The Internet of Things (IoT) is slowly becoming a reality. The more compact our technology gets, the more we are capable of doing from a small device. Smartwatches, for example, are still fairly new but are a huge push in the direction of the IoT. It is just one more piece of technology that can be controlled by your smartphone.
As a marketer, you should be paying attention to all forms of new technology, so you have a good idea of what you need to be doing in the future. Smartwatches are one of those things you should be taking note of. What are their capabilities, and how can you take advantage of them with personalized marketing techniques?
Smartwatch capabilities
Surprisingly, smartwatches are able to do a lot more than you think they can. Obviously, they act as a regular watch telling you the time and date. But more than that, they work almost as a miniature smartphone for you. You can use them to get directions, receive messages, get alerts, play music and more. Because smartwatches offer the ability to easily receive texts, marketers have a great opportunity to use text marketing to their advantage. You can send and receive messages with your customers, so you can stay in regular contact with them. Your customers also have the ability to shop through their smartwatches, which means you need to have your site optimized for smartwatch shopping. With so many amazing capabilities, there’s a lot you can and should do for your smartwatch wearing customers.
It used to be you couldn’t use your smartwatch unless you had your phone nearby, but that’s not even the case anymore. You can connect to your phone even if it is far away through WiFi or your cell network, making it even easier to use your smartwatch as a phone.
Companies are regularly coming out with improvements and new competitors in the smartwatch field. Google, for example, will be releasing a new smartwatch on February 9 that is expected to beat the current competition by design and functionality. Apple, Samsung, and all the major smartphone manufacturers are jumping on the smartwatch bandwagon.
Disadvantages to smartwatch marketing
One of the biggest disadvantages to using a smartwatch for your marketing is that you have to really limit the text used in messages. This was already a concern for businesses using SMS marketing because of text character limits, but it is even more of a concern on a smartwatch where you want everything from your message to be easily read. Any kind of communication made through a smartwatch will need to be small, quick, and to the point because the screen is so small. There isn’t much that can be done about the small screen, but you as a marketer can make sure you are advertising in a way that is easy to see no matter what device they are using to view it.
