The world of advertising has been evolving at a rapid pace in comparison to all other industries because it is usually among the first to adapt to technological changes. Two-thirds of all advertising revenues in the United States today is generated by online advertising which includes digital and mobile and it is set to occupy four-fifths of all advertising in the country by 2020.
It’s not abnormal at all because that is just an indication of the impact of technology on media which carries all the advertising messages to the audience. The importance of internet based platforms like digital and mobile have no parallel as these are now the most preferable options for the consumer. However, this scenario itself is changing as platforms themselves are converging since TV and radio content is available on digital and mobile.
All advertising will converge
A look across all the available formats suggest that almost all the traditional media platforms like newspapers and magazines, radio, TV, billboard and in-store among others, have an online dimension. In the case of newspapers and magazines, radio and TV, the online convergence has already taken place and today, you have smart TVs and internet radio among a lot of other smart stuff. The newspaper and magazine as we knew them, has stagnated, and it’s only a question of time when the hard copies of these mediums stop getting printed. Of course there’s a vociferous group of traditionalists (mainly baby boomers) who maintain that printed newspapers and magazines won’t ever die.
People are entitled to their own opinion but statistics don’t lie. An entire generation in the United States has grown up getting its news from internet. When this generation takes over the mantle of baby boomers, they won’t be arguing about whether the printed newspaper or magazine would become extinct or not; they might be talking about different other things like the impact on online advertising on people’s browsing time, etc. They could be the ones who will trigger another interesting convergence – among the different demographies on use of the internet and platforms and technologies that drive it. That’s when all advertising will converge seamlessly across all the platforms that will converge.
How crucial is MA (marketing automation)?
Marketing automation is what drives online advertising today. Online businesses that are earning advertising revenue are the ones that employ the tools offered by marketing automation providers. They have the option to choose an entire suite of MA tools or pick and choose specific tools as per their requirement. The other aspect of MA is that it is expensive and should not be used unless an ROI projection is provided. Of course, the user should be familiar with the tools he buys in addition to be able to manage the dashboard all by himself if needed. It is mainly about grabbing the customer’s attention and then feeding him as many options as possible.
Marketing automation companies are more than happy to provide them the ‘offers’ endlessly to somehow overcome their reluctance to bite the bait. There is no doubt that this is a strong barrier, and so there is another set of tools offered by MA firms that ‘specialize’ in developing these ads that pop up on customers like little ambushes. Of course, there are also ‘free’ pop up blockers that users can install on their devices, like so many other things in the internet, but most of the time, they’re not really effective. If there can be even a little effectiveness of the popup blockers it would be considered quite good for the consumer using free services.
An all round perspective of the customer offers marketers a few ideas for success in implementing a people-based marketing strategy. Online advertising needs to be more effective and campaigns should be able to make use of media platforms to target customers in innovative ways. MA helps integration of campaign tactics and provides the data that enables it, which makes it possible for marketers to engage customers in a relentless manner. This may be a simple concept but it is challenging to execute. For marketers to make it work, they will have to manage inbound channel interactions efficiently, using advanced technology to provide more offers that are meaningful to the customer.
MA helps marketers achieve better customer response by linking their experiences over time, using the right platforms and programs to manage long term customer value and optimizing investment in marketing tools. An area of prime concern for marketers is brand safety especially when their online advertising campaigns are sometimes abused and misused by net criminals who use them in their spam messages and mailers that often carry malware. It remains to be seen whether publishers are willing and able to ensure that such abuse and misuse of brands don’t happen on their platforms.