As technology progresses at a breakneck pace, the way we do business will race to keep up. Technological evolution continues to explode as the digital revolution marches on, improving on existing technologies and birthing new ones. The flurry of innovation is blurring the line between our digital and personal lives, allowing businesses to create more and more efficient ways to connect to consumers and streamline their own operations. Here are 5 technologies currently changing the way we do business:
1. Hypertargeting
Taking targeted advertising a step beyond, hypertargeting refers to the ability to advertise based off of extremely specific interests. The internet has made it possible for companies to market to these interests, drawing a clear picture by using the digital trail you leave by surfing the net, shopping online, or commenting on social media.
The segments of people being advertised to through hypertargeting are only becoming more specific. It’s easy to figure out why an online store might be suggesting an item based off of what you’ve bought before, but companies can use hypertargeting to go further and create a precise segment of people by referencing completely unrelated searches and patterns. The next advertisement you see could be targeting you because you’re in the club of ordering pizza online, streaming jazz music, and self-diagnosing your flu. Such specific advertising is dramatically changing how companies market and do business.
2. Drones
Unmanned aerial vehicles or drones are becoming more commonplace as a way for companies to carry out a variety of tasks with precise efficiency. Having the ability to produce an inexpensive way to fly and navigate without getting on a jet is opening a new way of doing business in the sky.
Drone services are popping up in all sorts of different industries: scoping out houses and undeveloped land in real estate, crop dusting or monitoring farm health in agriculture, gathering the news for mass media, or digital maps of archaeological dig sites are only some of the immensely beneficial uses of drones for businesses. You might even start seeing drones making deliveries to your doorstep as the technology and possibilities continue to grow.
3. Mobile Devices
Smartphones and tablets have revolutionized almost every aspect of our lives, and the way we do business is no exception. As more people access the internet exclusively from their mobile phones, businesses have to understand how to ensure their internet presence is easy to find and current, and also how to put place themselves in the search results for someone typing a question on their phone into Google.
Mobile devices and commerce have also become hand-in-hand, not only giving people easier access to buying goods online but allowing businesses to take their shops on the road by turning their phones into convenient credit card terminals. Businesses are increasingly able to connect with consumers without them even searching, providing Quick Response (QR) codes (the black-and-white pixelated squares printed on posters, on TV, or even sewn into fabric) people can scan with their phone to bring up text, contact information, or a web page. Mobile device-users are even taking mundane tasks like scanning a UPC bar code at the grocery store into their own hands.
4. Video
The visual medium is a powerful force to tell a story, which is why video has become an increasingly important tool in changing the way we do business. Seeing a movie trailer or commercial advertisement inserted in the middle of your YouTube video or playing as you scroll down a web page is commonplace now.
If using video to advertise wasn’t already a strong enough way to reach consumers, there are even more creative innovations taking place to ensure the video doesn’t go to waste. Video content can actually be changed in real-time now, depending on the audience it’s supposed to be reaching. A movie trailer might be spontaneously re-edited to cater to a viewer depending on gender or geographic location, or an advertisement might be reworked mid-stream to include a certain kind of promotion. Real-time video editing only allows businesses to be more flexible and adaptive in the way they do business.
Social Media
We touched on social media and its role in targeted advertising earlier in the list, but the “social” part of the name gives it a unique role in the way technology is changing the way we do business. Companies have always been able to focus on and analyze the data found on their own website to streamline their marketing experience, but the interaction between customer and consumer on social networks is another tool entirely.
As mentioned, our patterns and preferences gathered from our experience on social media is an invaluable tool for companies to use for advertising. However, the interactions people have on social media is a set of data companies can never own. This data lives on a social network and entirely outside of companies’ control, providing a new dimension in understanding customer sentiment and needs for marketers to analyze.
