New method under testing

[Harvez]

Right sharing this info wont effect me what so ever so here you go.

Requirements:

Netbook
USB Extension (3mtr)
Best bluetooth dongle you can buy (choose your flavour)
Bluetooth advertising software (Google it and grab your own flavour)

Ok ive tested this in a local shopping centre and with the setup ive got gives amazing results, hoping the next few days will show results in greens/pendings although there are some tweaks to be made and ive yet to hit the biggest shopping centre which will be the honey pot.

Right install the Bluetooth advertsing software and connect your dongle seems to give better results when using a USB extention, create your campaign which you want to send out to peoples phones and hit go.

The best place is where people are not moving around too much due to B/tooths crappy 100mtr range it works better in seating areas, more so cafe area's like you get on the top floors of shopping centres.

you will need to rename your Netbook to something that people will accept an incoming message from re: when it hits there phone it will say "Accept incoming bluetooth message from" "something promotions" or what ever you choose its a trail and error testing which im still doing.

You need to make sure that what ever your message is that all phones can read it, re: some phones wont allows flash or java etc again trail and error.

during testing I was sat in the cafe area and it was busy but with people walking past too I was getting over 30 people a minute accepting my message, free advertising is great and its totally legal

ive got alot more ideas for this system such as advertising for shops friends businesses etc it's down to you to come up with better ideas but i think it could be a real winner.

Netbooks are a better option as the battery life such as the one i have is up to 7hours so you can get a good session down the shopping centre etc before running out of battery, also have the bluetooth dongle outside the bag discreet seems to work better.

so there you go free advertising with a huge potential if you put in the time and effort.

Harvez

ps. dont hammer me with pm's asking what software I use that's down to you to resource but theres plenty of flavours to choose from

[delude]

What an amazing idea, thanks so much for sharing

[messyhead]

Great idea. What's the USB extension for? Did you have the dongle hidden in a bag?

[Harvez]

works better with the dongle out of the bag, also make sure the backpack you use is open when you start the Netbook or it would soon overheat, I did get ballsy at one point and had the Netbook on the table watching all the connections go through lol.

[pspupgrade]

You, sir, are a genius!

[messyhead]

Originally Posted by Harvez

works better with the dongle out of the bag, also make sure the backpack you use is open when you start the Netbook or it would soon overheat, I did get ballsy at one point and had the Netbook on the table watching all the connections go through lol.

Would people clock that it's you sending the messages if you were sitting with your netbook out? You see people with laptops/netbooks all the time so it wouldn't look that strange.

[Jon]

You can get specialist devices that do this for you to, few clubs send staff around town wearing them

One note of caution, in a shopping centre you may well need permission to advertise.

[Harvez]

The boxes are well expensive and are way overkill for what most people on here would need.

stick to the basics and enjoy.

[the_icks]

can't seem to find anything to work with my Blackberry!!!

[Harvez]

when I tested a blackberry it seemed to try and make a connection with the phone rather than send the message, must be a blackberry thing?
iphones wont accept either the connection either, but at least thats only 2% of all the phones out there that you cant hit the rest are game on

[FurbtasticM]

Great bit of creative thinking, just have to hope that the people reading the messages are tech savvy and have interent enabled phones, so they can check the links (to your site, or straight to FJ?) there and then.

[delude]

I work in the PERFECT environment to carry this out, however, I don't have a netbook. I'm a Mac user, and don't care for windows alternatives so do you think it would be worth buying a dedicated device?

[Snave]

*runs to PC World*

[digger600]

great idea harvez, cheers for sharing only need to get a netbook now cheers mate

[SometingStu]

Great Idea, hoping to get a netbook soon so I'll try this out.

[sgll]

love it. now i need to ifnd me some tools for this. what would you recommend harvez? pm me if you like please

[delude]

Any software for Macs out there? I can't seem to find an alternative.

[FurbtasticM]

Originally Posted by delude

I work in the PERFECT environment to carry this out, however, I don't have a netbook. I'm a Mac user, and don't care for windows alternatives so do you think it would be worth buying a dedicated device?

You'd have to weigh up cost and reward.

Rough and ready, my online experience is that 1 in 10 people who visit my site click through and register with FJ. Of those, 1 in 12 to 15 then go on to complete an offer.

If a netbook and the added software and dongles etc cost £350, then you'll need 18 greens to break even, so roughly 2,000 people receiving and reading your bluetooth messages.

Only Harvez will know so far whether ratios are better with this method but my guess is that it wont be worth buying a new netbook/dedicated device if you don't already own one.

[Snave]

So I guess I'll see you all in Starbucks in say half an hour?

[MJ10]

Fantastic lateral thinking! Will try this! Thanks