People who work in marketing are always looking for the next tools and technologies that can help them achieve better results with their marketing strategies. So what are the most powerful technologies out there right now to help with that?
Marketing is all about reaching and engaging with customers via the most relevant and compelling channels. Since the focus of so much marketing, these days is on digital marketing, it makes sense that technology and marketing increasingly go hand in hand. So what technologies should marketing companies and industry professionals be getting serious about in order to take their marketing efforts to the next level? Here’s the lowdown.
Chatbots
Driven by artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots can be valuable to individuals working across all areas of a business. Companies primarily introduce chatbots in order to free up the time of human customer service agents, and this is certainly a valuable use of chatbot technology. However, their value to marketing professionals can be invaluable too.
Text-based chatbots log every conversation had with customers, and this information goes on to improve the chatbot technology on an ongoing basis. But this data can also be used for marketing purposes. It enables marketing professionals to quickly see themes in the topics customers are asking about, which they can react to with bespoke marketing strategies. Whether it’s improving frequently asked question (FAQ) pages or releasing more information to the public about certain product functionalities, tailored marketing only helps achieve further sales. Even speech-based alternatives (conversational AI) can capture a similar level of information to be used later by marketing teams.
Voice Search
In general, voice-driven commands are increasing across the board in technology, as individuals become accustomed to using the likes of Siri and Alexa on a daily basis. In fact, voice searches make up around one fifth of all the searches done using cell phones.
Marketing professionals can respond to this trend by optimizing their websites specifically for voice searches. Key to this is having a form of FAQs on your website. When you are writing the answers to these FAQs, think about how it would sound if it was spoken instead of written. The tone of voice can be different for spoken communications and should usually be more down-to-earth and conversational in order to do well in voice searches.
Alternative Currencies
The technological approach to money and finance has risen dramatically in recent years, and has changed the way that transactions are done across the world. One way that marketing professionals can give their company a new competitive edge is to look into accepting some alternative currencies as a form of payment. Cryptocurrencies are the main type of currency an increasing number of businesses are accepting. In fact, a third of all businesses in the United States now accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.
Accepting cryptocurrencies means businesses can appeal to customers across the world in a way that hasn’t been possible before, so marketing professionals who are looking to expand their reach should seriously consider it. Businesses who accept cryptocurrencies can immediately convert it to the currency they usually do business in, so there is no pressure to have a business cryptocurrency account.
Virtual Reality
Unless they work for a technology brand, many marketing professionals have previously thought that virtual reality (VR) was not relevant for their sector. However, VR and augmented reality (AR) are now becoming increasingly mainstream, opening up opportunities to use these technologies across a range of industries.
For example, VR and AR are now making it possible for people to visualize a new piece of furniture in their home, or an item of clothing as it would look on them. This is enabling the growth of internet-based sales like never before, even in industries where customers typically want to see and feel a product first.
Geolocation Data
Although digital marketing enables marketing teams to target their content and outputs more effectively, geolocation data is still largely underused. Tapping into the locality of target customers can be a hugely successful way to create more personalized campaigns. Creating bespoke social media campaigns, adverts and pieces of content that resonate with someone in their geographical location is a brilliant attention-grabber, and is something that really works for marketing professionals who use it to its maximum advantage.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Although it’s nothing new to marketing professionals, SEO is something that is here to stay. As algorithms and rules are constantly being updated due to changing consumer behavior, it is vital to keep on top of the latest trends in SEO. It is common for marketing teams to implement SEO methods that are already evolving into something new without realizing it.
One of the latest developments marketing professionals needs to be aware of is Google’s page experience algorithm. This algorithm specifically looks at a website’s potential for interactivity and loading speed, as well as the website’s overall stability and security. Another aspect that is becoming increasingly important for search engines such as Google is websites that have been fully optimized for a mobile experience, since an ever-increasing majority of people are using their cell phones instead of computers to search for information.