How to Use IoT in Marketing?

The “Internet of Things”, IoT, is a topic every marketer talks about. 51% of the world’s top global marketers expect IoT will revolutionize the marketing landscape by 2020.

Internet of Things Definition

The pervasive presence of a variety of devices – such as sensors, actuators, and mobile phones – which, through unique addressing schemes, are able to interact and cooperate with each other to reach common goals.

– Peter M. (2017). Embedded System Design: Embedded Systems Foundations of Cyber-Physical Systems, and the Internet of Things . Springer, P3

The definition above is based on IT sector, so what does IoT mean to marketers? These smart, connected devices are emerging in this era for marketing. It provides endless opportunities for marketers and advertisers to listen and respond to the consumers’ behavior.

What’s more? This generation is eager to improve their lives with these smart devices and provide marketers with information for more personalized communications, hence providing opportunities for real-time, immediate engagement and more efficient customer service.

With IoT, marketers also becomes Data Scientist. As shown in the picture above, IoT enables a more effective and quick collection of data process, ensuring marketing becomes more relevant and engaging. IoT is invading the world, advancing in quick speed, hence marketers have to understand how can they use IoT in their campaigns.

How can Marketers use IoT?

According to Dayna Rothman, Director of Content Marketing at Everstring and previously led content for Marketo, Marketers can use IOT the following ways:

Recently I have bought a pair of Addidas Shoes, above has its series and also QR Code for Spotify Song Playlist when running. I chanced upon the shoes online on Instagram, where it provides detailed description of benefits and values I can gain from buying the product, there were tags attached to show price and as we press on the tags, they direct us to the actual main webpage where we can purchase the shoes. It is so convenient and fast, user-super-friendly. Many other stores that went online has also used subscription options to update consumers through emails or text messages that could be sent to the consumer’s devices. Consumers could also Direct Message them on social media platforms and expect a reply within the day. As I went through the purchasing process, I wondered, how did they know I would press on their Instagram page in the first place? They knew the buying behaviors of consumers now.

This generation is living in an instant gratification world, campaigns becomes conveniently available on devices. The more targeted they get, the more information they have access to about their consumers, the better the marketing outcome.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, IoT provides endless opportunities for marketing to evolve and reach out to the consumers. Invading devices for marketing becomes extremely crucial, marketers must not missed out this part of marketing and look at the consumer’s point of view to understand the trend of buying behaviors using devices. After reading this post, how do you think you can use IoT in your marketing campaigns? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!