The future of Marketing Communication using Technology

In the last two decades, technology has disrupted our world in more significant ways than we have seen in any previous generation. In all of these, the marketing communication space has not been spared. The question is, how are we prepared to forge ahead in the years to come?

A close look at the key milestones in technology and how it has evolved shows that key drivers of this evolution are AI and machine learning. Others are virtual reality, big data, blockchain technology, and e-commerce.

The fact that AI programmes can do things that can relate to human beings at a phenomenal level is going to disrupt how we communicate moving forward. It has been said that perhaps, in the future, machines will be programmed to write copy and do designs. Humans will no longer be required to create advertising such that the clients can then save money by acquiring a programme. And currently, machines are being trained to master some of the daily activities that humans do and to leave a near zero margin for error.

Virtual reality, which has metamorphosed into the metaverse, has made it possible for some individuals to have complete social interactions online from inside their rooms. The worry is that there is now a psychological dependency on that alternate world where people just live and have a virtual existence. This is part of the bottleneck that has to be confronted and overcome by marketing communication experts because they will have to find how to follow the consumer pathway. So, the metaverse is going to play an important role in the future of marketing communication.

Geo-location marketing will be adopted more using big data. A vendor can reach out to a client within the same location to offer a product or service using information they had or could find about the client.

With blockchain technology, people become independent of the banks and their charges. There is more privacy in the transactions, and all of that will also affect how the industry operates. Crypto may become the default currency; and since people will not be leaving their homes due to e-commerce, marketing communication experts will have to find how to transfer the brick and mortar activities usually done at points of sales to the e-commerce point.

In conclusion, though the debate has been about whether technology will take over our jobs, what is going to endure is the power of mankind to continue to tell very heartwarming stories that can move people to take quality actions regardless of how technology may come and go.

This article is based on a talk given by Mr. Steve Babaeko, the Chairman of the AAAN association during a career talk and networking session with members of AAAN in SMC-PAU, as part of activities to mark the association’s 49th anniversary celebration.