5 Tech Trends That Will Disrupt Kiwi Marketing
M2 Coach Podcast – 5 Tech Trends That Will Disrupt Kiwi Marketing
Let’s face it, there aren’t many aspects of our lives that technology hasn’t touched. This month, I caught up with some of my friends in the marketing world for their take on the top technology trends that are set to disrupt Kiwi marketing.
DIGITAL MEDIA BUYING BECOMES AUTOMATED
Justin Flitter, Producer of TEDxAuckland and CMO of Results.com, believes the way that we’ve typically set up digital advertising campaigns on Google and Facebook – with hours spent researching keywords and competitors – will soon be a thing of the past. “AI [artificial intelligence] tools for media buying and placement will make it easier for businesses to set up and manage their own 24/7, goal-driven campaigns. All you’ll need humans for is the important work of content creation, feeding the machine with copy and graphics,” he asserts. Adrian Pickstock, CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IABNZ) agrees, claiming that “the days of manually booking ad media are quickly dwindling”.
BOTS, BOTS, EVERYWHERE!
Along the automation track, we’re seeing a rise in online robotics, with bots being used creatively to both engage and inform consumers, as well as to encourage sales. Ben Rose, head of direct to consumer and partnerships at nib – New Zealand’s second-largest health insurer – sees the increasing use of this type of AI continuing. “With artificial intelligence already present in our day-to-day lives (e.g. Google Maps), I see a day quite soon where brands will use cognitive computing to interact with their customers via intelligent, personalised and useful interactions… As consumers rightfully demand instant customer service and brands look to deliver this and manage their bottom line, marketing automation will continue to grow,” he says. Indeed, the use of chatbots, avatars, interactive screens, holograms and virtual assistants see AI automating customer communication in a relatively natural way. Flitter adds another important point to the discussion around AI, saying: “If you’re not already worried about the state of your database, you should be. Without clean data, tagged and structured well, adopting AI will be much harder. Data enrichment programmes and identifying opportunities to create new datasets should be key projects your marketing team is working on.”
AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY COME OUT TO PLAY
For Pavan Vyas, managing director of Rush Digital, experiential technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are going to come more to the fore, as brands leverage these platforms to augment their marketing efforts. “Whether it be New World’s Easter Egg Hunt game in AR, or Fonterra’s VR experience to sell their brand at international tradeshows, brands are using these technologies to tell a story, deepen customer engagement and, eventually, monetise that experience,” he says. Along similar lines, tech advances are not only blurring the lines between physical and digital worlds but also product and marketing experiences. As Vyas explains: “Brands are using physical products with emerging digital technology to transform customer experiences that amplify the brand’s image and touchpoints. Great Kiwi examples are ASB’s Clever Kash and the Heineken LIVE beacon-based loyalty platform.”
SPENDING ON SOCIAL
As well as a change in how we interact with brands, where we interact with them is also changing. According to e-commerce expert, James Kemp: “consumers are becoming increasingly happy to communicate, submit details and even transact completely inside social channels, without ever visiting a website.” This doesn’t negate the need for a website to tick all the conversion boxes, but it does put the impetus on companies to make sure their social channels are up to scratch.
FROM AD STATS TO BUSINESS STATS
The last trend is one that I am definitely in favour of, as a business owner – and that is a shift in the way that we measure marketing activity. According to Rose: “Following the debates about viewability, the decrease in click-through rates and the growth in ad-free channels such as SVOD, I believe we’ll see the industry focusing less on claimed numbers of who saw what – and more on what impact was had on sales, customer churn or customer profitability.” This real-business application, which takes the numbers beyond just marketing metrics, can only be a good thing.
Richard conway is founder & ceo of pure seo. pureseo.co.nz