To say we are living in interesting times would be underselling it considerably. Not only are we coming out of a worldwide pandemic that is one of the biggest events in human history, but we are also living in the midst of incredible technological advances.
Imagine life just a decade ago compared to now. Electronic vehicles are no longer a pipe dream and are booming in popularity, you can go grocery shopping without ever touching cash or a credit or debit card and video game systems and televisions are pushing the boundaries of photorealism. Technology progresses at an exponential rate, and we are experiencing that growth firsthand.
And that has an effect on the advertising and marketing world. When people see these technological advances in one application, they immediately want to see them applied to all applications possible, which often includes ventures into the world of advertising and marketing.
Personalized experiences are one of the biggest conveniences of today’s modern age and the most obvious change to the advertising and marketing landscape. Once a customer makes a transaction with you, you have all their information. Moving forward, you can use this information for personalized marketing to that individual, which gives the customer a more established connection to your goods and services.
For example, if you own a t-shirt company that makes college apparel and a customer buys an LSU shirt on the day you release it, it would be reasonable to assume they would be interested in other LSU shirts, and maybe less so in Alabama or Ole Miss shirts. Or if you own a fast-food business that allows online ordering, you can save their order information to allow them to re-order something quickly. And of course, you can offer the customer the ability to save their payment information for a more express checkout.
But to go with that accessible information comes the issue of data privacy. Big tech companies such as Apple and Google have taken data privacy very seriously (and marketed themselves as such), as the flip side of the accessible information is that a lot of it is very sensitive and would be devastating for many people if it were leaked.
Lastly and somewhat unfortunately, due these technological advances our attention span has defied all odds and managed to further shrink. Going back to a decade ago, as an advertiser you knew you had a captive audience with television commercials but now with the advent of streaming services that allow users to pay for an ad-free experience, that captive audience pool has drastically dwindled. To counteract that, social media marketing has emerged as a viable option, but users can still bypass that with a simple swipe.
There are ways to still gain captive audience members, but your advertising should start considering how to best deliver information to your audience in as short amount of time as possible. This requires some creative strategizing on your end based on the good or service you provide, but detailed product information should always be presented in a digestible format.
Think of it this way: if you’re selling a new phone with three new features you want to market, would you rather have three five-second ads that feature each feature individually play before YouTube videos or a 30-second ad that highlights all three features and airs on cable television? Your mileage may vary, but by and large the five-second videos may be a more efficient way to reach your audience. Welcome to the new age!
