The advertising and marketing landscape is evolving rapidly. Advertising communication which has always been one to many, is evolving into becoming one to one. A few years ago people would have laughed if you said that, not anymore. Smartphones today track everything you do and it has given rise to personalized digital campaigns and content. Marketers need to be on top of these trends as marketing becomes more impactful and driven by ROI. In this ever-changing landscape marketers need to keep ahead of competition every day. The concept of jo dikhta hai woh bikta hai is truer than ever before.
Here are 5 ways in which technology is changing the advertising and marketing landscape
Social Media Influencers
Savvy marketers are aware that it is not about the best brand with the best product, it is about being the brand that resonates best with the correct consumers. This is where influencer marketing has proven to be successful. Influencer marketing is all about building a connection between consumers and influencers. The biggest requirement for influencer marketing, more than ever is authenticity and analytics. Third-party tools that will validate reach, audience, influence and impact of influencers will play a major role in changing the digital advertising landscape.
Blockchain
Blockchain is another exciting new technology which has the potential to advance brand marketing to the next level. Blockchain is a decentralized public record of user-generated information and will have a great impact on the advertising world. Blockchain will enable more authentic marketing and enhance data privacy by allowing marketers to anonymous data without individual attributions. It could eliminate giants like Google and Facebook allowing marketers to buy inventory directly from individual publishers from a certain block. We can easily expect blockchain to tackle issues like identity management, the use of personal data in targeting and monetisation of content in the coming years. The system could very well be self-monitoring eliminating any chance of fraud and making data more accurate than ever before.
Internet of things (IOT)
IOT is refers to the network of an ever-growing of internet-capable devices. It’s no longer limited to our PCs and phones but also our cars, TVs and refrigerators. All these devices connected to the internet are able to ‘keep an eye on your needs’ and possibly fulfill them before they arise. Although all this sounds little scary, we can’t deny that IOT may change our lives for better. While IOT is a unique opportunity for savvy marketers, they pose unique challenges related to privacy. With advertising on IOT enabled devices brands could track users like never before. They will not only know your interest and behavior online but also offline. Imagine a world where an advertiser know what food you eat, the car your drive, content you watch, the time you go to bed and people you care about because your internet enabled refrigerator and microwave talks to your internet enabled car both of which talk to the internet enabled light bulbs you so excitedly installed. The need for advertisers to ask their customers about their likes and dislikes will no longer be required, it can be easily accessed by the information on IOT devices. Let’s hope it will not be about intruding your personal data, but about using it to bring you customized products and services. A Blockchain driven IOT advertising platform anyone?
Content cluster for improving SEO
Search engines have recently changed their algorithms, instead of favoring keywords, they now show preferences to form clusters of content around particular topics. As such marketers have begun linking content to form clusters around pillars (topics) relating to their category. Topic cluster signals to search engines that you are the expert within the category and are more likely to have a top spot.
Snack Ads
‘Snack Ads’, no they’re not about perishable foods. They are short videos, less than 10 seconds long targeting reducing attention spans. Marketers and advertising gurus who always thought 30 seconds was too short to communicate a story are in a rude shock when they realized ‘Snack Ads’ could soon become ‘Bite-sized Ads’, 5 seconds or less. With growing OTT content where viewers are paying a subscription, Snack Ads or Bit-Sized Ads could be the most acceptable format of advertising.
Voice Search
28% of all search queries on Google in India are voice searches and this number is only going to grown and mobile and internet penetrates interiors of India where people don’t necessarily excel at the written work or typing. By 2020 voice search is expected to grow to 50% of all searches. Voice assistants will be a big contributing device. The challenge for publishers (in the traditional sense) is to figure out the least intrusive way to reach voice searchers with advertising. Do they target them after their interest has been determined or do they run voice ads like radio. Voice search on Google is already contributing to interests and keywords. The next 5 years will see a massive change.
Chatbots:
Chatbots are the future of brand engagement. As communication becomes personalized customers demand individual attention. They are smarter today than they were five years ago and they expect you to be adept at your communications and information with them. To tackle this situation brands need Chatbots which are self-help tools for improved communications. They simulate interactive conversations with the customers. Brands can use this to improve their customer’s experience, to generate more sales and build a deeper rapport with customers. Like it or not, sales will be driven by bots in the future, not people. It will be driven by information not promises. There was time when Neil Armstrong trusted human calculators over a computer, a time is coming where we will be more comfortable asking a bot than a human. We already rely more on Google search than our doctors, don’t we?
It will be easier to find customers and create ROI
As the internet reach is growing so is the strata of customers that brands can reac with pinpoint accuracy. In the next 5 years people consuming digital content will surpass people on traditional media such as television, print and radio put together. With the ability to customize messages and communication to TG sets ‘releavant brand’ salience will become key to better brand recall, which will automatically result in more sales and ROI. But the best part about digital is that it doesn’t end with ROI. It creates loyalty. Loyal customers bring endorsement in the form of instant feedback. Endorsement leads to discovery and the cycle repeats.
Authored by Yashraj Vakil, CEO, Buzzinga Digital