When beacons were first introduced, the application of the technology had great potential, but the adoption rate hasn't met that expectation. James Grant, Founder of Live Beacon wants to change all that with a device that can be easily deployed out of the box.
What is a Beacon?
A beacon is a small devices that uses Bluetooth Low Energy to transmit signals on to smart mobile devices, such as smartphones. The app on the phone picks up the signal, understands the position of the consumer on micro-local scale and delivers hyper-contextual content based on the location.
Once the application on the consumer's smartphone detects the Beacon, it can communicate the data to its server to trigger an action.
Why is Live Beacon Different?
In an email interview with Small Business Trends, Grant said one of the biggest challenges companies faced with beacons is they underestimated the complexity of connecting the physical and digital worlds.
Live Beacon was designed to simplify the deployment of beacons, and it does this without a single line of code. It lets you send location-specific information from your web page, video or web app up to 30 meters (100 feet) using the free Live Beacon app and cloud portal.
Once you deploy the beacons, iOS and Android smartphones receive notifications when they are within the range of a beacon.
Grant said, “Building a 'ground up' iBeacon experience is a huge undertaking and a massive distraction from their core business.” And this is where he thinks Live Beacon will succeed where others have had a hard time.
He went on to say, “There's also a disconnect between beacon hardware manufacturers and software providers, which makes things difficult. We believe the hardware and software should be developed together (much like Apple's philosophy with the iPhone and iOS). By offering a single universal product to all of our customers, we're able to offer it at a much lower cost and continuously improve it for everyone (as opposed to hitting the reset switch with each new project).
What Can You Do with Live Beacon?
The possibilities are limitless, because the technology is highly flexible and users can develop many different type of use cases for virtually any location.
According to Live Beacon, these are some of the ways in which businesses can deploy the devices.
- Build a digital loyalty and reward system so they don't have carry a card or clip coupons when they enter your business. A simple tap at the register with their phone and they can get their discount.
- Replace brochures, pamphlets and other printed materials with beacons that transmit online content. This not only saves you money in printing costs, but it quickly lets you update the content so you won't have outdated information on old brochures.
- Create multimedia tours for different attractions in your city by placing beacons near points of interest.
- Gamify the world with activities that keep participants active and entertained.
- Simplify and automate access to smart connected devices in your home or place of business.
- Make menus and specials available in front of restaurants.
For small businesses with brick and mortar stores, Live Beacon offers another way to connect digitally with their customers outside of a website or social media. And with the complexities of the older beacons no longer a factor, you can now add and remove content at will to let your customers know your latest offerings as they walk by your place of business.
Grant concluded by saying, “Live Beacon is easiest and best way for small businesses to deliver location-specific information to their customers. With Live Beacon you can use your existing online content and be up-and-running in a matter of hours.”
Live Beacon will be launching a Kickstarter campaign in the very near future, but you can visit their website today.
Images: Live Beacon
This article, "Live Beacon Sends Web Content and Notifications to Nearby Phones" was first published on Small Business Trends
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