An omnipresent AI and all things blockchain: What to expect from 2023

We live in such a dynamic and ever-changing world, future gazing and predicting trends is a tough act. Nobody could have predicted how 2020 will forever change the face of marketing but over the years we know that a few things are kind of certain like brands and businesses needing to be connected to understand customer needs and their motivations. While tech advancement continues to gather pace, it will always be important to look at the human aspect of marketing, and the focus should always be on people and using technology as an enabler to make the journey or their interaction enjoyable, meaningful, and seamless.   

Some of the trends we have seen continue from this year and will gain momentum next year is what I have attempted to highlight. 

1. Omnipresent AI 

Will 2023 be the year of AI? Maybe, we are already seeing this in the last half of this year with Chatgpt and AI powering Text to image creatives. We will continue to see huge advancements in AI & increase in the number of businesses using AI-powered technology and automation for their marketing campaigns. I also believe next year AI will become mainstream and at the centre of every marketing or business decision. These interfaces will help businesses create more intelligent products and services. AI is also the backbone of voice search and smart assistants. 

3. Metaverse beyond the hype 

The idea of Metaverse is that it enables an immersive internet where one is able to engage and enable multiple things. AR and VR will continue to advance, and I believe one will start to see more tangible creation on Metaverse beyond the hype that it got into in 2022. There are reports that Microsoft and other tech majors are developing a metaverse platform for co-creation and collaboration. As Tech evolves and advances, we will see the overall experience of consumers on these platforms getting even better, whether it’s an advancement in how your Avatar looks to how you are able to engage in a game with its characters in an immersive manner. 

3. Blockchain of everything 

I believe in 2023, we will see the adoption and advancement of blockchain technology in marketing. As companies create more and more products and services, there is a high probability of this becoming mainstream. I also foresee NFT usage or activations becoming more practical and mainstream.  Decentralization of data storage is another way to make your data safer as well as easier to access than the cloud and this is a trend that I see becoming more mainstream. 

4. Screen Agnostic Planning to become a norm 

Gone are the days when digital and TV plans were built in silos, with advancements in digital technology, one is now able to drive more measurable impact for their marketing campaigns. One is also able to retarget the users who have been exposed to the TV commercial and with the advent of Connected TV and its rising popularity, it will become even more important to plan in an integrated manner. Since customer journeys are not at all linear today, it’s now possible to target consumers at different stages in the funnel with different communications. This will become important for brands as they are increasingly trying to integrate their offline and online efforts. 

5. Personalisation at scale 

Personalization will become increasingly important in marketing efforts as everyone is trying to cut through the clutter and get customers’ undivided attention. In keeping with the trend – one-size-fits-all campaign will no longer work, and the need of the hour will continue to create customized marketing campaigns. Marketers will also have to ensure that other than focusing on efficiency, they must ensure that their content is relevant. In order to do this, I foresee increased use of AI & ML in marketing to personalize content at scale. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will be put to use to personalize the message, as these technologies are powering brands to create and personalize content at scale. 

6. Influencer Relationships will grow even stronger 

While over the year we have seen a rise in Influencer marketing, this trend will continue to grow in 2023. Influencer marketing now has become the go-to strategy for pretty much every business with an online presence. Every brand that is collaborating with influencers is seeing great returns on its investment through increased sales and brand awareness. One trend that I see gaining importance is the Influencer in the Commerce space. With the growing importance of influencers, their ability to influence and drive sales will become even more important. Brands can leverage influencer marketing by creating communication that fit seamlessly into social media feeds and integrating their eCommerce platforms with social media channels.

Instagram and other social platforms have helped accelerate the social commerce trend.  

This space I feel will become interesting as technology has evolved and now one is able to attribute and measure the impact of an influencer on the brand specifically with respect to outcomes like Sales. 

7. Use of Big Data and Data-Driven marketing will continue to grow 

Dependence on big data for marketers is as unavoidable as it’s transformative for the business. That’s why I believe businesses will continue to invest in collecting first-party data and also analyzing information from all of the data sources and thus integrating it into their digital marketing campaigns i.e., increased reliance on data to drive decision-making purposes for their business. Businesses will also be preparing for the cookieless scenarios which will dawn upon us sooner than later and hence the importance of collecting, enriching, and activating the data in the right environment will increasingly become important. 

8. Hyper-Local becomes the norm 

Hyper-targeting across touchpoints will become important to drive efficiency. In the current environment, every brand will focus on maximizing its spending. Focused, micro-targeted segmentation will reduce wastage and eliminate people who are not responsive to communication. For this level of hyper-targeting, the use of customized data sets and cohorts will become a necessity. Action-oriented sequencing in omnichannel campaigns will emerge as another sub-trend.

(The views expressed here are solely those of the authors and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com)