Virtually every industry stays updated on the year's latest technology trends. New technologies are rapidly advancing, and businesses across every sector want to invest in them to reap the benefits -- companies in the marketing industry are no exception. The digital marketing landscape is ever-changing, and a primary factor affecting marketers is new tech innovations. Many principles remain the same over time, but professionals can continue following them and integrate new technologies simultaneously. The metaverse is a network of unique, immersive, and virtual spaces where users have personal avatars.

What was once an accession is now a necessity in digital marketing. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have advanced into the nitty-gritty of every process that involves data processing, and more so into digital marketing to penetrate the vast ecosystem that it functions in. It has more than personified robots and vibrant screens flashing numbers that have been projected by sci-fi movies since the 70s. Being smart in marketing means knowing what is just around the corner, predicting future developments, and preparing for inevitable changes that will alter your consumer base. Digital marketing, on this front, greatly relies on leveraging insights from the enormous amounts of data collected through consumer interactions.

One of the major innovations in the digital marketing industry is the introduction of artificial intelligence tools to help streamline marketing processes and make businesses more effective. According to QuanticMind, 97% of leaders believe that the future of marketing lies in the ways that digital marketers work alongside machine-learning based tools. As machine learning and artificial intelligence become more commonplace in the digital marketing landscape, it's imperative that best-in-class digital marketers learn how to apply machine learning to their digital marketing strategies. Machine learning and artificial intelligence are two separate entities that just so happen to complement each other. While artificial intelligence (AI) aims to harness certain aspects of the "thinking" mind, machine learning (ML) is helping humans solve problems in a more efficient way. As a subset of AI, ML uses data to tech itself how to complete a process with the help of AI capabilities.

Technology has always influenced the way a product is marketed. In fact, that's how we went from traditional marketing to digital marketing. Now, we have more advanced technologies impacting the way digital marketing works. AI or Artificial Intelligence is one such example. Thanks to its ability to gather data, analyze it, and extract insights, AI is capable of shaping digital strategy.

We uncovered the mysteries of machine learning and PPC with Brad Geddes, co-founder at Adalysis and author of Advanced Google AdWords. Brad doesn't refer to himself as an expert or guru, but trains marketers and lets the results speak for themselves. He is, however, able to flawlessly teach and practice SEO, PPC, CRO, affiliate marketing, product development, product positioning and much more. Brad's agenda is always packed when it comes to creating workshops in Advanced Google and Bing Ads, AI and machine learning. His official website is proof of that.

Artificial intelligence is proving integral to the digital products of tomorrow, and nowhere is that more true than in the marketing space. A new wave of startups are leveraging AI in their marketing platforms, and industry heavyweights are beginning to take notice as well. Companies like Amazon and Apple are even leveraging artificial intelligence to conduct voice-based marketing through devices like their Alexa and Siri platforms, respectively. This is only one use case of AI, but it's illustrative of how the technology can help shape consumers' buying behavior and help them make better purchase decisions. A year or two ago, artificial intelligence was seen as a novelty by marketers, and not many were integrating the technology into their own applications.

There is no shortage of marketing buzzwords with short-term industry hype. When I first heard about the intersection of AI and marketing, while working with a machine-learning startup out of the Bay Area, I assumed the use of bots in marketing would follow suit as a buzzworthy concept that would quickly run its course. Fast-forward five years, and it's evident that AI and its related technologies will run parallel to nearly all marketing tactics in the future. Here are three unexpected ways that the adoption of AI is currently shifting and will continue to accelerate the evolution of the marketing landscape over the next three to five years. Perhaps the greatest potential benefit of AI within the context of marketing, sales, customer support and business in general is the capacity for it to reduce what is known to psychologists as "cognitive load."

The most commonly discussed trend in technology circles this year has been the Internet of Things (IoT). Most of us have seen the predictions made by giants like BusinessInsider, Forrester and Gartner. BusinessInsider's latest reports predict that there will be 34 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020 and that nearly $6 trillion will be spent in the IoT sector over the next five years. Forrester's predictions for the near-term are a little darker – in 2017, Forrester predicts that we will not only see our first large-scale security breach but that there will also be an increase in the use of DDoS (Distribute Denial of Service) attacks. On the bright side, the research group is also predicting that these attacks will drive sophisticated security measures in the form of new security-focused solutions and industry-specific IoT certifications.