What will digital marketing be like in the next 10 years?
The future is unpredictable.
We beg to differ.
So, supported by well-researched theories and statistics, we will predict the future of digital marketing.
The digital era is here. Conventional marketing dictums are fast disappearing. 2020, being a historic period of disruption, accelerated some trends and killed off many others that were already waning.
Today’s customers/audiences have several combined touchpoints to make shopping decisions, attention spans have gone down drastically (hours to minutes to seconds), and competition is stiff. Not only that but segmentation has become more complex-a customer who will only buy the cheapest flight tickets can spend thousands on an Apple iPhone or laptop.
So, according to us and any leading digital marketing company in India and the world, with changing times, the marketer has to be not only creative but also able to deliver the creative material to the relevant customer through a relevant touchpoint.
It is astonishing to realize today that Facebook “once” dominated the world. Twitter “became” a battleground for politicians, YouTube & Instagram “revolutionized” content. Did you notice the past tense in all of that? All this and more have already happened.
But, what next?
What will digital marketing look like in 10 years?
Let’s take a deep dive.
The future of digital marketing in 10 years
AI will come to the forefront
Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO, had claimed that artificial intelligence or AI will be “vastly smarter” than any human soon. He has also predicted that AI will overtake us by 2025.
So, yes, the next tech for digital marketing is AI.
AI will provide better personalization
AI will have a HUGE impact on customer experience. It will help create personalized experiences more efficiently and systematically. Providing interactive and customized purchase experiences will become the norm & will be made possible by consumer behavior analysis.
Analytics tools will become smarter
The analytics tools are going to become a lot smarter with AI through meta-analysis of broad-spectrum data sets and next using that same data to make its own decisions.
AI will find its use in everything-from content creation, voice & face recognition, chatbot, digital assistants to highly targeted marketing strategies, and much more.
Example
Currently, Google AdWords’ automated auction-based bidding system takes the heavy lifting & guesswork out of advertisers’ minds. It lets advertisers pay the lowest possible cost per conversion.
High effectiveness of AR/Augmented Reality
Science-fiction-like visions will be mainstream in the future with Augmented Reality or AR. AR is predicted to go onto becoming a trillion-dollar industry by the end of the 2030s.
IDC recently revealed that from 2019-2023, the global AR market along with the VR market is predicted to see a 77% compound annual growth rate.
What’s coming in the future of AR/Augmented Reality
Marketers will use AR to enhance user experience and provide real time-feel for their audiences through tools offering more engaging, interactive, and personalized experiences.
B2B and B2C marketing will disappear completely, giving way to B2E or Business to Experience marketing.
360-degree photography and videography are already there. Eventually, through AR advertisements, viewers will have the ability to have more control and interact with the content.
Example
- IKEA is already doing this. Through AR, the company is changing how we buy furniture online. Using a smartphone app you can now take a picture of your intended space and then mix and match different furniture to find the right combination.
- Skincare brands like OLAY are doing it too. Take a picture of your face through their app and they’ll determine your skin’s age as well as problematic areas. Then they’ll provide you with a suggested list of products for your skin.
The rise of Virtual Reality
Being an experienced digital marketing company, we can vouch for the fact that virtual reality or VR will be one of the most disruptive technologies of this decade.
In fact, VR is already here. According to a study conducted by the Global Web Index in 2016, more than two out of five people in the 16-34 age groups are interested in VR headsets. Interesting fact, as of 2020, almost 26 million VR headsets are owned globally by consumers.
What’s expected off of virtual reality
Storytelling is an irreplaceable tool in digital marketing. Virtual reality will enhance storytelling by enabling users to connect with a brand/its story/campaign with such an in-depth emotional intensity that it is unscalable through traditional media.
Example
A great example of VR marketing can be seen in Tom’s Shoes. It is a California-based company known for its philanthropic approach. For every purchase, they give away a pair of shoes to the underprivileged. They used an ingenious VR tool to create a beautiful experience-that of giving every customer a trip to Peru, where they would gift someone a shoe. They set this up as an in-store customer experience enhancer.
The evolution of Voice Marketing
Voice search is not new. It’s been there for ten years. Voice assistants like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa have brought this a step forward.
3.25 billion people already use voice-activated search as well as assistants globally. The number is predicted to hit 6.4 billion in 2022. Gen Z’s stats suggest that 38% of them are willing to make purchases via voice-activated ordering.
A new door has opened
The increased use of such voice assistants has opened new doors for marketers. How? By allowing contextual interactions with users. Voice marketing can take personalization to a whole new level.
Brands will need to optimize their digital content for voice search. A conversational tone will be used in most content, along with long-tailed keywords and detailed search phrases.
Example
Starbucks is doing it and doing it well! They have an app that lets people order & pay in advance. The ordering can be done with voice cues using Amazon’s Alexa or most recently Samsung Bixby in the South Korean market. This simplifies the process of buying drinks.
Ecommerce will be smartly integrated with retail
The first wave of disruption brought eCommerce into the industry. The next wave that is currently going on and will continue till the 2030s, will be all about creating integrated solution-combining e-commerce with retail.
Online-versus-offline clearly doesn’t work, so brands are quickly adopting both! The idea is to deliver value to customers no matter where they are, at home or in-store. The two experiences are merging.
Example
- McDonald’s is already doing it through its barcode menu. The digital solution is fully integrated with a payment gateway. No need to touch a menu card, just scan the QR code, see the menu, place the order, and pay through the app. Simple.
- Sephora has an app letting in-store shoppers access essential information about products pretty quickly. The app has an AI feature that lets customers see how some products like makeup will look on them.
Influencer marketing of the future
Influencer marketing is already booming. It is predicted to become a $15 billion industry by 2022. Not only that but according to recent reports, 63% of marketers intend to increase their influencer marketing budget in the next year. People want relatability over aspirational today and that will be the trend even in the next 10 years.
Next stop evolution
Technology will get more involved in influencer marketing connecting talent to consumers more seamlessly, immediately, and scalable.
Real-time incubations will be rampant where the audience is a part of the process, from designing to manufacturing to shipping. Interpersonal advice through celebrities who look like “you” will become popular where the said celebrity will model the product/service.
There will be highly interactive brand experiences involving ad personalization. For example, in a car ad with Liam Hemsworth or our very own Ranveer Singh, you could sit right by him and truly experience the ride through technology.
Inanimate celebrities will become widely popular like Barbie was once, and Qai Qai is today. Many celebrities who have passed will be reanimated through technology for marketing.
Social media shops will become a better part of online shopping
You see it, you like it, you buy it! There will be no barriers to buying things you like on different social media platforms.
Instagram is already making it possible through its shop; the others will follow suit. The shops will be fully automated, the experience real-time, and the process smooth.
“Phygital” will be the new norm in social media shops. The “phygital” space will slowly become more and more interactive, oftentimes allowing audiences to have a say in the customization of products.
Example
Facebook is connecting users to sellers directly through “shops.” It is a single shop where businesses can create an online store not only on Facebook but also on Instagram. You can choose to feature certain items and tell your brand story with customizable fonts and colors. Your customers can connect with you through WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram Direct Message.
Content marketing will grow
About 70% of marketers are currently actively investing in content marketing. It is only going to increase in the future.
The future of content marketing requires more than “fun” content. It requires empathy, creativity, and adaptability wrapped in technology that connects you to your customer. So, that is exactly how it is predicted to be in the next 10 years.
The next is here
The topical authority will replace keyword research because Google is getting smarter about semantics and link relevancy, so brands with more in-depth coverage will be the forerunners.
Value-driven practical content will have more value, gated content will reduce, interactive content showing product/service use will increase. Not only that, in content marketing, original research with in-depth insights will gain more popularity.
AI will be implemented in content marketing. It will be helping streamline content load, decipher the ever-changing world of content marketing, analyze user data, and understand user intent.
Machine-generated content and content atomization will also be widely popular.
Affiliate marketing will cover more ground
Affiliate marketing fuels about 15% to 20% of total online sales.
According to recent reports, the affiliate marketing industry in India will cross the $835 million mark by 2025.
The future
Affiliate programs will become more popular and more rewarding for the users. The world will be full of enthusiastic affiliate marketers because it will involve you, and me, and everyone else.
People not engaging with it will start to lose out on great deals for little time invested and hence forced to follow suit.
Example
- Thought leaders offer free ebooks to consumers of their popular books.
- Influencers offer sweet deals to their audiences if they use their affiliate link.
The change in B2B marketing
For B2B marketing, the focus, at the moment, is on the bottom of the funnel-like lead generation. But in the next 10 years, the focus is predicted to shift to the top of the funnel-like brand building.
Upcoming events
It will be more data-driven than today. There will be more focus on brands for social justice. Finally, hyper-targeting will decrease. Instead reaching “maximalism” will be the goal.
Brand advertising will be huge by 2030-2031. Franchise formulas will be used to monetize content, an example of which can be seen in Disney. Hyper targeting, as discussed, will come to an end.
Example
The franchise formula can be seen in the Walt Disney brand. They used big bets, offered familiarity as well as nostalgia, granted consistent distinctiveness, and adopted merchandising on all grounds.
Government interference in social media
We are entering a new era of social media regulation. This is mostly due to an increase in data leaks.
What’s next up?
Many apps will be regulated or banned, many ads and what they showcase or how they showcase it will determine its popularity or even their relevance. Brands will have to be more careful about their social media image and statements/campaigns.
Many governments are blocking or asking for answers from different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
To sum up
In a nutshell, the change we will see in the next 10 years is already afoot. To see your brand succeed, you have to keep up with the changes. Digital marketing is key to a brand’s success, if you have it under control, nobody can stop you. Ask any top digital marketing company and they’ll tell you customization leading to personalization aided by technology is the future of digital marketing. Ace it and you’ll be a success.
Note:
MMBO is a leading digital marketing agency in Delhi. We are a full-service digital marketing company with an experienced, energetic, and enthusiastic team of marketers, creatives, and visionaries. After extensive research into the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, we crafted content discussing the future of digital marketing.
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