2024 – Another Big Year for Marketing…
As we reach another trip around the sun and the world of marketing continues to grow and evolve, it is important for us marketers to keep an eye on new and upcoming trends to keep customers engaged and stay ahead of the competition. 2024 poses new challenges in an increasingly digital and personalised marketing landscape.
Time Doesn’t Slow Down for TiktokSince its popularity skyrocketed during lockdown, Tiktok has become one of the world’s most popular platforms. Subsequently, its marketing capabilities continue to develop with new trends and ideas constantly sprouting from original user generated content. As it matures as a platform, we are beginning to understand more about its potential and how it can be used to capture audiences in ways other platforms can’t.We have seen brands beginning to show more personality in their Tiktok content, using both humour and a recognisable face to display relatability to their audience. A great example of this is M&S, who use two of their brand ambassadors, Percy Pig and Colin the Caterpillar, in funny videos and skits with trending sounds and formats. For example, recently they have been focusing ‘who came first – Percy or Colin?’, creating a fun dialogue between the two. Tiktok (2022) predicts ‘actionable entertainment’, a short dialogue between two or more people, will continue to grow in its success and popularity in 2024. This could be because it makes the user feel part of a conversation and involved in the brand’s community.
Small businesses have had videos go viral for content completely unrelated to what they do. TikTok content that is most successful is content that is entertaining, funny and easy to digest. Many office-based businesses are realising this, therefore there being a whole ‘#CorporateTok’ hashtag on the platform where employees can show their personality.As a starting point, have a scroll through this hashtag and your ‘For You’ page to familiarise yourself with what’s popular and give it a go!The takeaway here is that Tiktok is and will continue to be a great tool for marketing. It’s suggested that on social media, brand awareness is becoming more important than lead generation. Tiktok allows a brand to put across their personality whilst avoiding corporate-sounding call-to-action content young people are becoming fed up of. People are starting to prioritise joy over work after a difficult few years, so look for entertainment where possible. Tiktok (2022) found that ⅘ people say Tiktok is very/extremely entertaining… so be entertaining!For more advice on how to best use Tiktok, here is a great resource:https://sproutsocial.com/insights/tiktok-for-business/
@mandsfood Always respect your elders 🐛✊ #zoolander #zoolandermeme #funny #excuseme #brah #colinthecaterpillar ♬ Excuse me BRUHH - Castro🇭🇹
Video Content Leading the Way on All PlatformsWith Tiktok’s popularity growing, video content over all social media platforms is becoming more successful as well. Instagram Reels, for example, are a great marketing tool for brands as it allows for putting across information in a quick and entertaining way. Content under a minute is an ideal length, as it is easy on Instagram to scroll to the next video if a user becomes disinterested. Video content is also becoming more popular on Linkedin, and with B2B marketing, as it is being realised people are more likely to be captured by a quick video than a torrent of text that can be easily ignored.Reels can be used for a number of different things. They’re great for posting the fun content seen on Tiktok, but can also be used to:Showcase a number of different products in one place in a short space of time, by posting short clips of the product being used or modelled. This makes it perfect for B2C businesses.Show some ‘behind-the-scenes’ content, such as the production process or a ‘day in the life’ of working for your businessHave some fun with some office antics, which shows off a bit of personality, something that is becoming more and more important for a company’s overall brand identity.It is important to ensure video content gets to the point quickly as people are becoming increasingly fed up of clickbait-y videos with the promise of something interesting when they ‘wait until the end of the video’. User’s want their attention to be grabbed instantly, therefore it is important to make the intention of the video clear at the very start, whether that is to showcase or to entertain.
Email Marketing Continues to Be the KeyIn 2024, everyone has an email address. They’re used in business, in schools, for personal use and as a way to log in to most profile-driven websites. In fact, Statista (2022) predict that 347.3 billion emails will be sent each day in 2024. Email marketing, over the last few years has been a hugely important marketing tool and that’s not going to change anytime soon.Like a lot of marketing content, email marketing is no different in that personalisation is key to lead generation. It is a great idea to send product recommendations and promotions based on market segments – such as age, gender or location. This allows for a more personal approach, something that users are starting to look for more often. As well as personalisation, interactivity is something brands should look towards. For example, simple call to action buttons that make the user experience easier should be included, for example ‘buy now’ or ‘visit our website’. Another great idea is scrollable image carrousels which promote active interaction rather than a quick vertical scroll through the email. Thirdly is a conversation, personal tone that displays the personality and identity of the brand.
Focus on the Customer, Not YourselfThe main takeaway is that customer centricity is key to any marketing activity in 2024. People are prioritising their own happiness and valuing their time more, therefore don’t want to be bombarded with irrelevant marketing drivel. This is following the need for community and a bit of fun after an isolating and difficult few years for many. Instead, people are looking for more entertaining, personalised marketing content. People are more likely to buy from brands with a personality that aligns with their own values, as it’s one of the only ways to differentiate brands in increasingly saturated markets. This is especially important for smaller businesses who are fighting for space amongst competition. So our advice when marketing is to provide genuine value to the individual you are marketing to, whether that’s by bringing them joy, genuinely useful information or showcasing products that could be good for them without being too pushy… and have a bit of fun with it!If this has been helpful, click here for 101 more marketing tips from us: