If you have spent enough time in marketing, you know by now that the fast progress of technology requires marketers to constantly update their knowledge and practices. In fact, the rate of change is so high that it is likely best to make changes to your marketing strategy each year. With this consideration in mind, here are a few tech innovations in marketing that can help you grow your business.
1. Data Ownership
An emerging trend that you can leverage is the transition toward zero-party data. This approach consists of asking users to explicitly share data, which is then used to improve customer experience and personalization.
For example, let’s say you run a travel company. You can create a program where you ask customers to explicitly share their preferences about a type of product (e.g., preferred travel destination and travel style) and use the data provided to make personalized tips, such as recommending travel destinations and activities that are relevant to the user’s interests.
2. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)
It has already been several years since marketing companies have started to take advantage of the capabilities offered by AR and VR. Examples of applications include advertising, virtual try-ons, and a host of virtual events.
For instance, let’s say you are promoting fashion products. The fashion company that you are advertising for can create a mobile app that users will download to use their phone’s cameras to virtually try clothing and accessories in real time. The app will be based on AR capabilities that superimpose selected items onto the user’s image. VR capabilities, on the other hand, can be used to send users through virtual boutiques where they can browse clothing and interact with virtual assistants.
3. Voice Search Optimization
The rapid development of smart devices makes it increasingly necessary to optimize digital content for voice search. For example, most of you are likely familiarized with voice assistants such as Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa and have conducted search queries with them. More and more people rely on these technologies to find information online and the rise of large language models is likely to make this trend stronger.
An important difference between voice search and text-based searches is that in the former people tend to use more conversation and natural language when speaking to their devices. This means that you will need to learn how to adapt digital content to voice search queries, a process that can involve rethinking SEO strategies. For example, you may be able to optimize content for voice search by conducting keyword research to identify common voice search queries.
4. Blockchain Technology for Advertisement
According to some, blockchain technology will change digital advertising due to key features of a strong blockchain application, which are transparency, decentralization, and privacy. For example, there are often multiple intermediaries between advertisers and publishers. A blockchain application can be used to record every transaction within an advertising process on an immutable ledger, which may provide a better understanding of how ads are being spent. So far, most advertisers have yet to take advantage of this technology, which means there’s little competition.
5. AI Tools Used for Recruitment
Whether you work as an employee or represent a company, there is a good chance that you need to collaborate with other experts to develop and implement your campaigns. Talent recruitment has become increasingly accessible, as platforms such as LinkedIn and Indeed can be used to find new people in no time.
A less-known strategy for finding talent is to search websites powered by AI systems. Leadar, for example, uses an AI system that incorporates predictive modeling that allows it to best guess information and, as such, increase the accuracy of the results. For you, this means you can find reliable information (e.g., education, professional skills) that will help you select those with the most relevant expertise.
6. AI Tools for Content Creation
AI tools are becoming more and more useful for analyzing data, predicting trends, and, of course, creating personalized content at large scales. For instance, in content marketing, AI systems are often used to power content recommendation systems. Netflix and Spotify are examples of companies that recommend content based on user behavior.
Another important example is large language models. These models are quite accessible to businesses of all sizes and you can leverage their power in multiple ways. First, you can use such tools to generate marketing ideas and marketing content drafts. Second, you can incorporate chatbots based on these models to better connect with customers at each point of the marketing funnel.
7. Programmatic Advertising
Last but not least, if you have not tried programmatic advertising yet, it may well be the time to do so. In case you do not know, platforms offering this type of advertising use machine learning to automate ad building, optimize targeting, and deliver personalized advertisements. As AI capabilities improve, so should the performance of these platforms.
By utilizing programmatic advertising, you would be able to automate the entire ad buying process, including selecting the right ad inventory and bidding on it in real-time auctions. Such ads would be served based on a customer’s browsing history and other online behaviors.
Bottom line: Technology is changing and so should you
The emergence of more and more AI tools will likely change how we do marketing to the same extent that smartphones did over a decade ago. Large language models are not only the latest example but possibly also the most disruptive one. Since nobody can predict the future with 100% accuracy, it is important to keep an eye on trends so that you can empower your marketing strategy with new tools as soon as they become available.
Playing with new tools can be both rewarding and challenging. The more you understand a technology, the better you should be able to fully explore its potential. However, if you misuse a technology, you do not only risk losing money but also your reputation in the industry. For this reason, if you are unsure of what you are doing, do not hesitate to seek help from those with relevant expertise.
