Digital marketing covers several areas of modern E-commerce marketing strategies. Some of the common areas include SEO marketing, networking, content marketing, social marketing, and data analysis. These marketing strategies heavily depend on technology and information. As technology evolves, the digital marketing landscape also changes. Below is a list of five of the most influential tech innovations in the marketing industry.
Voice Search
Early in 2016, ComScore predicted that by 2020, half of all internet searches will be voice searches and that 30% of searches won’t even require a screen.
Unsurprisingly, this prediction is not far from the truth. Google and Apple first introduced voice search in 2011 as a novelty feature on their platforms and devices. Barely a decade later, voice search has become a leading SEO trend. By March 2019, about 20% of mobile searches on Google were voice searches.
The popularity of voice search has been fuelled by remarkable improvements in speech recognition and interpretation technology. Smart voice-activated home devices like Alexa, Google Home, Cortana, and Apple Homepod have also helped bring the voice search experience to internet users. Digital marketers have had to re-configure keyword optimization techniques to cater for voice searches. This is because voice searches are usually characterized by long-tail phrases and question-based queries.
Intelligent Chatbots
Smart chatbots have taken virtual assistance and automated response to a whole new level. Gone are the live chat functions and query forms on E-commerce websites. Internet users don’t want to wait around for a response from an actual human, which often takes some time. What’s more, contrary to what you might expect, many internet users actually prefer chatbots to humans.
According to research by Gartner, by 2020, 85% of customer-enterprise interactions will not involve human engagements. Intelligent chatbots are helping businesses automate fast responses and support to their customers. Interestingly, chatbots can also be used to drive sales through strategic CTAs, cross-selling, up-selling, and down-selling by studying the customer’s behavior and queries.
Interactive Videos
Interactive video is one of the newest media formats to get integrated into web content. An interactive video engages the viewer by prompting for actions and inputs such as pressing a button or typing in some keys. The actions imply choices that dictate the direction or flow of the video. Think of interactive videos as mini videogames.
This is a relatively new concept, but it has the potential to become one of the most engaging ways to tell brand stories and educate users on products and services. Of all web content types, videos are phenomenally successful at driving conversions and spreading information. Interactive videos widen the scope of what videos can achieve and how they can be used in marketing.
AI-powered Marketing
Over recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has grown into a buzz word in several industries and business sectors. AI and machine learning are not exactly new technologies, but developers and industry leaders are now keen on using powerful analytics tools in an increasingly data-driven world. Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Google are already expanding their platforms and services to accommodate AI resources.
The idea of AI-powered marketing is rather simple. It has to do with analyzing complex sets of data collected over time to find market patterns that would be beneficial to businesses. Intelligent data management systems can yield valuable results showing consumer behavior and market dynamics. This data can then be used to inform business decisions and make accurate market predictions. These tools are also useful in crafting highly personalized and targeted marketing strategies.
VR and Augmented Reality
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are some of the hottest trends in visual entertainment, especially in videogames and cinema. Digital marketers, however, have found new exciting uses of VR and AR in promoting brands and products.
VR and AR are primarily used to help the customer visualize products before purchasing them. For instance, it could be an item of clothing, furniture, car, interior décor, or even hairstyle. This brings a remarkably realistic sampling and shopping experience. Such an experience is incredibly convincing when it comes to compelling potential shoppers to buy.
Digital marketing can barely remain rigid in the face of rapidly advancing technological innovations. Changes in marketing techniques are inevitable; the practical approaches used today may not cut it a year from now. As a digital marketer, it’s essential to keep an eye out for new disruptive trends, and more importantly, adjust and adapt to new market dynamics by acquiring new skills.