The whole advertising world has been shaken by the recent Magna forecast stating that in 2017, digital advertising sales will overtake TV ads for the first time ever, and that their market share is expected to reach 40%, as opposed to the 36% market share for TV.
Well, probably “shaken” isn’t the right word, as those who watch out for the new trends and read our previous article about IoT, should have seen it coming that digital ads will take over the industry. So, aside from this major trend, what are the other tendencies that will shape the advertising sphere in the nearest future? Let’s find it out!
Personalization
People are so used to all types of ads surrounding them in the digital as well as real world, that the battle for consumers’ attention is getting more and more fierce each day. Therefore, only ads that are relevant for a specific person have the potential to catch their attention. Ad content is getting more engaging and dynamic – like videos in the news feed, interactive banners etc. So, advertisers need to personalize their messages on the basis of consumers’ search/browsing history, geographic location, demographics via new technologies that allow precise audience profiling. Experts recommend to use the collected behavioral data for creating ad formats most suitable for the target consumers that will be most engaging and relevant and use content that corresponds to their interests.
Measurability
You consider branding a black hole that eats up your advertising budget and brings next to nothing in return (at least, you cannot measure what actually is the return)? Then, you’ll be delighted with the new trend – accounting for each dollar spent on advertising. Thanks to the new attribution models and data streams, it is now possible to gain a clear understanding of the conversion funnel and define the performance of each ad channel. Instead of simply calculating the number of views/impressions/clicks, advertisers can learn how deeply down the funnel they are taking the customers and what is the actual ROI to focus on what really works.
Integration
As consumers’ attention is divided between devices throughout a day, successful ad campaigns will need to use an integrated approach to connect different media channels and create effective ad sequences that will work across different devices and drive consumers towards the purchase. It requires complex strategy including accurate real-time targeting and effective communication between all of the advertising channels which should support each other instead of competing and deliver the right content to the right consumer’s device at the right time.
Automation
Along with numerous business processes, advertising is about to be governed mostly by technology. Today, artificial intelligence Watson is already running digital advertising campaigns for IBM, and proving to be more and more proficient (and profitable). While human touch will undoubtedly be always the core ingredient of any campaign, all the heavy lifting like data collection, media channels integration and measuring the results will be performed programmatically for top effectiveness.
Key take-outs
So, the secret to success in the nearest future advertising, is to know your customers and their behaviour, deliver personalized messages based on the data, not assumptions, ensure holistic experience for consumers across all media channels and know exactly how much each advertising effort and channel is getting you in terms of ROI (that we have already talked about) and conversions.
To lead the industry, follow these long-term trends rather than go after each innovation without studying its possible effects. This will help you stay on top of things and develop an effective advertising strategy.
