Digital Marketing trends to look out for in 2024 

Trend 1: Voice search and SEO 

Voice search is already growing in popularity, but with voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa becoming more prominent in our everyday lives, it’s important to ensure your strategy covers voice-based searches too. 

According to research, in 2023, around 27% of people use voice search on mobile devices. Plus, around 58% of consumers use voice search to find local businesses, so if you’re targeting customers in your local area, optimising for voice search is likely to help you to drive more traffic to your website. 

Instead of typing a query into search engines, consumers can ask a question out loud, and Siri or Alexa will provide them with the most relevant answer to their query. This shift marks a change in the way brands need to optimise content for voice search and take questions into account. Think about conversational language and how you’re going to answer common questions about your products or services to make sure you’re appearing in voice search results as well as the search engine results pages.

Why should you pay attention to voice search? 

It’s important to think about voice search optimisation for your business because voice-activated technology such as Alexa, Siri and Google Home is getting more popular. 

Voice search provides a convenient experience for consumers who can search for information or place orders simply by asking their voice-assistant, without having to type on a screen. 

What can you change in your strategy? 

• Incorporate new keywords - look into the keywords your customers might be using when speaking. Think about how they’re likely to ask the question or look for information. Long-tail keywords are key here. 
• Optimise for featured snippets - featured snippets appear at the top of the SERPs and are more likely to be read out for a voice search.
• Focus on local SEO - Google will always check the location of the searcher so make sure you’re optimising for local SEO and voice search at the same time. Optimise your Google My Business account to make sure your business appears top when someone is searching - whether it’s by voice or typing! 

Trend 2: Personalisation 

This is nothing new, but it’s likely to become much more prominent throughout 2024. Consumers are savvier than ever, and there is more competition out there, so you’re going to need to tailor your marketing messages to meet individual needs and wants. 

Personalisation will help you to provide a much better user experience as well as drive customer loyalty and conversions. 

The demand for personalisation is increasing, with 62% of consumers saying that a brand will lose their loyalty if they provide an experience that’s not personalised. This is a 20% increase from 2021. 

Plus, the loss of third-party cookies means more businesses are going to have to rely on first-party data, which means there’s really no excuse not to provide a personalised experience. 

On average, consumers see 1,700 adverts each month across a range of channels. You need to make sure your brand is cutting through the noise, and you’re not going to achieve this if you’re not personalising your communications. 

Why should you pay attention to personalisation? 

Personalising your customer experience can help your business to stand out from the competition and will mean that customers are more likely to remember your brand and shop with you again. 

What can you change in your strategy? 

• Use the data you have on your existing customers to segment them and find patterns or trends in their behaviours or purchasing
• Use these segments to personalise your ads, emails, landing pages and more 

Trend 3: Video marketing 

Again, video marketing isn’t anything we haven’t seen before but it’s expected to continue gaining popularity and advancing into 2024. Short-form videos found on TikTok and Instagram reels will keep gaining momentum and will be one of the best ways to engage younger audiences with content. 

In 2023, studies showed that 86% of businesses used video in their marketing plans. Over the last few years, video marketing and consumption has increased year on year and it doesn’t look like 2024 will be any different.

Video provides an easy-to-digest way to educate or entertain your audience. You can let them know about your brand and what you do quickly and easily. Plus, 73% of people say they prefer to watch a short video to learn more about a product or service. 

Once you have created a video, you can utilise it across a range of channels and ensure it’s on your website too so it will continue to pay dividends for your business for years to come. 

Why should you pay attention to video marketing? 

Adding video marketing to your strategy will help you to reach a wider audience and provide them with information about your business. It also helps to build trust and showcase your brand personality. 

According to research, 70% of users say they bought a product after watching a video on YouTube. Being able to connect with your audience through different formats allows you to engage with people who might not otherwise interact with your brand. 

What can you change in your strategy? 

• Find the platform your customers are using. There’s no point in advertising on TikTok and wasting your budget if your potential customers are never going to see the ads
• Create one video to start with - you can always cut it down into smaller clips to use across a range of platforms 
• Choose a budget for video marketing and stick to it. Work out what works and what doesn’t and go from there 

You can find out more about the benefits of video marketing our blog: 6 benefits of video marketing for your business.

Trend 4: Social media use as a search engine 

Social media has developed over the last decade. The average person uses an average of 6.6 social media apps every month. We no longer write on each other’s walls on Facebook, these channels are now used to consume video content, targeted ads and influencer content utilised by brands. 

The way businesses and consumers use social media has changed with 67% of TikTok users now using the app to discover new brands and places to shop.  

More consumers than ever are using social media platforms as search engines to find the content they want and the products or services they need. 

Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are the key channels to see this switch and will drive demand for more video content in 2024. 

Why should you pay attention to social media channels being used for search? 

Consumers are savvier than ever. They know what they want and they will search online to find it. Algorithms are continually evolving to provide users with a more personalised experience so it’s important that you, as a brand, know who your target audience is and create video content to meet those needs. 

For brands with a younger audience, this is particularly important. 

What can you change in your strategy? 

• Have a look at the content that’s performing well in your industry to find out which types of content and influencers could work for your brand 
• Think about what your customers are likely to be searching for and the content you can create to meet these searches
• Get to know your target audience and the video content that’s most likely to resonate with them 
• Include relevant hashtags and keywords in your posts 

Key takeaways…

Taking note of these trends and knowing what to expect when it comes to marketing in 2024 can help you keep ahead of your competitors and keep up with what your customers are asking for. 

Knowing what the latest trends for consumers are will help you to optimise your marketing strategy to make sure you’re meeting your customer's needs and providing yourself with the best chance of attracting new customers. 

Not all of these trends or strategies will apply to your business so you’ll need to find the strategies that work for you and your target audience. 

To find out more about optimising your marketing strategy in 2024, why not request a free digital marketing audit from our team?