Recently I wrote about how marketing executives need to be both
entrepreneurial and tech-savvy. It might be enlightening to look more closely at the “tech” that marketers need to be savvy about.
The
ubiquity of digital technology offers a level of interaction with
consumers that yesterday’s marketers could not have imagined, from
geotargeting to 24/7 connectivity to content consumption across multiple
media platforms. It also makes for a lot of relevant data flowing over
networks.
Yet the world is getting even more interconnected by way of an emerging set of technologies known as the Internet of Things.
The
IoT promises to add intelligence to everything from commonplace
consumer items such as cars, light bulbs, and refrigerators, to
industrial items such as machinery, railroad ties, and agricultural
fields. Those “things” can collect and broadcast data across networks,
enabling the data to be analyzed to add more value.
Consumer and
industrial products will be valued increasingly not just for their
standalone functionality, but also for how well they work within the
digital ecosystem.
Data Uber Alles
In the
consumer realm, companies’ marketing success will depend on their
ability to connect with, and creatively exploit, the interdependent
network of apps, devices, and services.
Such interdependence
suggests that companies will no longer strictly contain customer data
but instead will share it with trusted partners.
In terms of
sharing data, Uber, the ride-sharing service, is enabling marketing
opportunities for its partners by mining data about its customers’
movements: where they go, where they shop, where they work, and so on.
For
example, Uber users who are also preferred guests of Starwood are given
the chance to earn Starpoints whenever they climb into an Uber ride.
Redeemable for free stays! Upgrades! Air miles!
Hospitality service Airbnb is also meticulous in its use of data.
When Airbnb relaunched its referral program a few months ago, it began measuring everything, including invitations sent via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and direct link.
Using
data analytics, the company found, for example, that an invitation sent
with a photo of the sender was perceived by the recipient to be more
like a gift than a promotion.
Airbnb also found that using the
recommended contacts features in the Android operating system and Gmail
resulted in a higher conversion rate, likely because these contacts are
closer to the sender.
The Thing Itself
A recent
survey of senior marketers by
the Economist Intelligence Unit found that the highest percentage (51%)
of respondents think that, by 2020, the IoT will have made the biggest
technology impact on marketing, edging out real-time mobile transactions
(50%).
The IoT promises to revolutionize not only marketing, but business models as well. Take
Gooee,
for example. Gooee’s LED light “engine” not only manages energy usage
and lowers maintenance costs, but it also incorporates motion detectors
and CO2 sensors.
This means a connected lighting company can use
Gooee’s platform to provide electric light but also energy management,
security, and fire alarm services—even retail traffic monitoring.
CX Marks the Spot
Customer experience is paramount in the digital economy, and marketers are beginning to realize that it’s theirs to control.
While
only a third of senior marketers are responsible for it now, according
to the Economist Intelligence Unit survey, three-quarters think they
will be responsible for end-to-end, lifetime customer experience within
three to five years.
Customer experience can drive corporate
identity. For example, Airbnb’s brand focus is not on cheap rentals but
on overall hospitality.
What draws many guests to Airbnb is the desire to experience the foreign “scene”—culture, environment, and people.
And
given Airbnb’s two-sided marketplace—the need to grow both the supply
side (hosts) and the demand side (guests)—the company is not just in the
business of renting a place to stay. It’s also focused on the logistics
of the entire trip and providing that elevated experience to the
traveler.
The Airbnb example also helps make an important point
when it comes to marketers and technology: Don’t confuse the platform
with the product. In other words, technology is how Airbnb does what it
does—it’s not what Airbnb offers.
Let’s look at Nest Labs, a
company that makes IoT-enabled smoke detectors, thermostats, and video
monitoring cameras. Nest Labs creates revolutionary tech products, but
its marketing department is deliberately “anti-tech,”
says Doug Sweeny, VP of marketing.
Its strategy is to avoid a
Jetsons
interpretation of its message, he explains, to downplay the imposition
of high-tech intelligence into everyday life that might intimidate
potential customers or make them skeptical.
Instead, the company intends to talk, simply and straightforwardly, about how the products benefit homeowners, Sweeny says.
Triggering Alerts
In
the future, as a function of the interconnected IoT digital ecosystem,
marketing will make greater use of real-time data analytics,
complex-event-processing software, and machine-learning systems.
For instance, companies will combine product-engagement data with their customer data to promote effective “re-targeting.”
Both
traditional and digital media will use data-derived strategies to drive
consumers to engage with products, and data from those IoT-enabled
product interactions will in turn get fed back into the calculations
about which messages to serve to consumers the next time they engage.
A
negative example involves triggering alerts of a poor user experience.
If, say, a consumer presses a button five times in a row on a new
device, it’s a fair bet she’s having difficulty getting her new product
to work.
In response to that IoT real-time data, the brand could
send a how-to video link or offer real-time chat support to the user’s
smartphone, and thereby avoid poor negative reviews on social media
and/or expensive product returns.
If that all sounds pretty
complicated, take heart. Internet technology will get simpler. Native
apps will overload consumers and fade away as web apps provide users
with everything they need in one place—their browsers.
Products
will transform into interfaces used to access one unified platform: the
interconnected, IoT-enabled ecosystem known as the web.
source:
forbes.com 
