Marketers face scrutiny over their operations as the third-party demise takes a stronger foothold in the digital ecosystem. A study by Gartner reveals five trends that will catch on in the next few years.
AI shifts marketing work from production to analytics
Gartner predicts that by 2025, organizations that use AI across the marketing function will shift 75% of their staff’s operations from production to more strategic activities. Using AI in marketing operations will reduce friction and eliminate redundancy, allowing marketers to shift budgets and resources to activities that support a more dynamic organization. For example, marketers can use AI in the creative process to automate the capturing, processing, and analyzing of real-world images and videos, improving image quality and developing digital twins. AI will continue to refine marketing operations to drive more agile, data-based responses to the challenges ahead.
Marketing evolves to combat misinformation
Gartner predicts that by 2027, 80% of enterprise marketers will establish a dedicated content authenticity function to combat misinformation and fake material. The volume of generative AI and user-generated content, and the unpredictable nature of today’s digital content ecosystem, pose a real challenge.
Media budget shifts toward product placement
Gartner predicts that by 2024, 70% of brands will redeploy at least 10% of their media budget to product placement in entertainment content. The reality is that consumers have advertisement fatigue, and those with the means to opt out of ads do so.
Loyalty programs to retain high-priority customers
Gartner predicts that one in three businesses without a loyalty program today will establish one by 2027 to shore up first-party data collection and retain high-priority customers. Loyalty programs are an effective way to reward customers and collect critical data for personalization and better experiences.
Marketing becomes accountable for ethical AI
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 70% of enterprise CMOs will identify accountability for ethical AI in marketing among their top concerns. Privacy-related restrictions on data collection, economic pressures, and AI breakthroughs are driving marketing teams to rely more heavily on AI and machine learning to optimize campaign performance and lower costs.
In the absence of third-party cookies, strong content becomes even more critical. Offering engaging, high-quality content builds credibility with users and increases the likelihood they will share additional data, so it is worth getting right from the start. Strong content gives you control before it reaches the channel you are using. Whether written, audio, or video, content sharing augments your stockpile of first-party data.
Ultimately, content experience is what enables customers to find what they are seeking, somewhat like a store map. And timing is key. When you invest in content that is relevant to the context, especially where customers are in their journey, and send it immediately, you increase the likelihood that personalization happens in real time when customers need it most.
Preparing for these trends starts with owning your data. Talk to our team about building on first-party data.