Tech in business marketing is evolving all the time, yet the past few years have seen a rapid shift in development, owing partly in response to Covid-19 and global supply chain issues. From virtual reality (VR) to artificial intelligence (AI), the inclusion of advanced systems is exciting. Of course, the tools you use depend greatly on your audience and your client's needs. But adapting to changing times can help drive sales and secure relevancy for the future.

Adapted from military hardware and then becoming a niche hobby, drones have taken their place as a vital tool with many applications. You can learn more about Modern drones at DrDrone. These drones can now hold high-quality cameras, meaning they aren't just for flying around for fun. This opens up a whole new industry of video marketing that can showcase previously unreachable places with staggering shots and provide 360° aerial photography.

The rise of VR has been slow, and the most practical application for a consumer has been in video games. However, it is unparalleled as a marketing tool when it comes to selling products that require immersion. Customers can sit in your new model car, feel their architect-designed new kitchen or tour a new apartment without leaving their homes. Even established car companies like Volvo have adopted VR technology for their Virtual Reality Test Drive program.

Search Engine Optimization isn't the be-all and end-all of internet marketing. However, it is high on the priority list because it speaks to the customer via search engine proxy. In short, it helps users find what they want. Which is critical for a marketing agency working with a business. Standard SEO works on-page content and speaks to an algorithm. But it evolves all the time to work with emerging web tech such as rich snippets, passage indexing, and, of course, AI.

There is a time and a place for both long-form and short-form content. It depends on several factors, such as the audience and the content itself. You don't need 4,000 words about a new pair of headphones when concise facts and features will do just fine. Yet short-form video content seems to be the number one choice for most online consumers. TikTok and Instagram Reels are excellent ways to drive a message and push a product very quickly and efficiently.

Like almost everything now, marketing is touched by artificial intelligence, and in a big way. AI is now becoming the drive for change in anything to do with results because of its ability to handle large data volumes very quickly. Here are just a few examples where AI is helping marketing:

• Almost all online businesses are now adopting ChatBots that offer personalized service.

• AI can analyze a user's past history and their actions to deliver personal suggestions.

• Natural language processing is driving better SEO search results via passage indexing.

• Content generation time is vastly reduced by using AI tools such as no code apps.

• AI can analyze specific marketing data and suggest which decisions should be made.

• Social listening AI can help predict future customer interactions with your brand.

• AI can generate content and post at optimal traffic times for more interaction.

As a tool for marketing, you can't really ignore AI. AI can, is, and will change the way everything is done, with almost all businesses using AI in some way already. But when accurate data processing is everything, as in marketing, the advancements in AI today are a must-have.

Further to AI, virtual assistants like Alexa are becoming more popular. Today, there are over 500 million Alexa-enabled devices in the US alone, with a 35% increase in 2023 over 2022. And that's not the only one available. Cortana, Siri, and Google Nest are also popular. In a time when we all want convenience, even Googling something is too much work. Virtual voice searching is being used more to find product info, but you need to implement this for it to work.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) systems have had a bad year or two. Bitcoin dropped by over half and hasn't moved for over a year. And NFTs have all but imploded on themselves due largely in part to massive frauds like the Frosties NFT rug-pull. However, there are better uses for Blockchain technology. And it is still highly secure as a tool for business. Marketing a product or contract via Blockchain increases transparency and security in a much cheaper and faster way.

Augmented Reality (AR) is no less impressive and, some would say, much more useful. Like VR, AR can be used as an excellent marketing tool to demonstrate products to a customer or client. Imagine being able to show your vision for a new real estate development right in front of the investors' eyes without them having to leave their living rooms. And the great thing about AR is that almost all modern smartphones come with the capability.

If there is a tech failure to talk about in modern times, the Metaverse could be a top contender. And not that it's not a good idea, it's just that people aren't keen to adopt this very niche way of interacting. That being said, virtual shopping and immersive experiences can help deliver results because of the connection. Will it replace the shopping mall? Probably not. But you would be missing out on another potential avenue of increased sales without the Metaverse.

Even drones are emerging as a useful new tech in business marketing that you would be foolish to disregard. Other tools you can use include AI and virtual assistants like Alexa, both of which have highly advantageous tools based on data analysis. And finally, there is some evidence to suggest that we shouldn't rush to consider the Metaverse pretty much dead and buried just yet.

Adoption takes time, it took approximately 65 years to go from radios in households to black and white televisions, and then additional 35 years to go to color televisions. The Internet became available in January of 1981, although businesses were reluctant to adopt it initially, and now it shapes the way basically everything is done. When the very first touch screen was released in 2007, the Motorola Razr flip phone was beating Apple's newly released iPhone for the next 5 years, and once again, touch screens have become the norm.

As technology continues to fly at a greater motion than ever, it's refreshing for businesses to create, and incorporate technologies that are only getting better by implementation.