In the modern world, the Internet of Things (IoT) brings together a whole range of different devices and technologies that we use every day in our lives. The automation of production processes, robotics, smart home, and embedded solutions in payment terminals and ATMs.
Such networks will make it possible to thoroughly reorganize social and economic processes, excluding the need for human participation from them. How Marketers Can Benefit From IoT Solutions
Large companies and brands have relied on developing applications that the user can install on a mobile device. These applications are used to organize communication in “real-time” mode. For example, such applications have been in demand among the owners of cafes and restaurants, banks and financial institutions, and retail stores for the last few years. Instant feedback is almost in the first place for modern buyers. It is important for them to ask a question and immediately get an answer, and not wait until the manager picks up the phone, opens catalogs, and tells them about the presence or absence of goods in the assortment.
What is the Importance of IoT Devices in Marketing
1. The Process of Product Development will be Improved
The data that the Internet of Things will provide to professionals in various fields will help make products better, grow their quality, and add and remove functions. Businesses will have a deep understanding of how goods are used, which will give a major impetus to growth. That’s how marketers can benefit from IoT devices for business.
2. Strengthening Relationships with Clients
Trust and respect are the postulates on which modern marketing is based. Thanks to the new concept, the business will be able to quickly respond to customer questions and doubts. Relationships with each customer will become stronger.
3. Demand for Innovative Products & Quality Solutions
The implementation of IoT solutions doesn’t require technological transformations. Companies that are the first to implement intelligent and innovative solutions will gain customer confidence and high demand for goods and services. This applies not only to B2C but also to B2B customers.
4. There are Smart & Relevant Approaches to Advertising
If the product is constantly connected to the Internet, you can track the user’s activity, desires, interests, and doubts through questions and settings. And this will make advertising more accurate if it focuses on each customer.
5. Marketing Tactics & Strategies are Going to be Changed
Everything is changing. Those solutions that made a profit yesterday today don’t work. For example, new ways of communication with customers will appear.
6. There will be More Ways to Stay in Contact
Nowadays, marketers use phone numbers, email addresses, and social networks, but in the future, they will use the products to communicate with customers. For example, they can use a refrigerator, TV, kettle, or car’s control panel.
7. Automation of Marketing & Routine Procedures
Smart devices collect data so that you no longer have to deal with many analytical operations. That’s true; it is still far from full automation.
IoT solutions can be integrated at every stage of the usual marketing process.
2Smart Cloud Platform Helps Business to Find New Ways to Understand a Customer
The Internet of Things provides the greatest scope for marketing creativity in the field of marketing communications. Here the product itself becomes a media channel. Moreover, we are talking not only about wearable devices, which become another platform for communication with the consumer but also about a physical product that becomes able to convey to the consumer much more information than just packaging.
The 2Smart cloud platform allows you to improve an existing product, for example, to automate certain functions. This will not only have a beneficial effect on the consumer’s relationship with your company but will also allow your marketers to better understand the user’s needs. The 2Smart cloud platform offers:
- Tools to develop and maintain IoT solutions;
- Mobile app to manage connected devices and track and analyze metrics.
A New Approach to Consumer Insights
The integration of IoT solutions allows you to get a more expanded array of data than traditional methods of marketing research. Usually, in order to understand how people use the product, companies limit themselves to communicating with customers within the framework of focus groups or in-home visits, which gives a limited understanding of the actual use of the product. IoT solutions integrated into the product itself allow receiving a constant stream of data on how the customer interacts with the product, what functions they use, and based on these insights, change the product, making it more attractive.
The same goes for consumer behavior research in a store. Currently, the main research methods are either joint shopping trips or eye-tracking technology, which tracks the look of the buyer on the shelf, but is quite expensive, so only a few companies can afford such research with a small sample of respondents. In the case of the Internet of Things, a conventional camera installed in a store, equipped with gesture or emotion recognition technology, as well as a data processing system, will allow businesses to quickly get much more accurate data on the behavior of consumers.
Constant Product Improvement
A completely familiar product with an integrated IoT solution can become somehow innovative, aimed to meet the needs of the audience in a new way. For example, a simple toothbrush can be improved with a mobile app. This mobile app can help moms teach their kids how to brush their teeth or send notifications to remind them about the time of toothbrushing. For the manufacturer, in this case, there is also added value in the form of technical data on the frequency of procedures, the modes used, and other information that the application collects.
Retail Transformation
The data obtained about the behavior of consumers at the shelf will influence the changes in the store space: how to change the display, whether to place a promo on pallets or place a promotional stand.
Another possible IoT solution for an in-store is the placement of sensors that are synchronized with a mobile phone or mobile application. Moreover, the NFC or iBeacon technology used in this case is designed so that the customer, passing by a shelf with a product that, for example, is being discounted that day, can receive instant notifications about this if sensors are placed on the product itself or on the promotional counter.
The transformation of the internal structure of stores will change the way of buying, even in such conservative areas as fashion retail.
New Ways to Communicate With Consumers
The Internet of Things provides the greatest scope for marketing creativity in the field of marketing communications. Here the product itself becomes a media channel. Moreover, we are talking not only about wearable devices, which become another platform for communication with the consumer but also about a physical product that becomes able to convey to the consumer much more information than just packaging.
In this regard, the case of the alcohol industry is noteworthy, in which, unlike the traditional FMCG, there are two main headaches for a marketer – the fight against counterfeiting and legislative restrictions on communications. For example, specialists in the IoT field creatively address both of these issues by placing sensors on Johny Walker whiskey bottles.
Along with IoT solutions, standard media, such as billboards, are also getting smarter. A good example of this is one of the most sensational cases in the automotive industry – interactive advertising for the launch of the new Lexus. The billboards used in the campaign were equipped with the technology of reading the brand of the car and, based on the data obtained, showed customized messages for drivers.
And finally, IoT solutions are useful for engaging consumers in the interaction with the brand at the point of sale so that the traditional stimulation of sales and promotional mechanics take on a new character. For example, one of the American startups offers an interesting solution for brands. The customer is invited to go to the site, enter a promo code and make a post about mentioning the brand, for which the consumer immediately receives a gift, and the brand receives a mention on the network, which is expected to increase brand awareness among the target audience. In the future, IoT solutions will find more and more opportunities for application, transforming traditional marketing processes and captivating both consumers and manufacturers.
Conclusion
So, in the era of the Internet of Things, the communication between companies and customers has been changing. Marketers will use not only smartphones, watches, and glasses to monitor users and interact with them but also cars and solutions related to a smart home – a refrigerator, a toothbrush, a kettle, etc. Don’t miss the chance to get a new way to understand your consumers and increase revenue, implement IoT solutions in existing products or make a new one. Internet of Things (IoT) is an innovative solution that marketers are already adopting. Whoever did it first got a lot of advantages.
