The fact that society has dramatically changed how we access news, social contact, and even work and business has also meant that marketing channels and focus need to change. It makes the most sense that marketing uses the media that the specific target audience prefers. Modern marketing must be about being where your consumers and clients are if you want to maximize sales.
The main changes technology brings to marketing
Immediacy
Modern shoppers want to be able to see something, like it, read a few reviews, and then buy it all within a fraction of the time it would have taken at the shop. Furthermore, all this shopping takes place on an internet-connected mobile device. This means there have to be links and seamless access to your marketplace from any marketing platform. A text sent to a customer with new offers must then have an option to see, shop, and then buy the self-same product right then.
Social media marketing
SMM is the fastest means of meeting and building relationships with customers, clients, and suppliers. The number of people who use social media has increased dramatically, and it is no longer just to communicate, but more often, it is also for shopping. As influencer marketing booms, customers want these social spaces to increasingly become social marketplaces. Your business marketing campaign must have a cogent social media presence and provide the ability for customers to meet and discuss products, services and begin to develop their own brand-specific, online social meetings and shopping spaces.
Text and SMS personalized communication/marketing
In mobile marketing, SMS and text have begun to lead the field. It is increasingly personal, and the marketing message on your own handset is designed to make you feel special. It’s a blossoming trend across all business sectors, and as business begins to understand and use big data, it is possible to personalize these texts. Here, a great example is how the political SMS took off during the last election. Politicians and their spin doctors realized the value of the text and that if they wanted to reach out and communicate with voters, then the simple personalized text message was the best way to do so. You would leave this form of marketing out of your arsenal at your peril.
Experiential marketing
Sometimes referred to as live or event marketing, experiential marketing will mean different things to different people but provide a memorable branded experience for your customers and clients at its core. The main idea is to leave the audience with a lasting brand impression, resulting in loyalty rarely engendered in brand followers. Virtual reality, live streaming, and pop-up online shops, boutiques, and art installations are all part of this form of marketing and are only possible using cloud computing to communicate and share.
As society moves into the automated and machine learning age, all business activities need to be cognizant of how technological improvements affect their customers. How businesses interact, sell, and build relationships is now determined by the tech used by customers and not the other way around.
