When it comes to fashion, trends do come back. For instance, the gen z is quite smitten by the 90s fashion trend. But when it comes to digital marketing, the same cannot be said.
The digital marketing industry has been evolving regularly since its inception. In fact, it is only growing and becoming vast. Similarly, every single day, search engines are revolutionizing the way we search for something online. And the biggest contributor behind this is evolving user habits. As marketers, it’s essential to stay updated and adapt to these fast-paced developments and determine how to outsource SEO to make an impact.
So, here is a blog just for you. It navigates the 2024 digital marketing trends and strategies to increase business growth.
0.1- Impact of AI on Select Marketing Functions
Marketers now realize that ChatGPT and other AI tools aren’t as perfect as we once thought. They have their flaws and limits. But fear not; that’s where we humans step in to save the day.
Recently, it has come to the notice that there is a huge decrease in traffic on AI tools like ChatGPT. And no, this is not because we’ve been complaining about AI taking our jobs. The reason is quite simple, marketing professionals have learned how to use AI to work smarter, not harder. It’s about adopting AI to boost efficiency without letting it take over entirely. Plus, many companies are developing their own AI and chatbot solutions.
AI has the potential to supercharge marketing efforts. It can allow us to accomplish more in less time. The key is to grasp AI and its limitations, furnish it with ample information, insights, and data, and carefully review and edit the results it produces.
Remember, AI cannot replicate the human touch like you can. But it can definitely enhance, inspire, and speed up your digital marketing efforts in various ways, such as:
- Audience segmentation
- Content generation
- Sentiment analysis
- FAQs
- Marketing best practices
- Customer engagement and assistance through AI chatbots
If you lack relevant AI knowledge in-house, you can always work with Link Building Company to fortify AI integration in your operations!
0.2- Creativity in Personalization
Are you keen on knowing “how to boost your business growth?” focus on personalisation.
Personalisation isn’t exactly breaking news in digital marketing. In fact, the usual types of personalisation have become a bit dull and expected.
People now know what targeted ads are and how they work. They can see through the tactics, like adding FIRST NAME to email templates, which doesn’t take much effort. This can diminish the authenticity of your brand pretty fast.
So, how do you personalise like a pro?
- Avoid overdoing personalisation in the same channel
- Try getting creative with personalisation
Nowadays, it’s not just about using your customer’s first name. It’s about providing them with content that’s timely and relevant. This means considering where they are in their user journey and understanding their customer persona.
To nail personalized marketing, you need three key ingredients:
- buyer personas,
- a smart content strategy,
- and lots and lots of data.
Here are some popular examples of personalized marketing:
- Amazon suggests products based on your purchase history.
- Spotify builds a “taste profile” to curate playlists like Discover Weekly and Spotify Wrapped.
- Netflix constantly updates viewing recommendations according to your recent watches.
All of these examples are continuously improving and developing. Your personalisation strategy must undergo the same, too. The more data and insights you gather, the better you can enhance your personalized marketing efforts. It’s an ongoing journey of improvement!
SEO outsourcing could be your chance to personalise your marketing efforts. And that, too, without spending too much or creating an in-house team.
0.3- The proliferation of UGC or user-generated content
User-generated content is gaining popularity. It is estimated that more than 4.9 billion people across the globe use social media. This means there is a lot of “homemade” content floating on the internet. These contents can be used to promote your brand.
Also, 88% of consumers are more likely to trust their peers over the brands. This means UGC is an excellent choice of marketing.
User-generated content can be anything, including –
- Images and photos
- Videos
- Reviews
- Testimonials
- Podcasts
So, what makes UGC so crucial? Authenticity!
UGC is real people giving real information about your product. Being relatable works like magic when you’re trying to persuade someone. And guess what? User-generated content (UGC) is like a secret weapon for this. It gives you content that connects with your audience on their level, drawing them in effortlessly.
Your customers will appreciate the genuine touch of unedited images or videos. They will like hearing both the good and the bad, presented in a friendly, chatty tone that feels just like your group chats. Plus, there’s no real reason for these folks to sugarcoat anything – they’ll tell you the truth, plain and simple.
Now, you might be wondering, “How do you get your hands on this awesome content?” Well, if your brand is already feeling the social media love, you’re in luck! Maybe your brand is getting tagged or mentioned in photos, videos, or comments all the time – that’s your golden ticket! All you need to do is ask the creator for permission to repost or use their content. It is that easy!
If you’re not seeing this kind of engagement yet, no worries! You can encourage your audience to join in. Offer them something cool in return. It could be as simple as promising to repost their content (which means more views and engagement for them), or you could spice things up with a competition where they can win some cash to spend on your website, for instance.
The popularity of UGC has sparked another trend: more “behind the scenes” or “employee-generated” content for businesses. This kind of content gives people a peek into the people and processes behind your product. It, in turn, makes your brand more relatable and authentic.
0.4- The Shift to Nano-Influencers
Businesses today see immense value in nano-influencers. These creators have between 1000 to 10000 followers on social media. But more than the numbers, there is one interesting quality that has caught the marketers’ attention. This group may look small, but it is highly engaged with the influencer. This authentic connection presents incredible branding and product promotion opportunities.
In fact, studies show that such nano-influencers generate 2x the engagement of mega-influencers. Hence, it is no surprise that brands across various niches like fashion and beauty want to tap into this growing digital marketing trend of 2024.
Unlike macro-influencers, nano-influencers offer genuine recommendations and personalized content. This promotes elevated trust and loyalty among their audience. Their micro-communities enable brands to target specific demographics effectively. This will result in higher conversion rates and ROI.
Of course, macro-influencers come in handy for larger retailers aiming for a broader outreach. But brands looking to enable engagement with a smaller, niche audience will definitely benefit from nano-influencers.
0.5- Immersive and interactive marketing
In the past year or two, gamification marketing has been widely used to increase engagement.
However, marketers still wonder how to effectively incorporate the world of immersive and interactive experiences into their digital marketing efforts. Well, here are some ways to make your marketing highly interactive, engaging and immersive for the target audience.
0.5.1- Personalisation in mails and ad targeting:
Adding a personal touch by addressing your customers by name in your email marketing or ad targeting is a simple yet effective way to grab their attention.
0.5.2- Interactive Tools:
Interactive tools like calculators (e.g., for mortgages or taxes) are among the most visited pages on the internet. Why? Because they offer real value to users, saving them from the hassle of complex math. Users find these tools so helpful that they often refer them to friends and return to use them repeatedly.
0.5.3- Surveys and Quiz Elements:
People enjoy feeling understood and heard, which is why quizzes and polls are so effective. They not only engage users but also provide a great opportunity to gather contact information for email sign-ups and more.
0.5.4- Interactive videos
Empowering users with some degree of control over what they view is a guaranteed method to enhance interaction and engagement. And the best part is, it’s trackable. For instance, websites within the real estate, hospitality, and travel industries find immense value in offering 3D tours. This allows users to explore virtual spaces freely, moving in any direction they choose.
Among the key benefits of hiring digital marketing agency is that they help you produce immersive content, irrespective of your niche.
0.6- Staying up-to-date with competitive intelligence
Keeping an eye on what our competitors are doing has always been a priority in marketing. Why? Because competitive intelligence can take you far. And by “far,” we mean getting your brand in front of your target audience. This could be on their desktop or mobile screens.
We live in an ultra-competitive digital landscape. Today, 3,992,222 websites are created every day. This means your level of competitive research must step up. And thankfully, there are various tools available in the market that assist with effective and powerful competitor analysis.
Here is an overview of features a reliable toolkit for competitor research has –
- Website analysis – Gain details of your competitor’s website engagement and traffic.
- Marketing channels – Learn what marketing channels are performing best and how your competitor’s strategy differs from yours on these channels.
- Keyword analysis – Identify your competitor’s keyword strategies.Determine what keywords they are using to reign in the market.
- Keyword gap – Learn which keywords in your industry are doing well and are not being used in your strategy.
- Paid activities – Maintain complete visibility of your competitor’s ad copy, paid keywords, CPC, and creatives.
- Popular pages – Determine which of your competitor’s pages are performing well. Learn what you can do to lead in the industry.
- Segments – Compare your firm with others based on specific niches. For instance, learn about a company that isn’t your direct competitor but deals with specific products like yours.
- Competitive trackers – Get to track your competitors digitally. Learn what changes are happening in your competitor’s engagement rate and digital performance through monthly highlights.
- Search monitoring tools – Using search monitoring tools, learn how search is changing and evolving.
It is time to steer away from the aggressive “mine’s better than yours” marketing approach, which lacks substantial evidence. Instead, let’s focus on strategic planning. Competitive analysis and intelligence provide us with valuable insights and evidence to capitalize on opportunities and excel in the market.
Competitor research is far more insightful and less confrontational compared to traditional marketing tactics. Plus, it allows us to gather valuable information without the competitors even realizing it, making it one of the best strategies to increase business growth.
0.7- Storytelling and Emotion in Content
Of course, we all wanted to introduce robots to streamline our tasks. But, now more than ever, people want real and authentic human conversation.
Although there’s traditionally been a divide between B2B and B2C, it is all about connecting on a human level (B2H). So, craft your content accordingly by weaving in storytelling that resonates with people.
From our earliest days, we’ve been captivated by stories. We agree that our tastes might have matured beyond witches and wizards. But, the love for storytelling remains strong. So, why not bring this love of storytelling into your marketing efforts?
Craft content that grabs your audience’s attention and connects with them on a personal level. But wait; that doesn’t mean you should toss aside white-label SEO briefs and target keywords.
Instead, focus on –
- using a conversational tone
- casual language and simplifying complex topics as if you were chatting with a friend at the bar.
- Lastly, don’t forget to hook the audience with a compelling story that keeps them wanting to know how it ends.
Outsourcing SEO services could help you work with experts capable of content humanisation and storytelling.
1- To be concluded
Well, it is evident from the blog that 2024 will be both a challenging and exciting year for marketers. AI, for instance, is changing everything from how consumers behave and buy things to how businesses and departments work. Hence, embracing AI is the ultimate solution.
Similarly, focusing on social media, content humanisation, hyper-personalisation, and UGC marketing is crucial. They will prevent you from falling behind. Also, ensure that you work on each trend, one at a time, to prevent complexities. You can even work with experts like SEO Resellers Canada if you wish to hire a digital marketing agency for support. With SEO consulting experts at aid, it becomes easy to stay attuned with trends that are ruling the industry!
