Artificial Intelligence (or AI) is changing the way we see and use technology every day. All smartphones and most tablets are equipped with some form of AI, whether it’s Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa, or Google’s.
But what does AI mean for users? Basically, it’s a way for devices to adapt to users’ behaviors and interests to ensure the better, and faster experience. The whole goal is to make tasks seamless, enabling more to get done, and new things to be discovered. But it’s not just the users’ experience that will change, digital marketing trends will also see it’s share of evolutions as a result of the emergence of AI.
Marketing Will Impact Trends
The thing to remember here is data, data, data. Campaigns will be even more reliant on data than they already are and will become the pioneer for nearly every step of the creative process. Data will become so prevalent that it will be used to create algorithms that can predict what people might be interested in, which can prompt new ideas that will give rise to big trends.
Marketing tactics often adapt to relevant trends to capture the interest of potential customers, so the early stages of marketing strategies might have more to say about direction.
This will lead to more, faster-moving trends that will have more of a niche-impact.
Trends Will Move Faster
Machine learning means faster learning, so AI will integrate with user behavior to push things out faster. This not only means there will be more trends, but each trend will likely not last as long, giving rise to new forms of content to engage users.
What could this mean for consumers? Styles will move quickly so users will have to digest all of this at their own pace and the speed will likely dictate the who they are targeting. There are always consumers operating at different speeds like we still see on Everett M. Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations, which highlights 5 groups differentiated by the way they adopt innovative technologies.
Consider the difference between someone who needs the newest smartphone as opposed to someone who still uses an old flip phone. The different types of audiences will have unique behavioral patterns that will be addressed per niche. In other words, there will be adoption niches within industry niches that brands will be able to target, leaving more room for content to promote.
Content Will Become More Personal
More data will bring more personalization to the content and marketing funnels that drive businesses forward. The very devices AI powers will collect archives or preferences and behavioral tendencies to segment users for the purpose of reaching what consumers will be more likely to notice, engage with, and eventually purchase. The data companies like Facebook and Google have today will appear elementary when compared to the data advanced AI can gather.
Content will always have the opportunity to go viral because there will always be a “mainstream”, but the majority of content will take more of a niche objective. When most people hear the word “niche” they assume something to be very exclusive to an audience with a strict set of wants and needs. This will have a new meaning in the age of AI.
How will niches differ? There will be more of them, and they will also be larger. More access to data will give algorithms more information needed to lump groups together, based on digital behavioral patterns. With a niche, will create a market, which will create jobs, giving businesses in each sector room to thrive.
Application Marketing Will Explode
With the further emergence of AI, look for more apps to thrive in areas you might not expect in 2018. As an effort to further integrate tech with everyday life, AI will work to further assist users, which will eventually include apps for self-driving cars and automated errand-related processes.
There Will Be Less Noise
AI will likely lead to one of a few main possibilities that will change the digital marketing landscape.
In one case, more data can potentially lead platforms to charge more for advertising due to increased demand and higher quality ad spaces. The more valuable an ad spot is, the more a platform can charge, this can cause brands to be more cautious for ad campaigns. In another case, subscription-based platforms will dominate, creating less room for banner advertising.
Think of the way people choose social media platforms today, only the platforms would be much more detailed, with a major user’s needs in mind. A paid subscription to a bundle with, say a social media platform, publication subscriptions, and access to select content providers.
More platforms (likely bundled) will lead to increased competition. Brands with aligned values will partner up the way conglomerates do now but become juggernauts for content and brand directions. A handful of major content conglomerates would compete for attention driven by large quantities of data.
At the end of the day, AI will be preference-based so people will typically only opt to see ads they find more interesting and helpful.
Advertising Will Become More Native
With content becoming more personal, some advertising tactics will likely stray away from buying ad space and move towards collaborating with entertainers for a more authentic experience. The more expensive things become, the more incentive companies have for finding alternatives. This may lead to more of blurred lines between entertainment-based content and advertisements. This won’t only change the way we see content, it will also change the way we see advertising because they will have to integrate in order to blend in with other forms of entertainment.
This could lead to more entertainers becoming brand ambassadors, which could give rise to brands ‘reserving’ certain entertainers if they align with their brand. We see similar (but less aggressive) campaigns today with brands partnering with creators on platforms like YouTube and Instagram. Certain entertainers could be reserved for exclusive brands, channeling huge audiences with dominating brand messaging tactics.
