Commentary

Future Of IoT Marketing: Attracting Without Distracting Consumers

Some of the future marketing in the Internet of Things may be counterintuitive.

During the MediaPost Iot Marketing Forum this week, some new approaches to overall marketing and advertising were suggested.

In a presentation about the new world of messaging, Haydn Sweterlitsch, global chief creative officer of HackerAgency, suggested that people today have plenty of time but not enough attention.

The essence is that marketers will have to attract without distracting.

Examples cited were a tea kettle, which signals when the water is ready, and Roomba, which also signals when it is done or has encountered an issue.

An even better example was a driver of a car, who simultaneously, but somewhat passively, monitors speed, fuel level, passing cars, road signs, traffic lights and more. All of those monitoring activities require only some attention.

But a text message in that context is totally intrusive and requires a high level of attention (or distraction), which Sweterlitsch pointed out has contributed to countless accidents.

His point is that marketers will have to create methods that do not distract in the new IoT marketing approach.

“Sound design is going to be super important,” Sweterlitsch said.

He suggested that conversational design, such as what’s used in Amazon’s Echo with Alexa, is a good example.

The ultimate result of more connected devices is that an individual can be more precisely targeted. But this targeting will be less about what type of person that consumer is and more about who that person actuallyis and what are they specifically are likely to want at a given moment.

“We may have to message less,” he said, primarily because the hyper-relevant messaging will be precise and not frequently needed, and especially not desired, for any one person.

He also said that the Internet of Things could lead to the extinction of bad marketing.

There were many other ideas discussed at the IoT Marketing Forum, which we will detail here in future postings.

1 comment about "Future Of IoT Marketing: Attracting Without Distracting Consumers".
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  1. Craig Boice from Boice Dunham Group, August 11, 2016 at 1:25 p.m.

    We refer to "paying attention" and "being attracted" for a reason. As a mental function, attention requires particular kinds of effort and coordination that draw on a budget of self-control. In contrast, under many conditions, attraction is a personal response (based on a variety of personal pre-sets) that directly provides positive energy or relaxation.

    Messaging most typically requires a degree of attention. Branding can function well through attraction.

    Messaging can be attractive through the use of key words and their associations. But it is a particular weakness of much techno-marketing that the customer is required to understand something, or even learn something, before being able to enjoy anything. The feelings of mastery that may result may contribute to adoption, but many customers never get that far. Instead, the initial moments of bonding based on attraction are intrinsically positive, and call for more.

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