Embracing the Future:
Innovative Digital Marketing Trends to Watch in 2024
The world of digital marketing is always changing, and exciting things are on the horizon as we head into 2024! New trends and technologies will be further shaping how businesses connect with their audiences. Join us as we look ahead to the future and discover some of the key 2024 digital marketing trends we think you should keep an eye out for…
Augmented Reality (AR) Experiences
Augmented Reality (AR) is having a resurgence as we end 2023. More brands are harnessing the technology and embracing it in interesting ways, such as:
- IKEA: Place Tool (B2B & B2C)
- Turning Real Life Into a Video Game
- Hyandai: Increasing brand awareness with AR video ads
When we think of 2024 digital marketing trends to watch, this is a key one. Brands are already making interactive experiences designed to help them stand out. But in 2024, the level of detail you’ll get when testing new products or checking out services virtually before deciding to buy them will be lifelike. It’s going to help you make better choices when shopping online!
Re-embracing Customer Loyalty
The benefits of staying loyal to a company are pretty much non-existent these days. Loyalty used to be worth it for both the customer and the brand, but people are comfortable and happy to switch and ditch now, going where the prices best suit them. There used to be incentives to stay with a company come renewal time, but these have gone in favour of ‘new starter/user’ offers.
However, this is such a wasted opportunity for brands – they have to spend more time and money capturing new leads when they could be nurturing warm leads already with them – they have their data, and they know what works, but why aren’t they harnessing them?
Necessary cuts across enterprises have shunted customer obsession down the priority list – and customers are noticing. I predict that in 2024, companies are going to wise up to this in their digital marketing offerings and start showing customer love and re-embrace their loyalty.
AI-Powered Assistance
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already a game-changer in the digital marketing realm, and at the time of writing this (early Dec 2023), AI-integrated Chat GTP has been available for just over one year. In that time, it has 180.5 million users, but are all these users feeding misinformation and dumbing down the platform and teaching it inaccuracies?
Personally, I think there’s a time and a place for AI, for example, it can help reduce the mental load with tasks such as:
- Meal planning
- Words to write on greeting cards
- Research home project and data gathering
- Create a tailor-made fitness routine
At Freya Helps Me, we don’t use AI to write for our clients as they like the personal touch (that AI doesn’t pick up on). We’ve found that more often than not, you can spot an AI-written article a mile off as it doesn’t correctly describe or confirm our client’s products or services. It may work for some, but it doesn’t for ours.
However, AI WILL open the door to more experimental marketing – it’s less time and effort for marketers to drum up an idea and put it into practice, and requires less brain power to generate ideas and spark thoughts in the first place (which could then be finessed) so look for an increase in creativity in campaigns.
Metaverse Marketing
Ah, the Metaverse; some people think it’s set to become a big deal, but I’m not too sure. There’s talk about it changing how digital marketing works but is it all noise and no action? I think only time will tell, but in the meantime, the Metaverse is designed to be a virtual world where you can chat, hang out, work, and have fun.
Some brands and games are thinking about using it for advertising and making fun stuff for you to do, but not James Whatley (Chief Strategy Officer at Diva Agency) – this man does an AMAZING newsletter (5 things on a Friday) that I highly recommend and he’s a bit of a trusted expert when it comes to the Metaverse and all its ‘hype’.
Personalisation
With all the data companies hold about their users, the knowledge to make their marketing more personalised could never be easier. Companies will look to really personalise the user experience and speak to their customers on their preferences and behaviours and help make them feel like a VIP. AI algorithms will be used to do this automatic analysis of data and tailor these marketing messages, offers, and experiences for individual users, optimising engagement and conversion rates, but can it be trusted?
It’ll have an effect on conversion rates for sure, but it may make people stand up and notice how their data is being used, stored and utilised and they may just rebel against it and lock everything down.
Voice Search Optimisation
With the rising popularity of smart speakers and voice-activated assistants, it’s super important for businesses to get on board with voice search. In 2024, companies will be all about making their content and SEO strategies work for how people naturally talk when they ask questions, ensuring their visibility and relevance shows up in voice search results.
When it comes to SEO, voice search queries are more conversational than text searches. In a voice search, you may ask “What are some good spas near me?” But in a text search, queries are phrased more along the lines of “spa near me.” Companies are going to start making content specifically optimised for voice searches.
Video Marketing Evolution
Video marketing isn’t new, but it continues to evolve. Short-form videos, live streaming, and interactive videos will dominate the digital space in 2024. Brands will leverage these formats to engage audiences, tell compelling stories, and drive higher levels of customer interaction. Social media will be the key to enabling this, it’s so easy to capture live and fresh content and get it out to the masses really quickly.
Sustainable and Ethical Marketing
Rightly so, there’s a rise in the number of people who care about the environment and social issues. In 2024, you’re going to see more and more brands doing interesting and smart things to help the planet be ethical, and they’ll likely be shouting about it. They’ll be showing off their eco-friendly projects and good deeds to connect with folks who care about the world. It’s all about being a responsible and caring brand and sustainability as a consumer trend will likely become the norm.
SEO Shifts – what you search
I say to all my clients, don’t always go for the easy keywords with the highest competition – your chances of getting a look in vs the large companies (with their very large budgets) are slim. Consumers are aware of this and are changing how they search. I believe in 2024, consumers will start moving away from the ‘what is’ type of search terms and move more to value-based cross comparison search terms such as:
- X product vs Y product
- Value of X product
- Guides
- Video search and examples in practice
It’s a way companies will be able to show their expertise in their niche area and get more qualified traffic through their results.
SEO Shifts – how searched display
Google is likely going to change up how they display search results, as they are looking to ‘improve search with generative AI’. It’s currently in very early testing days and not yet publicly available (and so far, only accessible in America) but Google is starting to experiment in Search Labs with SGE (Search Generative Experience).
SGE is brings the power of generative AI directly into Google Search results and aims to help users quickly find and make sense of information (taking the top ranking spots, being suggested in chatbot Q&A’s and showing first for Google shopping). As you search, you can get the gist of a topic with AI-powered overviews, pointers to explore more, and ways to naturally follow up. It’s definitely a 2024 digital marketing trend to watch.
Website Branding and Accessibility
Website and design is going to step it up a gear in 2024. Gone are the days where every website looked the same, now it’s about who can stand out and shout the loudest and be the most memorable. But (and this is a big but), accessibility is going to trump everything!
Making your website accessible and user friendly is going to be a big thing in 2024 as we find ways to make websites more inclusive and usable to all.
https://www.accessibilitychecker.org/ offers a free ADA and WCAG compliance checker that identifies web accessibility issues and gives exact instructions for fixing them – it’s a brilliant tool.
TikTok
Social Media is a big player when it comes to marketing, and TikTok is the new ‘Big Dawg’. Around 41% of TikTok users are between the ages of 16-24, but Hootsuite reveals that millennials on TikTok are 2.3 times more likely to create a post and tag a brand compared to other platforms, making it more usable.
The biggest thing to keep an eye out for with TikTok though is its search function. Social SEO is becoming more prevalent, with the rollout of Google SGE where UGC and shared media which has more prominence in the SERPS. But more interesting, according to Rise at Seven, ‘TikTok is overtaking Google Search and Maps for informational and discovery search queries for GenZ’. They believe consumers are becoming more impatient and want fast results for their queries, and Google and other search engineers aren’t providing the answer quick enough.
Rise at Seven went on to add that ‘Google has already started to show TikTok short videos in Google’s SERPs’ and that ‘it is one of 3 social platforms that has seen the biggest increase in visibility on Google SERPs’.
This is probably the biggest 2024 digital marketing trends that I want to keep an eye on.
2024 promises to be an exciting one for digital marketing, filled with innovation and technology-driven strategies. Embracing these 2024 digital marketing trends will not only help businesses stay ahead of the curve but also enable them to create meaningful connections with their audience in an increasingly fast-paced and digital world. I recommend brands stay tuned, adapt, and be ready to embark on this digital marketing journey in 2024! If you need help with this, get in touch.