Smartwatches Are Opening New Areas of Opportunity For Advertisers
Smartwatches, also known as wearable technology, are the latest smart tech innovation that is giving advertisers the ability to meet customers in a new, highly targeted way. As the smartwatch market begins to gain greater traction, advertisers are taking this opportunity to capitalize on this new platform through geo-targeting.
The growing popularity of smartwatches is proven out in the incredible sales numbers being reported. In 2014 alone, consumers purchased over 33 million smartwatches. This number is expected to continue growing at a compounded rate of 35% over the next five years. Clearly this is a market that is ripe with opportunity for brands that have the skills and foresight to bring their message to a mobile audience.
Much like mobile advertising, smartwatch advertising provides brands with the dynamic ability to geo-target their audience. Here are just two examples of brands who are providing the template for success when it comes to smartwatch advertising.
RetailMeNot & Geo-Targeting
RetailMeNot, the world’s largest digital marketplace for digital offers, is the standard-bearer for digital coupons and promotions. RetailMeNot currently works with over 70,000 partners, offers over 600,000 coupons, and is using its size and scale to bring coupons and promotions right to its customers’ wrists.
When a RetailMeNot user enters a location near a store they’ve marked as a favorite through the RetailMeNot app, they will receive an offer through their smartwatch. By utilizing an app users’ location, or geo-location, brands are able to bring relevant ads to people in the stores location.
Another major retailer app that is employing this strategy is Target’s Cartwheel app. This app alerts users that there is a Target in the area, giving a captive audience a heads up that a store they like is close by. This type of geo-targeting is best because it reaches an audience that has previously indicated an appreciation or loyalty to the brand, meaning the audience that is hit by these ads or alerts is likely to take advantage of the information being delivered.
Geo-Behavioral Targeting
While geo-targeting is a useful technology a new trend is taking off, geo-behavioral targeting. Geo-behavioral targeting uses both behavioral targeting, based off of a user’s purchasing history and likes, and applies that to the location of the user. Groupon, another online market place specializing in digital offers, is implementing the use of geo-behavioral targeting in the release of their new Apple Watch app. This form of targeting focuses on the likes, dislikes and purchasing history of a user, and will then apply that to the location of the user, sending them advertisements that are relevant to them specifically.
This practice helps brands better allocate advertising dollars by sending these advertisements to only people that are likely to be affected and influenced by the advertisement. Moving into the direction of geo-behavioral targeting will provide marketers with a local advertising strategy to a wide market. By creating local “communities” out of common interests and purchasing behavior, brands can target the communities that are likely to take to their advertisements. As more and more brands adapt geo-location advertising practices, brands should consider adapting a new geo-behavioral approach to better target interested markets.