Here’s how digital marketers can leverage IoT for better results

THE emergence and the subsequent proliferation of the internet of things (IoT), facilitated by robust networking infrastructure and increased capabilities of modern computing may seem like a natural progression.

However, the rapid growth of IoT is also significantly transforming all industries and disrupting business as usual, especially sectors that are driven by data, such as digital marketing.

As IoT — which is set to gather an unprecedented amount of data — further unlocks futuristic digital media strategies, marketers have to understand the extent of changes the technology is about to bring the digital marketing industry.

Here some of the ways IoT is expected to transform the industry as we know it:

# 1 | Banking on big data

IoT provides access to information from diverse touchpoints which can offer digital marketers greater insight on the customer journey from the moment of initial interest to the point of purchase.

Since marketers now have the exact location of a consumer in the buying journey, marketers equipped with data could create more customer interaction to enhance the experience to convert the sale.

However, the use of consumer data has to be ethical and in compliance with the relevant regulations concerning data protection.

# 2 | Enhanced market research

While data collection and processing mechanisms are getting more sophisticated by the minute, IoT will further add few extra layers of depth to the field of market research and widen the industry in general.

At the moment, IoT is mainly being deployed at the enterprise setting, and eventually, as the technology makes its way into consumer homes, marketers will have more consumer data from IoT enabled devices to gain insights from.

The abundance and the added dimensions to the data will allow marketing professionals to come up with more accurate predictions for their target market and demography.

# 3 | Unlocking insights on consumer lifestyle

At the moment, digital marketing is centered around publicly available data, primarily from social media, but IoT devices will paint a clearer picture of the consumer lifestyle.

Everyday consumer devices such as home voice assisted automation systems, smartwatches, climate control systems, and even kitchen appliances will become connected to a common network with a constant stream of data.

This data will provide marketers with the ability to take personalized marketing to new heights.

# 4 | Massive shift in the SEO industry

Machines are becoming smarter in recognizing human voices, thanks to AI-powered technologies such as natural language processing (NLP).

And, as IoT devices become more accessible, more consumers will speak out their questions to search engines, instead of typing in their queries as they do now.

The increasing frequency of voice-commands will lead AI-powered search engines to try to ‘understand’ the users intent behind a query to deliver optimal results, instead of simply looking up keywords.

This will eventually lead to changes in how web pages are ranked, that will be based on natural language and intent instead of keywords, which will massively transform how marketers create contents.

In conclusion, as IoT helps collect more data about the customer, it will create a whole new landscape for digital marketers — allowing them to refine their marketing techniques and strategies.

However, they must remember that they’re custodians of customer data, and should always protect it and use it to enhance the customer experience, and nothing else.

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