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10 New Technologies that will change the way we do Marketing

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10 New Technologies that will change the way we do Marketing

Do you know the technologies that will change the way you do marketing? The only constant is the change mechanism. In recent years, dozens of technologies have emerged that influence the way in which we relate to almost all aspects of our life: medicine, gastronomy, tourism, or education.

It was a matter of time before many of them were applied to marketing, one of the disciplines that most influences consumer behavior. Here we focus on the 10 technologies that will change the way we do marketing that are already among us:

1. Big Data

One of the consequences of applying digital transformation to companies is a huge flood of data. The cost of storing petabytes of data is decreasing. So any device can collect millions of data that can become a nightmare if not used properly.

When it comes to marketing, this large volume of data can help to segment databases much better. And personalize the different messages depending on tastes, interests and even the behavior of users.

The important thing in this case is to be able to use the right technology to group all your marketing channels. And manage to turn data into knowledge.

2. Internet of things

The reduction in the cost of microchips has meant that almost any device can incorporate sensors that are connected together. This is the basis of what is known as the internet of things.

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The progressive incorporation of this technology into our lives may make it necessary to start designing digital marketing strategies that are directed not so much to people as to objects. For example, if the refrigerator decides when to buy milk, it may be interesting to create marketing campaigns with bots that indicate the properties or that adapt the price depending on the available stock.

3.- 3D printing

The 20th century was the age of mass marketing. It was necessary to mass produce and sell in industrial quantities to achieve economies of scale. Therefore, the main channels for managing marketing were television, radio or the national press.

However, in the 21st century, technologies have emerged that will change the way of marketing such as 3D printing. With it you can make a single unique product. What clearly affects the way in which that piece will be released? Digital printing will favor the use of more personal channels such as email marketing, SMS marketing or social networks.

4.- Automation (of qualified work)

The automation of industrial jobs is a trend that, according to the study The Risk of Automation for Jobs in OECD Countries, puts at risk 12% of jobs in the OECD countries. Spain. Other analyzes put 43% of the number of jobs that can be destroyed to be done by robots.

When it comes to marketing, automation is a process that allows you to create a series of automatic and personalized messages in a lead nurturing process.

To achieve this, it is necessary to use marketing platforms that allow cross-channel communication by automating tasks that if done manually would not be possible. For example, email marketing automation makes it possible for emails to be sent when a subscription or purchase is made. Regardless of the time of day it is done.

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5.- Augmented reality

Understanding augmented reality is simple: It is how a new look is defined that combines elements of the physical environment with other virtual ones. For this, technological devices must be used that allow building a mixed reality in real time.

The potential of augmented reality for marketing is beyond doubt. In fact, there are already success stories. Among them, the viral of the summer: Pokémon Go!.

6.- Cloud computing

The cloud or cloud computing have revolutionized many sectors. Among them, digital marketing. Today it is possible to perform many actions that were completely impossible before. In fact, there are services like YouTube that would be impossible in the absence of cloud computing.

This technology allows us to enjoy various tools to manage content or measure KPIs from any device with Internet access in a transparent manner.

Furthermore, cloud computing or web hosting is the main driver of on-demand services. An advance that has allowed that it is not necessary to buy a tool but that it is used only when it is needed.

7.- Drones

Have you heard about the tests that Amazon is conducting to make its deliveries with drones? This is just one of the uses of one of the technologies that will change the way we do marketing today.

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Beyond the tasks of e-commerce logistics, drones open up new ways of generating content from hitherto unthinkable places. For example, tracking events with photos and images from anywhere in the auditoriums where they are held. OR

8.- Wearables

More and more people have smartwatches from which they manage not only their communications, both by phone and by email, but also other types of services such as monitoring their health.

But wearable marketing goes beyond the use of smart watches. T-shirts, fitness bands, jewelry or any type of clothing can already be part of a digital marketing strategy. A number of elements in continuous increase.

As indicated by an analysis by the IDC consultancy before the end of 2016, the number of wearables worldwide will exceed 101.9 million. A notable 29% increase over wearable items sold in 2015. Year in which there had already been a 171% increase compared to 2014.

Estimates indicate that by 2020 it will reach 213.6 million wearables. A juicy cake for those responsible for digital marketers of many brands.

9.- Virtual reality

Glasses that allow absolute immersion in parallel virtual reality. Oculus Rift is just the first step in one of the technologies that will change the way of marketing in a more brutal way. Especially because it is a technology that is not new.

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The concept of virtual reality emerged in 1965 but it is during the 90s of the last century that various initiatives arose such as the virtual reality engine of Silicon Graphics or the creation of VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language. ” Language for Virtual Reality Modeling “).

Already in 2003, Second Life emerged, the now famous virtual world in 3D, which at least served to understand the potential of a technology that, later, has already been used in different situations by brands such as Tesco, Esso, Nike or British Airways. And that the purchase of Oculus Rift by Facebook for more than 2,000 million dollars in 2014 has put it on the spotlight as one of the bets that the main brands must include in their digital marketing strategies.

10.- Google ARA Project

The ARA Project is a Google initiative that seeks to develop a free hardware platform that allows the creation of modular smartphones. It is, therefore, Google’s vision for the future of mobility. And it’s based on the idea that you don’t have to buy a new mobile device every few years.

Instead, this platform raises a structure with smartphone modules of the owner’s choice. In this way, if a specific technology makes progress, it will be possible to incorporate it without changing the entire device. For example, if there are advances in facial recognition, in the speakers or in the camera, they can be integrated by replacing old modules as they are in separate modules.

This project highlights the value of mobile technologies. That they are already modifying the way in which current digital marketing strategies are managed. In fact, all the statistics say that mobile internet browsing will already surpass the traditional one from desktop computers in 2016.

These are just 10 technologies that will change the way you do marketing. There are many others like advanced robotics. Or the incorporation of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Or the deep web and the already imminent one of the autonomous cars that will allow to have the attention of the users in a time and place that until now was owned by the radio.

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How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

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Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

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Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

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“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

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Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

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Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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