How IoT Has Revolutionised Marketing

This week in our lectures we discussed 'The Internet Of Things'. I know right, sounds like a made up name a lazy student would come up with (i.e me). But, turns out this made up name is actually quite a complex (and interesting!) concept.

Essentially, ‘IOT encompasses everything connected to the internet, but it is increasingly being used to define objects that ‘talk’ to each other’ (Wired Mag)

Or if we want to get really fancy and complicated, it can be defined as ‘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’ (Giusto et al., 2010)

Still unsure?

IOT is anything that talks/ communicates with something else (tech related). For example, you're probably listening to music right now through bluetooth headphones- IOT technology!

Or tracking your heart rate/ steps/ notifications on your Apple Watch, another example.

Maybe you're one of those lucky people that has a whole smart system set up in their home that connects multiple devices and appliances together. All of these are part of this brand new technology that is IoT.

So how does this technology affect us as modern day marketers?

Well according to Marketo, IoT provides marketers with 'endless opportunities due to the interconnectivity of our digital devices. These include opportunities for brands to listen and respond to the needs of their customers- with the right message, at the right time, on the right device.'

This means that marketers also have the ability to:

• Analyse customer buying habits

• Gain access to more (and previously unobtainable) data and information about consumers

• Have a better insight into the buying journey and be able to see which stage of the journey each consumer is in

• Real-time interactions, POS notifications and targeted, relevant ads

• Efficiently resolve any customer concerns/ problems or questions

So after learning and understanding all this I decided to come up with a list of my own thoughts of what IoT will do/ is doing for Digital Marketing

1. Obviously, with new technology comes more new digital devices and technology after it. With the ability to integrate any device thats connected to the internet, marketers now have access to endless amounts of new opportunities to learn about consumers needs, and therefore, create new products that meet their needs.

2. Increased concern about security- Of course we are going to be concerned about our privacy and security if marketers are now able to access more and more data and information about us! Think- Prof. Elovici TED talk about cyber security

3. Marketers are now able to create timely, more personalised messages to consumers that align with where they are in the purchasing cycle. This leads to more sales and a more personalised buying experience

4. Marketers and agencies skill sets will have to develop, adapt and evolve. Marketing is becoming increasingly more focused on data and analytics, thus it is important that we are experts at understanding data and coming to conclusions in order to make marketing decisions based on this

So, IoT is revolutionary and has essentially changed the way we are able to market and sell products and services to consumers by accessing more, personal, relevant data through technology. But is this entirely safe? Do you feel as though your privacy is being breached? Where do you think technology is heading with this?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!

Thanks for reading :)

Grace

#IoT #Digitalmarketing