Media trends can come and go before you can blink. For marketers, this can mean you miss the boat more often than you catch it.
It’s essential to stay on top of the latest digital marketing trends, but with the fast-changing nature of the marketing landscape, you must predict them before they even happen.
So, what are the five media trends to watch in 2024? Next year, the marketing landscape will continue on the path it started in 2023.
We believe that the top 5 media trends to watch in 2024 are:
Read on to learn more about the top 5 marketing trends in 2024 and how to use them.
What Are the Top 5 Marketing Trends for 2024?
In our industry, looking ahead and preparing for the next ‘big thing’ is important. It allows you to get the jump on your competitors, stay ahead of the curve, and create mind-blowing campaigns.
Looking to 2024, the top 5 marketing trends are a continuation, and in some cases an exaggeration, of the trends we’ve begun to see in 2023. We’ve made this easy guide to understanding the top 5 media trends to watch in 2024.
1. Authenticity
We live in a polarized world where truth is often in short supply.
The mainstream media will continue to be widely distrusted in 2024, but this breakdown in trust provides a significant opportunity for communication, marketing, and PR professionals.
We can establish ourselves as credible sources of information, build trust with stakeholders, and ensure the businesses and organizations we represent are seen as ethical, truthful, and competent.
2024 will be the year when authentic businesses and organizations carve out a competitive advantage, build more engaging relationships, and develop resilient and genuine brand identities.
2. Communications with purpose
Hot on the heels of more authentic communication and behavior comes a renewed commitment to purpose.
PR and marketing managers should be focusing on communicating with purpose in 2024.
Purpose-driven PR should be an essential toolkit for any business or organization that claims to have social, cultural, or environmental values. It is vital that these values are evidenced and businesses hold themselves accountable.
Purpose-driven PR can help explain an organization's culture, goals, priorities, and change.
In 2024, the public will continue to be interested in how organizations and businesses support the communities in which they operate and the work culture they are developing.
An increasing number of consumers cite brand values as a reason for buying or supporting a brand.
Socially responsible purchasing will further develop in 2024, and any business evidencing its purpose is giving itself a competitive advantage, whether in the marketplace or in retaining and attracting talent.
The key to success, however, is authenticity. Any attempt to market or PR a positive impact like sustainability, which isn’t backed up by authentic and genuine action, is dangerous and disingenuous. Expect to get called out if your mission doesn’t match your behavior.
3. Micro-communications
Engagement and relationships will be increasingly defined in 2024. PR is about nurturing relationships and building trust to drive goodwill, so expect to see micro-influencers gain even more prominence this coming year.
As influencers’ power increases, clever marketing folk will identify micro-influencers who can carry their message far and wide.
Engaging micro-influencers and carefully managing the narrative is one trend that’s here to stay. Social media isn’t always about volume and reach.
It’s about generating interest and understanding among your key audiences – no matter how small. A low-level influencer can be as powerful as an endorsement by a celebrity, providing higher audience trust and marketing conversion rates.
Get the right message to the right people via the proper channels, and your PR efforts will fly in 2024.
4. AI insights
There will continue to be a major proliferation of AI tools, particularly in measurement and reporting.
Savvy marketers will research and trial tools that help them demonstrate stellar return on investment and engagement. It can be particularly helpful to small businesses that don’t have the workforce to achieve everything they need.
Businesses using AI should be mindful of ethical issues that will continue to challenge early adopters.
Are you declaring your use of assisted technology? Have you checked the quality of the information AI pulls from the internet?
Businesses and organizations circulating false information leave themselves open to reputational risk and claims of spreading misinformation.
Reporting, customer experiences, transcription, editing, and content production AI tools will continue to evolve as we seek to work smarter and more efficiently.
AI has the power to transform how we work but doesn’t offer a solution for bad decisions and behavior. Be mindful of the wide-scale deployment of AI, and always keep a human perspective.
5. Multi-channel marketing
Customers are now exposed to a brand across the broadest range of channels ever seen.
In that vein, 2024 will be the year of multi-channel communication. With the right mix of channels, you will find your audience and be able to guide them on their journey.
Old school methods, such as traditional local media, are becoming more challenging to penetrate. Many regional publications only carry news or information to generate clicks and revenue.
These are often negative stories; businesses or organizations seeking to promote positive stories must be savvier than ever.
That means better targeting, sharper messages, and robust evaluation and measuring to determine what has landed well.
Developing AI measurement tools could help—successful communications, whether marketing, advertising, or PR, rely on creating a strong and consistent presence.
In an ever-evolving digital landscape, innovating and trying new approaches is vital. Can you use a channel you haven’t tried before?
Can you blend channels to extend reach and improve brand recognition? Consider the customer/stakeholder journey and be prepared to engage with people at different stages.
Check out this handy guide on the 7 ways you can use social media to target your audience.
Conclusion
Communicating to different audience groups requires a strategic approach, simple but strong messaging, the use of suitable channels, and often calls for ambitious tactics.
Get the blend right; it will deliver exceptional ROI and a new set of marketing or sales targets by summer.
By following and implementing these 5 media trends before we reach 2024, you can change your digital marketing strategies from ones that jump on a hype train months after it started to one that stay ahead of the curve.
