The only constant is change

About 2,500 years ago the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (he wasn’t ancient at the time) is believed to have said, “The only constant in life is change” (Ahmed, 2020). I’m not sure if I think this is the most obvious statement ever, exceptionally profound, or something in between. Either way, in the world of digital advertising it sure does seem appropriate. 

Digital change is hard for me to keep up with. The first time I was in college AOL was a new, confusing thing. There was no Google or Amazon; Facebook wasn’t a dream. You’d think I must be a hundred years’ old, but that prehistoric time was reality just 25 short years ago. Now? Things are changing faster than ever, and to look forward is to see a world of impossible opportunity, even if it is blurry. So, here are three fuzzy outlines of things I think we have to look forward to in digital advertising:

1. Artificial Intelligence will be king

I don’t know when this will happen, but I have a hard time imagining a future in marketing where AI isn’t a driving force behind decision-making. In fairness, I’m not alone: nearly every article I see on digital trends mentions artificial intelligence as though it’s a foregone conclusion. What’s up for debate is how, exactly it will be used. What seems clear is that it will consume data at speeds humans cannot and make recommendations or present content based on the interpretation of that data (Taylor, 2020). And if you’re thinking, “Wait, isn’t that essentially what I do now?”, of course it is; AI will do it faster and better. 

Consumer data, to me anyway, is the most valuable resource available to an advertiser. It informs ads and ad placement, email automations, landing page design, and just about anything else associated with digital marketing. But I don’t think AI will put me out of work. Indeed, I think consumers will continue to want, and benefit from, an ever more intuitive shopping experience. And, I think consumers will benefit from a better human experience as well, something I don’t think AI will soon replace.

2. Shopping will become more visual and click-free

It would be easy to write here about the idea that shopping will become completely integrated with social media posts, as we’re seeing with Instagram, or like more personalized ad targeting on Facebook (Barnhart, 2020). I suspect it will go farther than that, sooner than later. Macy’s already is teaming up with Pinterest to bring shopping to that visual search engine of sorts (Kirkpatrick, Adams, 2017). Don’t expect Google to miss this train; already we see content becoming available in search results in ways that don’t require a user even to visit a website (zero-click). As the company continues to build visual experiences like Google Keen, expect it all to morph together.

This “morphing” potentially is a huge benefit to consumers, essentially reducing steps in the research process that’s become a trademark of Millennials (Drenik, 2019) and making the shopping, and buying, experience faster and easier. I don’t think it hurts businesses, either: those who embrace the trends will find opportunities to develop young, loyal customers. In a sense, one needs look no further than Amazon to see the benefits of these transitions: a central place where millions of products are visually displayed and easy to buy. Through that lens, perhaps it’s fair to say the future of online shopping is in essence a future iteration of Amazon.

3. Marketing and IT will finally become one

This already has happened in the small and, to some degree, mid-sized business worlds. I’ve spent most of my professional life in small and startup businesses, and the advent of digital marketing changed everything. A result of that is that I’m kind of a hybrid myself, proficient in both fields, expert in neither. But I am not the future. It will be people (and technology) smarter than me, younger than me, more creative than me who bridge that final gap at the enterprise level. 

Don’t get me wrong; specialists always will have a place and talent always will be in demand. But the graphic designer who understands the technical requirements will make the developer more effective and vice-versa so that each part fits seamlessly with the next (Davidi, 2014). In simple terms, the presentation of products and services that are simple to see, understand, and buy will be both a benefit and a measurement of success.

That both of them will be guided by AI is something I choose, today, not to think about. What I can think about is the clear notion that every trend discussed here and elsewhere is aimed at benefiting consumers. And that is something that has not changed in my professional lifetime: I’ve never heard a company say, “Well, it doesn’t really matter if the customer has a bad experience, they’ll be back.”

References

Ahmed, S. (2020, January 20). The only constant in life is change. Retrieved from https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/perspective/news/the-only-constant-life-change-1852798 

Barnhart, B. (2020, August 4). The most important social media trends to know for 2020. Retrieved from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-trends/ 

Davidi, A. (2014, April 28). The merging of IT and marketing: what does it mean for marketers? – live Q&A. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/apr/28/changing-role-marketing-technology-it 

Drenik, G. (2019, July 9). What Millennials Want When They Shop Online. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesinsights/2019/07/09/what-millennials-want-when-they-shop-online/#726d8c754ed9 

Kilpatrick, D, Adams, P.  (2017, February 10). Pinterest deepens retail integrations with new visual search tech. Retrieved from https://www.retaildive.com/news/pinterest-deepens-retail-integrations-with-new-visual-search-tech-1/435959/ 

Taylor, J. (2020, August 17). Digital marketing is accelerating – so what’s next? Retrieved from https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2020/08/17/digital-marketing-accelerating-so-what-s-next