Use the Power of Here and Now: Convenience Marketing with Wearables

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Is your brand ready to jump the queue and use the power of Wearable technology to lead the race for success in here and now marketing?

Wearables, simply, are items you can wear that happen to have computing power. Their potential impact on our behavior and expectations — and our marketing strategies — is far more complex. As a feature in WIRED magazine recently explained, the newest wearable devices aim to reduce “the time between intention and action,” going so far as the day when “the device knows what users want before they want it.” It's really about here and now marketing. It is also convenience marketing.

You cannot ignore the power of Wearables

Wearables aren’t a fad or trend that can be ignored. Like mobile, the technology is here to stay—and to transform digital marketing as we know it. Wearables help gather insightful customer data—including location, behavior and activity levels—which can be used to deliver personalized marketing messages. And, remember that wearable is wheneverable and whereverable!

Forward-thinking brands are already looking beyond simple data gathering or couponing to develop marketing campaigns that leverage the unique functionality of wearable devices. While some are finding creative ways to use existing technology, others are driving product innovation to design their own wearable experiences.

Here and Now: Convenience Marketing

Today consumers want simplicity and convenience, and wearable devices give them what they might want with fewer obstacles to disrupt their journeys. The ability to send and receive quick updates and responses across a wearable device may be just the way a brand can effectively reach out to their audience. By embracing the simplicity of navigation and use cases across wearables marketers are connecting consumers to the content they want while working to eliminate resistance in the process.
It all starts with audience intent. What do they want from your brand as an experience? Intent is the new black in digital marketing. In-the-moment marketing is what's hot.

Answer these questions before you jump on the Wearables bandwagon

Like any other form of digital marketing, start with  knowing more about your audience, your consumer, your customer. Customer Insights is your First Step in Digital Marketing.

• Will you be providing value for your target audience with quick, simple, and hyper-relevant actions and updates? This is where wearable-device marketing excels. Delivering breaking-news headlines, order-status updates, or contextual experiences — such as vibrating alerts that notify smartwatch users that their rides have arrived — are helpful and memorable ways for brands to engage customers across wearable devices.

• Are you able to take advantage of the multi screen journeys that today's consumer makes, by providing engagement and action driven content on a wearable device that complements your content on say, tv, or mobile?

• Will you be able to break down the last point of resistance by employing here and now conveniences that wearables offer?

If marketers want to develop successful content for their wearable marketing efforts, they must continue to ask themselves what context and timing best fits their users or target audience. Imagine working in a world where ad targeting focuses more on customer mood — not anticipated emotion, but what they’re actually feeling — based on user data from wearable devices instead of traditional buying signals.

Wearable marketing cannot work alone

Wearable marketing is another layer in digital marketing. It does not work alone. Several marketing efforts like email marketing, geo targeted campaigns, lead generation to purchase conversion, are all parts of marketing that can benefit from a wearables push in the here and now. Which is why Wearable Marketing is emerging as a focus area for marketers today : 10 Digital Marketing Essentials to focus on in 2016.

Remember to focus on your audience and deliver to their needs. Remember that your brand should always cater to the convenience and need of your audience. It goes back to what has become basic intelligence in content marketing – and wearables clearly underlines that paradigm: Winning Content Strategy: Always share something valuable and useful

And that's the basics of digital marketing strategies. That's 101. Please share this post with your friends and colleagues today... And do comment if you feel you want to add to this.

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