As technology colors our life and work in radical and formative ways, forward-thinking brands are approaching the wrath of disruptive technolgy in a more holistic way. For example,
"Blockchain can serve as a new foundational protocol for trust throughout the enterprise and beyond. Cognitive technologies make automated response possible across all enterprise domains. Digital reality breaks down geographic barriers between people, and systemic barriers between humans and data. Together, these technologies can fundamentally reshape how work gets done, or set the stage for new products and business models."
However, for our brains to grasp the nuggets of this vast digital transformation, we have segmented this tumultous transformative technology into 3 categories.
TECHNOLOGY OF INSIGHTTECHNOLOGY OF ENGAGEMENTTECHNOLOGY OF ENABLEMENTAs the 4th Industrial Revolution rolls in, it is imperative for brands and marketers to understand it, and contextually apply it to gain maximum prominence.
"Blockchain can serve as a new foundational protocol for trust throughout the enterprise and beyond. Cognitive technologies make automated response possible across all enterprise domains. Digital reality breaks down geographic barriers between people, and systemic barriers between humans and data. Together, these technologies can fundamentally reshape how work gets done, or set the stage for new products and business models."
However, for our brains to grasp the nuggets of this vast digital transformation, we have segmented this tumultous transformative technology into 3 categories.
TECHNOLOGY OF INSIGHTTECHNOLOGY OF ENGAGEMENTTECHNOLOGY OF ENABLEMENTAs the 4th Industrial Revolution rolls in, it is imperative for brands and marketers to understand it, and contextually apply it to gain maximum prominence.
TECHNOLOGY 0F INSIGHT
TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL DETERMINE THE INTELLIGENCE OF YOUR CONTENT
Driven by artificial intelligence, technology will be able to understand capture the inherent qualities of any content — its emotional appeal, subject matter, style, tone, or sentiment.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AS AN EVENT MARKETERS WHEN YOU ARE DEVELOPING CONTENT FOR YOUR EVENT?
For starters, how cool it is to know the tone, the voice and the topics that interest your customers. Moreover, it will link your content to an expected customer response, analysis and planning process, and campaign delivery. When you get to start a new campaign, you enter the parameters of your campaign such as message type, audience, offer, tone and language.
The insight derived from your Content Intelligence Technology will increase your tactical efficiency by delivering messaging that is deisgned for optimal results for your objective and your targeted audience.
TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL EMPOWER YOU IN TACKLING CUSTOMER JOURNEY ANALYTICSWith artifical intelligence in place, working to derive "quantitative and qualitative data to track, measure, analyze", you will be able to streamline customer interactions across different touchpoints, and predict their future behavior.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AS BRAND MARKETERS?
Customer Journey analytics will provide deeper levels of customer and marketing performance insights. Marketers will use journey insights to closely monitor customer behaviors and paths of performance, enabling dynamic and relevant content creation.
For example, when your customer makes a call to the 'call-center', using Customer Journey Analytics, you will be able to track what are the pain points that is instigating such a call and compare it to the qualitative and the quantitative data from the past calls. This in turn, will be help you in your product development and will give you new ideas for customer engagement.
TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL HUMANIZE YOUR ENTERPRISE PREFERENCE MANAGEMENT
Talk about creating a human-centric brand at an enterprise level. Build trust by using Enterprise preference management (EPM) by letting your customers choose the type of communications your brand can send.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AS MARKETERS OR BUSINESS OWNERS?
For example, your customer or your prospect can choose the specific day that she/he would like to hear from you and the and the specific product or solution that she is looking for, and provide an opt-in email address to receive that communication or not. This way you gather accurate and explicit data with targeted intentions.
EPM relieves the marketers from failed assumptions and validates customers' preference that are otherwise impossible to deduce.
TECHNOLOGY OF ENGAGEMENT
TECHNOLOGY OF ENGAGEMENT DURING MOBILE MOMENTS
"Mobile engagement automation (MEA) identifies customers on mobile devices and applies rules based on channel, behavior, and context to dynamically assemble content and deliver personalized interactions to channels such as SMS, push messages, and in-app messaging."
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AS MARKETERS?
For example, if you are a marketer in the business of pharmacy, you can bring customers’ pharmacy account information directly into his/her MEA platform and design the rules of her prescription reminder campaign based on the time that they have to take the medication, or pick up prescriptions, or scheduling their next doctor's visit.
HOW YOU CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS AS EVENT MARKETERS?
According to the book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott, some brands use text communications as a way to make it easy for people to sign up to receive communications from a company.
One recommendation from Constant Contact is to provide a clear, incentivized call to action to promote a keyword, like “text keyword to 12345 to receive X offer and to join our texting list.” CTIA, The Wireless Association, has best practices outlined on their website. However, they do make it clear, not to contact the receiver too often or outside of the context that you laid out or they will unsubscribe or, worse yet, not want to do business with you in the future.
That said, a useful text message will probably be appreciated. If you set meetings with your clients at a trade show or provide a time-sensitive premium, a reminder text that they can opt in for will likely be appreciated.
TECHNOLOGY OF CREATIVE ADVERTISING
Creative advertising technology allows marketers to provide frictionless, anticipatory, immersive experiences. Technology will not replace the skills of people who come up with the big ideas, but there is potential for applying AI with creative adtech. Delivers more personalized digital ads by combining optimal headlines, images, and messages that are based on customers’ behaviors with dynamic creative optimization tools.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AS MARKETERS?
Retailers can track the products that a customer views on their sites and deliver digital ads that use those products in the creative. Marketers use creative management platforms to make small changes in the design, increasing their speed-to-market and making them less dependent on their creative agencies.
TECHNOLOGY OF EMBEDDED ADVERTISING
Embedded advertising opens up a world of canvases to paint your messaging — woven right into premium content or communication channels. This is critical given consumers’ distaste for traditional display ads and their love of personalized experiences. "An ad format that, when twinned with devices that can resolve a customer’s identity, is extremely effective and valuable for content creators."
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AS MARKETERS?
You do not have to be peddle products and be "in their face." Instead, you will employ the sub-conscious of your target audience and indoctrinate them silently.
EXAMPLE: If a a luxury car brand wants to get its new two-seater in front of young urban professionals, now with the help of embedded advertising, the car manufacturer can have its car star in a few big-ticket feature films that appeal to this target audience.
TECHNOLOGY OF INTELLIGENT AGENTS
Intelligent Agents or (IAs) connects to customers’ calendars, email accounts, browsing behaviors, playlists, and purchases, and gathers a complete view of what matters to a given individual and delivers experiences catered towards it. Chatbots, digital assistants, robotic process automation are some examples of intelligent agent. As intelligent agents (IAs) provide high customer value in a low-friction interface, they will support previously direct relationships with brands.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AS EVENT MARKETERS?
Brands that are prepared to work with IAs will benefit from their customer access and knowledge, gaining more relevant moments. This is a special tool to arm yourself with, when you are encountering your customers face to face — no more asking hard questions or awkward pauses. The IA has done the hard work before you get them meet them on the trade show floor
TECHNOLOGY OF VIRTUAL ReALITY AND AUGMENTED REALITY AND IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES
Virtual reality (VR) is a fully digital world either previously developed from video or imagined from scratch. Augmented reality (AR) is the virtual overlay of digital information on a physical-world object.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AS EVENT MARKETERS?
VR will enable marketers to offer highly immersive and intimate experiences on top of new storytelling capabilities. Industry trade shows, such as Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show, among others, also featured a large selection of companies with their spherical VR cameras which capture 360-degree content.
When viewed with a VR headset, you are immersing your audience in experiences that could range from roller coaster rides, city tours, space exploration, underwater adventures, dramatic stories, factual documentaries—even someone’s life.
With AR, marketers will be able to engage consumers in more places by adding relevant contextual information on top of brand experiences.
Auto manufacturers give customers the ability to configure and try out vehicles through VR. Cosmetics companies use AR to recommend products to customers based on what shades of makeup match their complexions.
TECHNOLOGY OF ENABLEMENT — YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO MORE AND KNOW MORE
TECHNOLOGY OF IDENTITY RESOLUTION
The context of your customers' need is paramount. Customer identity is the foundation for contextual marketing. Robust identity resolution integrates data into a rich customer profile, which then helps for precise campaign targeting strategies, campaign personalization, closed-loop measurement and attribution. This technology integrates identifiers across available touchpoints and devices with behavior, transaction, and contextual information into an addressable customer profile.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AS ENTERPRISE EVENT MARKETERS?
Identity is more than name recognition. You can use identity resolution to identify by customer’s name, his role in the company, his order history, interest level of the different range of products, frequented visits at competitors wbsite, and a customer loyalty allocation number card number when he registers for the event — enabling an optimized interaction and high-touch service.
TECHNOLOGY OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Artficial Intellegence (AI) is an umbrella term for a variety of technologies that is self-learning, using statistical techniques to act upon a wide variety of data feed. A manifestation of AI, used in marketing technology can be seen with the emergence of Wikibuy.com — a chrome extension that automatically finds the lowest price, best coupon or cash back offer accross a variety of brands and ofcourse, the extension is free to install. It is stated that AI will drive substantial gains in efficiency, agility, and marketing performance.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AS MARKETERS?
Of course, e-commerce is bound to see major traction. However, if you are on a marketing platform, the AI is set out help with creating and refining campaign content; programmatic ad buying; email send-time optimization; audience discovery and creation; and continuously optimizing marketing campaigns.
TECHNOLOGY OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS
A major ingredient of the 4th Industrial Revolution, IoT is set to change the way we think, act and do business. It will enables objects and infrastructure to interact with with each other over internet or private cloud network.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU MARKETERS AND BUSINESS OWNERS?
The internet of things (IoT) will give marketers significant opportunities to access real-time data insights, predict customer behaviors, improve the customer experience, and even invent new products and business models.
For example, L’Oréal introduced a smart hairbrush with advanced sensors and an accompanying mobile app — a smart hairbrush with advanced sensors and an accompanying mobile app —provides insights and customized product recommendations to help people better care for their hair.
CONCLUSION
Over the next decade the advances in digital reality—broad strokes of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality, 360°, and immersive technologies—will lead to more natural and intuitive ways for technology to better our lives and our interactions — atleast that is what it looks like — it will be no longer screens and hardware but gestures, emotions, and gazes — so the futurists claim.
But one trend is for sure, as tempting as technological innovation is — budget, resources and time constraints make that impractical. So, focus your gaze on technology that will help you to build on your current marketing technology stack and span your wings from there on.
Happy exploring!
Source: www.forrester.com, www.gartner.com, https://dupress.deloitte.com/, https://dupress.deloitte.com/dup-us-en/focus/tech-trends.html