Arduino Mega Server Advertising Technology
The latest version of Arduino Mega Server has another interesting technology, namely, an advertising and marketing engine that opens up very interesting prospects for the project and its partners in terms of advertising and promoting their products, goods and services. I want to tell you about this technology, but about everything in order.
Advertising space inside ... 8-bit controller
What are we talking about? We have an 8-bit controller, which up to this point was only able, figuratively speaking, to blink LEDs, but, with the advent of the Arduino Mega Server , it became possible to create an unlimited number of sites with unlimited functionality on this controller. Any sites with any functionality. Do you want - managers, do you want - information, do you want - game, do you want ... advertising. And, if there is such an opportunity, then why not take advantage of it?
Indeed, why not take this opportunity for the benefit of users, the project itself, and its partners?
Marketing
Marketing in this case is elementary and obvious, there are no breakthroughs and revelations. The audience of the project at the moment is about 1000 downloads and installations of the system (version 0.12). This is a super-target audience of advanced geeks (other AMS do not download or install), extra-focused on new technologies and the purchase of high-tech iron. Among the downloads there are company leaders, heads of technical departments, specialists working in various positions, and their attention can be captured and brought to these people the necessary information and ideas. In general, advertising in AMS is a powerful tool (in the right hands).
And this is just the beginning. Now only the fourth alpha has been released, in the future the project’s popularity and its audience will only grow and, given that the Arduino Mega Server is a unique project, after a while it will inevitably reach a foreign audience, which will open up even more interesting prospects for companies wishing to promote their products and projects through AMS.
How it works
Everything ingenious is simple. Any company can create their own site inside Arduino Mega Server. The appearance of the site and its content can be absolutely anything, inside the system, all the features that are on the "big" Internet are available, up to the creation of 3D worlds (on an 8-bit controller!). In the basic version, this is a branded version of the site, with your style, your logo, etc. And ... with your products, goods, ideas and projects. AMS user can switch to your site with one click, directly on the fly, without rebooting and other manipulations. One click - and you are already on another site.
And this does not affect the functionality of the Arduino Mega Server itself. The controller has an almost unlimited information space (up to 32 GB). By the way, the Internet is not needed for this system. AMS is completely autonomous and it can do all miracles directly “in the field” or as part of your AMS-based product (the latest version adds support for real-time modules, and even AMS’s time is now autonomous).
A site can be completely “yours”. And it can be arranged a little trickier, namely: the first page is a landing page, and the rest can be ordinary AMS pages, only designed in accordance with your corporate style. The calculation here is simple: if the user likes your design, then he can stay on your site and work quietly with AMS, but he will be constantly in your corporate environment.
Marketing engine
The marketing engine is also simple, but effective as a samurai sword. The purpose of the engine is to show the user the banners of your company, in the basic version - just a logo with a link leading to your website. The only subtlety is that banners are not shown every time, but with an adjustable frequency. In the basic version - on every 15th page. This absolutely does not bother and does not cause irritation for the user, at the same time clearly captures your brand in its perception.
The place of displays was also chosen so as not to annoy users and not annoy them, namely, in the strip, directly above the footer of the site. If the user has not scrolled the page to the footer, then he will not see the banner, which further reduces the frequency of banners appearing on the screen and annoying users from displaying ads.
In general, the average user is more likely to perform the target action and will not experience any discomfort.
Advertising opportunities
You are in no way limited in your advertising opportunities. The amount of information can be any, the content design can be any, the number of links can be any and the links can lead to any resources.
You can adjust the frequency of appearance of your logo on AMS pages, you can change the composition of banners, dynamically change links, etc.
Banners and design elements of your sites can be made animated (“jumping”, changing size, brightness, etc.).
You can use such marketing techniques as exclusive discounts on certain products or on groups of goods, promotions, etc. AMS can generate unique numbers for discount and bonus programs. In general, your marketing opportunities in the AMS environment are limited only by the imagination of your marketers.
Examples of company sites
What I am talking about in this article is not theoretical reasoning (it would be nice, as it were ...), but a report on a launched and working marketing program and technology. Here are examples of sites of partner companies of the project (located inside the AMS system version 0.13).
Let's take a closer look at the work of this technology on the example of the site-theme of one of our partners, Arduino-KIT.
Arduino-kit
An online store of electronics, Arduino components and kits for beginners to study microcontrollers and robotics.
The Arduino-KIT website in the Arduino Mega Server system is designed in accordance with the corporate style of the company and provides the user with a brief summary of its activities and the products it sells. It also provides links to the company 's training services ( Arduino-TV ) on the Internet.
In general, a user who until then had no idea about Arduino-KIT, having familiarized himself with just one page, gets the concept and full idea of the existence of such a company and its lines of business. And can immediately go to her site and make a purchase.
In order to see the site in full detail, click on the picture.
Plus, specifically for this project, Arduino-KIT has opened a discount program and any AMS user can take advantage of this offer and buy Arduino components at a discount. This is another tool to attract customers and increase brand awareness.
And for AMS users, this is an opportunity to buy goods at a discount.
It seems to be nothing special, but we must not forget that all this works inside a conventional microcontroller (which is surprising in itself), which, in addition to the above-described functionality, also performs its direct duties - it measures temperature, maintains sensors, controls lighting and communicates via networks with their younger and older "brothers."
And you can use all these features in your projects, because Arduino Mega Server is a completely open and free system, without any restrictions. Build your AMS products, sell them, and use the ad technologies and ideas described in this article.
Conclusion
Here I briefly described the advertising and marketing technologies implemented in the latest version of the Arduino Mega Server. And of course, the project is open to all companies wishing to collaborate or promote their products and services through AMS. Terms of cooperation, partnership and sponsorship are discussed with each partner individually.
P.S
From the latest project news: Arduino Mega Server is ported to the 32-bit Arduino DUE platform, which opens up even more attractive prospects for all of us. You will learn about all the details of AMS expansion to other (32-bit) platforms (Arduino DUE, Arduino M0, Genuino 101) in the following articles.
You will also learn about the introduction of support for network cards based on the W5500 chip and the AMS output to a new high-quality level (32-bit DUE + W5500). Just fire at 3.3 volts.
Addition . A Youtube channel is open and here is a promo video of the Arduino Mega Server, which demonstrates how to work with a real system.