The future of digital marketing is personal. With the deprecation of third-party cookies still on the horizon, first-party data has become ever more important to brands and digital marketers. But tracking customer data is not the only facet of marketing that is becoming more targeted: customers are quickly discovering that new ways to search, from video platforms to generative AI like ChatGPT, can help them discover and connect with the right brands and the right products for their specific needs. NetElixir founder Udayan Bose spoke to how customer journeys have fragmented – and the serendipitous discovery happening on platforms like TikTok and Instagram – recently in a fireside chat for the WWD Digital Beauty Forum. As we seek to move closer to a seamless shopping journey that merges online (and even offline) funnels, customers expect brands to meet them where they are for a personalized purchasing experience.
The Evolution of Search
Search marketing continues to evolve, and digital marketers must keep pace. While Google has dominated the search landscape for years now, how and where customers search is changing. From visual search, to retail marketplaces like Amazon, to platforms with video content, customers have more channels than ever with which to engage with your brand. That can impact what Google has described as the “messy middle” of a customer journey, when there’s potential for a customer to get stuck in loops of exploration and evaluation or give up on their search altogether. A thoughtful marketing strategy that unites these channels can help you funnel a customer out of that messy middle into a sale for your business.
SEO and paid search are still critical digital marketing tools, but new options are emerging to help your brand reach your high-value customers. Consumers increasingly encounter exceedingly curated content, like that on TikTok; other platforms are working to replicate the kind of algorithms that make TikTok such a success. With advancements in technology, the metaverse is slowly becoming more accessible – which means a future where the digital and real worlds mesh together is closer than you might think. Brands will need to continuously innovate and invest to learn what content and channels resonate best with their customers. Shoppers, meanwhile, will continue to explore and adopt new platforms to find what they are searching for.
The Potential of Generative AI
ChatGPT has made headlines recently, and here at NetElixir we’re already thinking about how generative AI is disrupting search. ChatGPT’s algorithms are well suited for providing specific answers to questions, with higher quality answers coming directly from higher quality questions. Traditional search engines like Google still continue to harness a wealth of data to effectively connect with potential customers and offer a range of solutions and information, but numerous ads have made search engine results pages (SERP) less user-friendly and customers will appreciate search options that help them focus on relevant results.
Other types of disruptions are already being developed. Generative AI also has the potential to elevate content creation by providing thoughtful first drafts of copy, and NetElixir’s AI-powered digital marketing platform, LXRInsights, already uses predictive analysis to help e-commerce businesses track and understand the journeys and decisions of their high-value customers. As more brands become aware of the benefits of AI-infused digital marketing, businesses will invest the vast majority of their Google Ads budgets in AI-driven modules like Performance Max for hyper targeted and automated campaigns. We will see even more personalized brand experiences, including campaigns that make automatic, real-time adjustments in response to data gathered and analyzed through AI.
Work with NetElixir To Create Your Future of Digital Marketing Strategy
NetElixir experts stay on top of digital marketing trends, and we have been leveraging AI to inform our growth optimization strategy for years. Our proprietary LXRInsights platform offers actionable insights to optimize your customer acquisition and engagement strategy that improves your ROI and integrates with Google Ads. The future of digital marketing is quickly becoming the present, and at NetElixir, we predict trends and act accordingly, integrating new advances into our strategies to ensure we offer your brand cutting-edge techniques for connecting with your high-value customers and converting their shopping into sales.
Interested in Learning More?
Check out NetElixir’s e-book 10 Retail and Digital Trends to Watch in 2023 and contact NetElixir today to discover how we can help your e-commerce business prepare for the future of digital marketing.
Watch Udayan’s full interview with Emily Dougherty at WWD Digital Beauty Forum here:
