Return to overview

IoT and Digital Marketing Disruption

IoT Has Made Waves In Manufacturing, Now It’s Marketing’s Turn

We’re no longer spouting about how much of an impact IoT has had on pretty much every industrial vertical, the evidence is very clear. From predictive maintenance and downtime reductions, to using algorithms to predict the weather and possible power outages, IoT has brought about an array of previously unimagined benefits to the way we carry out our work.

COVID-19 has further accelerated this adoption, as we’ve found ourselves working from home with no choice but to dial in remotely. This new way of working has only pushed us to collaborate with our coworkers and other departments outside of what we’re used to. This also favours marketing teams, who are now even more intertwined in the inner workings of the business, and are no longer a siloed team.

But how does IoT benefit marketing? With the right safe and legal tactics in place, both you and your customers can gain amazing insights into how you operate through IoT data. Personalisation, product development and even SEO spots on Google can all play a part in taking your marketing to the next level with the help of IoT.

How IoT is Upgrading Digital Marketing

1. New Product Developments & Personalisation Through Marketing Feedback

IoT technologies enable constant iterations and rapid developments of products in real-time through the use of digital twin technologies. Before, product development consisted of customers using the product, the manufacturer waiting for the feedback and results, and then another round of developments. Even when the customers gave their feedback, it might not have been wholly accurate or necessary.

Enter IoT and continuous real-time data.

Given the correct permissions, manufacturers can now track their customers’ product usage. These insights will prove invaluable as companies can assess exactly how their customers interact with products and can see where improvements can be made. Therefore, anticipating the future needs of their customers.

With this tracking in place, businesses can then implement the right tools to develop new products and also market them in a way that is appealing to the customer because it is based on exactly how they are using the product. This data also highlights the longevity of the product, so marketers know when to start producing insightful campaigns as their customers will be in need of new products.

2. IoT is Powering Click-Through-Rates

Due to the surge in connectedness and predicting failure in equipment and manufacturing parts, marketers will be able to optimise their marketing and SEO to those who are in need of those specific parts right away.

Take for example a water pump in a factory setting. If this pump goes out of action this could lead to dire consequences, so they’ll need to replace this pump right away. With the right marketing campaigns in place, your products can be perfectly tailored on the search engines to display first due to the problem circumstances your customers find themselves in.

Aligning your marketing to be in touch with customer’s interests, behaviors and past purchases will ensure you can create the perfect product and campaign for when they need your product most.

3. Unifying the Customer Journey

Because IoT impacts customers along all stages of their journey, it will become much easier to analyse how they react to marketing campaigns or product suggestions. Understanding how our customers use their data will provide companies with the knowledge to create more targeted campaigns, and easily bring them along the funnel because you are more in touch with customer pain points.

Taking information such as the customer’s digital footprint, their device usage and characteristics around those devices will enable IoT companies to better tailor their marketing efforts towards these customers. Because IoT encompasses all manner of data, even current political or even geological events can impact decision-making, so pulling this data in ensures cohesive and safe marketing campaigns across the board.

Taking Precautions

Although all of these insights provide value to the end-user, they must be done so in an ethical, moral and secure way. Companies are dealing with people’s privacy here so must take extreme care and caution, by letting customers know exactly how their data is being used and what the outcomes will be. Although personalisation of ads and products is beneficial to the end user, rather than spammy drivel and ads, people are still entitled to their privacy on and offline.

IoT is a big driver in how companies are stepping up to the mark when meeting customer demands and nuances. Having these conversations with your customers, ensuring your platform and IoT products are safe and secure, and using customer data in a moral way will ensure you can have successful marketing campaigns and happy customers for years to come. If you would like to chat about how IoT can benefit your compan, please contact us today.