Often we pander to the consumer side of things because that’s who we serve most, however they aren’t the only demographic when it comes to smartwatches. As the new frontier opens up, more smartwatches hit the market and more people get their hands on them, it becomes an ever more viable marketing platform.
Already we’ve seen a huge shift to the mobile side of things, as most consumers now own a smartphone or tablet. Brands and marketing agencies have begun tailoring their campaigns to meet the many unique mobile platforms out there. It’s time they started doing the same with the smartwatch market.
Are Smartwatches Ready for Marketing?
To be perfectly honest, the answer is no.
Smartwatches aren’t quite mainstream enough to be considered a viable marketing platform at this point in time. That said, they are on the rise as many hail wearables to be the “next best thing.”
Analyst firm, ON World released a report that projects by 2018, more than 330 million smartwatches will have been shipped on a global scale. Even if the estimate is a bit off when the time comes, it shows the incredible growth the market is currently experiencing.
The point is that smartwatches will eventually be a good platform to market your brand on – if not soon. Those who enter emerging markets first often have a significant lead and advantage over the competition. Doesn’t it make sense to start getting ready to make the move to the platform? At the least, you could establish a marketing strategy for when you do make the jump.
Strategies to Market Your Brand on a Smartwatch
Smartwatches are going to be a very different beast when it comes to marketing. The idea behind them is that the most important information is delivered to consumers front and center. This is primarily due to the loss in screen real estate; smartwatch displays are a lot smaller than those on smartphones and for the most part they always will be. That means, consumers are not going to take kindly to bulky, flashy or intrusive ads and promotions – not that they ever have to begin with.
You’ll need to come up with some more clever ways to use the platform to your advantage. We’ve brainstormed some great ideas of our own, and that’s what we’re going to share.
Develop an App That Actually Does Something
Image from Alarm.com
This point might seem a bit silly – and simple – when you first think about it, but it would definitely be an effective solution. Smartwatches are going to support a whole slew of apps, similar to what mobile devices have access to now. Instead of delivering ads on the platform, why not create an entire app that actually does something – meaning give back to the consumers. Even something as mundane as a voice-activated calculator might be effective. By offering consumers something they can interact with on a regular basis, you’re putting your brand, image or message out there. Isn’t that exactly what marketing is all about?
Support New Technology
Sometimes, marketing is about staying ahead of the curve. In this case, that would mean supporting many of the new technologies out there, like smartwatches. One of the most useful implementations on smartphones and smartwatches is NFC functionality or near field communication. It’s essentially a small chip that transmits signals via radio waves when in close proximity with another NFC enabled device. With the tech, customers can do things like make payments via mobile – or their smartwatch – by tapping their device to the register.
There are other ways to use the technology, and we’re confident you can come up with something unique. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. The real point here is that you should support emerging technologies, because it will earn your brand or business more exposure.
External Marketing
Instead of marketing specifically via smartwatches, like delivering ads or offering other promotions, you could use external marketing techniques. In other words, you could simply incorporate smartwatches in general. For example, you could run a contest where participating customers have a chance to win one of the latest smartwatches. If you want to do something a little less involved, you could offer a free smartwatch with the purchase of your product or service.
Launch a Smartwatch Friendly Site
Smartwatches have very small displays, which means you are extremely limited in terms of what you can fit on them when creating a UI, promotion, ad or menu of some kind. Much like mobile devices have a custom website version, you could do the same for smartwatches yet it wouldn’t require nearly as much of an investment. In most cases, you’ll want the website to perform a very basic function and display minimal amounts of info. For example, you could place a themed play button on the front page of the site which opens a YouTube video for your brand or product.
Use Push Notifications
Similar to mobile devices, smartwatches make use of push notifications to deliver content, messages or alerts to users. You can take advantage of this functionality and deliver push notifications directly to them. Of course, you’ll need your customers to install an app or provide you access to the functionality – the proper permissions are necessary first. If you do decide to go this route, you need to be careful not to harass your customers. Push notifications should be used sparingly, as they are meant to display important information.
Tap Into Connected Devices
Most smartwatches will be paired with a smartphone, pulling content via an active Bluetooth connection. This strategy is largely going to depend on the device in question, but you can tap into connected devices for various marketing tactics. We’re not talking about spying on your customers or anything shady. What we actually mean is that you can deliver promotions, ads or content to a user’s phone through the watch and vice versa.
Seamless Ads
If you’re going to opt for the old fashioned route by delivering ads, integrate them seamlessly with your other content. For instance, you could deliver an ad or promotion on your app’s startup splash screen. Or, on the main menu you could display a banner that fits with the UI. These are just two examples of how you can do it, but you don’t want the ads to stand out like a sore thumb. Ensure that the ads are seamless and fit with your content, menu or UI.
Enter a Partnership or Sponsor Legitimate Developer
If you don’t want to hire your own content marketers or developers to produce an app for you, you can do it the easy way instead by entering a partnership with someone who already does those things. By sponsoring or funding another company, you can ensure your own brand and message is reaching a wider audience. The best part about this strategy is that the work has already been done for you, and the maintenance is also being handled. Apps require updates to fix bugs, add new features and more. If you just get your name on an existing product you can bypass all of that work.
Market Your Brand on a Smartwatch, Your Way
Smartwatches will soon be suitable for marketing, just like mobile devices are now. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to jump ahead of the competition.
Do you have any marketing ideas of your own? Feel free to share.