Digital Marketing Trends 2024

1. Digital Marketing Trends 2024 techdogs.com/td-articles/techno-trends/digital-marketing-trends-2024 The term "digital" cannot be ignored any longer - it's 2024, folks! Whether your business is a local garage that refurbishes and sells second-hand cars or a gazillion-dollar technology conglomerate, digital presence plays a massive role in shaping your strategies, content, brand, image, ethos and much more. We bet you have a dedicated team to manage every digital touchpoint and interaction - you can't afford to ignore it, right? It is owing to the digital nature of markets that your business can potentially reach every part of every region to showcase your brand – the world is your playground! Yet, to navigate this digital world and its ever-evolving nature, it is critical to implement strategies that align with the changes. It's no surprise that to keep up with the digital world, you need a combination of in-depth analyses, professionals with industry experience and a repository to learn about the latest in the domain. Well, we can help you with the last one as we have compiled a list of the top 5 Digital Marketing Trends of 2024 you need to know. So read on and reshape your digital strategy to achieve success! Imagine that your business controls more than 70% of the market share (congratulations!), backed by a massive distribution network. You’re one of the strongest brands in the world and the product itself is synonymous with your name. Your brand is a part of every social moment, gender, age and even diverse income range. For decades, you have been at the forefront of your industry with dozens of innovations and inventions, employing one of the largest workforces of the time. What a feeling, right? Whilst it sounds like "Apple” or “Tesla” – the reality does not catch up. This is the story of George Eastman, one of the founders of Kodak who set out to democratize photography. Today when you Google “Kodak,” there is a myriad of case studies linked to how and why this business failed. “Whenever I ask why a certain company that has fallen on hard times is doing badly, I always start by asking why it was successful in the first place. That is where the answer lies.”, says Kamal Munir, an author and professor of Strategy & Policy at Cambridge. The lessons from Kodak are subtle. Their failure was the inability to embrace the new business models when disruptive changes opened up in the industry. Kodak created a digital camera, invested in the technology and even understood that photos would soon be shared online. Where they failed was in realizing that online photo sharing was the new business, not just a way to expand the existing printing business. This is what drives us at TechDogs – to help businesses understand, prepare and transform their strategies and business models, armed with the right knowledge and resources of emerging trends. Kodak is just one amongst many brands that failed to sustain its success due to the inability to adapt to changes. However, with digital being the inevitable future, you must know what is happening in the arena of digital marketing to succeed and stay ahead of the competition. So, let’s uncover the top 5 Digital Marketing Trends of 2024! 1/9

2. Trend 1: Personalization Will Continue To Thrive Source We bet you knew this but by offering personalized experiences, businesses can differentiate themselves from their competitors and create a unique selling proposition. This, within the digital marketing landscape, provides brands and businesses with valuable customer insights to understand the target audience better and create more effective campaigns. Hence, personalization will be a major area of focus for digital marketers in 2024. Personalization can lead to improved conversion rates and ultimately increased ROI. The numbers speak for themselves – reports suggest that 78% of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand that personalizes and helps in repeat purchases. Personalizing your content also leads to higher engagement rates, increased customer satisfaction and improved retention of customers. How important is this trend then? Well, 71% of customers feel frustrated due to impersonal experience and 76% of the consumers are more likely to purchase from competing brands that personalize. Thus, this trend will remain important in 2024 for most digital-driven businesses and organizations. TechDogs’ Takeaway: To leverage this trend, marketers must personalize their videos using tools that can create personalized videos for audiences. This includes personalized voice-overs, dynamic images and data, geolocalization and much more, as well as tailoring marketing messages, product recommendations and other content to the individual customer. Next, where there’s data, there is AI! Marketers must use AI to create personalized content for digital marketing strategies and consider using machine learning algorithms to analyze customer data and identify patterns and trends. Finally, personalize your recommendations via recommendation engines to suggest relevant content and offers to customers based on their behavior and preferences. Using customer data to personalize your email campaigns, including the subject line, content and offers will also help increase engagement and conversion rates. Trend 2: The Rise Of Short-Form Video Will Be Inevitable Source 2/9

3. TechDogs-"Trend 2: The Rise Of Short-Form Video Will Be Inevitable"-"A Meme About Short-from Video Content" Did you know that 93% of marketers who use short-form videos feel it is an essential component of their marketing plan? Moreover, 86% of organizations utilize it as a robust marketing tool already, making this a vital trend in the digital sphere in the coming months. Video format marketing has gained immense popularity due to its dynamic and attention-grabbing nature. Consumers want information quick, genuine and entertaining! This medium also addresses the viewers’ limited attention span, is simple to consume and is cost-effective. All kinds of businesses can use this format to engage their audiences effectively. The key is creating videos that are creative and relatable to the audience across digital campaigns to create a brand voice that customers love and keep coming back to. As Michael Litt, the CEO of Vidyard put it (better than we could!), “The play button is the most compelling call-to-action on the web.” TechDogs’ Takeaway: Before you jump onto the video bandwagon, optimize for discoverability. This means creating content that is easy for users to find and engage with and involves several strategies, including keyword optimization, tagging, and utilizing relevant hashtags. It is critical to understand the optimum video length for your platform and create content accordingly. Next, leverage user-generated content as part of a short-form video content strategy, as it allows brands to tap into the creativity of their 3/9

4. audience, which is authentic and more engaging. This is vastly underrated and is a pure gem when it comes to garnering the oh-so-precious attention of consumers. Finally, an oldie but a goodie is to use influencer marketing to collaborate with influential experts by tapping into their audience base and expertise for quick and easy storytelling. Collaborating with influencers for short-form video content offers better reach and authenticity. Trend 3: Voice Search Will Enhance The Digital Landscape Source Voice search came onto the scene after the creation of smart speakers such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Today, it is quickly becoming the primary consideration for optimizing data and content for digital marketers, thanks to home-based devices like smartphones, speakers, watches and other devices. In 2024, voice search will gain more momentum for digital marketing strategies! After all, 65% of the 25-49-year-olds speak to their voice-enabled devices at least once daily and 97% of mobile users admitted they are using AI voice assistants. To make sure your business is visible and optimized on all channels, enhancing your website for voice search will be a no-brainer soon. Not just websites, but it’s time for businesses to optimize all digital interfaces, platforms and content to keep up with the evolving demand for voice-compatible searches. Moreover, up to 70% of voice search results are pulled from featured snippets on the search engine results page (SERPs), making voice optimization a best practice to rank higher in the coveted digital search spaces. TechDogs’ Takeaway: Start by optimizing your voice search to create content that answers specific questions. To do this, organize your content in a question-and-answer format, including a website that is mobile-friendly and using natural language, long-tail keywords on your site. When searching via voice, we tend to use a more natural language as compared to a typed search, garnering more in-depth search intent. Next, bear this user intent in mind as you create and optimize content for voice searches. A good way to approach this is to try to pre-empt frequently asked questions and then provide the answers, such as those for frequently asked questions. Lastly, use SEO tools to optimize your voice metadata, as it will be key in making your content even easier for Google to understand and sort. This It is an extremely powerful strategy that will put you ahead of the curve. Trend 4: Artificial Intelligence Will Continue To Steal The Spotlight Source Every marketer knows how businesses are using AI to analyze data and gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences, right? This can help improve targeting and personalization efforts (Trend#1) to create more effective marketing campaigns. Further, as mentioned above, consumers are demanding more personalization – and alas, this cannot be done at scale by humans alone. Hence, AI will be used throughout the Digital Marketing process in 2024 as marketers will continue to adopt it to enhance the consumer experience. Several reasons are driving the adoption of AI in digital marketing processes; namely, it can be used across various aspects of the marketing process, including content creation, customer segmentation, personalization, social media management, ad campaign optimization, email marketing automation, SEO optimization and more. Today, 46% of marketing executives said that they use AI for creating personalized marketing campaigns and communication. 4/9

5. This ties us back to the ever-increasing demand for personalization. Whilst no human or even a team can personalize the experience for each and every individual user, AI can come to bat the field for marketers wanting bespoke, tailored content and campaigns. In fact, 60% of internet users said they can get their questions answered on any number of apps or websites using an AI chatbot. Hence, AI will be at the forefront of scaling the personal experience within digital marketing in 2024 and beyond. TechDogs’ Takeaway: Marketers must start by using AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants to automate customer interactions and provide instant responses to customer queries. This helps improve customer service, saves time and resources, and enhances the overall user experience. Next, infuse AI to optimize your campaigns as AI algorithms can optimize digital campaigns by analyzing data on user behavior, preferences, engagement, etc. This helps in delivering targeted campaigns to the right audience, optimizing spend and increasing its performance. For this, explore Gen AI solutions for marketing, with many being made public throughout 2023. Lastly, automate your email marketing strategy using AI-powered tools that automate the process of sending personalized emails to customers based on their behavior, preferences, engagement with previous emails and other metrics, to improve email open rates and click- through rates. Trend 5: Virtual And Augmented Reality Will Be In The Spotlight Source Despite many challenges yet to be overcome, 69% of experts predict AR/VR to get mass adoption in the next five years. It will be fueled mainly by video entertainment and will have an impact on several industries. As technologies like AR/VR can deliver interactive and immersive content, allowing customers to participate actively in the brand's advertising campaigns, they are expected to be at the forefront of digital marketing in 2024. Using immersive digital experiences generates valuable user data and a deeper emotional connection with the target audience, leading to increased conversions and eventually higher customer satisfaction. Think of the American fashion brand Ralph Lauren, which launched the RL Virtual Store Experience, allowing users to virtually visit the most well-known retail establishments of the brand from around the world. This raised the consumer’s trust in the brand and also appealed to the younger, tech-savvy audience of the brand. Moreover, the emerging mixed reality (MR) and eXtended reality (XR) are also inching closer to the mainstream as the adoption of AR/VR grows in digital marketing. In 2024, marketers who want to stand out will keep a close eye on integrating immersive experiences at various touchpoints in the digital buyer journey. TechDogs’ Takeaway: With many marketers looking to ride the AR/VR wave, you can brace your brand by delving into merging virtual and reality with immersive 360-degree videos. Integrate your brand’s social content into an immersive reality, such as test-driving a new car, trying out the late fashion line in clothing, placing innovative furniture and much more, depending on what aligns with your audiences. Next, explore creating immersive virtual environments, allowing your business to offer interactive product experiences like never before. One way to do this is via gamified AR experiences, which will be a unique way to stand out. Look to create immersive gamified experiences that capture user attention and drive engagement. This not only generates buzz but also brand loyalty. Lastly, look into melding virtual showrooms at your brick-and- mortar store locations, by using VR headsets that merge both the online and offline shopping experience. Conclusion The future is exciting with lots for digital marketers to unravel this year. If you wish to stay ahead of the market, consider adopting the trends that fit with your business model and have the right value exchange 5/9

6. for your consumers. So, start the year by focusing on personalization and voice search, leveraging the power of short videos, experimenting with AR/VR and harnessing the potential of AI in digital marketing. Remember: trends come and go but only those businesses willing to adapt to new trends have the best chance of success. Til then, dear marketers, keep learning, adapting and growing! TechDogs-"Trend 1: Personalization Will Continue To Thrive"-"A Meme About Businesses Not Personalizing Digital Outreach" 6/9

7. TechDogs-"Trend 3: Voice Search Will Enhance The Digital Landscape"-"A Meme About Voice Search In Digital Marketing" TechDogs-"Trend 4: Artificial Intelligence Will Continue To Steal The Spotlight"-"A Meme Showing The Role Of AI In Digital Marketing" 7/9

8. TechDogs-"Trend 5: Virtual And Augmented Reality Will Be In The Spotlight"-"A Meme About AR And VR In Digital Marketing" 8/9

9. TechDogs-"Digital Marketing Trends 2024" 9/9