I love the hot summer months and all the daylight. It gives me time to think aimlessly about life, my business and the industry I am in. There is a lot of talk these days about the evolution of marketing and I started to ponder it at random times. Below is a collection of my thoughts, both about what changed over the last several years and what to expect in the future.
What changed in marketing over the last several years?
In my more than 25 years doing marketing communications, I have seen many changes and reinvented my work accordingly. Media reviewers, even though they became brands themselves, lost some of their power as people turned more to their own peers online for unbiased reviews and tips. Digital platforms such a Yelp and Trip Advisor, with the real, unfettered truth (and photos!) gained popularity.
Social media became surprisingly crazy with so many people rushing to put their 140-character (now 280-character) comments on Twitter and trying desperately to get followers. Interesting side note, the average tweet length is 33 characters. The fact that our sitting US president finds tweeting the most appropriate way to share major announcements with the public simply blows my mind.
I truly believe that someday we will look back on Twitter and go, “That was really bizzare and super random. I can’t believe we did that!”
The whole social media thing (all platforms), even though I partake for a variety of reasons, definitely feels like high school. Will they “like” me, er, what I wrote? But I digress. The current power for things to “go viral” is unprecedented. There is some value in each of the platforms and I will write about that in a separate blog sometime. I especially think Linked In has some value in the business world.
Herd mentality, what we often see with social media.
Then social media gave birth to the social media “influencers,” the celebrities of the digital age. “Ah, yes, I am sure Johnny must know what he is talking about, look at how many followers he has! Yippee!” Herd mentality at its best. It all feels a bit light to me. I feel like if we keep on this way, we will all blow away like a feathers in the wind. We need more substance.
And then, of course, the notorious click-bait of headers to grab our attention to increase website traffic of digital media outlets and companies. Every time I fall for one, I feel like I am weak. And yet, as a marketing practitioner, I have to think about that as I “sell” stories to media outlets.
And we all know about the whole Content influx. “Content is King!” people would shout from the rooftops. Maybe it was to counteract the minimalist social media. Our minds told us we wanted to go deeper. You know, show people how smart we really are. Which, by the way, is kind of what we were doing prior to social media. And guilty as charged with this blog post.
Give them so much to read that they don’t know where to turn anymore. I am not sure about you, but I never really get through all that I want to read every day. My curious mind is pulled in so many wonderfully interesting directions.
Quartz nails it with its Quartz Daily Brief and Quartz Obsession.
Which all leads me to think that some of these daily newsletters that include curated content, Quartz has one that is awesome, sort of marries the “too little” with “too much.” We will give you jussssst enough, and if you want to go deeper, we have that too. (If you really want to go down interesting rabbit holes, check out their daily Quartz Obsession. Love it.)
Then we get into the whole concept of the filter bubble. So much personalization and self-selection of what we read, watch, listen to in the media, that we miss out on the big picture of what is really happening. Thank you cookies and Google. Do we really appreciate the targeted ads? Or are they a bit spooky?
By the way, a sincere cheers for the “ad choices” buttons on the top of the ads that are served to me online everyday. Somehow, they give me a teeny, tiny feeling of control over what is served to me from the advertising world.
We have also seen a significant increase in the use of video in marketing. I have not seen the statistics for other people, but any video over 30 seconds (okay, maybe one minute) feels too long for me unless it is a national or world news video or a how-to video. I have never been a TV news watcher either (or TV watcher in general). I rather have the control to view/read what I want instead of being subjected to a bunch of information I don’t care about.
Which brings me to the annoying self-starting advertising videos that we are getting increasingly bombarded with. When will it stop? My eyes and brain are on overdrive with the ridiculous amount of stimulus coming at me all the time.
And one last thought that popped into my head. In the past, we saw marketers work to make small firms look larger and more established than they were. Now we sometimes see larger firms trying to make their company look smaller and more boutique-y. They are doing this so they can appear to have a more personalized approach. Not the one-size-fits all, lost-in-the-shuffle thing.
So where is marketing going?
This brings me to marketing in the future.
Imagine more loyalty work. Much has been done here, but there is a lot of room to enhance existing programs and build new and much more interesting and exciting ones. For example, Rover could send your dog a new toy after using its services multiple times. Aveda, which already has a decent loyalty program, could do a whole program around saving the environment. Really get involved, and get their customers involved, not just at the surface level like they are doing now. Subaru could offer a puppy with all of its cars. Okay, just kidding about the last one.
A real tree depicting a decision tree.
I suspect we will also see much more interactive marketing. Where we can easily bypass what we don’t want to see and only focus on what we do want to see. Imagine going down various paths, maybe decision trees, but really creative and cool ones, to get to where we need and want to be.
And augmented reality has opened an entire new dimension for marketers. We are already seeing museums using it for tours. I have experienced it both at a Gaudi museum in Barcelona and in a museum about the history of the city in Amsterdam. With some clever thinking, there are so many marketing possibilities with this technology.
Companies may also start paying us, yes paying us, to watch or read something by their company. For example, “Read this white paper, and we will drop $5 into your Amazon account.” And I can certainly see being paid for our personal data, which we now all give up way too freely.
Then there is the whole concept of voice combined with better search based on more data. Imagine saying to your computer or mobile device, “Where can I buy an X for under $ today within ten miles of my house?” Now that would be really useful! It also opens up several news realms of marketing.
And also better search. Cheers to Google for search in the first place, but, boy, it is not nearly where it could be yet on multiple fronts. Seriously, with all that (free) data floating around on me, can’t you read my mind just a little better? Ditto to Amazon and many other websites. I guess we all have to decide where we want to marry creepy accurate with convenience. Mastering the quality of this technology could lead to all sorts of new marketing opportunities.
A brilliant marketing stunt.
Also, after seeing the hysterical pairing of CheezIts with House Wine, which, by the way, promptly sold out, I was made to think there must be other attention-getting pairings. Surely the above paring was simply a clever marketing ploy. CNN and countless other respectable media outlets covered it. It was brilliant.
I also believe we will see some more design-forward work. Seems like we have not focused quite enough on that even though I do see splashes of it in various places. It is ripe with opportunity. I found this Sea Creatures website refreshing and interesting. Not the same old, same old.
And as TV, Internet, payment methods and voice technologies mesh, the commercial space on your television could have some interesting dynamics. For example, maybe one-click reservations for a game or restaurant. On-the-spot buying of products by simply saying a self-selected password to your TV. Or the ability to verbally ask questions about a product and get real-time answers as you sit on your couch.
Maybe I am dreaming or just being hopeful, but it also seems like we are starting to care about the collective world more these days as in climate, gender equality, etc. I sense smart corporations will pick up on this and use it to their full advantage by actually having a point of view. This excellent Nike commercial is a great example.
GoogleMaps.
Then there is the whole realm of location-based advertising. Try as I might to not give away my location to my device, I need GoogleMaps too much for directions. I don’t want to turn my location on and off, so there I am. A target for what needs to be a new iteration of location-based marketing as the earlier ones don’t appear to have taken off so well.
And let us not forget podcasts. The current coolness factor of podcasts cracks me up. I used to have a beloved Apple iPod Mini that I used to listen to as I roller-bladed along the beach by my house. My guess is the growing interest in podcasts, and audio books for in the car, is related to people’s need to get out of their own heads. Stay distracted. Whatever you do, don’t think about your own life. I bet the need for distraction from the seemingly endless ills of the world will continue and there is some marketing value hidden in those podcasts. Sponsorship, how something works, why things are the way they are, etc.
Which takes me to a place to tie this all up. As a big fan of yoga (except when it is sunny and light outside) I am well aware of the benefits of meditation. I also know that mindless wandering of the mind really isn’t that mindless after all. It is critical to get to the deeper stuff.
I hope you enjoyed these musings. Please send me a line if you have some thoughts of your own.
