When was the last time you talked about electricity? Probably about as frequently as you wonder about the future of electricity (i.e., never). That’s because we’ve just come to expect that a) electricity is ubiquitous and b) there haven’t been a ton of innovations in the electricity space over the last 10 to 15 years (okay, maybe wireless charging, but that’s about it). As we head into 2019, doesn’t talking about mobile feel a little bit the same as talking about electricity? Except that there are in fact a ton of exciting new mobile technologies that are changing the way we work, live and interact with each other.
As game-changing as the iPhone was in 2007 when it truly put high powered computers, cameras and location-aware applications into the average person’s hands, we are now seeing a new wave of developments that will have a far greater impact on our lives.
Here’s a few areas where I’ve seen major progress in the world of mobile:
While 5g connectivity started to roll out in 2018, according to eMarketer, it’s real impact won’t be felt until 2020. But in 2019, you will start to see greater investment in streaming platforms and adtech.
The pervasiveness of voice text is changing how we interact with our phones, cars and homes. ComScore has predicted that by 2020, voice to text will account for over 50 percent of all search activity. While the impact of this trend isn’t limited to mobile, it is powerful when you think of the opportunity this provides with our ability to interact with mobile devices without needing to use a traditional keyboard.
Augmented reality will continue to give brands and marketers the ability to layer on data and computer generated graphics on top of video, photographs and day-to-day life through our phones, special glasses and smart glass.
Healthcare will continue to be impacted through the development and deployment of smart drugs and telemedicine allowing doctors to diagnose and attend to their patients remotely.
To help illustrate what the future holds and how these mobile technologies will impact mobile marketing in particular, I’ve asked several savvy business leaders – many who have written books – what 2019 holds in store when it comes to mobile marketing.
Brian Solis, principal analyst and futurist at Altimeter, author of X: The Experience When Business Meets Design. “Mobile marketing becomes less of marketing as we know it and more focused on CX and customer journeys. Instead of upgrading touchpoints, marketing reimagines existing funnels for mobile mindsets, behaviors and expectations…not just devices. Mobile signals feed a new ‘data as a service’ model where marketing aligns with business functions to drive unified performance and growth.”
Joseph Jaffe, author of Built to Suck, and co-founder of HMS Beagle. “With conversations about autonomous or self-driving vehicles becoming more and more of a reality, the convergence between geofencing, geotargeting and good old fashioned GPS will bring proximity marketing front and center of any conversation where ‘right place and right time’ are no longer pie in the sky, empty promises.”
Jeremiah Owyang, founding partner of Kaleido Insights and founder, Catalyst Companies. “Broad and deep amounts of human body data will emerge. For example the Apple Watch 4, and other devices will enable regular consumers to better understand their bodies, minds and wellbeing. Existing mindfulness apps, fitness apps and others will start to partner with marketers to offer new partnerships.”
Joelle Kaufman, CMO, Dynamic Signal. “Leading companies will successfully and continuously convey the company’s strategy, goals and messages to their frontline employees like nurses – increasing brand equity, driving growth and improving agility. Mobile messages will be more personalized, more compelling and further reaching when companies embrace activating every employee to deliver the best customer/patient experience.”
JB Richardson, principal, Mountaingate Capital. “2019 will mark the transition to human connection. For marketers to be effective, it will be critical to connect directly with each person to drive return on media investment (ROMI).”
Chuck Hemann, co-author of Digital Marketing Analytics and Head of Digital Analytics, W2O. “Many brands, including those in health care, struggle to deliver a consistent mobile experience to their key audiences. Now, with the need to comply with data privacy regulations both in EMEA and in the U.S., I am expecting mobile experiences to get worse before they get better.”
Bryan Kramer, author of Shareology, keynote speaker and Chief Human at H2H Companies. “24% of respondents would rather use a voice assistant than visiting a website, according to a Capgemini study. As voice becomes more useful in 2019, this will go up. Machine learning and AI will become useful in voice mobility in order to lower our phone habits and grant us more time with other humans.”
Shiv Singh, author of Savvy – Navigating Fake Companies, Fake Leaders & Fake News in the Post Trust Era. “Mobile marketing with dominate ad spending in 2019 and platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, Twitter and Snap will continue to dominate mobile marketing efforts. All the noise about data and privacy in 2018 will recede into the background. Voice marketing will have to wait.”
Clearly this is just the tip of the iceberg but these are all areas to keep a close eye on. And in the traditional fashion of innovation in technology, some of these developments will hit sooner and some later than others. But at the end of the day, we still have a long way to go before mobile becomes the new electricity.
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