The Impact Of Internet Of Things (IOT) - In Marketing

The Internet of Things (IoT) has changed everyone's lives and is constantly evolving with time. The idea of IoT has existed for a very long time in several different technologies. Today, IoT impacts everything in a business and all industries and affects the customer experience. According to DataProt, there will be more than 10 billion active IoT devices in 2021, surpassing 25.4 billion by 2030. Today, everyone from advertisers to marketers and even customers knows the importance of IoT. But, if some still need to, they should become familiar with IoT technology to get the maximum value of the data and other customer-related information from the numerous web-connected devices.    

The enormous amount of data and network traffic generated from our web-connected devices, along with IoT, has changed many companies' marketing strategies. They can now understand more about their customers in real-time and target the right audience with their content and advertisement. IoT has given marketers many opportunities to engage with customers, comprehend their wants, and respond to their requirements. Marketers can respond to their needs with the appropriate message at the right time and place over the suitable device.  

A brand that wants to excel must ensure that they have the expertise in IoT and can collect, classify, store and process a vast data load. Brands today are spending huge portions of their budget to integrate IoT into their business and want more and more expertise in this field as resources who can work on IoT. As per, DataProt, more than 83% of companies have improved their efficiency by introducing IoT technology. Hence, the future holds great fortunes for those who want to pursue IoT as their career.   

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1) About all the hype– the Internet of Things  

2) Impact of the Internet of things on Marketing  

3) How do marketers use the Internet of things?  

4) Impact of IoT across Industries 

5) Customer-centric - beyond the marketing message 

6) Closing Thoughts 

About all the hype – the Internet of Things  

The Internet of Things is a connection between any physical computing devices, mechanical or digital devices with software, sensors, and processing ability that exchange data and information with other devices over to the internet. Even an animal or human being having a technology embedded in them through which any other person can derive a message or if these can interact with any other IoT device can be a thing in the Internet of Things.  

With the internet coming, people worldwide have been more connected with others than ever before, but this is not just true of people. It is also true of their devices. Thanks to IoT, all our devices today are interconnected and exchange data on the web. For example, if you use a smartwatch connected to your smartphone, every time you get a message or call, it reflects on your watch, or when you go to the gym, all the information about your workout is available on the phone.    

Impact of the Internet of things on Marketing  

By 2025, IoT solutions have the potential to generate anything between 4 trillion to 11 trillion pounds of economic value. IoT is everywhere today, from the local grocery store to the airport, the market, and even at your gym. Hence, a lot of data and information is available for a company to customise the right product and respond on time with appropriate messages. This massive volume of data and information is stored in the cloud and processed with the help of IoT. This is utilised to analyse the buying behaviour of the customers and accordingly strategies the marketing messages. Companies today are using IoT solutions to resolve customer complaints, close sales, analyse customer buying behaviour, and provide notifications about the latest update in the product or services. All this data is used for analysing user habits and targeting personalised advertisements and content.   

IoT is helping businesses expand and make their products and services more appealing to buyers. IoT is also assisting businesses to connect across the globe and share data. For example, if you placed an order from Amazon last month for sugar, and today is the beginning of this month, your Alexa device will surely update you that the sugar is almost over. Now, you can reorder by telling Alexa, and it will be delivered to your door. The Internet of Things helps in live interactions and chatting between customers and the company and various interconnected sellers, like amazon and the sugar company. So, IoT has helped sellers and made buyers’ lives more convenient and given them a lot of spare time. And who does not want to have some spare time?  

By integrating social media with IoT, marketers are using automation. Their customers receive automatic customised messages based on their web search or because of the data obtained through IoT from the inter-connected digital devices. The ultimate goal of marketing is to achieve CTR. With this integration, they earn a 100% Click-Through Rate and conversions, enabling more relevant advertising.   

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How do marketers use the Internet of Things? 

IoT affects data and network traffic; it has to be the expertise that has to handle both together and make the value of it. IoT provides marketers with insights into the typical buying journey of a customer. This helps marketers to transmit their messages at the right time in the buying journey. For example, suppose you added three clothes to your cart the last time you visited a clothing website. In that case, you will now get ads related to the offers on these clothing items on Instagram, and you will be highly motivated to make the purchase. This is simply the digital marketers utilising the data to understand your current status in the buying journey and pass the right message to you. Those marketers who make the value of this treasure trove of data and Customer behavioural information will always have the upper hand in marketing, taking their businesses to greater heights than ever before.   

Data analytics: Marketing has become data-driven today as marketers analyse the buying habits of their customers or prospect customers across platforms through the data obtained by IoT. They utilise all data and information related to how customers interact with their devices that were previously unobtainable and create tailored outreach.   

Creating Dynamic Experience: They capture relevant data, gain insights about customers' buying journeys, and make relevant experiences for them. They provide real-time content and messaging for the needs of their customers through smart product integration. With the help of IoT, there is no more 'one message for all relevant today, so if I am worried about dandruff and you are about hair fall, marketers will ensure to send each of us customised messaging regarding solutions.   

Smarter CRM: With the help of IoT, marketers can quickly resolve issues of customers, and closing sales is much faster, with transactions happening at a much quicker rate today, thanks to IoT. Marketers use smart CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools to classify the massive load of data they receive at their end in real-time. This will help them close sales quickly and with the utmost customer satisfaction rate.   

Exchange of sales data: Exchanges between companies or departments happen very smoothly today. This also helps marketers make real-time changes to their messaging based on purchases from another company. 

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Impact of IoT across Industries  

The Internet of Things affects all industries, irrespective of their size and popularity. Companies across sectors are integrating IoT devices within their network infrastructure and developing new ways to manage and manoeuvre the data obtained through IoT. Customers are also getting hyper-connected as they keep adding more digitally-enabled devices. This has a massive impact on the volume of data generated for marketers. By leveraging IoT solutions, marketers obtain more previously unobtainable data and interpret how consumers interact with their devices, and based on this, they tailor their content and messaging.  

Today, IoT is the driving force behind many industries. Let's take the example of the healthcare industry. It has all the sensitive and crucial patient information stored with the help of IoT and is used not only to cure patients but to market their services to the right kind of people using their history of treatment. A doctor can access every detail related to the patients if their smartphone is connected to the MRI machine and can treat the patient accordingly.   

Coming to the agriculture or farming industry, farmers these days are using IoT in various ways. They connect sensors to each animal and plant and can know all their details in real time. They get information about when is the right time to do the sowing and harvesting and also about the movement of the animals in real-time. Using drones and IoT, the precision of crops is increasing over time.   

When we talk about IoT, it's not only the companies on a digital platform that benefits. Even retail stores benefit from IoT. Through our connected smartphones, retail stores know precisely what the customers are looking for, and they can deliver the products to their doorstep without hassle. Customers can view the details of a product with a touchscreen in front of the product or even proving smart fitting rooms for trial.  

Regarding transportation, with the sensors attached to vehicles, IoT can guide drivers to drive so they can reduce fuel or avoid traffic. In the future, we may see cars performing minor repair functions on their own when the driver takes a nap. Such is the potential of IoT.  

Most homes and buildings today use automation and are becoming smart, all thanks to IoT. They reduce human work and give better solutions. With smart homes, we have smart tv, smart watches, smart refrigerators, and many more IoT solutions that connect digitally.   

With the advantage of IoT in every industry, marketers have endless opportunities to leverage, listen and respond to customer needs appropriately. And make an edge for their brand. From the sensors connected to animals to our wearables, homes, cars, public places, and more, marketers have enormous opportunities to interpret the data and tailor their outreach. Also, appropriate messaging at the correct hour, at the right place and over the proper devices plays an important role. 

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Customer-centric - beyond the marketing message 

The effect of IoT on every consumer is also significant, with their interconnected digital devices. These devices, in no time, transmit data on the internet instantaneously to the sellers. With so much data at one's disposal, marketers must be careful about classifying private information, which has also been a focus for different nations of late, like the EU's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).   

IoT comes with big data, and businesses have to process and ensure the privacy and safety of their customers. Marketers have to ensure they are only using the relevant information for marketing their product or service and do not hinder the customer's privacy in the name of personalization. For instance, a smart bulb in your house knows when you sleep, but if you are awake late at night for a few days, you don't want a company sending you insomnia medication-related messages every late night. This is daunting, and marketers have to draw a line between targeting their messages to customers and disturbing their state of mind.   

Also, marketers have to ensure other things with the help of IoT. For example, messaging at the right time is only helpful if the customer receives a product late because of a logistics problem. When marketers obtain data regarding customer preferences, these preferences can also be present at retail stores for the convenience of more customers.   

With the help of IoT, brands can collect individual customers' data without any intervention from others. This way, IoT helps maintain the security of the customers. Managers have to ensure they use IoT not only for their advantage but also to ensure the safety of their customers. Marketers must provide unprecedented access to customer-related data with complex statistics that should not lead to false discovery rates.  
 

Closing Thoughts 

If you are thinking of adopting IoT into your marketing game or the fact that IoT and marketing can go together excites you. Here are a few things to keep in mind.   

It would help if you focused on where your customer starts interacting with your brand, whether it is a retail store, Facebook, or any other channel. Then use your IoT marketing strategies to create engagement there. Collecting previous data will help you solve your customers' problems. Then send them customised messages for the solutions that engage them with your brand. It would be best if you had a team of marketers who understand data and can create value for those. Because without weight, this will only remain as chunks of numbers and statistics. Comment if you have inquiries, and we will get back to you with the solution.