The internet has had a profound effect on marketing.  The mass marketing of the past is being replaced by niche micro-marketing.  But will technology reverse trends again and turn our connectivity into a hyper-marketing free for all?

An interesting thing happened on the way to the store…the internet told me exactly what I needed to buy.

This could be the beginning of either a racy joke or a futuristic horror story.  Imagine if your individual needs were so well understood that internet connectivity could literally tell you what to buy before you knew you needed it.

Maybe it knows you’re pregnant and due it 3 weeks…it knows what types of diapers your friends have recommended.

Maybe it know you’ve been searching for Thai recipes and recommends a nearby restaurant because you’re already running late.

Maybe…no maybe…it knows you just bought ski tickets, the weather is going to be nice, and reminds you to buy sunscreen.

Even more tantalizing – or terrifying – is that your connection to this all-encompassing data bubble may be embedded in your body.

If you think mass-marketers were savvy about using TV to advertise as that technology became ubiquitous,  what do you think they’ll do when we’re all cyborgs, physically connected to the Internet?

But wait.  The internet is having another effect on marketing.

What used to be mass marketing – meaning that you’d advertise average products that could be sold to a “mass” target audience, is disappearing.

You used to have Wonder Bread advertising on 3 TV channels.  They could reach a mass audience.

But we’re heading to a future where internet marketing knows you – personally – prefer artisan bread. It can let you know about deals from a nearby, locally owned bakery.

It’s an interesting phenomenon.  Marketing itself has never been more “mass”.  Technology is on its way to creating an environment where marketing can access us everywhere.

But at the same time, data on individuals is personally relevant, focused, and specific.  In this sense, we’re heading into a micro-marketing world, where instead of trying to have products you can sell to “everyone”, there is a vast array of specialized products that appeal to smaller, more specific target audiences.

This is good news for the local, artisan bread maker and bad news for wonder bread.

For consumers, maybe it’s a trade-off.  Marketing is going to be so embedded into your daily life you’ll barely recognize that it’s marketing at all.  But at least the machine will try to understand exactly what you want.