tips on How to Advertise on Other People’s Thank You Page

9 Effective Tips on How to Advertise on Other People's Thank You Page

Posting a comment on another person's thank-you page may have no effect on your website at first glance but you know how first impressions can be misleading. And in this case, what you see first isn't what you get. If you want to generate traffic for your website for free, you can do so just by saying "thank you" on other people's websites.


Image by rawpixel from Pixabay

Tip #1

Identify who you can thank because the more people you thank, the more inbound links you get. First, check your sales invoices and determine which of your paid customers have websites of their own. You'll pay a visit to each and every one of them soon. If you have suppliers, distributors, retailers, joint venture partners, and other types of business associates, you'll have to visit them, too. How about other Internet marketers who occasionally visit your website? This is the time to profit from a little bit of give and take between each other.

Tip #2

Determine where to say thank you. Not all websites have "thank you" pages, but almost all websites will allow you to interact and say your piece. For those without "thank you" pages, look for the page that allows you to comment and at the same time enjoy considerable traffic.

Tip #3

Now, it's time to start writing your thank-you message. Personalized messages always work better, but it's understandable if you sometimes don't have the time to customize each message. During these instances, it's better to create a thank-you page for each group. Have a generic thank-you message for your customers then create a separate one for your colleagues, suppliers, and so forth.

Tip #4

Remember to identify yourself. If your personal name carries weight in the Internet then by all means, use your name when posting a thank-you message on another website. But if you're not that popular yet then it might be better to use your business name or include it at least with your personal name. This will help people remember you more.

Tip #5

The first line of your message must be short but sweet: it explains why you're saying thank you. Customers are obviously thanked for their support and patronage of your products and services. Don't use flowery speech. Go straight to the point but be sincere.

Tip #6

Your second line must include mention of your products or services as well as your desire to provide more aid or support. Going back to our sample thank you message for customers, your second line could appear something like this: "I hope that Product X will be able to help your online business run more smoothly". 

Tip #7

Use the third line or sentence for any additional information you feel is pertinent to the person you're thanking. If there is none, then you must proceed with inviting the person and indirectly, the other readers, to drop by your website. This is where you post your website URL as well for your latest updates. If you already have a new promotion running, this is also the place to mention it.

Tip #8  

If you're asked to provide a link to your website then yes, of course you should post it as well.

Tip #9

Never forget to include targeted keywords in your thank-you message. You might have to be a bit tricky doing that, but those keywords can help make your thank you message optimized to improve your search engine ranking.

Good luck with your inbound marketing efforts.

Maxwell Jacobs is the Owner of http://SolutionsforHomeProfits.com. Check us out anytime for marketing tips and a free subscription to our cutting edge newsletter. 

What is proximity marketing? How does it work?

What is proximity marketing? How does it work?

Proximity marketing refers to communicating with customers at the right place, the right time and with highly relevant and personalised messages, on their smartphones – be it greeting at the entry points, special offers in the store aisles, or getting feedback on a new product.

Legacy advertisements on television, billboards, radio and pamphlets could be appealing, but they lack the impulsive drive to avail an offer, or try a new product. However, digital technology, such as beacons have bridged this gap between offline and online.

For decades, traditional shopkeepers and business owners have been communicating with their customers at significant moments, but proximity marketing as a term got introduced to marketers in 2008. This led to brands and businesses sending location-triggered text messages to cell phones that were in proximity to a Bluetooth network and had "discoverable" Bluetooth mode switched on.

To understand how proximity marketing works, let us consider an example of a retail store.

  1. Beacons are deployed at the storefront or in aisles with ongoing offers.
  2. These BLE beacons transmit signals in its range. BLE signals are a combination of numbers and characters.
  3. The signals are detected by any Bluetooth-enabled smartphone, in the transmitting range.
  4. The smartphone then sends the ID number attached to the signal to the cloud server.
  5. The server checks the action assigned to that ID number and responds accordingly. It could be a notification about a discount, or a product launch, a feedback form or just a greeting!
  6. These notifications will then drive customers to a relevant form, a webpage or a markdown card (a Beaconstac card creative which works as a substitute for a website).

Location-based marketing vs proximity marketing

Businesses, especially retail and real estate, have been focussing immensely on location for the last decade. This is because reaching out to customers without being sure of the location is just digital marketing, which is not very effective for local businesses. However, marketers and business owners now realize that the targeting needs to be more specific than just GPS and geofencing. This is where proximity marketing steps in. Let’s understand in detail about their differences and when each one of them is useful.

Location-based marketing

Location-based marketing in simple terms means communicating with potential customers within a range. Let’s say, a coffee shop runs a campaign to introduce a new almond flavoured Cappuccino on their menu. Setting a location based marketing campaign would mean that all potential customers in the range of, let’s say 1 kilometer, are notified about the new coffee. This might also include reaching out to a user in the nearby ice-cream store.

This is done by calculating the latitude and longitude of the smartphone using GPS or cell tower triangulation method. It is hence defined as the kind of marketing that uses mobile to target customers in a particular geographical area.

Geofence is a virtual boundary which can range from over 50,000 meters to anything else. Ideally, for interactions above 80-100 meters, business owners must consider geofencing.

Proximity marketing

Proximity marketing however, is a more granular form of location marketing. For the same example discussed above, the coffee shop owner could decide to have a more targeted approach and reach out to customers passing his coffee shop, lets say in the range of 300 meters. This approach is more personalized and contextually relevant.

Proximity marketing is about reaching out to customers based on the accurate position and not a virtual geofence. This makes the communication more contextual and personalised.

Proximity marketing is recommended for highly targeted zones – within 100m of distance. Proximity marketing use-cases involve interaction with customers about a particular product, brand on a shelf, or any other similar application.

Proximity marketing solutions

Business owners and marketers have been using proximity solutions that do not involve technology, for decades – physical signage and banners. But in last few years, technologies have become much more affordable, and therefore, a lot of businesses have integrated them into their marketing strategies. Advanced technologies that make proximity marketing happen are – Bluetooth beacons, NFC, RFID and WiFi.

1. Proximity marketing using Bluetooth beacons

Bluetooth beacons are currently the leading proximity marketing technology. According to Proximity Directory Report Q4 2017, 86% of the proximity sensors deployed across the world are beacons. According to the same report, 7 18,763,000 proximity sensors were deployed by Q4 2017. Beacons are low energy transmitters, equipped with Bluetooth low energy, used to deliver contextually relevant notification on nearby smartphones.

There are two beacon standards :-

iBeacon: Apple first launched beacon standard in 2013. That is when physical and digital started merging. A lot of retailers like Macy's, Walmart and Starwood hotels stepped up to the plate to implement iBeacon in their store outlets. iBeacon allows apps on smartphones to receive BLE signals from the beacon.

Eddystone: Google introduced the Eddystone protocol in 2015. It is an open URL protocol specification that defines Bluetooth low energy (BLE) message format for proximity beacon messages. It has since become hugely popular among businesses and has only continued to grow. Eddystone protocol restricted the popularity of iBeacons in no time. Now, smartphones can receive Eddystone signals with or without apps.

Beaconstac beacons support both Eddystone and iBeacon.

UPDATE: On October 25, 2018 Android announced that Nearby will no longer be supported on Android smartphones after December 6, 2018. 

2. Proximity marketing with NFC based systems

NFC was designed to enable highly secure payments and applications. NFC enabled customers to pay just by tapping smartphones against NFC-enabled devices. This technology did not fly off really well, even though it appeared promising in the beginning.This failure could be due to the following reasons –

  • Customers need an app to use NFC tags to receive messages.
  • NFC is a passive form of proximity marketing – which means NFC ads require customers to initiate the engagement. Unlike beacons, NFC systems cannot broadcast notifications.
  • It has a concise transmission range of 20 centimetres.

3. Proximity marketing with Wi-Fi-based systems

Wi-Fi has not traditionally been a proximity solution. However, with the widespread of public Wi-Fi, marketers are now leveraging Wi-Fi to send notifications. The Wi-Fi hosting website can send location-specific content to the consumer’s browser.

However, Wi-Fi requires users to consent to a connection each time they enter the business location. And, Wi-Fi-based systems are not very accurate when it comes to proximity marketing.

4. Proximity marketing with RFID based systems

RFID tags are used to track store product movement and inventory. RFID introduced in 2003, was considered a revolution. It quickly went from the little-known technology to the next big thing. However, this rapid growth was ephemeral. Here’s why RFID has limited adoption :-

  • The biggest hurdle in RFID adoption is that deploying RFID system requires many different components – necessary hardware such as tags, readers, reader control and apps. Retailers have to invest a substantial amount upfront on the infrastructure front, on both sender and receiver side.
  • Unlike most other proximity solutions, RFID does not come with inherent compatibility with mobile. It requires hardware to process signals at specific frequencies.
  • Information passed by RFID cannot be personalised based on location, frequency, time of the day etc. It is constant and is embedded in the tag.

Why is Bluetooth beacon better than competing technologies?

Proximity with beacons yield results way superior to legacy channels and other competing technologies.

1. 10 billion smartphones in 2018 are Bluetooth-enabled

Beacons broadcast notifications to Bluetooth enabled smartphones. In 2018, nearly 4 billion devices will ship with Bluetooth technology. The percentage of people having their Bluetooth switched on, varies from country to country.

Based on our research and statistics over the internet, approximately 50% of the users in Canada and US have their Bluetooth switched on. Russia has 25%, whereas the UK has 33% of the users with Bluetooth switched on all the time.

2. You do not need your own app to run beacon campaigns

With beacon technology, businesses may or may not leverage the experience of their brand app to communicate with their consumers. Using the Eddystone protocol, sending notifications using NearBee is a breeze.

NearBee has been designed to be better and far superior to Google Nearby. Unlike Google Nearby, it has the ability to send non-silent, rich notifications, non-duplicate and visually appealing notifications straight to the lock screen of Android users. NearBee will also have the ability to morph into a business’s unique branding once a customer enters the store. Customers will also be allowed to ‘follow’ businesses and receive controlled timely updates that can be sent even when they are no longer in the range of the beacon.

3. The click-through rate is far superior to competitor technologies

The click-through rate of a beacon campaign varies based on multiple parameters :

  • Usage of a brand or third party app
  • Deployment location and strategy
  • Nature of business
  • Schedule of the campaign (Days and time)
  • Notification copy etc

However, when done well, beacon campaigns have yielded a click-through rate (CTR) of 55% – 60%. However, this is not typical for all businesses. On an average, most small businesses see a CTR of 2% – 4%. With higher targeting and personalisation, the results get better.

A CTR of 2% is incredible for offline businesses given the results attained by other advertising channels. CTR of an average beacon campaign is 25 times that of a social media campaign.

 

4. Beacons have an excellent ROI

The three factors which contribute to the brilliant ROI of beacons are – low cost, long battery life and minimal efforts.

  1. These tiny devices cost less than $20
  2. Most beacons have an average battery life of 2 years. However, it varies based on the type beacon in use and its transmitting range
  3. Beacons work out-of-the-box! This means business owners do not need an engineer onboard to start broadcasting beacon campaigns. It’s easy to use and seamless to configure

According to Unacast’s Proximity.Directory Q1 2017 Report, retailers can improve their position and increase the operating profit by nearly 9% with an ROI of 175%. This ROI figure shoots to 365% for small and medium businesses.

How to set up a proximity marketing campaign using beacons?

1. Choose the right beacon form factor for your business

Beaconstac supports various beacon hardware options which are found to be best in field tests. The hardware lineup consists of all-purpose indoor beacons, robust long range beacons, pocket beacons and keychain beacons.

RELATED: https://blog.beaconstac.com/2018/02/proximity-marketing-with-pocket-beacons-for-retail-real-estate-and-on-the-move-applications/

The lineup includes beacons in various form factors to suit multiple business needs and applications. Learn more about the options we support on the Beaconstac hardware data-sheet.

2. Plan the beacon deployment strategy

Beacon deployment strategy depends on what the business wants to achieve. However, there are few tips for beacon deployment which work across industries.

  • Place beacons above the crowd level (approximately about 4 ft to 7 ft above the ground) for maximum reach. Installing beacons on ceilings also work well.
  • Place beacons in areas where people move slowly, or have a higher wait time, for, eg, traffic intersections, offices, waiting areas, etc.
  • Try to create a line of sight between a beacon and users’ phones. For best results, place beacons vertically, with the Beaconstac logo on top.

3. Create a markdown card/form (Or, an https website)

Beacon notifications can direct to a custom URL (any website), a form, or a markdown card. Markdown cards are creatives used instead of websites. Beaconstac provides markdown templates which can be easily modified to suit various campaigns. [Download inspirational markdown cards across verticals]

4. Assign it to a beacon

Assign the markdown card or form to the transmitting beacon. Watch the video to learn how to do it.

5. Create a notification

Beaconstac allows the notification creation in multiple languages. This helps marketers target customers in their preferred language. [Read more about dynamic notifications]

How are business using proximity marketing?

Beacon technology has changed the way brands interact with customers. Although advertisement remains the primary benefit of proximity marketing, marketers leverage it for a lot of other use cases.

1. Advertisement

Gone are days when brands were courting customers only by sending out advertisements on television, radio and magazines. In the last few years, advertisements have made a significant shift to a more targetable and data-driven option – beacons. Legacy ads cannot be micro sliced via location or demographics. This is why marketers are now relying on proximity marketing solutions to find, engage and most importantly, bring back customers.

2. Personalisation to enhance engagement

Brick and mortar stores can achieve the level of personalisation that e-commerce sites like Amazon and Walmart offer. With beacons in stores, marketers can achieve the following :-

  1. Send recommendations related to their purchase history.
  2. Upsell products.
  3. Send recommendations based on shopping habits.

Personalization leads to positive experiences that, in turn, leads to more engagement, loyalty and sales. According to research by Marketing Insider Group, 78% of consumers say relevant content increases their purchase intent.

3. Loyalty programs

Customer loyalty programs are all about keeping current customers engaged and happy. These programs enable customers to automatically check in, get credit for their purchases and earn loyalty rewards. Big brands and local merchants are now using beacons to provide mobile loyalty among customers. Interesting use cases of beacon-based loyalty programs are :-

  1. Send customized notifications on offers to patrons when they are closeby.
  2. Deliver time-sensitive geo-targeted offers with greater precision.
  3. Reward loyal customers for spending time with you.

4. Amassing offline data

Businesses today, rely heavily on sophisticated data gathering mechanism. This is because data-driven campaigns help in better understanding of shopping behaviour. Many successful retail brands like Macy’s, Walmart, Kenneth Cole are using beacons to gather extensive data for future campaigns.

With beacons, retailers can,

  1. Track footfall
  2. Create heatmaps of zones in the store
  3. Analyse merchandising effectiveness
  4. Gauge customer loyalty
  5. Analyse the content type that drives consumers

Implement a proximity marketing campaign without an app?

Very few technologies have seen the kind of success that beacons have. And this is primarily because with the introduction of Eddystone; marketers did not require apps to communicate with their customers. Beacons communicate with Bluetooth enabled smartphones via two different protocols – Eddystone and iBeacon.

Eddystone beacons broadcast URLs that can be detected by smartphones even without an app. Services on the device such as Nearby Notifications, Samsung CloseBy or Physical Web compatible apps scan for and display these Eddystone URLs after passing them through a proxy.

On Android phones – Nearby is a Google service developed for Android phones. It scans for Eddystone URLs and detects packet if any.

UPDATE: Nearby will be discontinued from December 6, 2018. We have launched NearBee for Android that delivers non-passive, non-generic, rich notifications to the lock screens of Android users. Read our blog to know why it’s superior to Google Nearby. Download NearBee for android.

 

On iOS phones – To implement beacon campaigns on iOS devices, these devices need to have Physical Web compatible apps or browsers. iOS devices need third-party apps to scan and detect notifications. We have developed our app – “Nearbee”, which continuously scan for Eddystone URLs.

How to run proximity marketing campaigns on iOS devices?

Proximity marketing for iOS devices needs apps. This could be the brand app or a third party app that customers have on their phones

RELATED: https://blog.beaconstac.com/2018/02/how-to-run-a-powerful-proximity-marketing-campaign-on-ios/

Businesses that have a brand app

Proximity marketing campaigns which leverage their brand apps yield impressive results. Companies such as Heineken, Coca-Cola and Screenvision leveraged their brand apps to implement proximity campaigns and witnessed massive success.

Our NearBee SDK will quickly enable you to convert your app into a beacon powered app. If you are seeking to implement a wide array of complex use-cases, use Beaconstac SDK.

Businesses that do not have a brand app

Such businesses need high performing and innovative third-party apps to implement proximity campaigns. Third-party apps strike the right balance between respecting a consumer’s privacy while providing timely proximity marketing notifications. These third-party apps continuously scan for Eddystone URLs and display the notifications as soon as they detect an Eddystone URL.

Beaconstac has developed an app – Nearbee. This app scans for Nearby notifications and displays the notification on the iOS device.

Here’s how it is superior to any other third party app :–

  1. Add an app intent to the campaign.
  2. Allows delivering notifications at a specific time of the day, or days of a week.
  3. The app is designed to run and scan quietly in the background. This means users get the notification even when the device is locked.
  4. With the app, you can send telemetry information to the Google beacon platform where you can monitor the health of beacons.
  5. Send multiple notifications from a single beacon.

Proximity marketing across industries

Proximity marketing in retail

Proximity marketing in retail has moved beyond push notifications and coupons. It is now in the next level of personalised content delivery. It has eventually become the biggest drivers of beacon deployments. Retail is leveraging beacons for attracting new customers, enhancing their store experience, building loyalty through personalised messages and collecting customer feedback.

Major beacon use-cases in retail

  • 1. Inform Shoppers

    Sharing information related to a specific place or object is one of the frequently used retail beacon use-case. Supermarket retailers leverage beacons to share useful information about a newly launched product, the brand or the description of the products they are selling. Restaurants also use beacon campaigns to inform users about the special dishes on the menu, chef’s recommendations and more. Car dealerships on other hand leverage beacons to inform users about the specifications of a car, price comparison with similar models etc. This not only makes information readily available on the mobile but also enhances the customer experience and saves printing dollars.

2. Boost in-store sales

Beacons are being employed in stores and malls to raise awareness about ongoing promotions and discounts, navigate visitors to venues, broadcast sales and discounts messages next to relevant products, and integrate POS to beacons to ease payments. Every retailer promotes the ongoing discounts to boost sales, however, getting beacons to do the job ensures that the pitched offers are relevant for the visitors and hence increase the chances of conversion.

3. Interact and engage with shoppers

In the era of experiential retailing, delightful shopper experience is the key. Beacon makes the visitor experience much more personal, customized and engaging. Motivate shoppers to visit more sections in your store, transform mannequin into talking salesperson, gamify the experience by rolling out location specific quizzes and treasure hunts. In an attempt to close the loop between physical stores and digital awareness, retailers are also linking beacon campaigns to social media channels. This enables users to share their in-store experience, online. Other ways to enhance the shopper experience are – enable booking/registering for a test drive through the smartphone, welcoming users into the store and informing them about one deal they should not miss out.

4. Help visitors navigate through your store

GPS is great for outdoor locations, however, it doesn’t work as expected when a visitor enters a building. This is where beacons are handy (GPS vs beacons)! Beacon powered apps use the triangulation method to detect the exact position of Bluetooth devices, indoor or outdoor. This is especially helpful for multi-storey malls, huge airports and museums. For the end-user, it functions just as a GPS. Beacon navigations can be marked with important locations such as important stores or art pieces, refreshment zones etc.

Proximity marketing in real estate

Real estate is one of those transforming industries that has recently picked up significant interest in beacon-based proximity marketing for boosting customer experience. The real estate brokers and agents are currently using beacons to attract home buyers, capture leads, push business cards and engage with them.

Major beacon use-cases in real estate

  • 1. Driving traffic

    Attaching a beacon to the ‘Open House’ sign can go a long way in attracting potential clients. The notification can disperse a lot of useful information about the house, previous owners and even a form that lets potential buyers fix an appointment with the real estate agent.

  • 2. Enhancing the buyer’s experience

    Instead of an agent explaining things about the house, beacons can do that. Every room that a potential buyer enter can have a beacon that sends out detailed information about it. This allows buyers to have their own personalized experience and more than one buyer can browse through the house without needing a dedicated real estate agent.

Proximity marketing in real estate

Real estate is one of those transforming industries that has recently picked up significant interest in beacon-based proximity marketing for boosting customer experience. The real estate brokers and agents are currently using beacons to attract home buyers, capture leads, push business cards and engage with them.

Major beacon use-cases in real estate

  • 1. Driving traffic

    Attaching a beacon to the ‘Open House’ sign can go a long way in attracting potential clients. The notification can disperse a lot of useful information about the house, previous owners and even a form that lets potential buyers fix an appointment with the real estate agent.

  • 2. Enhancing the buyer’s experience

    Instead of an agent explaining things about the house, beacons can do that. Every room that a potential buyer enter can have a beacon that sends out detailed information about it. This allows buyers to have their own personalized experience and more than one buyer can browse through the house without needing a dedicated real estate agent.

If you like thios anayltical research blogging let me know in the comments and I will kick it up.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member