Digital agencies and marketing analysts say effective strategies are essential for marketers to meaningfully connect with consumers as companies’ advertising budgets shrink.
Technology, in particular artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way brands interact with consumers, while marketing psychology is expected to play a bigger role in shaping buyers’ decisions, say digital agencies, marketing technology and data analysts.
Effective strategies are essential to enable marketers to meaningfully connect with consumers in a challenging economic climate as companies’ marketing budgets shrink.
“Marketing psychology seeks to understand human behavior and the decision-making process, applying this knowledge to create marketing strategies,” said Manita Chinda, founder and CEO of Digital Tip Academy.
The exposure effect is a psychological tactic that says the more you see, the more you like. One example is the viral popularity of young pygmy hippo Moo Deng.
Children and animals can easily touch people’s hearts, she said.
Another tactic is the goal gradient effect, which motivates people based on how far they have left to reach their goals, not how far they have come, Ms. Manita said.
“It’s like when runners see the finish line: they will go faster from that moment on,” she said.
Another strategy involves reciprocity marketing, which offers consumers a free sample of products, while financial reciprocity includes the concept of buy now, pay later.
An example of emotional reciprocity is giving the consumer a compliment, Ms. Manita said.
Technology-driven marketing
Sitthinunt Pholvisutsak, general manager of content marketing website Content Shifu, said there are different types of social media platforms that marketers can leverage.
Facebook and Meta’s Instagram still hold the largest share of marketing spend, while other platforms show stagnant growth.
TikTok, which offers an e-commerce and affiliate marketing option, is still seeing double-digit growth, he said.
Mr Sitthinunt said consumers are changing their behavior by looking beyond search engines when looking for products.
According to a YouGov survey, they also search through social media platforms, especially members of Generation Z, who alternate their searches between search engines and social media platforms.
However, according to the survey, Baby Boomers and Generation X still primarily search for articles using search engines.
Marketers can win back their targets by using marketing and advertising technology tailored to consumer preferences, he said.
Marketers should deploy AI to automate their workflow. Generative AI (GenAI) can help write articles and generate videos and images that make content creation more varied, Sitthinunt said.
“I see a trend toward using AI-integrated tools to automate work processes, analyze large data sets, and provide actionable insights,” he said.
Another interesting use case for marketing is augmented and virtual reality technologies, Sitthinunt said.
GénAI
Priya Narula, head of customer success at Lead Insider, said marketers can use technologies to develop personalized marketing and multi-channel management.
GenAI can speed up customer management, while marketers can use GenAI to create campaign content, Ms Priya said.
GenAI can also optimize engagement performance by predicting which channels will be best for reaching customers, she said.
Additionally, marketers should not oversaturate their advertising, fine-tuning it at the right time for the right target, showing the customer what is most relevant to them, Ms. Priya said.
Emerging technology
Rajsak Asawasupachai, chief transformation officer at IPG Mediabrands-UM/Kinesso, said one of the trends is using AI to drive a marketing outcome.
Another trend is a measurement method created by specialists to predict the impact of an advertisement on the brand.
A third trend is how to become a master of GenAI prompts, Rajsak said. AI prompts refer to instructions given to an AI system guiding it to generate a specific result or perform a particular task.
He said he estimates that about 10% of all local marketers have artificial intelligence skills, which is low.
Anan Teerabruranapong, director of data and innovation at Data First, said AI and data in advertising can help attract consumers by combining science with the art of communication. Marketers can use AI to gain insights about customers, for example by conducting market research.
Marketers can start with design thinking, applying a data feed through automated data collection, analyzing the data, and making product recommendations. They should combine online and offline strategies to drive sales growth, Anan said.
Rise of sustainability
Chanchai Pongsanan, managing director of Amplifi Thailand-Dentsu, said brands are focusing more on sustainability, but marketers are still generating CO2 emissions from programmatic advertising and AI.
Programmatic advertising involves automating media buying or creating digital ads through marketing technology.
Programmatic display advertising generates 3.8 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year globally, the equivalent of driving 17.2 billion miles in the average car, Chanchai said.
Marketing agencies should optimize their websites and define a new KPI for media buying that prioritizes sustainability, he said. The industry needs to balance sustainability with effective marketing practices, Chanchai said.
Paruj Daorai, president of the Digital Advertising Association (Thailand) or DAAT, said brands still need a “human connection” to resonate meaningfully with people. AI can help marketers understand consumer habits, but they still need to use art, science and intuition to produce meaningful ads, he said.
DAAT is organizing DAAT Day 2024 “Advolution – Reimaging Advertising, Clashing Art and Science” at Bitec on October 30.
Marketers can use AI to gain insights about customers, for example by conducting market research.
