MARKETING PREDICTIONS FOR 2024

Oct. 12th 2023 By Valentina Baker

How to Implement futures-thinking strategies into your brand to ensure you’re staying on trend

According to Medium.com, and our personal insight, these are the most talked-about marketing trends that we'll see emerge in the new year:

1. AI-Driven Personalization

It comes as no surprise that the trend of AI taking over will prevail in the future, but how exactly are companies going to optimize this for the overall user experience? Trend forecasters predict that this means more personalized online customer service, automated internal operations, as well as utilizing AI to generate content at a more rapid pace.

1. Voice Search Optimization

The accessibility of voice assistants is becoming more and more popular as our lives become busier; it's easier to just speak what you need rather than going in and searching for it. Customized VSO solutions could help companies simplify and personalize their shopping experience. So, marketers will need to consider keywords and content for natural language patterns, featured snippets, and local search to generate visibility in voice search results.

1. Social Listening

Social listening is the act of relying more on specific user testimonies rather than data and numbers. It can "assist marketers in making significant improvements to customer support, marketing campaigns, and products. It gives brands the advantage of staying up to date with the latest social trends within their niche." This means that, once again, due to the plethora of options out there these days, the trend of personalization is taking the forefront.

1. Unscripted Video Content

It's no secret that authenticity remains one of the most effective ways to reach your audience, and in today's generation, short-form video has overwhelmingly taken the top spot for the type of media we are consuming. However, some brands have failed to translate or have been trying too hard to make "Instagram"-type posts work on platforms like TikTok. Companies need to understand that consumers don't want to be pushed a product in a way that seems disingenuous or like a money grab. They want to see the product in action in a real-life scenario with relatable people. They care less about brands "engaging with the latest memes or TikTok trends" if it seems forced and doesn't integrate smoothly into that piece of content; they care more about the brand's values and "personality".

1. Minimalist Marketing

As the world of consumerism and options has reached an all-time high, "shopper's fatigue" is real, and things are looking to plateau. They say what goes around comes around, and that has definitely remained true. People are wanting to go back to the "Quality Over Quantity" days, and overconsumption of fast fashion and cheap goods, in general, is likely to decrease. More consumers will be looking to adopt a "minimalistic" lifestyle, so brands will have to adopt by asking the same questions most consumers will start asking themselves, which are "Do I actually need this? And what products are actually worth having?"

In a nutshell, here are some buzzwords to keep in mind when marketing in the new year:

1. Authenticity

2. Minimalism

3. AI/VSO

4. Personalization

5. Shopper's Fatigue