Things change quickly in the marketing world, and experts are continuously exploring new avenues for advertising. Your next successful ad campaign just may grace the face of today's newest wearable innovation—the smartwatch. It's estimated that 15 percent of consumers are using wearable technology, according to a study by Nielsen, and with Apple's big announcement of its own wearable device recently, it's likely that the number of people wearing them will increase dramatically over the next year.
It's important for advertisers to understand the relationship between consumers and devices like smartwatches and smartphones to successfully tap into this growing new market. Think about user experience when planning a marketing strategy for a new device and make the ad interaction stand out—in a good way. Here's a look at the latest in smartwatch marketing trends:
Multimedia Messages
When the smartwatch marketing frenzy begins, be sure to think with squares in mind, and remember that the area where your marketing message will be displayed is small (most displays are about two-by-two inches). Instead of using text, use images, audio tracks and video. If you have to use a headline or text, keep it short. Limit your message to 10 words. The online marketing experts at Wisdek suggest avoiding bold and complex modules, stressing the importance of clean design. To maximize the power of your message on a square display, use responsive design.
Hypertargeting & Location Based Ads
Technology and Internet-compatible devices have made navigating new marketing opportunities possible. Driving directions, business locations and weather updates are all currently within reach, since three-quarters of American smartphone owners used their devices to find information about their location in 2012, according to the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project.
Companies including Subway, Starbucks and Kmart use location-based advertising via Placecast's ShopAlerts to draw customers into their stores. ShopAlerts delivers ads to 10 million consumers in the U.S. and Britain on an opt-in basis. Location-based advertising can tailor ads to a location as specific as a city block. When a consumer is in range of a business they will get an update about the nearest location. It's rumored that this type of hyperlocal advertising may be used on smartwatches.
However, Mashable reports that advertisers are grappling with the fact that most consumers don't respond to an influx of notifications. Most users will shut them off entirely if they become too intrusive or irrelevant.
Apps & Adds
Clear Channel's iHeartRadio, a competitor of Apple's iTunes and Pandora, launched a digital music app in April of 2014 for Samsung's Galaxy Gear. More apps are being developed for smartwatches as the market grows beyond its early stages. Yelp, ESPN, and Pandora followed suit and provided apps for Pebble. The Pebble app store features thousands of apps split into categories like Tools and Utilities, Watchfaces, and Notifications.
AdAge reports that the new iHeartRadio app does not offer anything new to digital advertisers—yet. In the future we may see audio ad spots appearing while music-playing apps are open. But for now it's all speculation.
The opportunity to advertise on the wrists of consumers is near. However, at this point in time digital advertisers are waiting on manufacturers to successfully sell smartwatches to consumers. The ads may follow from there.
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