Currently we in the marketing world are in a time of exciting opportunity for both ourselves and our clients.

With the initial groundswell and then frequent adoption of inbound marketing across all industries, we are seeing a fundamental shift in the way we think about marketing and the way we interact with potential customers.

It's natural to be consumed with the here and now - after all we are still in the infancy of inbound marketing. But recently I have been wondering about the next frontier - what is inbound marketing 2.0 going to look like?

100% Inbound Marketing Adoption

Fast forward to 5 years from now. The business landscape as a whole has successfully and fully adopted inbound marketing across the board.

Now virtually every company wields an automation system, has a full social media repertoire, is blogging regularly, is producing digital media content consistently, and is executing on all other conventional inbound marketing tactics.

The once "blue ocean" of inbound marketing has transformed into a hyper-competitive landscape. So what is the domino effect of this shift?

The Battle for Page 1 and Staying Relevant

When thinking of the Internet, an immediate trait that comes to mind is obviously sheer size. Every day massive amounts of new content floods the web and it is only increasing. Last week we talked about the onset of online creation destinations, separate sites where brands can put content up, with plans to have it crafted by trained journalists.

If inbound marketing truly becomes the next frontier in our 5-year scenario, then inevitably this scale of content is going to be even larger. This means that in order to stay relevant and ahead of the curve, businesses MUST embrace:

• The long-tail keyword mentality
• Unique, quality content

These are both concepts of today's school of thought - but companies can still get away with ranking highly in search results without having 100% top-notch content. This is a luxury that will fortunately not exist in the future and will result in an overall better consumer experience.

Additionally, the long-tail keyword mentality in terms of shaping content to answer specific consumer questions will be key.

What Do You Think Will Define Inbound 2.0?

In five years consumers should be fairly conditioned to recognize inbound techniques, technology will be vastly different, and as described above the competitive landscape will be packed.

These three factors are a recipe for an inevitable "inbound marketing 2.0." Trying to figure out how exactly that shift will look without first knowing how the technology will shape out is nearly impossible - but those that stay on top of the changes and trends will be very successful.

In five years we may have much more voice interaction and search, we may be using and dealing with intelligent AI assistants, and email marketing may be usurped.

In terms of the increasing amount of AI assistants and software, Gartner Research predicts that by 2020, customers will manage a whopping 85% of their relationships without talking to a human. The implications for that type of future - for both marketing and everyday behavior - are astounding and incredibly important to consider!

What do you think will be the defining factor for inbound marketing 2.0? As we look to the future of the internet, digital media, and consumer habits - how will our inbound philosophies change?

Let me know your ideas, grand or small, in the comments below!