Top Digital Marketing Insights for 2024

Stay ahead in digital marketing with the top trends for 2024. A strong strategy is essential to navigate the changing landscape

This year has seen significant disruptions in digital marketing. The industry is adapting to generative AI and its effects on user behaviour and search patterns, along with constant updates from Google. SEO is evolving, and the industry is adjusting to the changes with some uncertainty.

Despite the challenges, there are opportunities for those who can adapt. To help marketers and brands succeed, here are the key trends to focus on in 2024, guided by strategic insights and the wisdom of Yogi Berra:

“Predictions are hard, especially about the future.” – Yogi Berra

Digital marketers understand this challenge well. Here are the top 10 digital marketing trends for 2024:

1. Strategy: “If You Don’t Know Where You Are Going, You Might Wind Up Someplace Else.”

Why is “strategy” the top trend this year rather than the latest technology?

As Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”

Spencer Stuart’s 2024 CMO Tenure Study reveals that the average tenure for chief marketing officers (CMOs) at Fortune 500 companies in 2023 was 4.2 years. For B2B companies, it was 4.5 years, while B2C CMOs had an average tenure of 4.0 years. In contrast, CMOs at the top 100 consumer-focused advertisers had a shorter average tenure of 3.1 years.

Creating a robust digital marketing strategy is crucial for achieving above-average results and maintaining a position as a CMO. Mastering strategy is essential for securing and retaining these roles, as simply adopting the latest technology won’t ensure success.

In summary, while keeping up with technology is important, a strong strategy is key to reaching your marketing goals and advancing in your career.

2. Generative AI: “Predictions Are Hard, Especially About The Future.”

Yogi Berra once said, “Predictions are hard, especially about the future.” It’s easy to be tempted to ask generative AI tools to forecast their own future.

According to OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5:

“AI and machine learning have been shaping digital marketing for years, and in 2024, these technologies are expected to become even more essential. From chatbots and predictive analytics to personalised content and targeted ads, AI will improve customer experiences and drive efficiency. Brands that use AI can anticipate better ROI and more detailed customer insights.”

Google’s Gemini (formerly Bard) adds:

“AI is no longer science fiction. It’s central to digital marketing now, from creating high-converting chatbots to optimising campaigns with precision. Embrace AI rather than fear it.”

And Anthropic’s Claude 3 notes:

“AI writing tools like Claude are making a significant impact, and in 2024, they will become a standard in content marketing, helping to scale content creation while keeping quality high.”

However, AI can’t understand your organisation’s broader context, empathise with people, or be as creative as you. For AI to be effective, it needs your guidance and creativity.

3. SEO: “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over.”

Some experts claim SEO is dead, but as Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

SEO professionals have shown a strong ability to adapt to constant changes, including updates to Google’s algorithms and insights from recent leaks about Google’s internal practices. Rand Fishkin and Mike King were among the first to report on these leaked documents. While Google has confirmed their authenticity, it has warned against drawing definitive conclusions from them.

So, what should SEO experts do?

Given Fishkin’s extensive experience and credibility, his advice is worth following:

Hire writers with proven authority that Google already recognises for high-quality content.
Combine link-building with public relations to boost branded search demand.
Consider SEO’s geographical nuances for web search results.
Move beyond Google’s public statements and focus on experimentation and testing to see what truly works.

4. Link Building: “Always Go To Other People’s Funerals; Otherwise, They Won’t Go To Yours.”

I noticed this trend a while ago and discussed it at SES London 2009 in a session called “Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Mentions Online.”

At that time, I highlighted that link bait tactics could work if the focus was on both quality and creativity to attract backlinks from other websites. I also shared case studies to help British SEO professionals understand how to engage with journalists, bloggers, and other authoritative sources to improve their online reputation, even if they didn’t get links.

However, the idea of gaining authoritative mentions without links didn’t seem to resonate, with some interpreting it humorously, as if I were suggesting something like, “Always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise, they won’t attend yours.”

Fishkin’s recent advice should help more SEO professionals grasp the value of combining link building with public relations. As he pointed out at MozCon, “If you get a lot of links in one day without anything else, you’ve just manipulated the link graph. True big brands should have people talking about them.”

5. Paid Media: “It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again.”

Google, Meta, and other major ad platforms are rapidly integrating AI, which might seem like just another trend. However, this situation is reminiscent of the rush to adopt programmatic advertising a decade ago. As Yogi Berra put it, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

Digital marketers and their agencies can take this opportunity to update their programmatic strategies into AI best practices. For instance, five years ago, Google outlined a five-step programmatic workflow:

Organise audience insights.
Design effective creative.
Execute with integrated technology.
Reach audiences across various screens.
Measure the impact.

Today’s automated media buying and selling processes are similar because AI is advancing the early promises of programmatic advertising, aiming to engage consumers at crucial moments.

The key difference now is the enhanced capability to link advertising platforms with analytics tools, improving the measurement of campaign impacts on brand awareness and lead generation.

6. Analytics: “You Can Observe A Lot By Watching.”

Performance marketers have long connected their advertising and analytics platforms to track campaign impacts on conversions. However, brand marketers typically paid less attention to analytics, focusing instead on measuring brand awareness based on initial exposure to ads.

With the introduction of Google Analytics 4 last summer, a new “Business Objectives” section replaced the old “Life Cycle” reports. This update now allows brand marketers to track metrics like “Raise brand awareness” by monitoring traffic acquisition, demographics, user actions, and page views, providing a more reliable measure of brand awareness less affected by ad fraud.

Additionally, brand marketers can now track other objectives, such as “Generate leads.” This means digital marketers can measure valuable user actions like:

– Scrolling through most of a blog post

– Downloading a whitepaper

– Subscribing to a newsletter

– Watching a significant portion of a product video

– Completing a tutorial

– Submitting a registration form

As Yogi Berra said, “You can observe a lot by watching.”

7. Content Marketing: “When You Come To A Fork In The Road, Take It.”

In the summer of 2020, the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs conducted their annual survey, revealing that “Content marketers are resilient. Most have met the challenges of the pandemic head-on.”

In response to the pandemic, both B2B and B2C marketers:

– Increased engagement with customers

– Reassessed customer and buyer personas

– Re-evaluated the customer journey

– Altered targeting and messaging strategies

– Adjusted distribution methods

– Revised editorial calendars

– Invested more in social media and online communities

– Updated their websites

– Modified their products and services

– Recalibrated key performance indicators (KPIs)

– Changed content marketing metrics and set up new analytics tools

In essence, many content marketers completely revamped their approach to creating a content marketing plan.

For some, 2020 was about quickly adapting their strategy, while for others, it was the year to finally establish one.

Now, content marketers face a new challenge: preparing for a major shift in the content marketing landscape due to Google’s Search Generative Experiences (SGE).

As Yogi Berra said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

8. Video Creation: “If You Can’t Imitate Him, Don’t Copy Him.”

I teach an online course at the New Media Academy in Dubai on “Influencer Marketing and AI.” Although this might seem like an unusual pairing, it ties into another course I offer on “Engaging Audiences through Content.”

I explain to my students that producing high-quality content is challenging. To address this, marketers use influencers or AI to create engaging video content for their audiences. However, they soon discover that there’s more to it.

For example, while AI can generate realistic and imaginative scenes from text prompts, it lacks the human creativity needed for truly great videos. The essence of outstanding video content still relies on human-led creativity and originality.

I show them a film like “Air Head” by Toronto-based production company OpenAI Sora, made by shy kids, to illustrate this point.

I then have them use tools like Synthesia, Runway, or InVideo AI to produce their own short videos for a capstone project. They often find that while AI can create impressive scenes, it lacks the genuine creativity of real people.

As Yogi Berra said, “If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.”

9. Influencer Marketing: “Nobody Goes There Anymore. It’s Too Crowded.”

The Influencer Marketing Hub states that many marketers find choosing the right influencers to be the toughest part of influencer marketing.

This is interesting because HypeAuditor provides a platform where marketers can search a database of 137.5 million influencers across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Twitch. The platform also allows for filtering to find the best matches for brands.

This situation is similar to Yogi Berra’s comment, “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” It suggests that marketers might be approaching influencer selection in the wrong way.

In my “Influencer Marketing and AI” class, I show students how to use SparkToro to generate a free report on audiences searching for “Dubai.”

SparkToro estimates that between 446,000 and 654,000 people search for “Dubai” each month. The tool also reveals the websites they visit, keywords they use, and their gender demographics. Additionally, SparkToro identifies key influencers and high-affinity accounts, helping marketers focus their efforts on the most relevant sources of influence.

10. Social Media: “The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be.”

I follow “the rule of three,” so I wasn’t surprised when Jennifer Radke invited me to a webinar on using ChatGPT for social media. However, I was surprised by a recent study from Asana’s Work Innovation Lab and Meltwater, which revealed that only 28% of marketing professionals have received training on AI tools.

I was also concerned by a column from Mark Ritson in MarketingWeek, who suggested that AI might lead to an overabundance of low-quality content on social media.

Having been present when Chris Shipley coined the term “social media” in 2004, I remember its early potential. But as Yogi Berra said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”