Jay Kulkarni

AI is taking over the internet, and what feels like the world lately. While generative AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E continue to grasp consumers’ attention, AI has been used for many business applications in digital media and marketing. With 83 percent of companies claiming that AI is a top priority in their business plans, business leaders must not forget the most important part to integrating training and enhancing the output of AI tools: the human element. If business leaders fail to recognize its significance, they run the risk of losing consumer interest.

Across all industries, most successful companies now rely on artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline their operations. For example, the automation of business processes has enabled companies to perform more tasks in less time, resulting in lower labor costs, increased output, and higher profit margins. At the same time, machine learning and AI-driven analytics have made it possible for organizations to make more informed and effective marketing decisions based on high-level insights pulled from data.

As a DTC business, your brand’s website is the very heart of your operations. It introduces prospects to your products, showcases your brand, and keeps your shop up and running 24/7 — no matter where your customers are based.

Retail media networks (RMNs) are becoming essential to the modern digital marketing landscape. These advertising platforms run on the digital properties of specific stores, allowing brands to reach consumers near the closest point of sale. For example, a brand like Lay’s or Tostitos can leverage a grocery chain’s RMN to advertise to consumers searching for snacks on the retailer’s website or app.

To say that today’s digital marketing landscape is crowded would be an understatement. As technologies advance and business locations become less integral to servicing clients, creative agencies face more competition than ever before.

Over the past decade, we’ve seen advertising and marketing trends evolve at a frequent and fast pace. Now that tech and commerce have become inexorably intertwined, brands must be able to swiftly adapt their strategies to meet the evolving needs of the modern consumer.

As consumer behaviors continue to evolve in the wake of the pandemic, brands and businesses must remain responsive to rapidly changing trends. Omnichannel marketing has become essential to achieve adequate reach, and more and more channels — from apps and social media to the burgeoning metaverse — are vying for audience’s attention.

As the endemic consumer is rapidly changing, modern brands seek to leverage all of the tactics at their disposal to engage customers. One of the trends we’ve seen over the past two years is a drastic rise in e-commerce and social commerce utilization across retail and direct to consumer brands. As e-commerce continues to take over the marketplace, brand marketing teams will need to better understand the buyer journey in the modern consumer experience-centric era.

As more customers flock to social media to discover the next big trend, research future purchases, and engage with influencer content, brands have become savvy at meshing their content into our daily digital lives. And with so many options to choose from, customers have grown increasingly fond of the brands that give them new and convenient ways to buy their products, which is why more and more companies are offering a Buy Now, Pay Later across their digital platforms.

The World Advertising Research Center (WARC) predicts that by 2025, 73 percent of people around the globe will rely solely on their smartphones to access the internet. With this forecast in mind, it’s clear that brands and businesses should be incorporating as many mobile touchpoints as possible into their digital marketing strategies.

Abandoned carts are the cause of billions in lost revenue each year. But with the shift to all things digital, how can brands succeed at regaining the attention of hyper-distracted, overstimulated customers with so many competing options just a click or scroll away?