As is the case every December, we all look ahead and realize we can only predict a few things with confidence for the coming year. Everyone knows 2024 will bring a presidential election, the Olympics and — for real this time — Google’s third-party cookie deprecation. Beyond that, though?
There are our known unknowns. Most looming may be that the global economy is simultaneously dead and alive until we open the box that is the year to come. Social media scrutiny might affect our best laid digital marketing plans. And maybe Taylor Swift will finally solve all our problems.
As ever, though, most macro- and micro-challenges will seem to come out of nowhere. (Just look back at those well-researched previews of 2020.) The good news? Digital marketing is agile — you can adjust more easily than ever when the world throws knuckleballs at your organization’s 2024 strategy.
Your priorities and budget are set. Take a deep breath. Control what you can control. Especially first-party data.
Here are some evolving trends we think digital marketers should keep their eyes on along with recommended actions in anticipation of what could well be ahead.
Email & SMS Marketing Trends
More sophisticated tools to reach more sophisticated consumers.
Make email engaging
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs) make messages interactive. With AMPs, you can send surveys or games without recipients clicking through to a site. The format will pull in dynamic content from a server if conditions like weather change. Collapsable menus allow users to select what they want to see instead of scrolling until they find it. And it will only improve next year.
Recommended action: Use customer data for greater AMP personalization that can send tailored offers or assets. Keep in mind not all email providers or inboxes support AMP — Klayvio can help.
Stay informed about data privacy
As of 2023, marketers have their choice of 11,000+ martech platforms. Most of those use personal data to reach the right users with the right message. Data privacy laws are evolving to keep up — most recently, the UK passed a bill to revise GDPR — with more EU changes in the works. Businesses are responsible for complying with all of them.
Recommended action: Revisit your email and SMS strategies regularly. Obtain double opt in, don’t lock gated content/lead magnets, make unsubscribing or opting out easy, link to your privacy statement...
SEO & Content Marketing Trends
Search engines are looking at more than just copy, links and metadata.
Search insights and multimedia
As algorithms evolve, tactics for organic search now go well beyond basic posts and simple search queries. Multimedia, including podcasts and infographics, can increase engagement, time-on-site, sharing — in addition to enhancing your customer experience.
Recommended action: Brands invest in experts to help them get into featured snippets, and optimize multimedia assets. It’s a time-consuming undertaking and could be worth enlisting outside partners to help.
The video/blog 1-2 punch
Content marketers will use video even more to capture attention and drive traffic to relevant blogs. Blogs matter at the consideration stage — a 2023 HubSpot survey found that 56% of respondents have made a purchase after reading the company’s blog.
Recommended action: Quality remains a bigger SEO factor than quantity. Investing resources in both short- and long-form blogs that include video and clear CTAs pays off. And make sure to post a transcript.
AI Marketing Trends
Artificial intelligence isn’t a trend — how marketers are using it is.
Always-on analysis
The competition is using AI to target your customers, augmenting sales and marketing teams for greater productivity. McKinsey research from this year “found that 90 percent of commercial leaders expect to utilize gen AI solutions ‘often’ over the next two years.” Accelerated venture capital investment makes AI increasingly faster, cheaper and more optimized for any task.
Recommended action: Its revenue payoff is accelerating, too. Leverage AI marketing tools to impact every touchpoint of the customer journey, from finding new leads to hyper-personalizing communication.
A new member of the creative team
Your copywriters aren’t competing with ChatGPT. They’re competing with marketers who use it as “a calculator for writing.” Generative AI can cut costs without cutting corners. It powers copywriting, design and video with tools that serve as collaborators for creatives in developing and testing multiple concepts efficiently.
Recommended action: Train your creatives on best practices for tapping AI to elevate their work. And transparency matters, so make sure you adhere to evolving platform rules for AI-generated content.
Social Media Marketing Trends
Social is more crucial to ecommerce conversion.
Let grandma cook
If you think your customers aren’t on certain social platforms, you might be surprised. Older generations now actively use and shop on social media — there’s been a 57% increase in Boomers using TikTok since mid-2022. And Gen X still boasts the highest buying power among consumers, so know where they are if that’s your target audience. Going younger? Still YouTube.
Recommended action: Develop customer personas and journey mapping to see clearly who your audience is and which platforms give you touchpoints that are worth your resources.
The big-name influencer bubble has popped
Nano and micro influencers are becoming more popular — and can create awareness for your brand with strong ROI. This trend gives more businesses an opportunity to test the influencer marketing waters with less risk. For consumers, these personalities are often perceived as more authentic than the rich and famous. They’re more likely to respond with engagement, brand trust, and purchase or loyalty.
Recommended action: Curious? Look into the 97% of micro influencers who charge less than $500 for a post versus the thousands that celebrities demand.
Need to take action on privacy, targeting, digital advertising or anything else discussed here? Ask us anything.