The beginning of the year is the perfect time to assess how your marketing strategies performed the year prior. This is a great way to determine whether the time you spent on a campaign was worth the return on investment (ROI) or a waste of effort.
Did you spend a lot of time on manual tasks and not enough time nurturing leads? Did you miss opportunities because you were focused on trying to reach the wrong audience?
As your team gathers to recalibrate your marketing strategy for 2024, consider these top marketing trends from HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing & Trends report.
- AI will be big this year. We all saw that coming, right?
- People will engage most with video marketing, specifically short-form.
- Social media will be huge for e-commerce.
- Automation is catching on as a major time-saver.
- Personalized marketing will increase ROI.
Let’s examine these trends closer.
Marketing Trend 1: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
2023 was a big year for AI, and 2024 will follow suit at an even bigger scale. According to HubSpot’s report, which surveyed more than 1,400 marketers worldwide, 64% of marketers are already using AI, and 38% plan to start this year.
AI has proven to be a valuable tool for:
- Content creation: 85% of marketers say generative AI has changed how they will create content in 2024. Sixty-three percent say that most content in 2024 will be created partly with the help of generative AI.
- Daily tasks: 60% say AI acts as an assistant that helps them with their job duties, while 20% envisions AI primarily taking over menial tasks.
- Customer service: 55% of businesses predict that most people will turn to chatbots over search engines for answers in 2024. A solid chatbot strategy will make your customers feel like they’re talking with a human AND help them get the answers they seek.
Related: A Winning Marketing Strategy That Doesn't Involve AI
Marketing Trend 2: Short-Form Video Marketing
How much time do you spend scrolling through TikToks or Instagram Reels? What about watching YouTube?
If you’re embarrassed to admit how long you stare at your phone, you’re not alone. Marketers report they get the most ROI from video marketing on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Fifty-six percent of marketers plan to increase their investment in TikTok this year, which is the most out of all the social platforms.
With social media being the No. 1 product discovery channel for Gen Z and Millennials (31% of customers use social to find answers to questions), it’s no wonder marketers are increasing their spend here this year.
Marketing Trend 3: Social Media for E-Commerce
Related to short-form video marketing is the increased use of social media for e-commerce. These platforms have made it almost too easy to make a purchase without ever leaving the app. In fact, 43% of marketers prefer social media marketing over email (33%) and website/blog (32%), and they report that this is where they see the highest ROI.
HubSpot’s Consumer Trend Survey, conducted last summer, found that 64% of Gen Z, 59% of Millennials, and 47% of Gen X discovered products on social media, and Baby Boomers are catching on to this trend.
While email marketing has typically been a breadwinner (41% of marketers say email is still their most effective channel), it looks like it’s time to focus more on social platforms to find your biggest ROI.
Related: How to Expand Social Media Reach Using Paid Social
Marketing Trend 4: Automation as a Time-Saver
According to HubSpot’s report, marketers spend four hours a day on average on manual, administrative, or operational tasks. However, marketers using AI automation tools save 3 hours per piece of content and 2.5 hours per day overall. Plus, they are 95% more likely to say their marketing strategy was very effective this year compared to those who don’t use AI tools.
But just because using AI saves time, doesn’t mean you should replace your whole content team with it. Your customers are smart and know when content doesn’t sound human. Google will also take notice and may place your site lower in rankings.
Marketing Trend 5: Personalized Marketing
In a world where we’re bombarded with ads to buy stuff we may not need, at the end of the day, we’re all human, and we want to be treated that way. Look at the personalized emails in your inbox right now. How do they make you feel? Are you more likely to shop that brand?
On the flip side, if all you have are impersonal emails, does it feel like that company cares about who you are or what you need?
In HubSpot’s report, 35% of marketers say their customers get a very personalized experience with their brand. However, 65% of consumers say the content they see from brands feels relatable. This is because brands lack high-quality data about their customers.
So, with Google’s phase-out of third-party cookies, how will you collect first-party data? The answer, my friends, is with email and AI.
Using email to collect first-party data, you can include forms that gently collect information, which is your way of letting your customers tell YOU how to market to them.
Seventy-seven percent of marketers who use generative AI tools say it helps them create more personalized content, personalize the experience customers get with their company, improve the overall customer experience, and understand their customers better.
Marketing Trends to Try in 2024
Now that you know the hottest marketing trends for 2024, which do you plan to try? Lynton has implemented several successful marketing strategies for our clients using some of these trends. If you need guidance on which trends would work best for you, reach out to our team.
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