With the passing of another year comes the arrival of newer technologies that will likely change our lives for the better in the future. Mobile connectivity and the rise of the sensornet will continue to explode in 2015 with experts predicting almost 5 billion devices online, up from 3.8 billion in 2014. Many new marketing trends will be anchored to mobile technology. Here are five that will emerge stronger in 2015.
Localism and beacons
The use of location beacons for “localism” on our mobile devices is a hot rising trend that business marketers are continuing to embrace. The smaller our handheld devices have become, they have also evolved to be more agile, mobile and marketable. Tracking consumers could help to revive the stagnation of traditional brick and mortar stores and breathe new life into these struggling marketplaces. Finding and bringing customers into our businesses will be more mobile based in the future.
Wearables and continued mobility
Apple, Samsung and Google have already released beta versions of where they believe wearable technology is moving towards in the future, and we are seeing more health-related gadgets. Gearfit from Samsung will be released in the spring of 2015 and it will monitor the user’s heart rate, offer remote music controls and, perhaps more importantly, deliver messages to the wearer.
We won’t see either the popularity of these types of devices or the marketing opportunities available on these units until they hit the marketplace.
More connectivity
Every new technology entering the marketplace is centered around what the consumer wants: more connectivity. If there is a screen in front of someone, unless it is interactive and connected to the Internet, they aren’t interested. The public wants a world where they can move seamlessly move from screen to screen, work to home, device to device, all the while enjoying an integrated experience. Moving forward into 2015, marketers will need to focus on increased connectivity as well as compatibility on a growing number of different devices and platforms.
2015 will see the trend in multi-screen usage rise past its already staggering numbers. As ThinkWithGoogle noted way back in 2012, “The prevalence of sequential usage makes it imperative that businesses enable customers to save their progress between devices.”
Augmented reality
Marketers looking for a real “wow” factor are checking into how they can implement augmented reality into their future strategies. Whether the image of a keyboard or phone pad is projected onto a surface or an app is created to interact with the customer using a hologram, this technology is set to take off.
While it is still expensive and there are no clear advertising strategies to adapt at the moment, it will be interesting to see where and how this technology will affect marketing in the future.
Smart everything
Practically everyone has a smartphone nowadays, but expect to have more “smart” things in the future, everything from appliances to wearables.
From a marketing perspective, using a smart refrigerator as an example, the device will notify the user when to replace a filter or when other types of servicing are due. Grocery retailers could connect with customers and remind them they are out of milk and need another dozen eggs.
Homepage demise
The homepage of a website has been the traditional front door that led consumers into the brand’s structural online marketplace for many years. However, as new technologies emerge and trends change, that entrance could be on the decline. Businesses that are to compete and continue to survive need to become more social online, mobile friendly and accessible on a number of different devices.
The Internet of everything will become the mobility of everywhere in the future. Marketing strategies will be mobile based or they will become much less effective moving forward.
Nick Rojas is a business consultant and writer. He has consulted small and medium-sized enterprises for over 20 years. You can follow him on Twitter.