The Internet of Things became a trending buzz word a couple of years back, with everyone very excited about the possibilities for a hyper-connected world. Exhibitions sprung up featuring futuristic looking gadgets that enabled the user to turn on their lights or heating from their phone, whilst still in their car park at work. But it’s only really in the last year or so that the scope and adoption of this smart technology has reached a level of maturity where it can actually be seriously useful to most marketers.
In this article, we reveal 3 killer moves that will allow your brand to catch the wave of the Internet of Things and continue to stay ahead of it.
1. Figure out your universe of interactions
So, before you can begin to take advantage of the marketing opportunities offered by The Internet of Things, you need first to be able to navigate it. And to do this you need a map. You may find it easier to start with a generic list of all the potential data and interaction points you can think of, starting with the conventional phone/tablet end of the spectrum and branching out to coffee machines and printers etc.
Once you have your list, you can assess which of those points might yield potentially useful information that you can use to help market your brand. This then builds into your map of your brand’s specific interaction and data ecosystem.
2. Develop a strategy to access, manage & use the data & interaction points you need
Once you know where your sources of potentially useful data and interaction are, you need a plan for how to deal with them. In some instances, it will be evolving yours or your partners’ products to have the connectivity in the first place. In others, it might be developing new partner relationships to access the data or interaction point your brand needs. Or it may be as simple as updating your permissions and privacy policy.
As well as having access to the information or interaction you wish to target, you need a physical means of handling the resulting data and a solid strategy for how this new facet of your relationship with your customer will work.
3. Design a process for keeping pace with rapid change
Entering The Internet of Things presents a two-edged sword that is the necessity to keep pace with the constantly evolving nature of this thing that is in its infancy. Before you even begin to think about tapping into it, you need to have evolved a process that will enable you to constantly adapt to the myriad changes and evolutions that will no doubt appear even within the first year of your involvement with it.
This doesn’t need to be anything complex, perhaps a small team of nominated subject matter experts who have their noses in all the right tech blogs anyway, who can meet monthly and assess the changes and possible opportunities presented by the latest version of your ecosystem. You just need to make sure this team has a leader and clout with the right stakeholders so their recommendations are actioned promptly.
There are loads more things you can do with this tech trend and others that we identify in our Epsilon Essentials Guide to Marketing Technology.
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