As we’ve seen in the last few years, technology is increasing at a faster rate than many companies can keep up with. It is anticipated that the Internet of Things will become a reality pretty soon, and almost everything will become automated in your life. If everything is automated in life, then how does that affect your future marketing? Here are a few things to consider in preparing for marketing with future technology.
Automation makes for loyalty
The future of technology is complete automation within the home, which includes automation of purchases. According to the Harvard Business Review, we are already seeing this become a reality with Amazon buttons that allow you to easily order the same product that you use all the time when you realize you are getting low. This will continue to improve to the point where services send you new products based on algorithms to determine how quickly you need more of the product and ship it to you automatically. We are looking at a future in homes where refrigerators and pantries have the ability to detect when you remove a product and automatically order a replacement to keep your pantry stocked based on your preferences.
The idea is that it can eliminate the wasted time spent shopping at the store and would make it much faster and easier to get your preferred products. Unfortunately, this means there is never an opportunity at the storefront to steal business with better packaging or cheaper prices. In a society where our preferred products are automatically being ordered, you have to work really hard to steal a customer to your product or service. It may feel like too much work for people to go in and switch brands in their automatic orders, so it breeds brand loyalty. It is a double edged sword because it is harder for your business to get new customers, but once you have them, it is harder for other businesses to steal them back.
Marketing in a world of automation
You may be wondering how you are supposed to market to customers who are harder than ever to steal and don’t respond to oldschool forms of marketing. The key here is to market through mobile. Customers who have jumped right on to shopping automation are typically the same people who live on their phones. Everything they do is through mobile, including updating their automation preferences. By reaching out to them through the same device they are used to using for everything, you’ll be able to gain new customers and remind old ones why they should continue working with your company. While this kind of automatic shopping is still a few years out, by getting your mobile marketing up to speed now will give you a huge advantage in the long run.
Consider upping your SMS marketing game. Technology is changing and smartphones are improving, but texting is still the preferred form of communication for Americans. SMS isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and you can engage with customers faster than ever if they are able to ask questions and get marketing messages from you through texting.
