A groundbreaking shift in digital marketing is on the horizon and the boom in IoT (Internet of Things) technology will soon allow us to analyze, predict, and respond to consumer behavior in almost every market possible.
What’s the Internet of Things?
The Internet of Things is the connection of everyday products like cars, alarm clocks, and other computing devices via the internet. It allows them to exchange data with each other, providing more context about customers’ product usage. This helps marketers deliver more relevant messages and as a result of greater customer engagement.
Since IoT technology connects the internet with objects that are omnipresent in our daily lives, marketers from almost any industry will be able to engage consumers throughout every phase of the customer journey.
The term “Big Data” is an understatement for the amount of data IoT devices will produce. But marketers might not know how to interpret this unprecedented influx of information. Changes are clearly on the horizon, so here are the main ways IoT will influence digital marketing and how you can prepare for it:
New digital devices will emerge
Since anything connected to the internet could be an avenue for consumer engagement, marketers will move beyond today’s digital devices like laptops, mobile, and tablets. For example, we could use things like car and refrigerator monitors as possible touch points.
Contextual marketing will be revolutionize
IoT devices generate unprecedented amounts of data, so every customer interaction allows marketers to capture consumer intent, behavior, needs, and desires. All these also provide a level of attribution, analytics, and predictive capabilities that were previously unavailable. Based on signals from IoT devices, we’ll be able to push products or services to consumers when they need them rather than waiting for them to show interest.
These insights and the ability to accurately attribute every interaction throughout the customer journey will be groundbreaking.
Personalized messages aligned with customer’s lifecycle stage
The ability to deliver timely, personalized messages at the right moment to the best device will transform digital marketing. The possibilities to provide highly relevant messaging at the optimal moment are unlimited.
IoT could also provide marketers with the information to improve customer experience and determine when they should send acquisition or retention marketing messages.
For example, marketers could use offline purchases coupled with proximity data from IoT devices in a brick and mortar store to target recent purchasers with an upsell email or asking for product feedback.
Increased scrutiny of privacy and security
With more data, we can expect more privacy and security regulations and technologies focused on protecting both consumer and enterprise data.
Methods such as network segmentation, device-to-device authentication, and bolstered encryption techniques will likely emerge to prevent IoT devices from being compromised.