E-commerce, gaming, travel and tourism, business, office- one is practically living out their life on your phones
Representational Image. Apple
New Normal! Post-Covid Era!! Even a war somewhere in the vicinity!!! It almost feels like we are all living out Jumanji in real life, but then, we haven’t stopped making and welcoming new changes. Well, that’s what makes us humans, isn’t it? So, what really panned out right in front of our eyes, is that we all rode high on the wave of accelerated digitisation in the wake of the pandemic and life got locked in screens.
Digitisation went huge and mobile technology moved up a notch. It’s imperative as a business to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s coming and what’s already being embraced by the world. E-commerce, gaming, travel and tourism, business, office…you are practically living out your life on your phones. So, what is it that is rocking the mobile marketing scene?!
Artificial Intelligence
Mobile AI has been around for a few years now, with Alexa, Cortana, Siri, and Google Assistant. Now adding voice recognition is encouraging more and more people to go hands-free and optimise the customer experience. Artificial Intelligence has revolutionised the way brands carry out business. Gone are the days when users would have to accept cookies; the world is moving to a cookie-less world wherein AI will keep a track of user activities and send them customised advertisements that will help brands reach out to the right audience to maximise revenue.
Location-based technology and Geo-Fencing
There is an app for everything today. And many apps prompt you to share your location. Now, it’s okay for cab service like Uber to ask for your location. But why would you do it otherwise? Well, it helps marketers. If you were a restaurant business or a supermarket or a gourmet superstore, location sharing could be useful. Every time you would walk past these stores, and if you have that app on your phone, you would receive notifications on your phone of the special’s menu in the restaurant, or the deals in the supermarket or the fresh new foods and cheeses in the gourmet store. Now, that’s called geofencing and that’s one trend on the rise.
Augmented Reality
Why wouldn’t you talk about Augmented Reality? Everyone is already using it. Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Facebook introduced its Camera Effects Platform which turned mobile phone cameras into the first AR platform. You can now create AR ads for your products that let your customers interact with their customers. AR helps in creating brand awareness, it helps in brand and customer engagement, app downloads, and more revenue for marketers.
Mobile Payments
Wallets are disappearing. Not that your money is. You are only getting more digitised. There has been an exponential rise in mobile payment apps. As mobile security gets enhanced, countries all over the world are encouraging mobile wallets. PhonePe, GPay, ApplePay, UPI … making life more convenient and increasing global app revenues. We were all hooked on to our devices browsing through shopping portals and getting our dose of retail therapy. But the pandemic brought the universe online, and shopping for bare necessities to luxury is now through the phone. The ease is welcome and with wave after wave of newer variants, online shopping is here to stay. According to Statista, the countries of Europe and North America are expected to be the leading players in the mCommerce market between 2020 and 2024. By 2024, European and North American mCommerce proves that it will bring huge profits to mCommerce. Reports also indicate that Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern countries will bring more users to the market. Globally, m-commerce is currently a 3.56 trillion industry. According to Statista, the projection is that 79 percent of all e-commerce sales will be m-commerce by 2024.
Virtual Reality
MetaVerse is Here…Well, almost!
Facebook opens up the portal to a new way of life, via virtual reality. People are slowly getting a glimpse of an animated virtual world, where they can interact, play games, and customise their smart homes. With VR headsets sales going up during the pandemic, Virtual reality is slowly becoming a reality. Well, this is not an ad for FB or Meta, but they are taking the first steps and it won’t be long before there will be more players joining the game.
Influencer Marketing
The pandemic era brought along with it some major trends in marketing to people, and one of those marketing trends that really took a stronghold on everyone was influencer marketing and the subtle persuasive powers of the creators. Pretty much the hidden persuaders of this era! With digital media taking centre stage and social media becoming the flagbearer of this transformation, marketers realised that the most convincing way to reach millennials and Gen Zs was through influencer marketing, which was not just affordable but also targeted. As the virus flexed its muscles on the world outside, people were holed up at home. The direct impact was high video consumption over text and pictures. Influencer marketing came to the rescue here. With crisp, snazzy videos combined with to-the-point content and personalisation, this particular trend is one to watch out for.
Mobile marketing today is an important pillar in the entire marketing mix. It can be customized to reach out to B2b and B2C audiences and communicate effectively. With hyper-personalised content, and real time data, the possibilities of reaching out to hitherto inaccessible audiences is huge. Mobile phones are today personality extensions, quite literally. The world has seamlessly moved towards a digital world from their palms through their handsets. This digital world opens up opportunities of a life full of possibilities and all of this is brought to life with mobile marketing. The trends are here to depict that life is going mobile in a big way and these small screens are the hidden persuaders convincing you to a life so relatable. As business owners, it is hence imperative that we keep our finger on the pulse of modern mobile marketing trends to improve our communications with our audiences.
The author is the vice president of Globale Media. Views expressed are personal.
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