Online communications and data driven by ‘the internet of things’ are becoming more ingrained in our lives, both in business and at home.
Our vocabulary is changing. The way we work is changing. And that the way we market is changing.
It was when my sister-in-law told me what my 2 year old niece Chloe had said the other day, that put this into context for me.
She’d found a spider web in their garden, pointed, and said ‘Mummy look – a website!’
Lately we’ve adopted phrases such as Vocal Fry and Pokemon Go, Brexit and FGM. (Some more than others mind you)
We’ve moved from filing cabinets to cloud storage, from business meetings to live web-forums, and from relying on written or verbal feedback to online independent reviews.
Computers can now interpret human language using natural language processing, so our mobile phones, apps, and buying habits are adapting with this technology. According to BusinessWire’s recent research, a massive 52% of us would rather use a messaging service for customer support in preference to calling or other traditional methods. The importance of customer support continues to grow.
If we can’t develop our strategies to meet those customer demands and technology developments, we’ll get left behind. If the word ‘website’ can enter the still-limited vocabulary of a 2 year old, I wonder what words she’ll learn in her lifetime, that we’ve yet to let into our daily lexicon?
Adobe did a recent survey, revealing that only 1 in 4 companies has a solid data-driven strategy, with 23% have no formal approach and 51% are still working towards one. What’s more, only 43% companies are using mobile data in any meaningful way. You can read the full report here.
As a digital marketer, I find this fascinating as it really shows the reluctance to truly embrace new approaches to marketing.
With so many of us seeing the value of ‘big data’, it’s a wonder not more of us are leveraging it to our advantage.
There could be many reasons for this – lack of time, resource or skills, or just that the business manages fine as it is. Perhaps they just don’t know where to start? And at the end of the day, if you’re not going to use the data, what’s the point in gathering it?
But with online media moving faster than Tim Peake on his return back to Earth, it’s important to have good foundations – a good website can make all the difference, and a website (no matter how attached you are to it) is only as good as the conversions it drives.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of things that won’t change as much – such as the importance of a good coffee machine in the office, or the value of verbal communication over written.
But when it comes to marketing in the 21st century, it all starts with a website.
