Wearable tech and lifelogging

One of the most exciting gadgets which will be discussed a lot in 2014 is Google Glass. Marketing applications of Glass and its impact on search will be limited, but one Glass app, Glashion, was recently released this week where you can snap clothing and bags of footwear of other passers-by and then complete a comparison shop. 

What Marketers Need To Know About Google Glass Today

Here’s a list of facts, opinions and predictions that I think marketers and brands should keep in mind as we get closer to Google Glass’ release.

Userbase: Glass currently has about 10,000 “Explorers” — the group of people that are beta testing and giving Google feedback. That group is currently expanding to as many as 40,000 people via invitations.

Ads on Glass: Currently non-existent, but there are numerous ways this could happen from paid “cards” as part of Google Now  or as paid search results when people use the “Google” search command. Google also owns a pay-per-gaze patent that reveals other ad-related possibilities, though the company says it has no plans to use it. 

Marketing Opportunities on Glass: There are many. Glass offers most of the same features of a smartphone, so any mobile marketing opportunity you can think of now can probably also apply to Glass:

• Publishing: Glass is a great information tool.It creates an opportunity for any marketer or brand in the business of creating content.
• Retail: Just as consumers use their smartphones to compare products (i.e., showrooming) and make purchases, the same can happen via Glass. Several companies, including Mastercard and Intuit, are developing “pay with Glass” apps.
• Email and Text Messaging: Glass supports both, so there are two more opportunities for connecting with prospects and customers.

One exception right now is Social. The social apps for Glass are currently all about content creation and sharing (typically by taking a photo and pushing it out to social networks).

The Future of Google Glass

1. Google is going to do a lot of education before Glass goes on sale. This’ll probably include in-person events, TV commercials and much more.

2. Glass won’t sell like gangbusters when it launches. We are in the early days of wearable tech/computers. Glass is like the cell phones of old that took many years to get accepted; I expect it’ll take Glass, other head-mounted devices and smart watches the same.

3. Glass will eventually find its audience and grow a passionate user base.

I do believe that wearable computing is going to happen. People adapt. Technology improves. Google Glass is here to stay, but it’ll probably take a while for that to become obvious.

TRENDS IN MOBILE MARKETING SPACE

The three core areas of investment in marketing for 2014 are likely to continue to be Mobile and Content Marketing and Big Data in many businesses. The most significant change is in mobile marketing where there is a decline in popularity, perhaps suggesting a realisation of the difficulty of encouraging customers to buy rather than browser via this channel.

But, I think that Conversion Rate Optimisation and Marketing Automation will increase in investment since these are about process and improving performance, so they can potentially offer lower risk returns than other activities.

Mobile user online ad investment

Google and Facebook acted in 2013 to increase their ad revenue from customers using mobile devices, this was a major threat to their revenue model. Google’s new Enhanced AdWords campaigns have had a large impact on CPC (for example, Greenlight has seen a 30% increase in CPC since Google’s Enhanced campaigns ) were introduced. With the increased competition, working through the best way to adjust bids for mobile will be a source of attention for many consumer brands and their agencies. Using RTB and DSP approaches across mobile will also be a concern for larger brands.

Engagement through visual apps + content

In 2013 Twitter’s 6 second Vine videos , Instagram and Snapchat have become increasingly important with many brands trialling campaigns.

Instagram and advertising

 It seems to be causing quite the stir as the Instagram user-base has already made it clear that they don’t want to see the platform commercialised by Zuckerberg. For example, late 2012 saw Instagram’s terms of service change and then change back when users objected to the possibility that their photos would be used in ads.

Brands just need some imagination

Whereas Zuckerberg may struggle to easily monetise his Billion Dollar investment, the reality for brands is that they don’t need to wait for advertising to gain exposure in Instagram, they need some imagination. There are a number of brands doing this already and surprisingly, Instagram users seem to love them for it.

A number of brands have adapted well to the nature of Instagram and its users, appreciating that ‘exposure’ comes with adding value to the Instagram community, not trying to interrupt it. Companies like Nike, Mercedes Benz, Red Bull, Converse and Ford have all conducted one or more campaigns with users. Corporate interest in working with the best  photographers on Instagram has even seen an agency create a department to focus on facilitating just that. Maybe this starts to show how Instagram can generate income for itself, its users and also corporate clients.

Evolution of Search Engines

Modern search engines are pretty incredible – complex algorithms enable search engines to take your search query and return results that are usually quite accurate, presenting you with valuable information nuggets amidst a vast information data mine.

           Search engines have come a long way since their early prototypes, as our Internet Search Engines History infographic illustrates. From improvements in web crawlers and categorizing and indexing the web, to introducing new protocols such as robots.txt so that webmasters have control what web pages get crawled, the development of search engines has been the culmination of multiple search technologies that developed from different search engines. Alta Vista was the first search engine to process natural language queries; Lycos started strong with a system categorizing relevance signals, matching keywords with prefixes and word proximity; and Ask Jeeves introduced the use of human editors to match actual user search queries.

M-Commerce : The Magic Word?

With the advent of internet and technology, a new buzz word took the world by storm. "E-Commerce". This is the term used to consolidate all the transactions that happen over the internet. By now, most of us would be familiar with the buzz word. But there's another one that's catching up with its predecessor. 

The new mantra of companies is "M-Commerce"(or Mobile Commerce). Many of us misinterpret this as the transactions that happens through the smartphones or tablets (or mobile phones). Though this is a partly right answer, this is not what the person who coined this term had in mind while doing so. The term was coined in 1997 by Kevin Duffey and he goes on to state, "M-Commerce is the delivery of electronic commerce capabilities directly into the consumer’s hand, anywhere, via wireless technology." This also means bringing the service to the customer's doorstep.

M-Commerce in the implementations phase has been making the rounds for around 5 years but the potential that it contains is enormous. In January 2013, 29% of mobile users have now made a purchase with their phones according to sources from BI Intelligence. Bank of America, one of the leading banks in the world has quoted that the purchases using mobile devices will grow to $67 billion by European and US customers in 2015. The retailing giant of the world, Walmart prides itself in being one of the top visited sites through mobile devices though their main business model is a brick and mortar setup. A staggering 40% of their customers who purchased online had used mobile devices to do so. These statistics are proof to believe that the way to be 'mobile' is by going the "mobile" way.

There are a lot of activities that have gone mobile with the advancement of technology and the internet. A few of them are:

Mobile Purchasing

The concept of any type of purchase with the use of mobile devices is called Mobile Purchasing. This has been an increase in the purchase traffic usig mobile devices and this is expected to grow more than the rate of purchase in conventional stores.

Mobile Ticketing 

This is the process where tickets for various activities like traveling, movies and many more events are booked using mobile devices. This trend has grown over the years and the revenue generated through this channel have grown tremendously. There is a lot of development in this field of mobile based payment and mobile wallets that most telecom companies are working on.  

Mobile Browsing

The use of mobile devices to view web content is called Mobile Browsing. The increase in the number of smartphone users have increased mobile traffic in website to numbers never seen before. This is also expected to be on the rise. 

Mobile Banking

Mobile Banking is the trend that seems to have caught up with many people. The initiative of banks to get their service on to the web have increased the number of people using their online banking portals. The banks provide almost all their services available online and the same has been translated into mobile applications that run on smartphones. This has made the lives of customers simpler. They no longer need to stand in long painstaking queues to get their services. It is all available in their pockets. 

Mobile Auctions

Auctioning sites have gone mobile through the launch of their respective mobile applications and their websites adapted to mobile devices. This has increased the interest in customers to go in for auctions since they can now access it at the comfort of their homes and the need to physically be present is eliminated.

The range of services encompassed in the foray of mobile commerce is vast and is growing on a day-to-day basis.

For now, M-Commerce looks strong and promising and only time will tell what the future holds for us. 

And as the year rolls by, let's look at the new products and gadgets that come in to the market. 

Reviews about new gadgets would be updated on a regular basis. Stay tuned for more!