INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT)

Internet of things (IOT) is a network of physical devices connected with each other
through the internet.

Smartphones, laptops, tablets, computers, smart TVs, vehicles, smart home

appliances, door locks, wearable devices such as smartwatches, heart and blood
pressure monitoring could be the devices. Sensors and actuators are used by these
devices to gather and exchange data from their environments through the Internet
with each other.

Sensors gather information from the electronic devices and upload it on the internet
and share it with each other. This process is known as Machine 2 Machine (M2M)
communication. The term Internet of things was coined by Kevin Ashton of Procter
& Gamble in 1999.

Some interesting statistics about the Internet of things

 According to Cisco, 50 billion devices will be connected to the internet by

2020.
 According to IDC, by 2020 the worldwide IoT market will grow to $7.1
trillion.
 According to Gartner, by 2020, 250k vehicles will be connected to the
internet.
  Every single person will create 1.7 MB of data every second , by 2020.
 According to Frost and Sullivan each person is likely to have an average of
5.1 connected devices, by 2020.

How IoT helps in digital marketing?

IoT devices not only help to exchange data, but also helps to collect and create a
customer database, which is very significant in this digital era. It is thus said “Data
is King”.

By taking help of the customer database, digital marketers can get better m arketing
insights and create more accurate digital marketing strategies.

How IOT works?

IoT works with the help of its 4 major components:

 Sensors
 Gateway
 Cloud / Big data
 User Interface

Sensors

Collecting information is the first step of IOT workflow. Sensors are continuously
gathering data from their surrounding or object under measurement. Mobile phones,
wearables, and cars also have lots of sensors that gather data. A sensor can measure
a physical phenomenon like pressure, sound, heat, etc, and converts them into a
digital representation.
Common sensors are,

 GPS trackers
 Temperature sensors
 Humidity sensors
 Pressure sensors
 Moisture sensors
 Smoke sensors
 Radio frequency identification tags
 IR sensors

Wireless networks like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zig bee are used by modern smart
devices and sensors to stay connected.

Gateway

A Gateway is like a bridge that connects IOT devices with a cloud. The IoT gateway
is the most important element in the IOT ecosystem. They gather the data from IoT
sensors and transmit them to the cloud, and it also receives information from the
cloud and transfers it to the devices.

Cloud / Big data

Internet of things generates a large amount of data. Activities like data analysis and
storage take place in the cloud infrastructure. Cloud is said to be the brain of IOT.
The analysis comprises of interpreting raw data to determine which is useful and
then provides that information to the end user. This data is valuable for a predictive
analytics model.

User Interface

The last step is delivering useful information to the end user, and that is the visible
part of IOT. End-user may be an industrial user or another device, that is in M2M
workflow. Raw data transform into insights, and it di splays metrics, charts and
indicators. Mobile apps act as an interface to monitor and control smart devices.

Role of Internet of things in Digital marketing

Product development

With the help of IoT, digital marketers can understand, what are the customers
expectations from their brands, that will help to enhance their product quality.

Internet of things not only help to improve the product quality, but it also helps to
forecast the demand and planning for new products. Analysing data from IoT devices
will help organisations to make better and faster decisions.

Analyse customer’s buying behaviour

IoT assists digital marketers to understand the buying behaviour of their customers
from start to end, and it will give a clear picture of where the customer is in their
buying journey.

It also helps to assess the needs of the customer, purchasing pattern, what trends
affect the buying pattern of consumer and location that allows marketers to
customize the products accordingly. IoT can give more accurate information about
consumer’s preferences.

Big Data

Smart devices allow marketers to collect lots of data about consumers which can be
used for effective marketing campaigns. IoT devices can provide lots of data with
the help of sensors about consumers than traditional research. It is estimated that by
2020, approximately 44 zettabytes of customer data will be generated.

Big data provides more accurate insights that will assist marketers to reduce risk and
increase the opportunities.
Customer analysis

With the help of smart devices, it is possible to read your consumer’s mind. Smart
devices provide a large amount of data which will give in depth and key insights
about customers.

Data from smart devices is sued to get an understanding of the everyday lifestyle of
your consumers. It permits digital marketers to promote their products based upon
collected data.

Data tracking

Data tracking from IoT devices will assist marketers to predict when a customer is
in need of a particular product or services. It is also used for timing of sales and the
real-time customer insights helps marketers to boost sales.

Better Personalization

Personalization is an impactful way to reach and engage your audience. IOT assists
marketers to connect with their customers on a real-time basis. It assists to target the
audience more accurately, and it enhances the effectiveness of the marketing
campaign.

IOT allows you to collect a variety of information about your customers which will
help you to identify what kind of campaign should engage your customers.

Based on the gathered data, marketers can provide the optimal message at the right
moment to finish the buying journey. It helps marketers to make more relevant Ads
as well.

Marketing automation

Normally marketers spend significant amount of time, and effort to collect customer
data. But IoT assists marketers to save time on collecting and analysing data.

Customer satisfaction
In today’s digital era, everyone wants the fastest customer service, and it is of utmost
importance to every marketer. With the help of real-time data, marketers can be very
quick in responding to their customers.

More connectivity

Any of the smart devices can be used as a channel in order to connect with your
customers, in IoT. And thus, every smart product will help marketers to connect with
their customers, and that results into more customer engagement.

BRANDS USING IoT IN DIGITAL MARKETING

Some of the brands using IoT in Digital marketing actions are:

• Heineken
• Castle Lite
• Allen Solly
• Pepe Jeans
• Nivea
• Kellogg’s

How did Heineken use IoT in a Digital Marketing action?

In 2013, Heineken wanted to increase the number of visitants to their beer brand museum in
Amsterdam, the “Heineken Experience”, with an action true to the brand identity and driven
by experiences.

With that intention, Heineken kept GPS-enabled branded bottles around Amsterdam city.
These bottles were to be noticed and picked up by curious tourists who would then start a
treasure-hunt style tour through Amsterdam that would ultimately bring them to the Heineken
Experience.

How did it work?

When one of the GPS-enabled Heineken bottles was picked up, the accelerometer in it made it
activate and vibrate. After that, the cap glowed up and started spinning like a compass to guide
the tourist to the Heineken brewery.

Heineken GPS Bottle breakdown – Mechanism

During all this time in his journey, the tourist was involved in a historic and cultural route
through Amsterdam by interacting with Heineken at every moment. This journey-like
experience gave the tourists incomparable, unique experiences that made available great
branded content to be crafted online by Heineken.

This Heineken Experience marketing campaign leveraged IoT through GPS connected bottles
to occupied consumers in an improved cultural, historic journey branded experience that lead
to another branded experience as reward: a welcome and a visit to the Heineken beer museum.