Marketers finally getting around to connecting to consumers through IoT.

It has taken a long time but marketers have finally decided there might be something to the Internet of Things and using it and data to really engage customers. While that may be exciting and welcome news for advertisers don't get too excited yet. Just because they have decided it might work does not mean they are getting aggressive with plans to utilize it or invest more budget into it like they are programmatic. In typical fashion things like programmatic, video and native need to run their course until the metrics are just so bad they decide it is too painful to continue to watch large budgets go to waste. for now the numbers are promising and look a bit like the adoption of programmatic. But IoT strategies will take longer because they require much more work and a tactical, customer centric approach, which may mean, it seems like too much work for the return they may not get.

Slow and steady may not win anything. - With several larger players leading the way when it comes to things like RFID bracelets (Disney), Beacons (lord & Taylor, Marriott) WiFi (Target, Home Depot) and inaudible sound (Pandora), the battle to be first has already been won and in a big way in some cases. Marriott and Disney are showing only a few of the ways IoT can be integrated into a strategy that becomes seamless for customers and enhances the experience. Others like CVS and in some ways Target,  are still working through some of the pitfalls of integration and adding value to the experience. Those still waiting to see if things like beacons will become more cost effective and easier to scale, may also lose the battle for the customer because they are seen as "me too" players. Consumers seem to have a limited amount of patience for the number of app requests they get in order to save money or earn points. The 40% saying they will begin soon or having no plans to utilize IoT technology may face the "eye roll" some retailers got when it came to rewards cards (remember when you decided you didn't have room for anymore in your purse or wallet).

Lots of Challenges & rewards to be had. - Besides a way to connect directly with the costumers most likely to make a purchase there are a number of benefits to integrating an IoT strategy. Many early adopters have seen increased loyalty, increased sales amounts per ticket, the ability to move slower selling items faster, increased store visits in order to earn more rewards, and better insight into their real targeted consumer. Other benefits like traffic trending, and in store traffic pattern data, has been achieved as well, to help retailers actually see where to better place specific items. The biggest benefit has been the added value to customers, and how that translates to loyalty at the cash registers. Retailers like Wal-Mart have been experimenting with cash back rewards connected to the use of their shopping app, where customers scan their receipts to get cash back they can use on future shopping trips. Still the rewards don't come without challenges. The biggest challenge is internal buy in, and getting everyone to the table to agree on how the technology should be adopted and integrated within the business. Heavy silos make it difficult to create a unified approach to this type of marketing. Not far behind that is the challenge of getting customers past the worries of the technology being creepy and then in the habit of using the technology regularly. Even before that, getting marketing to agree on working together on a omni channel, cross device approach to getting them to the technology may be a hurdle.

Keeping an eye on the prize. - The ultimate goal for the use of IoT should first and foremost be adding value to your customer. No matter how much or what type of technology is thrown at them, if it doesn't add value or make them WANT to use it, adoption will be lost and it may even hurt sales. Without a well thought out and thoroughly test plan before it hits the wild, most integrations of IoT risk not being able to accomplish any of the goals they set out to. But with proper integration and data collection that is then integrated with CRM, and tested for its ability to help "tell the story" once the data is in the system, the rewards can be double digit percentages for the businesses willing to put in the work and proper planning. A full 27% of early adopters report getting results far above what they anticipated when they originally set out to integrate the technology. 43% have said they have met anticipated goals with some ease when it comes to customer engagement and demand. 

The bottom line. - While there is always a risk to reward factor for any new marketing undertaking, few have seemed this promising from the very beginning. On the flip side of that, few have had so much at steak when it comes to planning and internal integration, politics, culture and agility. The ability to create a plan that will ad value to customers, get engagement from them, increase sales, improve insight through data collection and improve the ability to better target future marketing messages, are tall orders individually, let alone as KPI's for an overall project. Before that even happens, it seems a total shift in the way sales, marketing, technology and data collection all happen internally need to make the shift to a more customer centric approach. This means a complete change for some organizations. As the saying goes "in order to get different results, you have to let go of the old ways of "business as usual" and do things differently."

 If you think this type of targeting is a good fit for your business or you want to discuss it more please feel free to reach out to me and I can answer any questions on this and where to locate providers who offer this type of service. ([email protected])

Thoughts? Feedback? Feel free to engage each other here and keep this an open forum. Comment here so we can keep the conversation going. If you enjoyed this article please see my others at https://www.dhirubhai.net/today/post/articles/650596?trk=mp-reader-h

Need help? - Bryan Gissiner has been in Digital Advertising for over 20 years in everything from retail to Founding his own tier two ad network. Currently, he help companies utilize the right mix of current advanced technologies and marketing to outperform all of the other available alternative solutions in their target markets. He is a regular contributor on LinkedIn with a large following of other experts from a number of different areas.

Bryan Gissiner has worked on both the publisher and advertiser side helping them to find ways to save budget and increase return on those budgets, often making them 2-3x more successful.

Connect with me! - , please go to www.dhirubhai.net/in/bryangiss, @bryangiss on twitter or contact directly [email protected] and send me an invite with specific requests, to discuss how he can bring his experience to add value to your company and help it continue to grow revenue and ROI.