Shine Bright in 2024, With Our 5 Step Guide

If you want to outshine your competition, we recommend you adopt a strategic approach in your marketing. You will already know that the world of marketing, and all things that impact your business are ever-changing – so it’s always a good idea to anticipate and plan for changes that could impact your brand.

With the introduction of generative AI, marketing has seemingly become more complex, but by sticking to the basic principles of marketing, you can stay ahead and stand out from the crowd.

When it comes to marketing, one thing is certain: nothing ever stays the same. As technologies advance and times change, keeping up with the trends of the time is essential. Avoid falling behind the competition by considering these 2024 marketing trends for your business.

The marketing trends you need to know in 2024

1. Consumers care about your ethics and sustainability credentials

Gone are the days when a company could sell a product and that be it, without a second thought to their carbon footprint, environmental impact or stance of sociopolitical concerns.

In the grand scheme of things, this is an inherently positive thing – more conscious consumerism is driving companies to look inward at their culture and values. However, if this is new to your company, in the short term, you may feel overwhelmed.

Consumers aren’t asking every single company to comment on every single political event, but they are asking companies to get involved with causes that matter to them, whether on a local or national level. As awareness of the climate crisis grows, they also want companies to be responsible when it comes to their carbon footprint and overall environmental impact.

Your brand values matter here, so it’s important to align these values with the selective causes your business chooses to support.

2. AI offers data-driven personalisation

AI offers businesses much more than the ability to create graphics and text on demand: AI makes data-driven hyperpersonalisation possible.

Rather than having to browse an entire website to find products and content relevant to an individual, AI enables a user to be presented with the things they are most likely to engage with immediately. By collecting various data points about an individual, a company can then use an AI program or integration to make the data matter, in terms of their business.

However, if a company does use AI to personalise the content shown to a user, they must be transparent about data collection, use and storage – this is non-negotiable.

3. You have a story to tell, so tell it

When some companies think of storytelling, the first thing that comes to mind is often video platforms such as YouTube or TikTok. While these platforms and video content can be a powerful tool to help you tell your brand story, they shouldn’t be the start and end of storytelling for your brand.

Your brand story should be woven into the fabric of your communications, strategy and identity.

4. The ability to hold your consumer’s attention

Many businesses get caught up in using overstimulated branding with attention-grabbing headlines to capture their audience’s attention, without paying much thought to how they will keep their attention.

One of the main marketing trends in 2024 we anticipate is a greater emphasis being placed upon the value of holding attention. How useful is grabbing someone’s attention if they return to what they were doing a second later?

Meaningful content will be key to holding the attention of your consumers. As the channels in which we can take in content and information change, it’s important to look beyond traditional methods of measuring attention. A more holistic approach would be helpful here, and perhaps AI integrations may be better able to track attention across various platforms.

5. The way people search is changing

Search is changing. It has been for years, but with the rapid progressions in AI, these changes seem more and more drastic. From the introduction of the likes of ChatGPT to AI answers below search bars, there is more to think about than just traditional search engine optimisation (SEO).

Voice and image searches are growing in popularity too – so if this suits your business, optimise for it! Staggeringly, experts have predicted that in 2024, there will be 8.4 billion digital voice assistants in use across the world. That’s a lot of devices answering greetings like ‘Ok Google’ and ‘Alexa’. If your business isn’t optimised for voice search, it’s a huge opportunity to miss out on.

Social media is also a growing tool people use to find what they’re looking for, with platforms like Pinterest, YouTube and TikTok becoming search engines. Ofgem’s report into the news consumption in the UK in 2023 found that just under half (47%) of UK adults use social media as a source for news, showing that it isn’t just teenagers who consume news in this way.

While this can seem daunting, it’s important to remember that your business doesn’t have to be everywhere. Look at your target market and consider which sites they are likely to use and start there.

Staying true to your brand values underpins all the future marketing trends we’ve discussed, and having a strong sense of brand identity is key for businesses in 2024 and beyond.

If you need some creative ideas and a fresh pair of eyes to look at your marketing, get in touch to book a consultation to look at your marketing strategy and 2024 content schedule. Refined Marketing will tailor marketing support to suit your business, this includes acting as an extension to your team – giving you a fully outsourced marketing department to support your brand.