How businesses are Incorporating Innovative Technologies to Market in Pandemic
In the past few months, the use of innovative technologies is streamlined under the shadow of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Social distancing, remote working, and self-isolation have created hurdles on the way of marketers to reach out to their customers. It has forced marketers to make the use of digital channels that include innovative technologies such as AI and ML, AR and VR, Big-data, digital marketing, and more into their marketing strategy. The pandemic has created a lot of opportunities for businesses to expand their digital footprints and keep an eye on emerging business communication technologies as people spend most of their time online. Expert opinions and predictions indicate that these trends will be followed through the crisis and there are all possibilities that these trends will live after the crisis. In this blog, we are going to discuss some of the major innovative technologies being used increasingly in the Coronavirus pandemic.
1. Shifting to online ordering
Online delivery services are emerging as a new norm, people prefer to order food items, groceries, and other products online instead of visiting a physical store. As a result, Restaurants and other bricks and mortar stores are using the potential of web technology to cater to their customer needs by providing a digitally enabled delivery system. For the first time, the delivery orders are more than the supply, delivery based apps like Doordash, Instacart, and Uber Eats are being extensively used. UberEats have found a 30% increase in the customers signing up for services during COVID-19. In Instacart, people ordered around $680 million worth of goods in each week of April which is about a 430% increase from December. According to Statista, 27% of the US respondents stated that they have deliberately purchased hygiene products (e.g. hand sanitizer, toilet paper, etc.) online instead of offline because of coronavirus pandemic. Businesses are rapidly adopting digital delivery systems to make it convenient for customers to shop online.
2. Use of AR and VR to market products
Businesses are utilizing the potential of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) more during the pandemic. Retail, real estate, trade shows/events and are the major areas using AR and VR technology to provide better virtual marketing experience for the customers and driving sales. For real estate, a VR startup Beike has developed a VR platform to enable potential customers to take a virtual 3D tour of the house properties in the market. The platform has 4 million house properties and apartments listed and it has 650 million users. VR-based trade shows are being widely used by hotels, airlines, and the fashion industry, the technology is enabling users to join large conferences virtually and have real-world tradeshow experiences without breaking the lockdown order. It eliminates the trade show costs and time such as traveling time, meal cost, and other expenses associated with traditional trade shows. Other marketing areas are using the AR and VR technology to streamline their marketing as it was before the crisis.
3. Digital marketing
With consumers staying safely in their homes and spending most of their time online, digital marketing platforms are the best tools for brands to reach out to their potential customers during the pandemic. Digital marketing channels such as E-mail automation, SEO, content marketing, and social media marketing were already well underway, but due to pandemic businesses are relying more on digital mode for marketing. With the increased activities on the biggest platforms like Google, Facebook, and more, the opportunities for businesses to reap the benefit is increased.
4. Big-Data, predictive analytics
Predictive analysis and forecasting are being used widely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Big-Data helps businesses to make decisions, there are many companies implementing data science solutions for efficient marketing. The retail industry is embracing data science and predictive analytics solutions to find out hidden revenue opportunities, consumer purchase behavior, competitive prices, and more. These factors are helping businesses to make proper marketing decisions and get better results. Predictive analytics is not only used to help in marketing decision-making but also to fix performance issues and achieve strategic goals over time. For example, tools like strategic initiative management software predict whether initiatives will finish on time, within budget, and if they’re affecting the targeted KPIs as projected. Data science solutions and predictive analytics are helping businesses to stay ahead of the curve during the COVID-19 pandemic.
5. AI and ML-based Automations
The pandemic has accelerated AI and ML-based marketing automation processes that were already well underway. With the help of machine learning, it becomes possible to make market predictions by processing a big amount of data. Major companies such as Google and Facebook are utilizing the potential of machine learning to improve ad offerings to consumers. Machine learning algorithms are helping advertisers to improve their media buying efficiency while AI and automation help marketers in many different areas. AI helps in segmentation the customer base, selection of the right channel to drive engagement, fraud detection, and security, and more. Several companies are embracing the potential of AI and ML to bring automation in the system and to be able to deal with the current marketing challenges.
Conclusion
With an increase in the digital shopping habits of consumers, the use of innovative technologies by businesses of all kinds has increased during the pandemic, executing business processes digitally is shaping up to be new normal. A recent survey states most people of all age groups are likely to make online purchases even after the crisis. These trends are expected to live through the pandemic and beyond, thus, for businesses, it is important to develop an infrastructure to maximize digital or web-based interactions with their customers. Many expert opinions suggest that businesses are required to utilize innovative technologies to stay ahead of the curve.
Photo: Hello I'm Nik ? on Unsplash
Creator: Piyush Jain is the founder and CEO of Simpalm, an app development company in Chicago.