So, what will advertising look like in, say, two or three years?

What will be the issues that media sales teams will be concerned about? What trends will be prevalent? 

It is, of course, somewhat very hard to predict, but from my own experience running this INMA Advertising Initiative over the past 18 months thus far — where I have spoken to and interviewed many people, attended many conferences, hosted many Webinars, and read many articles on the subject — I think I might have an inkling on what we might expect in terms of the future trends which are likely. 

Advertising is a truly dynamic arena with ever-changing trends. Media businesses (and their advertisers) that don’t plan for change and choose to stay with outdated advertising techniques will remain both stagnant and will, by default, allow competitors to overtake them. 

Alternatively, businesses that constantly keep track of the likely trends and revamp their adefforts and strategies appropriately can attract more readers/customers and, in turn, achieve growth in the long term. 

The future advertising trends will no doubt focus on more interactivity, more personalisation, better engagement with consumers, and the design of advertising that’s less intrusive and more of value to the end user than ever before.  

Advertisers have started the process of the above by their use of the likes of AI, chatbots, Augmented and Virtual Realities, more video content, podcasting, and the clever use of social media to increase attention, interest, engagement, desire, and sales. 

So in three years, we can expect new advertising trends that will truly capture the attention of the consumer through a more personalised  approach. 

Bearing in mind the above, I have five future trends I expect to see by 2026, which you may/may not agree with, but I give you my thoughts for comment/debate:

1. AI first 

Both machine learning and Artificial Intelligence have been here for a number of years but only now are we beginning to realise their true potential. AI is now starting to revolutionise the ad arena by providing media sales trams and advertisers alike with real-time insights to enhance the overall market offering. That includes automation of the more mundane tasks in the ad chain (leaving more time for creativity), the writing of campaign briefs, pricing strategies, and much more. 

Another bonus: much better customer support. The AI-first approach to advertising in future will include using smarter chatbots simulating conversations with customers, with them becoming regularly used in both offline and online environments, advising and advertising products/services.

AI will also be used to help track views and sales by use of much improved engagement and more detailed analytics.

2. The rise of voice 

Voice assistance can be seen as something gradually becoming part of our daily lives. A constant “friend,” if you will, who listens and, frictionlessly, provides forour needs.

Voice-enabled tech opens new opportunities in the ad industry sector while showing us the need for contextually relevant ad interactions with end users. Voice-assisted ads will allow consumers to enjoy a more personalised experience. 

Voice advertising is expected to soar. The future will be more innovative and inviting with the use of voice-activated devices such as Alexa, Siri, Google Assist, et al. Smart speakers give customers the chance to seamlessly find and explore details on products and services from anywhere in the world. Advertisers can recommend and then sell those items in the comfort of consumer homes.

How powerful is that?

3. A new reality? 

Getting closer to our future customers is a significant key to persuading them into buy our products and services. 

While media businesses and their advertisers are looking forward to more innovative tools to offer personalised experiences, new techs like Augmented and Virtual Reality are able to create huge impacts. Such tech advertising offer brands an opportunity to appeal to an emotional side of target audiences. In doing so, they can develop brand loyalty and improve the customer lifetime value. 

More personal engagement than ever before, AR, VR, and the combination of mixed reality (MR) engage like never before. By 2026, I expect more creative use of these powerful techs and that they will become a more important part of our lives without our even realising it. Just look at the investment being make but the Big Tech giants into such spaces. Customers will want emotional, new, incredible experiences. 

Brand reputations can be massively enhanced by clever use of such techs. Customers will come back again and again, and will increase their loyalty to the advertised brand.

4. User-generated content

UGC has been gaining more power in recent years. 

There is so much more power and persuasiveness when an advertised brand not only talks up itself but adds in existing customers endorsing and explains their own personal experience with that brand. 

I believe UGC will become more of an integral part of an advertising strategy over the next two or three years. Maybe it will take the route of advertising brand products or maybe new projects and services with emerging/encouraged favourable customer reviews on Web site landing pages and blogs as a more impactful trend and way to increase sales.

Word of mouth on social media platforms is already helping sales for advertisers. Companies using these channels of online advertising are sure to become even more popular and more powerful.

5. Social channels 

And speaking of social media, it will, I think, become an increasingly used place for brand promotions. Advertising is all about locating possible, future customers where they are gathering and running personalised/targeted promotional campaigns there. 

I see a future where social media channels include interactive, voice-controlled ads that consumers can control with the click or even their own voice. Advertising a brand will become much easier because the customers will be raising awareness of the brand.

Summary 

The future of advertising will need to demonstrate new ways to creatively interact and engage customers. We see a rise in the use of the likes of chatbots, voice interaction, social channels, and alternative reality techniques over the next few years. 

As a result, there will be more personalised and more targeted communications with customers. If a customer has a question about a product, then a chatbot or maybe voice-enabled device will assist them. 

The new advertising trends will set the scene for an increased “customer-based” approach, with UGC/reviews and social media strategies used to promote brands and services. 

In many ways, the future is already here — just expect an increased focus and more budgets spent on the above five points.

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