Digital marketing trends for 2024 and how to use them
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the top digital marketing trends for 2024 and how you can leverage them for your business.
In 2024, digital marketing continues to develop at a dizzying pace. For businesses and marketers, staying ahead is not only an advantage, it’s a necessity.
Rapid advancements in technology, shifts in consumer behaviour, and ever-changing social media algorithms require a proactive and informed approach to digital marketing strategies.
This year we’re witnessing several key trends that will transform the way brands engage with their audiences online.
General digital marketing trends for 2024
As we dig into the details of digital marketing trends for 2024, it’s important to understand the broader changes that are influencing overall strategies and tactics.
Two big trends stand out this year: the evolving use of data for targeting and personalization, and the rise of hyper-personalized advertising.
First-party vs. zero-party data: the new normal
With data protection regulations and the phasing out of third-party cookies, marketers are increasingly relying on first-party and zero-party data.
First-party and zero-party data are becoming the gold standard for data-driven marketing.
What is first-party data?First-party data is collected with consent from direct interactions with prospects and customers through unique channels such as websites and mobile apps. Examples of first-party data include web activity, demographic data, purchase history, emails, sales interactions, call center calls, customer feedback, and behavioral data.
What is zero-party data?Zero-party data (also known as zero data) is customer information that is intentionally and proactively shared with a brand, typically through surveys, forms, or preference centers. Examples of zero-party data include likes and interests, purchase intent, feedback and opinions, personal information, event attendance, and more.
This shift represents a major shift in how marketers approach data collection and use. Companies are now focused on building trust with customers and encouraging them to share information directly with them.
This trend highlights the importance of transparency and shared value: customers are more likely to share their data if they believe it will improve their experience with a brand.
Hyper-personalization in advertising: Consumer expectations
Gone are the days when generic advertising was enough. According to Deloitte Digital, consumers expect highly personalized marketing. This expectation has led to hyper-personalization in marketing and advertising.
By leveraging advanced analytics, AI, and rich data from first- and zero-party sources, marketers can create highly tailored marketing messages.
Hyper-personalization goes beyond basic demographic and behavioral data. This involves understanding your customers’ preferences, interests, and even their current emotional state to deliver content that’s not only compelling, but also timely and contextually relevant.
This level of personalization increases engagement, strengthens customer loyalty, and improves overall marketing effectiveness.
Adapting to evolving platforms in 2024
In 2024, digital marketing channels will continue to evolve, offering new and innovative ways to reach and engage audiences.
This year, several big updates across platforms are shaping the way brands engage with their customers.
From social media improvements to the emergence of targeted advertising technologies, these updates are critical for marketers who want to dominate in the digital space.
Increase engagement with Instagram reminder ads
Available in Business Manager since October 2023, Reminder Ads are a type of Instagram ad that allows businesses to promote events, products, and launches that they want users to remember.
These ads appear in Instagram feeds and stories with a call-to-action “Remind me” button. When users click the “Remind me” button, they receive a notification on the day of the event or product launch.
These reminder ads can be placed via posts or reels.
This feature is game-changing for marketers, providing a direct way to engage and inform their audience.
Setting reminders can help brands build anticipation and increase participation and response rates to events or product launches.
Meta’s introduction of Threads paves the way for new digital communication
Meta’s newest feature, Threads, enables more intimate and engaging conversations between brands and their audience.
Log in with your Instagram account and posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos and videos up to 5 minutes long.
Threads offers businesses a unique opportunity to build deeper connections with their customers by fostering community-driven discussions and more personal interactions.
The power of a platform like Locala for location targeting:
Platforms like Locala allow businesses to use localization targeting to reach their target audience with relevant and effective marketing campaigns.
The platform can integrate with various data sources to pinpoint the physical location of users. Businesses can use the system to use the collected geolocation data to create very detailed audience segments based on various location criteria.
These platforms have omnichannel capabilities, ensuring that localization targeting strategies work seamlessly across various digital advertising channels.
This form of hyper-targeted marketing is particularly effective for businesses with brick-and-mortar stores or those looking to enter specific regional markets.
Nano-influencers vs. Macro-influencers: Credibility and Engagement
Credibility: Nano-influencers are often considered more credible than macro-influencers because they are typically more relatable and have a deeper connection with their followers.
Engagement: Nano-influencers have higher engagement rates because their followers are more likely to be interested in and engage with their content.
Cost-effectiveness: Nano-influencers are cost-effective because they have a low or free budget to share posts.
Brands are increasingly leveraging these influencers because they are able to build a real connection and trust with their followers.
Weather Ads: Weather Activation Platform
Weather-based advertising is becoming a significant trend. Platforms like WeatherAds allow brands to trigger ads based on weather conditions.
Weather displays can be delivered through a variety of digital channels, including websites, mobile apps and social media.
Advertisers use weather data services to identify specific weather conditions such as rain, sunshine or temperature fluctuations and create ad campaigns tailored to those conditions.
This innovative approach enables contextual and timely marketing that takes into account the current environment and consumer needs.
Connected TV continues to grow
For video ads delivered to viewers via internet-connected devices, this shift opens new opportunities for advertisers to reach viewers in a more engaging and interactive format.
Benefits of CTV Advertising:
CTV offers precision with audience-based targeting.
CTV is a cookie-free environment.
CTV is full screen, so it is inherently 100% viewable.
CTV campaigns achieve 100% viewability and 90-100% completion rates due to the nature of the environment.
Targeting predictions are based on actual data, not CIM or statistical estimates.
ads can move from mobile to desktop to TV in a technologically ubiquitous advertising environment. These retargeting options take it to a new level.
CTV advertising offers a unique opportunity for brands to connect with their audiences more effectively with its high-quality, immersive experience.
Adapt to consumer search behavior with voice search SEO optimization
One of the biggest technology trends this year is the rise of voice search. As more consumers use voice assistants for internet searches, optimizing voice search SEO has become essential.
This includes understanding the nuances of how voice search differs from traditional text search. Voice searches are colloquial, long, and often phrased as questions.
To adapt to this trend, you need to focus on natural language processing, target long-tail keywords, and provide accurate and direct answers to potential queries.
The key is to make your content easy to find and understand through voice search algorithms that increasingly influence traffic and engagement.
Optimizing for voice search not only improves your visibility in voice search results, it also contributes to your website’s overall SEO, potentially improving your rankings in search engines.
Attention metrics represent a new way to measure the impact of advertising
Another important technology update in the digital marketing space is the introduction of attention metrics. Traditional metrics such as clicks and impressions are no longer sufficient to measure the true effectiveness of digital advertising.
Attention metrics provide deeper insight into how users interact with ads and measure factors such as:
View Rate: The number of times a user saw an ad
Dwell Time: The average number of seconds a user viewed an ad
APM: Average seconds of attention per 1000 impressions (the new CPM)
These metrics provide a more nuanced understanding of the effectiveness of ads and help marketers optimize their campaigns towards real consumer attention rather than just surface-level engagement.
Focusing on attention metrics allows brands to evaluate and calculate the impact of A/B testing creatives in ATL and awareness campaigns.
New audience engagement strategies for 2024
The way content is created and consumed in the digital marketing sphere is rapidly evolving.
Two key content trends have emerged this year: the rise of short video ads and the increasing importance of user-generated content in advertising campaigns.
These trends are changing the way brands communicate with their audiences, providing new ways to increase engagement and authenticity.
Capture attention quickly with short video ads
In an age of shorter attention spans, over 25% of adults admit to abandoning a video after the first 10 seconds. This has led to a growing trend towards shorter video ads.
Brands are now focusing on creating video content that is not only engaging but also concise and to the point.
Short video ads generally have higher completion rates and tend to be more memorable to viewers.
This is because viewers are more likely to stick with a short ad than a longer one, especially when watching on a mobile device.
Additionally, short ads are more likely to get to the point quickly and leave a lasting impression.
On YouTube, brands are gravitating towards super-short, yet highly engaging, ads to avoid the dreaded “skip” button that appears after six seconds.
For marketers, this means they need to rethink their video content strategies to prioritise brevity and impact – providing value, capturing interest quickly, and ensuring key messaging gets across before viewers move on.
Use user-generated content to provide authenticity and credibility to your ad campaigns
Another key trend for 2024 is the integration of UGC into advertising campaigns. UGC, which includes content such as photos, videos, blog posts, comments, and customer-generated social media posts, is becoming a powerful tool for marketers.
This content is perceived as more authentic and trustworthy compared to traditional brand-generated content, which resonates with audiences looking for real-life experiences.
In fact, user-generated photos are five times more likely to attract customers than non-user-generated content, and 70% of people will consider UGC reviews before making a purchase. Therefore, it is important to include this type of content as a creative element in your advertising campaigns.
Incorporating UGC into your campaigns not only builds authenticity, but also fosters a sense of community and connection between your brand and your target audience.
Drive customer participation and engagement, turning customers into brand ambassadors.
For brands, this means actively promoting and curating customer content and creatively integrating it into your marketing strategy.
How Huble can help you take advantage of these digital marketing trends
As we’ve discussed in this article, the digital marketing landscape in 2024 will be characterized by key trends and developments.
These trends pose both challenges and opportunities for companies looking to make an impact in the digital space. The key to success is understanding these trends and effectively incorporating them into your marketing strategy.
That’s where Huble comes in. At Huble, we specialize in customized marketing consulting services to help businesses like yours take advantage of these trends and stand out from the competition.
Our team of experts is well-versed in the latest digital marketing strategies and technologies and wants to help you develop a campaign that not only reflects current trends but also perfectly aligns with your brand’s unique values and goals.
Don’t let the complexities of digital marketing in 2024 hold you back. Contact the team at Huble to find out more about how we can help you use these trends to your advantage.
Experts reveal 9 key marketing trends to watch in 2024
Over the last 20 years or so, we’ve seen the number of MarTech solutions grow from around 150 to over 11,000.
We’ve seen the mobile space become its own channel… and then as the world became device agnostic, we saw the mobile space simply merge with the online space.
We’ve witnessed the birth of social (anyone remember MySpace?).
Download now: Annual State of Artificial Intellige
And finally, we got involved when OpenAI unleashes generative AI into our world in late 2022.
When I think about everything we’ve been through since then and what we may face next year, all I can think about is preparing for more change.
As marketers, we practice customer-centricity, but this year will put that to the test. Wondering what the future of marketing will hold in 2024?
In this post, I’m excited to share some of the key trends to keep in mind from some really great marketers.
Experts reveal the most important marketing trends for 2024
- Use AI to achieve more with empathy.
HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing report found that 64% of marketers are already using AI in their role.
Many marketers have already started exploring the potential of AI when it comes to content creation, market research, administrative tasks, and even improving the user experience for their brand.
My guess? This figure will continue to grow through 2024 and beyond.
Sean Downey, president of Americas and global partners at Google, agrees.
He says: “No one will be surprised that the biggest marketing trend in 2024 will revolve around the power of AI. Marketers today face the urgent challenge of managing evolving consumer expectations and consumption habits in today’s fragmented and dramatically changing media landscape, while driving more efficient business outcomes.”
Downey adds: “The AI opportunity comes at a time of change for everyone, including marketers. Indeed, more than ever, marketers need to not only connect people with brands and products, but also become growth drivers for their companies.” Raphael Schwartz, Executive Director of Sales & Marketing TERRITORY Influence, a Bertelsmann Group company, also predicts that marketers in 2024 will be paying close attention to content creation with generative AI, personalizing user journeys with data and AI, campaign measurement, and return on ad spend.
AI will also change the advertising landscape. In fact, Downey noted that nearly 80% of Google’s advertisers are already using at least one AI-powered search ad product.
And marketers who use Google’s AI-powered video outreach campaigns are seeing 3.7x higher return on ad spend compared to marketers who don’t.
What’s more, 33 people found that content created with generative AI performed slightly better than content created without it.
Downey said: “The days of guesswork when it comes to finding your most valuable customers are over. This means you can get back to what you do best: marketing.”
He continues, “Now we’re turning the tables. AI has many exciting capabilities, but it can’t work in a vacuum. To harness AI’s potential, we need people with the expertise, creativity and empathy. It’s not the technology itself that matters, it’s what marketers do with it. Without you, the AI can’t do anything, but with you, it can do so much more
- Leverage generative AI to improve messaging performance.
46% of marketers say that AI tools help them create content. If you want to learn more about this aspect, listen to our podcast “The Future of AI Art Generation and Why Production Companies Are Profiting.”
One of our experts, Christy Marble, CMO at Pantheon, Visor, and SAP Concur for three times, says that this is a big trend that her team is also seeing.
She told me: “The adoption of generative AI in marketing will accelerate as more people experiment, learn how to use AI responsibly, and tell their friends about it. This is a transformational opportunity to improve brand and messaging performance.” A solid messaging framework is essential for brand consistency, and combining it with generative AI is a game changer.
Marble also offers tips on how to eliminate the need for content review meetings by making it easier for marketers to create on-brand content. ” Messaging: Use the
Messaging Framework as a core parameter of the AI-enabled content platform to ensure messaging is differentiated and consistent. Enable the
team to self-audit using generative AI to continuously improve news categories.
Use generative AI not to create more content, but to provide context – honing your craft to deliver value to your audience at the right time in the customer journey, through the right channel, with the right me
- Develop unique branding that utilizes “human intelligence.”
As more marketers incorporate AI into their writing process, we can expect to see an increase in generic, low-value content on the internet.
To stand out, it’s important to continue to create high-quality content that’s human-generated and not simply copied and pasted by chatbots.
To explore this trend further, I spoke to Holly Bowyer and Julie Neumark, partners at Media & Marketing Minds.
They told me: “AI is clearly the trend leader in 2024. What’s your challenge? Don’t be so seduced by their allure that you ignore ‘human intelligence.’ You need to take the lead to maximize the efficiencies that AI brings by collecting and processing large amounts of data.”
- As generative AI transforms customer experiences, they will become more targeted.
Marketers around the world are tasked with dramatically changing their SEO strategies to make room for generative AI in search.
Creating how-to guides will no longer be as effective as before for generating leads. In 2024, personality-driven thought leadership content will be the most important content type to make your brand stand out in the SERPs.
Nikki Lam, Senior Director of SEO at Neil Patel Digital, says: “Your success will depend on whether you can create content that is better than AI-generated content.” The Report 2024 reports that 23% of marketers believe it is becoming more important to create personalized content tailored to the interests and needs of their audience.
He continues: “In 2024, marketers need to wake up and realize that mass-produced content is becoming outdated and buyers looking for instant answers, suggestions and problem-solving advice are turning to AI tools.” “Smart marketers will adapt, relying on purpose-driven content that has traction that AI can’t. Purpose-driven means knowing exactly who your brand helps and why it matters. It means paying attention to the context in which your audience needs you, what they hope to get out of it, and how you improve their lives. And it means your content is 100% focused on meeting their functional, emotional and social needs in that context.”
He adds: “Especially in tough economic times, brands need to eliminate distractions and deliver great content that stays relevant despite AI tools. Find out how generative AI will impact the future of marketing and beyond below.”
- Master the customer experience.
I believe the scope of marketing leadership will (finally formally) own and influence every aspect of the customer experience: from the moment of initial awareness to the acquisition of the product itself.
Sadly, only 52% of marketers believe that their customers want a product. brand experience that is reasonably personalized.
Therefore, you need to increase your contribution to customer advocacy to truly impact customer loyalty through a brand-consistent experience in your product and related professional services (onboarding, adoption, customer support).
Christina Mautz, Growth CMO, Startup Advisor and Consultant, says, “But don’t get so caught up in the shiny new pennies that you lose sight of what matters: how to take the time to truly understand your customers.”
So marketing is now the end-to-end customer experience, and you have to take responsibility for it. In fact, putting the customer first has become modern marketing, and many brands are working on it.
- Make more decisions with less data.
Over the past few years, we have all seen click-through rates continually decline as social media and search features aim to keep users on a site.
Furthermore, changes in privacy laws and cookie policies are forcing many marketers to live with less data.
Supporting this assumption, we found that 16% of marketers believe their biggest challenge in understanding their audience is simply poor data quality.
For Andy Crestodina, co-founder and CMO of Orbit Media, this is not a problem, but rather an opportunity.
He says: “We are in an era of marketing with very little data, so be prepared to make more decisions with less decision support. It’s going to be like old-time advertising. Do the things that have always generated attention and trust: create videos, publish research reports, do PR, collaborate with influencers. You won’t be able to connect all the dots, but the strategies and fundamentals apply. These will never change.”
- Preparing for generative AI in search.
SGE, which Google will launch in 2024, will bring fundamental changes to content marketing and SEO. SGE opens new ways to find content.
At the same time, we will also see big changes in what content performs best in search engines.
Nicky Lamb predicts that Google’s new “AI snapshot” will have a big impact on search. She says: “From a traffic perspective, we expect this may lead to lower click-through rates for sites below this snapshot, which is scary for us in the SEO field.
It’s no wonder that 47% of marketers worldwide are increasing their clicks.” Budget leaders will want to update their SEO strategies and prepare for generative AI in search.
This is not surprising, as AI and SEO are now key pillars of any content marketing strategy.
Marketers will need to rethink their existing SEO and content creation strategies and put more emphasis on personality-driven content that AI can’t replicate.
To find out more, we also spoke with Casey Carey, CMO of Quantive. Carey says there are four things you can do to prepare for the start of 2024:
Plan for potential impacts and communicate expectations to stakeholders and leaders.
Update your strategy to focus on unique, modern content such as templates, checklists, buying guides, and calculators.
Invest more in rich content experiences, especially video and images, as they contain key assets for improving user experience.
SGE will exceed results from high-level sources.
Now is the time to rethink the role of media and third-party sources in your strategy. It’s important to think about how you will fare in early 2024.
To prepare, you need a solid understanding of content marketing fundamentals.
- Don’t just use an account-based approach to your business.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has historically been reserved for corporate clients. But Sydney Sloan, CMO at Drata, believes that won’t be the case by 2024.
She says: “The platforms have evolved and it’s easy to set up segments of similar accounts or buyers and target them with ads and messaging. Stop spending your entire budget on PPC.
Sloan continues: “By segmenting your target customers, you can create campaigns with messages and offers that truly address their pain points. Work closely with your SDR team to fine-tune the pace of your outbound and use keyword insights to personalize your messaging. In line with this, we found that 52% of marketers using ABM want to create custom content for their customers.
Sloan adds: “We’re excited to see platforms like Google tightening restrictions to prevent spam. This is a new step forward. When budgets are tight and you’re looking for efficiency, this is a great way to bring quality opportunities into your funnel.”
- Use automation and GTM games.
In 2024, automation and go-to-market (GTM) strategies will take over the marketing world, leaving traditional ABM tactics behind. Thus, 58% of marketers plan to increase their investment in automation and AI in 2024.
Brian Law, Chief Marketing Officer at ZoomInfo, says this is a big trend his team is watching.
He says: “Repeatable, scalable GTM strategies that leverage robust, centralized data for targeting, triggered by real-time intent signals, will drive increasingly integrated campaigns across sales and marketing.” This move will pay dividends in improved conversions, reduced costs, and increased efficiency. In fact, Bain & Co. found that companies that have mastered GTM strategies are nearly three times more likely to outperform their competitors.
Creating a value matrix will help shape your GTM strategy for 2024 and beyond. ” It’s also important to rely on data to back up your actions.
It’s also worth noting that 34% of marketers strongly agree that AI/automation helps them gain insights from data they wouldn’t otherwise find, and 39% somewhat agree.
Law also notes that “the rapid adoption of generative AI tools will also make the GTM game more scalable and relevant. High-quality data, combining first- and third-party
sources, is fundamental to the success of both the GTM game itself and the GenAI built into it. Steph Smith, former head of marketing at HubSpot and host of the
podcast, spoke about the importance of integrating AI into regular business processes.
Be prepared for change…but stay true to your fundamental marketing strategy.
What do these changes mean for marketers?
We need to keep up with new strategies, frameworks, technologies – especially generative AI – to keep our toolkits fresh and current.
But amid all the newness and exciting advancements, it’s important not to lose sight of the core of what we do as marketers: taking the time to understand our customers and meet their needs.
While our approach to marketing will change in 2024 and beyond, the fundamental aspects of marketing will remain the same.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in December 2023 and has been updated for completeness.