The 'Internet of Things' (IoT) is upon us, but as consumer uptake of the latest enabled gadgets surges, many marketers are being kept awake at night wondering how they will manage to capitalise on marketing opportunity presented by this phenomenon. Rakhee Jogia, director of display at Rakuten Marketing speaks exclusively to ExchangeWire and advises that if marketers can crack cross-channel marketing, then the IoT shouldn’t pose a challenge.

Gartner claims that 4.9 billion connected 'Things' will be in use in 2015 and Forrester expects that the Internet of Things (IoT) will enter its second phase of growth this year. With these figures in mind, now is clearly the time that businesses will really start to be able to take advantage of IoT.

However, for many marketers this buzzword is frightening. What does it mean for their campaigns? How do they make their ads sophisticated enough to use IoT technology and how do they ensure they’re providing the best experience for their customers?

Leading technology forecaster Daniel Burrus states that the IoT “revolves around increased machine-to-machine communication”. Put simply, the IoT is just another ‘screen’ that marketers need to deal with. Marketers don’t need to panic about this new phenomenon if they have conquered cross-channel marketing. Cross-channel is where the opportunity for businesses lies and marketers need to focus on this in order to make the most of the IoT opportunity.

The most successful brands are already joining their campaigns across channels to gain a single customer view. Shoppers today are not just using one device and purchasing straightaway, so it’s imperative that marketers can connect with them wherever they are, whatever device they are using and provide the same high quality brand experience. For example, remarketing a product that a customer has looked at on their PC at work, when they get home and use their tablet means the retailer can provide a relevant experience to the shopper which is most suited to the individual at that moment in time when they are most receptive to the brand message.

The IoT adds another level to cross-device marketing, meaning that there are more parts of the puzzle for brands to join up to provide a seamless omnichannel experience. New IoT technologies that connect to other devices are providing marketers with opportunities to advance their cross-channel campaigns. For example Apple Pay means that consumers can purchase from a brand directly within an app. This is a compelling case for marketers, as the iPhone can collect data about the shopper’s purchase habits, such as spend, location, brands and products and use it for ongoing marketing to inform personalisation, and therefore build customer loyalty. Marketers should be embracing this data and using it to create more targeted campaigns.

Wearable technologies, like the Apple Watch and digital health devices like FitBit, also collect data, giving marketers the opportunity to market to a customer based on their lifestyle habits. For example, if you can understand that a person regularly visits a particular store or restaurant, why not reward their loyalty by advertising a discount voucher directly to their smartwatch? Or if they have already purchased from one product range, why not target them with a matching product that could accompany their order?

The size of the Apple Watch screen (and the fact that FitBit has no screen) presents a challenge for marketers though. This is another reason why cross-device marketing will be so important for marketers over the next year if they are to utilise the IoT. As the user cannot search or browse on these small screens, it is likely that brands will need to direct the user to another screen for them to complete the call to action or convert to a sale. Brands must have data systems in place which allow them a single customer view so that they can push the person to the right screen and retarget them with content that echoes where they left off.

According to IBM, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day, meaning that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years. There is an overwhelming amount of data at marketers’ fingertips, but working out how to use it is the real challenge. Brands need to be able to turn to a technology partner than can help them to aggregate data and turn it into actionable campaign insights, which can be used to target consumers effectively. IoT is at this valuable intersection of gathering and leveraging data so in order to achieve personalised and relevant marketing across multiple channels, brands must be able to collate, interpret and share data. By leveraging data more cohesively across their business and all of the channels their customers use, marketers can take full advantage of the cross-channel opportunity that the growing IoT sector brings and create effective, targeted campaigns for their audiences.