The post-screen world is coming: 4 ways your brand can prepare

Look around your home: it’s coming. Whether you have an Alexa sitting in your kitchen or Siri on the iPhone within arm’s reach, the way customers find what they’re looking for is changing. You may be feeling pretty good if you’ve mastered search engine optimization for web and app store optimization for apps … but have you thought about how your brand is going to be searchable for voice and beyond?

The post-screen world is coming, and at Postback 17, the President of Global Innovation at Publicis Media Adam Shlachter took the mainstage to share the advice he gives to brands. Read below for his top four pieces of advice, or jump straight to the video of his 15-minute lightning keynote

1. The year of mobile is over. It’s time for what’s next.

“For every conference I’ve been to that I can remember in recent times, it’s always been the year of mobile. You’ve heard that, when someone coins, ‘It’s the year of mobile!’ The year of mobile happened. And it happened 10 years ago,” Shlachter said, pointing to a slide of an iPhone.

Instead of focusing just on mobile, he urges companies to think about a broader vision for the future. An augmented world. Constant, connected commerce. New interfaces eliciting new behaviors. Mass personalization, along with mass customization. And how their brands would fit in, adapt, and break the mold.

2. Think like a consumer.

“We’re all consumers. Before you go out and develop any of these things, you have to think about whether or not you would use it. Does it solve a problem? Does it fix something? Does it improve something that’s broken? Are you solving problems that don’t exist? That’s probably not going to help,” Shlachter said.

Ultimately, people are using their devices as mini supercomputers. They’re using them to be more productive and to produce, edit, and stream content. They’re using them as travel agents, banks, and retailers. If you want to create what’s next, make sure it solves an actual need.

3. Anticipate voice-driven search.

20% of Google search queries are driven by voice, and 20% of people who own an Alexa have shopped with it. You heard it here first: voice is going to be the next frontier in search.

“[We should be] anticipating the possibilities of what a voice-driven search world is going to be,” said Shlachter. “And how we go from having physical shelf space to virtual shelf space, to now audible shelf space. And if we don’t know what our brand voice is, and how we’re meant to be discovered, and the kind of content we need to create to be surfaced in all these different environments whenever someone is looking for it, we’re going to get left behind.”

4. Experiment constantly.

The only constant these days is change. Shlachter urges the brands he works with to experiment with different approaches and technologies.

“We don’t know what the future’s really going to bring in three years time. I don’t know what it’s going to bring in three months time. But if we’re not constantly thinking about it and tweaking and experimenting, we’re never going to learn … You can’t wait for these trends to be validated. You can’t wait to see whether or not they’re going to be a fad. You also can’t wait until your business is potentially disrupted by them.”

To see the full 15-minute keynote, press play below or watch on YouTube.