Recruitment Directory's Blog - Australia's #1 Recruitment Technology Blog!
Have you ever used bluetooth for marketing purposes?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth Nearly all mobile phones and laptops have bluetooth installed by default, and we use it to transfer images, ringtones, documents, connect to one another or to other hardware. Feb/March is always around the time Universities and organisations hold Career Expos or Job Fairs. But did you know you can use it as a marketing medium to attract candidates?
Around this time last year, I initially approached a number of employers to see if they were interested in trying out an idea...
The expo was held at a major university in Melbourne during April 2008. Which, 5 employers collectively engaged me to help them attract graduates to their respective brands.
2 x Engineering
1 x Bank
1 x Professional Service
1 x Government Agency
If you have been to a careers expo or job fair before, all employers are pushing freebies, flyers and so forth. As you would be aware - these expos can attract hundreds/thousands of Graduates wanting to work for these organisations. There are usually 2 or 3 staff for each stand, and they just cant talk to each potential candidate at once. There is so many information sheets being handed out to each person most of which just ends up in the bin!
The process was quite simple, I set up a recruitment message (campaign) for each employer and then put it into some "bluetooth push marketing software" I have and left it on a computer in the expo hall. I made the assertion that every university student had a mobile phone.
We had some posters on each employer stand which read "Want to find out about the application process? Turn your mobile phone bluetooth on to receive the information" Every campaign had the online careers page URL for users to either find out more information or apply for the Graduate program.
The software sends out the campaigns automatically pinging any mobile device in the area - it also has a reporting system that records how many/who it was sent to. It locates mobile phone devices within 20 meters from a dedicated hotspot.
The results from the trial were varied. I can’t split the results for each employer's campaign but here are the totals for the expo
- 1400 phones found
- 980 accepted the message
- 420 rejected the message
- 78 failed (but then tried again)
Overall I think it went very well. The demographics was 90% Gen Y and the employers were more than happy with the integrated marketing approach.
Total cost of the project was quite low, and certainly it attracted candidates to their respective brands. The challenge is how to use this innovative tool wisely, and certainly add value to the users. This marketing medium has a lot of impact on end users, so it should be used with wisdom.
Unfortunately I can't give any details to who the employers were, but certainly contact me if you want to find out how you can do this for your recruitment campaign in 2009!
Article URL: http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/buletooth-marketing-for-career-expos-job-fairs-a62.html
Article Tags: 
Hide Comments (5)
Back to Menu
I would assume that you have been involved in these expos before with your previous experience. Each advertiser is trying to outdo the next one. Free gifts, lollies, stickers, magnets, showbags, music and so forth. But do people actually remember the main reason they attend these expos???
Bluetooth is not a new technology, but everyone has forgotten about it with the emergence of wifi and other hardware.
I will send you an email with a link to the software I used. I believe it dose cycles for any new phones every few mins (you can change the settings) and the message is received within a few seconds.
It's not just text messages you could send - but videos, images, business card?
I can think of other scenarios where you can use this technology. Conferences, Shopping Centers, Schools/Universities, Cafes etc.
Any advice on how to increase the benefit without the need for such significant marketing around how to use it - would be greatly appreciated.
Andrea
Unimail
http://www.unimail.com.au/
Would like to hear from you Andrea if you are interested in getting this working effectively. I would like the assist you with this.
Regards,
Steve
http://www.proximitysky.com.au