1) Metaverse Advertising. “The metaverse is a hypothesized iteration of the internet, supporting online 3D virtual environments through conventional personal computing, as well as virtual and augmented reality headsets. Metaverses, in some limited form, are already present on platforms like VRChat or video games like Second Life.” In a sense, Facebook has already been a metaverse (and that’s why their rebranding to Meta for better or for worse is congruent). The average Facebook user spends 33 minutes a day on there. 33 minutes a day where they can do a dozen different things – catch up with friends, watch videos, sell/buy items, date, and a lot more. Facebook is already a metaverse- and it makes money by serving ads to people as they interact with Facebook’s metaverse. To advertise in a metaverse is no different than advertising on Facebook, which in the early days was insanely profitable as many businesses hadn’t yet caught on. Smart digital marketers will look to capitalize on virtual reality by getting in early on advertising in the metaverse.
2) Ownership of clients’ companies. This ties in several different trends. First is the increasing power of analytics. Now, more than ever, marketers are able to see the exact profitability of a campaign from ad to conversion, even months down the line. Second is the saturation of businesses using some form of digital marketing – those that use none and with an outdated website likely won’t be convinced by any current strategy being employed. Because of these reasons, agencies are going to start offering to buy ownership in businesses that they are confident they can help make more money. This solves the problem of stubborn businesses refusing to transition to a digital environment.
3) Thought Leadership. With how difficult it is to stand out these days online, agencies that simply list out their services and don’t do anything else will starve. Videos/articles, books and online courses are going to become more prevalent as agencies seek to differentiate themselves and prove their expertise.
4) AI. From AI that writes your copy for you to AI that develops the whole ad, advances are being made that are going to do what website builders did to websites in the 2010s. Not remove them all together – but let the people with a small budget do it on their own. This will have digital marketers moving to work more with medium-high tier clients (as low-tier clients will do this themselves). In addition, digital marketers will without a doubt take advantage of these tools themselves to make the work easier on themselves.
