4 Game-Changing Marketing Trends Every Business Leader Must Embrace in 2024

byNick Burrage/March 4, 2024/inContent Marketing, Digital Marketing, Sales & Marketing Strategy, They Ask You Answer

2024 will have one new blockbuster marketing trend and three that have been brewing for a while and are now ready to explode.

Marketing Trends 2024 – Trend 1: AI is the biggest change marketing has seen in a generation

As the saying goes: ‘AI won’t take your job, but a competitor using AI might just steal your market share.’

Ok, so that’s not the saying, but you take the point:

Learn to harness the power of AI now before someone else does.

Here are our top 3 ways you can use Ai.

Marketing Content Generation and Curation with Ai.

Explore AI-generated content for blog posts, social media updates, and email marketing.
Use AI tools to curate relevant content from various sources to engage your audience and save time.

Top tip: get the WebPilot plug-in so that Ai can read competitors’ websites and tell you all about them

Data-Driven Decision Making

Invest in data collection and analysis tools to gain deeper insights into customer behaviour.
Utilise AI-powered analytics to make informed marketing decisions, optimise campaigns, and allocate resources efficiently.

Top tip: Teach Ai to read your Google Analytics and tell you what’s important. We’ve seen it used to monitor Cost Per Lead, for example.

Chatbots and Virtual Assistants

– Integrate AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants into your customer service and marketing processes to provide instant responses and assistance.

– Enhance customer engagement and streamline interactions by automating routine tasks.

Top tip: This is an area still ‘in-progress’, but the idea is that you have Ai read your entire website. It will then have an excellent knowledge bank to help website visitors without draining your time. Wonderchat.io could be a good start.

Marketing Trends 2024 – Trend 2: Content has never been more important

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: There is no more powerful tool in the small to medium-sized enterprise’s toolkit than content.

Craig Davis, the former Chief Creative Officer at global communications firm J. Walter Thompson, said it best:

‘We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.’

Your content should follow a clear strategy, and the best framework of all is called ‘They Ask You Answer’, created by Marcus Sheridan. [full disclosure: this agency is a certified coaching partner for the framework].

Your content should aim, above all, to educate and inform in an honest and unbiased manner – this is the only way it will be engaging.

Marcus Sheridan’s ‘They Ask, You Answer’ content plan is a strategy that focuses on addressing the questions and concerns of your audience through content marketing.

The content pillars in this plan can be summarised as follows:

Pillar 1: NOBODY talks about Pricing and Cost

– Address questions about the cost of your products or services transparently.

– Provide pricing details, comparisons, and explanations to build trust and credibility with your audience.

Pillar 2: Be HONEST about Problems and Challenges

– Create content that discusses common problems and challenges faced by your audience.

– Offer solutions, insights, and guidance to help them overcome these issues, positioning your brand as a helpful resource.

Pillar 3: Reviews

– Share honest and unbiased reviews of your products or services.

– Offer side-by-side comparisons with competitors to assist potential customers in making informed decisions.

Are you scared to talk about the competition? Fear that people will find out about them? Well, they WILL! I’d much rather they did so on your website, though!

Pillar 4: Best Practices and How-Tos

– Provide educational content with best practices, tips, and step-by-step guides related to your industry or niche.

– Help your audience improve their skills or knowledge in relevant areas.

Pillar 5: Vs. and Comparisons with the COMPETITION

– Create content that directly compares your products or services to alternatives in the market.

– Highlight the strengths and weaknesses, helping consumers make well-informed choices.

I always like to add a sixth pillar as follows:

Pillar 6: BEING USEFUL: ‘What is’ & ‘How do I?’

This is where you share all of your expertise and knowledge so you tell people how to do things, and it might feel like you’re giving away your secret sauce. Still, you’re really not – you are establishing yourself as an expert and a trusted authority in your sector.

Share openly and with a happy heart.

By focusing on these five content pillars, businesses can build trust, answer customer questions, and establish themselves as authoritative and customer-centric resources in their industry or niche. This approach leads to increased customer engagement and conversions.

Marketing Trends 2024 -Trend 3: Lights, Camera, Engagement: Why Video Content Is Your Ultimate Weapon.

The average time spent watching video online is 19 hours per week.

Yes, you did read that correctly – source: Statista

Video is not an optional extra in 2024.

Whether you run a small startup or a well-established company, incorporating video into your website and content marketing strategy can be a game-changer that engages your audience and drives growth and success.

Here are some compelling reasons why you should embrace video:

Get massive engagement

Videos are highly shareable and have the potential to go viral, increasing your reach exponentially. They are more likely to grab your audience’s attention and keep them engaged compared to text or static images.

Video = SEO win

Search engines, like Google, favour video content. By incorporating videos on your website and optimising them for relevant keywords, you can improve your search engine rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find you.

Google will also spot that dwell time on your page while people watch you video.

Spellbinding storytelling

Videos allow you to convey your brand’s story and message more effectively. You can showcase your products, share customer testimonials, or provide behind-the-scenes glimpses, creating a deeper emotional connection with your audience. Here is our YouTube Channel.

Demonstrate expertise

Videos provide a platform to showcase your expertise and thought leadership. Share educational content, tutorials, or industry insights to establish yourself as a trusted authority in your niche.

Viewers become buyers

Studies have shown that websites with videos tend to have higher conversion rates. Whether you’re selling a product or a service, a well-crafted video can help potential customers understand your value, leading to more conversions.

Social Media success

Videos perform exceptionally well on social media platforms. By sharing videos on social networks, you can expand your reach and engage with your audience in a more personal and interactive way.

Top Tip: Stop being fussy about video. Getting good with video does not mean hiring a production company and ending up with one shiny video after two months of work. The right approach here is to get a system that is easy for you to use, simple to fire up, and it means you can fire out videos regularly.

We use veed.io, and we stand up in front of a camera. It goes straight into Veed.io, where we edit it, add the captions and then upload it to YouTube or Metricool for social media.

Marketing Trends 2024 – Trend 4: 2024 is the time to jump in or dial up your social media presence.

I’ll be honest: we are no experts in TikTok here at The Ambitions Agency, but boy now is the time we’re learning. It’s a new (ish) platform, and there’s a lot up for grabs there.

As we approach 2024, business owners looking to expand their reach and grow their brands should be acutely aware of the pivotal role social media platforms will play in their success.

Here are a few reasons why:

Nobody really knows what’s happening with search engines!

The way people search for information online is transforming. With search engines constantly updating their algorithms and the rise of alternative search platforms, businesses can no longer solely rely on traditional SEO strategies.

Social media, on the other hand, offers a more stable and direct way to reach potential customers. By maintaining an active presence on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, businesses can ensure they remain visible and accessible to their target audience.

Who wouldn’t want a chance to speak directly to their potential customers?

Social media allows businesses to engage directly with their customers in real time. This fosters community and loyalty, which translates to increased sales and brand advocacy.

Moreover, customer feedback can provide invaluable insights into improving products and services.

Is Social media marketing cheaper than Google?

Social media marketing is often more cost-effective and offers a higher return on investment than Google.

With the ability to target specific demographics and track engagement metrics, businesses can fine-tune their marketing strategies for maximum impact.

Your small outfit can easily beat the bigger players on Social Media.

Large brands simply can’t be as agile, human and engaging as you can if you run a small business and are prepared to put in the time and be brave enough to get yourself out there. It’s your chance to outsmart the big guys and take more of the pie.

Action: Get yourself a metric call subscription (we love this tool), and you can plan all your social media from one point. Upload a post, which could be an image or a video once, and you can fire it out across most of those platforms. You can also do a week’s content in half a day.

Learn to do all of the above with EASE

My team and I would love to support your growth as a business in all of the above areas.

Now, here’s the tough bit – and you KNOW this is true: You’ll benefit much more from us teaching you the way rather than having us (or any other agency) do the work for you.

Our carefully structured programmes will take you and your sales and marketing teams from zero to hero on all aspects of content creation and Ai use.

Get in touch TODAY to get started.