7 Sensational Insights into the Future of Digital Marketing: E-commerce Link Digest

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Hey, Big Thinkers! Tons of news this week, so no big setup. Instead, just take a few minutes to review these 7 sensational insights into the future of digital marketing. Enjoy:

1. Lots of AR, VR, and AI stuff this week. For starters, Sheikh Danish Ejaz from Brand Quarterly looks at “How Augmented And Virtual Reality Will Shape The Brands Of The Future.” Fascinating read.
2. Clickz follows that up with “The Shock of the New: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Digital Marketing.” While the article makes a handful of fairly bold claims, overall, it provides excellent insights into where AI will lead content and search marketing in particular.
3. We’ve covered VR and AI a bit in the past, including this look at “AI, VR, and CX: 7 Top Posts About This Week’s Top Trends” from the E-commerce Link Digest series and in an episode of Thinks Out Loud, our e-commerce and digital strategy podcast, called “Voice, VR, AR, and AI: Hype or Hope for Marketers?”
4. If you’re not sure about the value of AI, Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt Makes the Case That AI Will Be Good for Society in an article on Recode that’s worth your time.
5. Speaking of chairmen, and the like, we rounded-up “10 Posts Showing How the C-Suite Views Customer Experience” for you a couple weeks back. Be sure to check ’em out.
6. Shifting gears to mobile for a moment, Julie Bernard at The Future of Customer Engagement and Commerce says “Brick-And-Mortar Closings: Mobile Marketing’s Opportunity to Fuel Retail’s Future.” That sounds about right.
7. And finally, let’s close out this week’s list of 7 sensational insights into the future of digital marketing with this look at “Why Digital Transformation Matters for Your Business” and “Digital Marketing Directions 2017: The Key Digital Marketing Trends Driving Your Business” for you.

If you want learn even more about how your customers’ changing behavior shapes e-commerce and marketing, be sure and register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” While it’s targeted specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons apply to just about any business. You can get your free copy of the report here.

You might also want to check out these slides I had the pleasure of presenting recently about the key trends shaping marketing in the next year. Here are the slides for your reference:

Finally, you might enjoy some of these past posts from Thinks to help you build your e-commerce strategy and your digital success:

• 6 Mobile Commerce and Strategy Insights: E-commerce Link Digest
• Content is Still the King
• The Digital Strategy Myth
• Why Mobile Payments Will Rule
• Driving Seamless Experiences in 2016 (Thinks Out Loud Episode 149)
• Mobile is So Much Bigger Than You Think (Thinks Out Loud Episode 140)
• It’s Not “Mobile First.” It’s “Customer First.”
• 8 Killer Entries About Improving E-commerce Experience: E-commerce Link Digest