What Creators Need To Consider In The New Wave of Technology
It’s Still Bothering Me
I don’t know what went wrong. It’s been bugging me.
I recently spoke on The Internet Marketing Podcast about upcoming technology, apps and some of the things that marketers may need to consider as a result of this new wave.
It’s something I have been spending a lot of time researching, writing, planning and daydreaming about.
“Planning” sounds sinister. I guess it is.
As the Podcast started, I felt like I was given a shot (?) of speed and asked to discuss my thoughts on space travel.
My mind exploded. My synapses popped and a meteor shower of ramblings dispersed.
I promise I am not mad.
I don’t feel I articulated my opinions and thoughts clearly enough on the podcast.
That annoyed me. The feeling hasn’t left my system.
How long does speed stay in your solar system?
My first post on Medium seemed fitting.
The First Thing I Need to Address
It might appear as though this article is aimed towards marketers.
It’s not, entirely. There’s plenty to consider here for anyone who is curious about technology and has an eye on the future.
Anyone who is petrified, stuck, unstuck, imaginative and cares to dedicate time to white space.
Anyone who believes that the transactional economy is dead and the sharing economy is flourishing.
On the podcast, we talk about “marketers”. It’s even in the podcast title.
But that was stupid. I missed a key point which I hope to rectify below.
This article for ANYONE who is a CREATOR. Or wants to be.
We have to shift from spending our days trying to disrupt people with our thoughts and ideas.
Instead, we have to disrupt our days by spending them on understanding the shifts in people’s thoughts and ideas.
All people who create things have to switch their primary focus from selling to solving.
Remove your ego. Nobody needs what you’re selling.
The sub-economies of experience and experimentation are in full flow.
Let’s Start With Amazon
I’ll start this off with a recap of Amazon’s recent product releases. Why Amazon? Because I think they have two products that have been key gateway products for the new wave.
These are Amazon Dash and Amazon Echo.
Amazon Dash Buttons
First up, just know that I won’t be going too much into the specific detail about the product specifications. If you geeks out there want to know more, there’s a bunch of further reading links right at the bottom of this article and linked throughout.
A Quick Recap
Amazon Dash buttons were first available in March 2015.
In June 2016, Amazon announced that there would be 50+ new Dash brands added to the range, taking the total number of Dash buttons to over 150.
Amazon has been quiet on releasing sales figures, though they did note back in a recent press release that two orders a minute are being made through Dash in the US.
Slice, an Ecommerce Analytics company has suggested that user retention has been Dash’s sticking point, with only 47% of Dash going on to make a purchase.
Are Dash buttons a fad? Possibly. Are they convenient? Definitely. Are there issues with pricing? For sure.
You could argue that with Dash, Amazon has focused so much on convenience and integration with their ecosystem that they’ve overlooked the importance of pricing.
Pricing being the very thing that Amazon made us wise to as online consumers.
The companies who are thriving in the sharing economy, like AirBnb, Uber, Lyft, TaskRabbit all have a perfect formula.
Pricing + Convenience x Agility / Storytelling.
I am not good at math. I don’t know why I am trying to make this into formula.
Let me try and explain my thought process.
Pricing is important (though no longer critical).
Convenience should be at the heart of all new things.
Agility in this context is the ability to amplify the convenience and pricing through a multitude of mediums.
And each medium should have a great story.
I told you, I am not super into maths.
Addressing the issue of pricing is going to be crucial to the long term success of Dash.
Oh, and it wouldn’t harm for Amazon to tell us a story once in a while.
I mean, all those books…
What Can We Expect From Dash?
Integration With Alexa
Before I get into this, allow me to quickly describe Alexa for the non-geeks.
Alexa is Amazon’s answer to Siri or Cortana. It’s a virtual assistant driven by machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Alexa is at the core of the Amazon Echo home assistant. We’ll look at Echo more in just a moment.
Alexa has proven herself to be quite a bit smarter than her peers and subsequently Amazon has opened the door to conversational search.
We’ll also explore conversational search a bit later in this article.
At some point, I’d expect to see Alexa to become integrated within Dash buttons.
Perhaps, as it learns about your social events, your calendar, the weather, your purchasing habits etc. it will be able to use these things in combination in order to understand your daily, weekly and monthly habits and social context.
I can see the day ahead where all we have to do is say:
“Hey Dash, please organize my food and drink for this party on Wednesday.”
Click.
And Dash automatically goes ahead and organises the party.
Or maybe it tells you that you’re an idiot because nobody parties on Wednesday.
It will know already whether you’re a Coke nut or a smart, intellectual Pepsi type. It might even know when you’re on a diet and avoid ordering you those Pringles that you keep stuffing your face with.
Clearer Pricing
One of the features that Dash users are desperate for is for clarity of pricing for Dash products. Right now, there’s no way to quickly know the price of something you’re about to buy. This is stupid. It has to change.
I think once the pricing issue is addressed, there will be a huge uptake in purchasing of Dash buttons.
Imagine for a second that Dash buttons came with guaranteed pricing. That ordering via Dash would guarantee that you’d get better prices than on the web. Now that’s something I’d really want. I think that this would make Dash more appealing.
This would make Dash the ultimate convenience + pricing device.
I think we’re going to see Amazon experiment more with pricing, in general, over the next year or two given the factors of convenience and agility that the new wave allows us to consider.
Mobile Flexibility.
How about a Dash button that automatically detects where you are and can deliver to you within a one-hour time frame?
Amazon Prime Now already offers one-hour deliveries in many cities around the world.
But even more flexible delivery times is one layer of convenience that Amazon can add into to their service.
So how about a Dash button that fits on your keyring, and enables delivery to wherever you are, for whatever you ask it for.
There is also an easy starting point for this experiment. Delivery to your closest Amazon Locker.
Price Comparisons
How about a feature that’s integrated with Alexa that gives more transparent pricing even if it’s not cheaper? I can’t see Amazon going down this route, but it certainly something that would be useful for the user. Perhaps they could read or display the costs for the products in other major retailers or live from nearby stores in order to enable users to make more informed decisions. It would certainly add an improved element of trust to the service.
With Prime, Amazon has built a level trust that actually outweighs pricing due to the convenience factor.
Perhaps, if Amazon were truly to take transparent pricing a step further they could build their own camelcamelcamel- esque product solely for Dash items? This would certainly help to improve trust and users would be able to make their own decisions around whether they are getting a good deal or not.
Lightning Local Deals
We already have Amazon Local deals.
What if Amazon starts offering Dash Local buttons?
Imagine a Dash button that just reads out the local deals to you as you are about to leave the house. Or maybe you have lightning deals that are announced via Dash when you get home.
You press the button once to hear the deal and then again if you want to purchase.
Perhaps Amazon will skip straight to adding this to Echo instead of Dash?
Expansion into New Industries and a Range of Tasks
I think that one of the biggest growth opportunities for Dash will be when it moves beyond just being used for products and starts becoming a way to find services and complete other tasks.
Integrating Dash with Amazon Home Services could become the easiest way to find a plumber available who can fix a washing machine. Or book our gardener to clean up the lawn.
Imagine something the Mayday feature from Kindle included within Dash.
Domino’s already have been for a while with the Easy Order Button.
Deliveroo. I’d expect to see them next.
Maybe an Uber Tap for regular rides from the home to the office?
In fact, keep and eye on smart button startup Kwik, who recently raised $3 million in venture funding and are already working with brands like Budweiser and Huggies in an effort to expand the smart button market.
All of these companies have the agility that will enable them to adapt and respond quickly to these new growth opportunities.
Apps are convenient, but the Internet of Things, including products like Dash, are another step removed.
But first, tell me a good story. I like it when you do that.
Home Assistants
Now I’m going to get into “Home” Assistants. I don’t really know what else to call them right now.
I’ll touch on Amazon Echo, Dot and Tap and then we’ll look at Google’s recently announced Google Home. All of these devices offer similar functionality and have been introduced within the last 12–18 months.
Amazon Echo, Dot and Tap
I think the success of Amazon Echo has surprised pretty much everyone in the tech industry. I don’t think anyone expected it to work quite as smoothly as it does, for the sales to have been as good as they have been, or for the interest in Echo to have peaked in quite the way it has.
Nest was a cute gateway.
But in the next year or two, I suspect that most people reading this article will have sided with either Amazon, Google or Apple for their new home assistant.
Oh and for what it’s worth, I think Microsoft are really going to struggle to compete. I’m waiting for them to surprise me, but right now, Cortana is the first thing we learn how to turn off on Windows 10.
Here’s a quick intro to the devices if you’re not familiar.
Echo, does it all.
Over 3 million units of Echo have been sold since it was first released to Prime members back in November ‘14.
If you’re wondering what you can do with Echo, the easiest way is to go on Twitter and type #AskAlexa to see how people are using it.
Alexa is the AI at the core of Echo. That’s your new assistant’s name. Alexa is always looking out for you (or at you, who knows?). With Echo we can order directly from Amazon, ask it questions, ask it to read us a book, lock doors, book meetings, meals etc. Oh, it’s also a pretty good Bluetooth speaker.
The downside? It’s only available to US Amazon customers right now and it’s been that way since launch.
You can import Echo’s to other countries, but it’s a bit of a faff to get it configured and you can’t get all the features of the Echo working seamlessly. There is no news on when or if Amazon is going to launch Echo in other countries.
With over 40,000 reviews averaging a 4.5-star rating on amazon.com, it’s been a huge hit and new “Skills” are being added every day.
Echo Dot does all the things that Echo does at half the price BUT doesn’t come with the high-performance speaker. Instead, the idea is that you hook Echo Dot up to your existing audio set up.
Amazon Tap has all the features of Echo but with a slightly lower performance speaker. It’s not “Always On” like Echo and Echo Dot so you have instruct Alexa to haul her ass out of microbed (where I imagine she sleeps) by pressing the microphone button on the front of the device.
It costs $50 less than Echo and is wireless (Echo and Echo Dot are not). So Tap is a pretty good option for those who want Alexa on the go or like moving their music around the home.
Ok. That’s our whirlwind tour of Amazon devices. It’s also worth noting that Alexa can be accessed via Amazon Fire TV.
Whether it’s through the TV, or via one of the aforementioned devices, I have no doubt that we will begin to “trust” Alexa with a greater range of tasks. That trust has been built into the device because Amazon exceeded expectations from the off. This is a huge advantage as Amazon only has to focus on meeting product demand and improvements.
Trust is a product of met expectations.
Comfort is a byproduct of trust.
I don’t think it will be too long until we’re comfortable with Alexa securing our homes when we’re on vacation. Our pets when we’re gone for the day (think Petcube). And maybe, eventually, our kids.
“Alexa, babysit the brats”.
In a moment, we’ll look at Google’s upcoming home device, Google Home.
But before we get there, I want to address the one weak link in Amazon’s chain.
“Alexa, find my Fire… Oh… shit”.
The Impact Of The Amazon Fire Phone Flop
I think the true failure of the Fire Phone is only going to be realised now that we are in the new wave.
In the last decade, consumers have really enjoyed having the option of experimenting with different platforms, devices and ecosystems. For the unboxing videos alone. The storytelling has been excellent.
But cloud technology has given us a new level convenience. Better pricing. So whilst flitting between team Apple and Android has been fun, I think we will soon be forced in choosing one ecosystem to operate in by way of convenience.
I can only speak from experience, but with every new device or software I add into my life, I am thinking more carefully about whether it will seamlessly integrate with everything else I own.
These were decisions I didn’t have to make ten years ago. But I am dedicating a fair amount of time to them now. I want my life to run as smoothly as possible and ultimately I don’t want to have to think about whether Alexa, Cortana, Mistress Google and Siri are all going to get along.
And this is where I think Google, with Android, has a distinct advantage.
Though Echo has sold well, I am sure there are a significant number of new market lurkers. People whose interest has been stimulated by the Echo’s success, perhaps who are existing Nest/Hue users, but are waiting for Google Home due to the convenience factor.
In introducing a product that has exceeded expectations, Amazon has created momentum in a new market that for Google to capitalise on. We’ll feel more comfortable in purchasing Google’s first home device because Echo has proven the concept.
I think there are a lot of people who will be happy to wait. A lot who may even switch from Echo to Google Home because both the price (rumoured to be around $100-$150) and convenience are worth waiting for.
You could argue that the flop of the Fire phone was a blessing in disguise, as it freed Amazon up to focus on Alexa and Echo. But I think that for at least the next few years, we’ll still be carrying smart phones. We still need that level of seamlessness, agility, and convenience when we leave the home.
For that reason, I’d be very surprised if in the next 6–12 months we didn’t see another attempt in entering the smartphone market by Amazon.
If I were working at Amazon, I would look to grow that trusted community of Alexa and Echo users, capitalise on the momentum and possibly going down the route of marketing an “Echo Phone” or “Alexa Go”.
I think this is the chapter they’re missing.
Google Home
At Google’s I/O conference back in May, they gave credit to Amazon for helping to bring to market and popularise the home assistant in Alexa.
And then, they announced Google Home.
Man, I bet they felt smug.
Google has Android (w/ Android N on the way) as well as successful phones, tablets, and Chromebooks.
Plus we’ve got Google Assistant and apps Duo and Allo all ready to drop before the close of the year.
Oh and Android Wear 2.0.
They have a device for every journey.
Amazon does not have this.
When we’re talking specifically about convenience. Amazon has led the way.
But I think Google will win with storytelling and agility.
Once I leave my house, who am I checking in with. Who can I rely on to get things done for me?
Alexa won’t be there. Or she’ll be too many clicks away.
Assistant is right there. Waiting. Possibly even listening (argh!) and predicting what I need before I even know.
Android is the key.
What is Google Home?
In short, it’s their version Amazon’s Echo device.
It’s three main features are:
Media — Works as a Bluetooth speaker and will also have Chromceast functionality
Information— ‘Cos you know, it’s Google. And it’s open for 2-way dialogue.
Assistant — You’re going to be able to run your life from it.
Since the Google I/O announcement there has been limited information released by Google about Google Home.
We do know that at the core of Google Home is Google Assistant, the AI that we’re all about to become a lot more familiar with.
Google Assistant is the name given to the machine learning technology that’s going to be at the heart of Home and likely all future Google apps and devices.
It looks likely that it’s going to directly replace Google Now.
Given that it’s in direct competition with Echo, it’s reasonable to assume that Home will retail for somewhere around the £150 mark when it’s released late 2016.
Could this be the year that Santa outsources the duties of his Elves?
Google Assistant
Google Assistant is the machine learning functionality that’s dedicated to understanding more about you.
It listens, watches and learns.
Ok, maybe not watches. As far as we know?
By interruption or divine intervention (which side are you?), Google Assistant will step in and help your day FLOW.
For those of your who are already using Google Now, it appears as though Google Assistant is essentially going to be the upgrade to that service.
The key differentiator between Assistant and Alexa is that Google has noted that instead of having to speak into the device in order to it to talk back, it can talk to you simply by first initiating a conversation with an alert sound.
You’ll have a choice.
That choice. That noise. I can’t see how it won’t be addictive.
Most people get twitchy when they can’t open a fresh Snapchat.
Google Assistant will also be core to Google Allo. Think about Google Allo as like Whatsapp — but with a mutual, lurking friend always ready to chime in.
Plus, we’ll all get more stickers and emojis and shit.
How Will All of This Affect Creators?
You might be sitting there thinking “How the hell do I keep up with all of this?”.
Maybe you are scared for your job. Maybe you’re about to be outsourced. Maybe you know it.
Perhaps you just want to make some money. Or maybe just be a step ahead of everyone else so you don’t live with constant anxiety.
Maybe you just want to sound smart. Or want to come “unstuck”.
I’d like to think that a few of you just want to create the things that embrace this new technology and way of life. I’d like those people to contact me because I am dumb and I’m going to need some help.
The points below are mostly just my thoughts on what we need to consider moving into the new wave.
Learned Behaviour
Kids learn from their parents and peers. They see stuff round friends houses. They mimic everything. They are curious. They want what their friends have.
These things have never changed.
When I was 10 I went round a friend’s house and he had an old sister. She was maybe 16.
I heard his sister say “I am going to put my fuck-me-boots on”.
Maybe a day later I saw my Mum put on some boots that were similar to those that I had seen the day before.
“Mum, why are you putting fuck-me-boots on?”.
My mouth tasted of soap from Sunday through Tuesday.
In recent decades, gaming, phones and tablets have all been fuck-me-boots.
The familiarity with technology is happening at a younger age than ever before. We have to remember there are kids now, right now, who won’t have ever seen a PC but watch Dad talk to Siri all day.
As babies are born, they see phones before faces.
Eventually, home assistants will be another norm.
We’re in a stage of humanity where convenience is of greater value than tradition. This value is increasing with each generation.
Children through each new generation are going to be more comfortable in adapting to new technology than “millennials” because we still have a degree of tradition ingrained in us.
Convenience and agility are the new tradition.
The next generation of kids will undoubtedly become more comfortable with interacting with home devices. It will not even be a thing.
What does this mean for creators?
Gary Vaynerchuk has been speaking a lot about this lately. How Snapchat was adopted by 13-year-olds and then gradually infiltrated adult life.
Last week I was playing around with the app musical.ly and my girlfriend looked over and said “Why are you looking at that for? It’s just kids miming to bad songs”.
Right.
All I see over 10 million downloads, a whole bunch of mimicry and kids who are way more comfortable in front of the camera than I ever will be.
That’s a trend that has malleable qualities that will infiltrate other apps and create new opportunities.
The lesson is simple.
Keep your eyes on the devices and apps that younger people are using and don’t let your traditional bias cloud you from adopting and embracing new technology.
Education
I might have to write separately about education because it’s a huge topic. It’s one that I am excited by and I think is growing at a faster rate
There is a clear trend that I’d like to summarise in this post that ties back in with the point about new technology.
Preference is now more important than prerequisition.
Ultimately, skills are more important in the new economy than certifications. Adoption of machine learning will provide a foundation that will allow us to learn what we want, when we want and we’ll be able to receive tailored feedback on what we’re doing good at and what we need to improve a lot more fluidly than we can do right now.
In Siri, Google Home and Alexa, we’ll not only have personal assistants, we’ll have private tutors.
I think (and hope) the potential of machine learning and virtual tuition is going to be realised by companies like Coursera and Udemy.
I think this is also a huge opportunity for Microsoft, who now own Lynda, to find a way to integrate Cortana and revitalise learning in business environments.
This is the next step.
This is not only going to benefit the students but will create a whole host of opportunities for tutors who will be able to service students, at scale with more tailored experiences.
Expectancy
As home devices increase in popularity, the technology will start to move into other walks of life.
We expect that.
We will want the same capabilities of Google Home in the office, in hospitals, in waiting rooms, in shops.
Think about meetings. They are still a pain in the ass to organise, despite all of the tools that are out there.
I’ll soon want to ask my Google Home (for business) — “Hey, please can you book a meeting for me, Dave and Greg when we’re all next free” and boom it will go ahead and set it all up.
There will be a Google “Home” in every meeting room.
Maybe as I enter a hospital, I connect to a Google device that locates my family or friend and directs me to the correct ward.
Maybe each hotel room has a Google Home that becomes my personal tour guide whilst simultaneously allowing me to check on my security back at home.
What starts in the home eventually makes its way into other areas of life.
Imagine for a moment the opportunities that are going to arise in Museums and Art Galleries. Those experiences are going to be massively enhanced and more engaging. Up until this point we have always been limited by what fits neatly on a plaque or within the memories of our tour guides.
Now we can have all of those things PLUS have our idiotic questions answered by the power of conversational search and machine learning.
The “why” is going to be satisfied.
I am not just thinking about it. I am expecting this. I can’t wait for it to happen.
Another way I like to think about is expectancy in the new economy is Wifi. Wifi was once a luxury but now, we don’t just want it. We expect it.
When we go to an office or friends house, the first thing we do is ask for the wifi password. We make entire decisions about where we’re going to spend our time based on whether we’re going to have Wifi access or not.
The change in expectancy for Wifi happened in less than 5 years.
And expectancy is growing far more quickly than ever before when it comes to new technology and services. Think of Uber. Before going to a new city and one of the first things you check in advance — do they have Uber there? That’s happened in less than 3 years.
What I am getting at here is be an early adopter. Experiment.
Buy an Echo for your home. A Home for your office. Take a course on Lynda. Observe what’s happening around you when you’re next in a hospital.
Start making those connections now.
Comfort
This kind of ties back in with all of my points about traditions, learning behaviour and expectancy. So I will try and not repeat myself too heavily here.
You remember when you used to walk down the street and think it was crazy that people were talking to themselves via their Bluetooth headsets and iPhone mics?
Now, not so much.
I remember not so many years back, thinking “Am I the only crazy one for not wanting to do this?” I thought people were just showing off.
Now, I pick up calls from my girlfriend whilst in the middle of running.
Maybe I am crazy. Or maybe I am comfortable. Hopefully, it’s the latter.
Up until this point, it’s been socially frowned upon, awkward and perhaps considered rude to talk to our devices in social settings.
But I think the introduction of home devices will change our behaviour in other settings. Just in the same way TVs and phones have done.
Convenience will prevail over tradition.
Software Opportunities
This section is more for the marketers.
There are going to be new opportunities and changes in areas of analytics and research.
Let’s just take one area that a lot of marketers are familiar with as a starting point — keyword research.
Someone actually asked me this question in a Q&A back in June, “How do you know when someone is using voice search or typed query”
You don’t. To my knowledge, there are no tools that offer this right now.
Rand Fishkin actually covered this topic a little on his recent Whiteboard Friday video.
Rand also covers an important point in this video. Conversational search does not take away from existing . At least not yet. It’s an additional type of search.
Do I think that will change over time? Yes.
But the additional element of voice search will bring about new opportunities for keyword research, analytics and attribution companies.
And you know what, it wouldn’t surprise me if Moz were one of the companies to take on the research element. I hope they do.
Understanding the queries, trends, sentiment and intent undertaken via conversational search is going to be useful for marketers. For creators.
It’s big business.
A New Type of Audience
Let’s talk about search engine optimisation (SEO) for a moment.
SEO has been changing in a big, big way and this new wave of conversations, answers, AI and virtual reality might actually be the tipping point for the SEO industry.
I’ve seen the death of SEO as a topic every year for the last 5 years or so. And I’ve never believed it to be true.
But now I do.
I don’t think the change will be obvious or immediate, but give it maybe 2 years and I don’t think we’ll be talking about SEO so much, if at all.
Ultimately, because we’ll no longer be searching as much.
We’ll be asking. Or instructing. Or engaging.
I think at one point in the last decade, SEO made complete sense as a relatively low-cost channel through which you could pretty quickly get in front of the audience you wanted to sell your stuff to.
I think SEO was the last channel to really experience a boom in the “old” economy — the last wave of the .com boom. The sharing economy is more invested in personalisation and experience.
Search Engine Optimisation might become “Response Optimisation”. Makes sense, really. Up until this point all we’ve known how to do is search, but now we will need to be thinking more about how we’re finding and responding to customer needs in a multitude of different scenarios and devices. We need to think about the entire ecosystem.
We’re going to have to think about peripheral interests and topics a lot more. This is where I think tools like Moz’s related topics features are going to expand and become even more useful.
Up until now, we have had trigger, search and passion audiences to consider. I think we will now have scenario or contextual audiences to consider. I think it’s always been that way, but marketers have been able to rely on the traditional desktop usage as a way to try and justify delivering just one type of content for one type of device.
But then along came mobile, and responsive design.
And now we have wearables, home devices and the Internet of Things.
We have to think about our audience and customers, the additional devices they are using and the native, contextual experience.
There is greater choice in consumption than there has ever been.
I think this might make us all come full circle and actually start to try and build deeper connections with our audience rather than convincing ourselves that we’re doing this through data analysis.
There is so much data and mathematics involved in marketing right now. Everyone is thinking short term. Trust and lifetime value come from rich connections that are not built through hours of analysis but more hours of listening and observation.
I am not saying that we should take a step away from data but we need to take a step towards customers. Move away from our desks.
We could let a new breed of technology increase the amount of data we’re already struggling to interpret, or realise that it’s most powerful when we combine it with actual care and understanding.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking data alone will give you the full story. Lots of people are going to make that mistake.
I’m BORED of searching for things.
As creators we have to move from repurposing to reimagining.
Here’s one example of a contextual audience.
Whilst I was in the middle of talking on the podcast, my mind drifted and I started to think of all the podcasts I subscribe to.
Maybe 10–15 that average 30 minutes per episode.
I really do enjoy them all, but I struggle to keep up to date with them all.
I’m not someone who has to commute. I run a lot, but not enough to digest several podcasts a day.
I’d love a service that curates all the highlights, quotes or actionable points from the podcasts I listen to and put them into a 5-minute podcast.
Or I’d pay for a monthly newsletter that takes all the podcasts I listen to, transcribes them and pulls them out into articles or key points to read on my Kindle.
I am a podcast sub-audience. I am sure there are many others like me who enjoy podcasts but don’t commute long enough to be able to fit this into our day. These super-niche audiences will be further revealed in the new wave.
The home market and home device will bring another type of consumer and a bazillion sub-markets.
Ads in the Home?
We’re going to hear ads via these home devices. In one form or another.
When I was 14, I wrote a story about a guy who got lost in Tokyo. He washed his hands in a public bathroom.
As he left, he noticed that he had all this advertising over his hands and arms. It gradually faded after about 10 minutes or so.
We’re not there yet. But, it’s closer.
I really need to write the rest of that story.
I actually don’t think the advertising will be intrusive. I think it will become part of Google Assistant or Alexa. Similar to how right now, on Kindle, you have to pay an extra £10 a year to remove ads from your device. If you don’t, ads are integrated within the Kindle’s UI.
Imagine if Alexa works in a similar way. For example, advertisers can sign up and create sponsored responses to certain questions (e.g. recipes) but the user has the option to turn them off, at a small cost.
I think this is more likely to be what we will experience over the next year or two.
For now, we can still use ad-free public bathrooms.
Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality
I’m not going to be talking much theory in this section because really, I think all of the points in the previous section about convenience, agility and deeper connections with audience will ultimately help creators succeed in utilising VR/AR.
Plus, I have no fucking idea what to expect next. I am excited.
But I do want to add in a few practical tips for those who are interested in VR/AR.
I think right now, as I am writing this, the world has just started to realise that VR/AR are here to stay.
And no joke — I think this is all because of Pokemon Go.
Pokemon Go has come from nowhere and really made the world pay attention. Those a few months back who were saying “AR isn’t going to catch on”, are now seeing dollar signs.
I think VR/AR is going to be bigger than the Internet.
1.Stop fucking around and go and experiment.
If you’re working in any job where you’re responsible for sales, marketing or creative, you can’t put off learning about VR.
You can grab a Google Cardboard device for around $20 and this will give you an entry level experience in VR.
There are no excuses.
Go buy one now or you’re going to get fired or have a heart attack in the next year.
2. Ask your customers.
Pick up the phone and ask them what they feel or want from VR.
Maybe if you have too many to call, survey them. Pull together your thoughts first on what you might be considering using VR/AR for and then get users to register their interest.
Ask on a Twitter poll.
Run a Google Consumer Survey.
Get feedback and ideas now.
3. Set up your Google Alerts, Web Mentions, Social Mentions and Social Listening.
Use Google Alerts, Moz Fresh Web Explorer, Google Trends, Social Mention and whatever social listening and research tools you can get your hands on and make sure you’re looking at:
[Your brand name] VR~virtual~360~augmented
[industry keywords] VR~virtual~360~augmented
[sector keywords] VR~virtual~360~augmented
[competitor name] VR~virtual~360~augmented
Now go and put these queries through all the keyword tools you can.
Moz Keyword Explorer, KeywordToolIO, AnswerThePublic. All of them.
I think you’ll be surprised. In a lot of cases, your customers are already searching for this stuff whilst you’re just contemplating on what to do about it.
Now also put these queries through Buzzsumo. What content and ideas are already being discussed and shared? What’s resonating?
Who is ranking for these queries in search?
Subscribe to their content. They are already ahead.
Ok one more thing.
This is an example of how quickly we now connect the dots as consumers. Why our expectancy is so high.
Go use Twitter search and look for the phrases “I wish” “I want” “cool if” and append with VR/AR/360 related terms.
Set them all up as columns in Tweetdeck.
A lot of people already know what they want from the new wave of technology. Consumers have started to make the connections already.
Researching what people are already looking for is a pretty great way of validating any potential ideas you may already have.
4. Go to Google. Find a disruptor in an industry, say AirBnb.
Now, go and type “[disruptor name] for” into Google and look at the autosuggest keywords.
e.g. “AirBnb for…”
Oh, also try the same but switch out the disruptor name with VR~AR~360 etc.
It’s amazing. We are expecting this to happen. Willing it to.
Think of Kevin Kelly’s 1000 true fan theory. Are there 1000 people searching for this solution already? Can you create that thing they’re looking for or imagining?
Then you might have yourself a business already.
5. Software opportunities.
There is going to be a huge market for VR analytics.
Maybe you’re working in an analytics company that doesn’t have this on their radar.
Suggest it.
6. As with any new technology, there are going to be a whole host of opportunities beyond just the VR experience itself.
On Etsy? Start to design and sell customizable straps for VR headsets.
Work in product design? Please, make a more comfortable, memory foam headset.
Create a headset that people with glasses can wear.
Designer? Design the images that companies are going to need to use in the upcoming VR app stores.
There are going to be a ton of opportunities in VR beyond just the VR apps themselves.
Daydream (the new Android VR initiative) is going to help break down the barrier to entry.
Here’s one I want to create. I can’t get it out of my head.
I want a sleeping mask, that utilises VR so I can read at night without having to hold my Kindle. I hate the way it makes my thumb ache.
I want the sleeping mask to recognise when I am falling asleep so that it just turns off by itself at the right time.
No blue light.
I am going to call this Sleepstream.
VR is going to be part of EVERY industry.
Closing Thoughts
I hope the information in this post has given some food for thought.
What a time to be alive.
I feel like I have shaken off the weight of my podcast dissatisfaction. So, selfishly, I am happy now.
You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to take advantage of the many opportunities that are coming our way.
There are many ways to get started.
Be a good storyteller. Make life more convenient for yourself and others.
Embrace and adapt.
Don’t complain about lack of time. We actually have MORE time in our day available to us than anyone else has ever had in history.
I don’t know. I am tired now. My mouth tastes like soap, the speed is wearing off and I need to find my sleeping mask.
