2024: Our Marketing Predictions
As marketers, it’s important to always be thinking ahead. It’s not enough to be taking things as they are now – the fast-paced nature of our industry means that trends are constantly evolving and you need to work to stay ahead of the curve.
2023 was a wild ride for marketers, from the introduction of X, AI taking over everyone’s timelines and the somewhat controversial release of Threads, so it’s probably safe to say that we’re going to be in for some more excitement in 2024.
So what can we expect to see next year?
Continuous Developments in AI
We all knew it was going to be mentioned…
AI as a buzzword has been dominating our feeds for the better part of 2023, so it’s not a surprise that it’s showing no signs of going away anytime soon. While AI technology has been around for a long time, it’s only recently that it’s become a widely discussed topic among marketers.
Google recently released Gemini, a tool that’s going to shape the future of AI. It’s the first model to outperform human experts on MMLU (Massive Multitask Language Understanding) and its 3 different models allow users to complete a range of complex tasks, including generating video, audio and image-based content. It’s safe to assume that this isn’t the end of new developments in AI, we can expect to see more advances next year from companies trying to one-up Gemini.
This could have a large impact on B2B marketing in particular, which is known for being particularly complex and more often than not, requiring a tailored approach across several different platforms. By using AI to analyse data and better understand customer intent, businesses can more easily create personalised content, recommendations and offers based on browsing history, previous purchases and different online activity, creating a better customer experience and improving brand perception and performance.
Short-Form Video Content Dominance
Short-form video content continues to rise in popularity, dominating the social media scene since Vine came around back in 2013.
This snackable, easily digestible form of video is great for the current digital scene, where attention spans are much shorter than they once were. According to a recent study, attention spans have dropped from 12 seconds to 8.25 seconds in the last two decades, paving the way for short-form content to take over our screens.
Short videos are a dynamic, entertaining and versatile way to engage with an audience online, and are well-suited to following trends and challenges, boosting engagement and reaching a wider audience. Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are becoming more centred around short-form videos as they’re a great way to target and engage with a particular audience due to the ability to target them through particular sounds, hashtags and location tagging.
Their versatility means users can create absolutely anything from product demonstrations, testimonials, funny videos and even videos partaking in trends and different challenges. This makes it a very accessible form of content creation, allowing a very broad range of businesses and individuals to create content that’s tailored to their brand.
With the 2023 Marketing Report from Hubspot showing that short-form videos have the highest ROI, engagement and lead generation than any other form of digital content, more and more businesses are expected to jump on this bandwagon in 2024.
Conversational Marketing Becoming the Norm
The rise in AI-driven interactions, especially in 2023, is paving the way for conversational marketing to become the norm for consumers buying online in 2024.
Due to the sheer amount of users online, it’s simply not possible for a business to give every single customer (or potential customer) the ‘perfect’ shopping experience. With 94% of customers being more likely to make repeat purchases with companies that offer excellent customer service, businesses are prioritising the customer experience over anything else.
AI tools such as chatbots and virtual assistants can provide 24/7 support to customers, eradicating the frustration of having to wait for the next day and the business to reopen. This can automatically improve the customer experience and brand perception, with businesses appearing more attentive, and supportive and making the customer feel more important. This is a great but simple way to improve brand loyalty and increase the likelihood of the customer making a repeat purchase.
The speed of the responses provided by these AI-powered chatbots is also a large selling point for consumers. According to data, 68% of customers find the speed of chatbot responses appealing, as well as their ability to streamline the purchasing process, solving any issues that the customer may have and leading to a quicker, easier purchase. As we said above, the decrease in attention spans has led online users to require a much faster experience online than in previous years, which AI-powered tools can provide.
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