The Next Big Thing In Digital Marketing!

With the amalgamation of technology-driven transformations that are shaping the future, the next big thing in digital marketing cannot be gauged with one single factor. We’ve identified multiple exiting trends that will continue to change the course of digital marketing’s future. 

Artificial Intelligence AI 

What is Artificial Intelligence AI?

The conventional meaning of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an artificial form of human-like intelligence that can learn, reason, design, observe, or develop natural language. The typical traits of artificial intelligence are its capability to rationalize and take actions that have the top chance of achieving a specific goal. These characteristics allow AI to bring substantial socio-economic opportunities.  

In recent years, Artificial intelligence (AI) has received immense attention due to the rapid advancement of technology, which was made possible by the Internet that has created momentous impacts on our lifestyle. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is divided into two categories as Narrow AI, sometimes referred to as Weak AI, and General AI sometimes referred to as Strong AI.  

Narrow AI is designed to perform on a restricted set of predetermined tasks such as Facial recognition, Internet searches, video games, personal assistant as an Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, or solving equations. 

General AI is designed to outperform humans’ minds that have the capability of a wide set of stimuli to function autonomously. General AI is programmed to handle circumstances in which they are required to solve the problems without having a human intercede, for example, self- driven cars, robots, or in-hospital operating rooms. 

However, AI Artificial intelligence is being widely used in the market such as, in healthcare, IBM Watson technology, Prediction tools, and disease mapping diagnoses, Personalized and optimized healthcare recommendations for more accurate and efficient results through AI machines. Chatbots on the medical website for an appointment and medical feedback. Another good example is smart assistance, like Alexa and Siri, to reduce the time and better results in searching for the best rate for hotels or airline tickets. 

Soon, based on AI, we shall see self-driven cars on a massive scale. Machines shall overtake Robo-advisors for stock trading, Assembly line production. AI technology has become a part of daily lifestyles such as Spam filters on email, Tv show recommendation on Netflix, and Songs on Spotify. When Netflix suggests just the right genre of films or series, it is not random but by careful studying search and viewing patterns of every individual. 

AI plays a crucial role in business too, Digital Marketing companies are micromanaging the data that offer better product placement and personalized ads for a target audience, social media monitoring tools for false news and dangerous content. Chatbots are also used for customer service.  Similarly, in banks, the algorithm could flag Fraud detection such as unexpected activity or strange foreign transactions. 

These are just a few examples of how AI will change our future. According to a survey conducted by Forbes, 84% of company owners in the USA, said their focus is on using AI to cut down costs and provide better products for the customers. AI would certainly take over the old school strategy of digital marketing. At Black Swan designs, we welcome new ideas and adapt to all the changes that occur in the market. 

Augmented reality (AR)

What is Augmented reality (AR)?

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that enhances the actual physical world around you by adding 3D objects, sound, video, and graphic to it. It creates an illusion of holographic content as if it is part of the physical world. 

The simplest and perhaps the most well-known example of AR technology is the mobile game app “Pokémon Go”, which was released in 2016, and technology became an inevitable sensation. 

Currently, Augmented reality (AR) is one of the biggest technology trends and it is going to get bigger as AR ready devices and smartphones become more reachable around the world. Many people confuse Augmented reality (AR) with Virtual reality or VR. Virtual reality is an exclusively immersive experience that allows the user to interact with a new virtual world. Whereas, Augmented Reality AR, adds a digital element to your existing world and VR changes your world.

Let’s explore more examples of Augmented Reality. QR code arguably was one of the first apps that many people interacted with AR by directing their smartphone at a QR code on a table or a print ad. It can decode that coded image into a virtual item on the screen. Moreover, Improved navigation systems use augmented reality to superimpose a route over the live view of the road. Broadcasters use AR technology to draw lines on the field to exemplify and analyze plays during the live football game. Big Retail furniture house IKEA offers an AR app as a marketing tool that allows you to see how a piece of furniture will look in your space.

Augmented reality is readily accessible and is used in an innumerable way including Snapchat lenses, in apps that assist you to locate your car in a crowded parking lot, and in a variety of shopping apps that let you try on clothes without even leaving home.

With an advance in AR technology, digital marketing campaign, and the opportunities of interactive sessions, branding and customer feedback would be endless. Augmented reality appears to revolutionize on-the-job training, and enhance the capabilities of designers, artists, retailers, game developers, and office workers. 

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are rapidly becoming massive areas of technology, with titans like Apple, Microsoft, and Google competing to provide the next big AR or VR experience. Statistics forecasts that the global user base for VR and AR will reach 443 million by 2025. Hence, it is increasingly important for UX designers to know how to make amazing VR and AR experiences. Designing for 3D experiences will entail wholly new ways of intellectuality about UX design—But the question is, are we well equipped to tackle this new field of design? The future is certainly exciting!

Voice Search

What is Voice Search?

In a nutshell, voice search is a speech recognition technology that enables the users to search by speaking a loud word rather than typing long words into a search field. Voice search is the key contributor of virtual assistants such as Alexa by Amazon, Siri by Apple, Cortana by Microsoft, and Google Assistant by Google. 

Voice search radically improves user experience and due to this, more than 50% of all searches across the internet will be voiced- based by the year 2025. Nearly, 20% of all voice search questions are triggered by just 25 keywords. By 2025, 30% of all web browsing sessions will be done without a screen. As a result of this high-volume use, search engines such as Google are placing greater importance on voice search optimization.

What does voice search mean in content marketing?

The role of voice search is changing the strategy plan of Search Engine Optimization SEO. This means that Digital Strategist and brand must include specific questions people have around different services rather than related keywords.  As the search user becomes more conversational, brands have to think strategically and plan long-term about how their brand can become the generic name people search for when speaking on a query out loud, such as the Mac of personal computers or the Levi’s in jeans. This has long been a key goal of the marketing team to create a brand’s name on top of the mind for a consumer. 

Due to this reason, various brands are evolving ‘skills’ through which a user can ask their assistant to request a brand to perform a task. It might be asking Alexa or Siri to get a travel brand, such as Trip Advisor, to look up and book a hotel or an insurance company to send a quote. Black Swan designs as a digital agency in Karachi are working towards embracing this change.

Influencer marketing

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is a fusion of ancient and innovative marketing tools. It takes the idea of brand endorsement with an online influencer to increase the traffic, improve brand awareness, and drive the brand’s message to the target audience. These influencers are known as content creators, who are already engaged with your ideal audience with different content they are creating, across the channel which allows your brand to expand their reach across their buyers. Examples of these channels include blogs, social media, Digital columns, digital and print ads.

Currently, Influencer marketing is an established form of online marketing. It has created a lot of buzzes and progressively more popular among businesses these days. It works tremendously because Influencers are seen as authentic and trustworthy, they have the power to impact their purchase decisions, they use marketing tactics like social proofs and honest review which creates great word of mouth marketing. 

This critical aspect is now considered to be a successful market strategy and has created a great marketing shift from a celebrity endorsement to influencer endorsement. Influencers or content creators are a new celebrity in this era. Consumers trust their peers, friends, and people they admire more than the companies selling the products and services they buy and use.

According to Adweek, the industry is established to reach $10 billion in worth by 2022.  Many other channels are growing for influencers. Channels like Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube have their own set of influencers with different demographics.

A primary example of influencer marketing, a cosmetic company like Morphe brand will have better ROI than traditional advertising if endorsed by Huda Kattan. With her, 42.8 million followers on Instagram will bring better results in sales than any traditional advertisement. 

However, there is a slightly negative effect on influencer marketing too. If any influencer comes under any negative viral content, then this impacts the brand’s image. Therefore, companies must be very careful in choosing the right influencer for their brand. The filtering process has already started, and digital marketers are adapting to this change.

The future of Digital Marketing cannot simply be limited to just one area. An amalgamation of all the technological advancements and features discussed above will together push the needle forward. Black Swan designs as a digital agency in Pakistan would be using all these advancements to deliver the very best of services to all the customers.