As Q1 2024 draws to a close, is your company on a trajectory of hitting its financial targets for the year? A quick overview of our blog Marketing Trends for 2024, shows us that our predictions continue to ring true. With these three findings in mind, let’s take a look at Five Top Marketing Trends that we feel will continue to grow through 2024.
Five Top Marketing Trends
McKinsey released a list of priorities CEOs will likely have in 2024, which includes “outcompeting with technology.” No doubt, technology is playing an unignorable role in the marketing space in 2024. But which technology should you use? Also, where and how do you use it? These marketing trends will give you a starting point.
1. Video Content
It should come as a surprise to no one that video content is gaining popularity year-over-year. But by the end of 2024, it’s going to rule the online space.
There are two main reasons for this trend. First, our attention span as viewers has reduced over the years. People prefer watching videos over reading blog posts or articles. In fact, the average attention span has dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8.25 seconds in 2023. So, it makes sense for businesses to focus on creating video content to grab their audience’s attention. After all, they only have 2.7 seconds to make an impact.
Two, the avenue of video content is expanding with the rise of new platforms like TikTok and Reels on Instagram. These platforms have given video a new shape. It’s no longer limited to long-form content; short-form videos tend to be more popular.
The next question is, what will marketers continue to use video for in 2024? According to Hubspot’s 2023 Video Marketing Trends Report, 33% of marketers use video to increase sales, while 32% use it to increase brand awareness. Similarly, Wistia’s State of Video Report shows that over half the marketers use it for product education.
Some good video types to leverage are social media videos, webinars, customer testimonials, Reels, TikToks, product videos, etc. Even better, combine video with content and search marketing for stellar results.
2. AI-Driven Marketing and Research
According to the 2023 State of Digital Customer Experience report from Verint, 74% of consumers have communicated with a business chatbot. Moving forward, we will see more of this. It’s not only businesses that want to tap into AI. 80% of customers also expect it to benefit their purchase experience.
But how will we navigate the metaverse? AI chatbots can save a lot of time for businesses. Instead of human customer support representatives spending hours answering repetitive queries, AI can tackle them more quickly.
Similarly, AI can enhance other use cases, too. A 2020 global survey from Deloitte found that three of the five top AI objectives for early adopters were related to marketing operations. These included an improvement of existing products and betterment of customer relations.
Here’s how AI can improve customer experiences in all stages of their purchase journey:
- During the consideration phase, AI can show customers targeted ads to guide their decisions.
- AI-enabled bots also give marketers insights into customers’ preferences and needs, creating opportunities for better engagement.
- In the decision phase, AI chatbots step in to help customers make a purchase or learn more about a product before they press the ‘Add to cart’ button.
3. Social Commerce
Did you know a two-hour TikTok shopping event can make you the same number of sales as a week in your flagship store? In 2024, businesses will tap into this potential of social platforms.
Social commerce refers to selling your merchandise via social media. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have several options for creators and businesses to sell directly through their platforms. For instance, you can use the TikTok shop to sell your products. Other platforms for social commerce include WeChat, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, etc.
Social commerce is forecasted to be a market worth $1.2 trillion by 2025. The sooner you get your foot in the door, the better.
4. Hyperpersonalization and Big Data
In 2024, personalization will go on to the next level. Brands will hyper-personalize their content and marketing campaigns based on the data they collect through:
- Customer interactions at different touchpoints (website, social media, email, etc.)
- Purchase history and customer behavior
- Demographics, location, and interests
- Sentiments and feedback through surveys or reviews
According to a McKinsey report, marketers around the world spend $50 billion on data analytics. The purpose of this staggering investment is clear. Brands that have a better understanding of their customers can influence their target audience to make purchases or take certain actions.
5. Influencer Marketing
The State of Influencer Marketing 2023 report indicates that TikTok is the most-used platform for influencer marketing. While 56% of businesses use TikTok, around 50% use Instagram, and 42.1% stick to Facebook.
Influencer marketing works because people trust recommendations from their favorite creators. Interestingly, micro-influencers are more likely to do wonders for your brand as they have better reach and analytics.
Also, the trend of giving influencers free products has lowered. Nowadays, it has become more common for brands to pay influencers. In fact, 23% of respondents in the aforementioned survey said that they spend about 40% of their marketing budget on influencer marketing campaigns.
Taking Marketing Up a Notch in 2024
In 2024, marketing will be a fine and strategic blend of AI-supplemented tech, video content, short-form content, influencer marketing, and hyper-personalization.
Brands will also tap into augmented reality, such as virtual try-ons, to make the purchase experience more engaging for customers. Social commerce will also tie into this with platforms like Snapchat offering AR features. All in all, tech and video will form the basis of digital marketing in 2024. So, businesses need to take both these aspects side by side for a stellar marketing experience.