5 Marketing Trends Shaping Businesses of All Sizes

Remember how all the 2023 marketing trends exploded with the introduction of ChatGPT? We do, too.

So, it’s probably no surprise that the 2024 marketing trends we’re covering in this article are our attempt to grapple with how AI continues to reshape digital marketing trends. At the same time, the rise of AI means that finding ways to connect with audiences and build trust is MORE important than ever.

In this article, we’ll discuss the five major marketing trends reshaping the business world in 2024 (AI-powered personalization, community building, genuine branding, short-form video content, UGC, and influencer marketing) and include some additional trends to watch. Read until the end for those!

AI-powered personalization

What is this marketing trend?

AI-powered personalization leverages AI to tailor marketing to individual customers based on past interactions. It’s using machine learning to deliver personalized content, recommendations, and experiences.

Put simply, AI will be able to gather and interpret even more data about consumers, which brands can use to provide more personalized experiences to every customer.

This might sound scary, but it’s generally a really good thing. As long as companies only use ethically collected data gathering, AI-powered personalization can help you find what you’re looking for more quickly.

How will this change in 2024?

In 2024, AI capabilities will continue to advance, creating more precise personalization in real time–we’ve already seen this happen!

With each advancement, businesses can predict consumer behavior more accurately. As they use that knowledge to offer customized experiences, engagement and conversion rates will grow.

How can brands take advantage of this trend?

Here’s how to leverage AI-powered personalization for your brand:

• Use AI to analyze customer data. Once you obtain insights, use them in your email marketing campaigns, website content, ads, and product recommendations.
• Look into ChatBots. Thanks to AI, chatbots are getting more sophisticated. If done right, these AI virtual assistants can save you money and frustration by fielding customer questions.

How can creators take advantage of this trend?

If you’re a creator, here’s how you can leverage this for your content creation business:

• Use AI-powered editing tools (like ChatGPT) to streamline your video creation process. You can draft tailored scripts for videos, allowing you to focus on the more creative aspects of video production.
• Start using AI to generate photos or videos. The tech isn’t where we’d like it to be, but if you start playing with it now, you’ll be ready to use it when it improves.
• Check & add the human touch. When using AI tools, always check the content you’ve created and add a human touch–AI-generated drafts still tend to sound robotic.

Community building and genuine branding

What is this marketing trend?

These trends in marketing emphasize the importance of genuine connections. Authenticity and transparency are key components of both community building and authentic branding.

…And yes, we know this was ALWAYS important, but with AI taking over the internet, it’s even more critical now.

As personal connection fades into the sea of AI-generated workflows and content, the brands that build genuine connections and maintain an authentic, human voice will win the long-term game.

How will this change in 2024?

As AI-generated content becomes more ubiquitous, consumers will crave authentic interactions and genuine brand voices. Community-building will be critical for building customer trust and loyalty–because you can’t fake that.

How can brands take advantage of this trend?

If you haven’t already started to build a community around your brand, 👏 get to it!👏

Don’t worry–you don’t have to start a Discord server or Slack channel for your customers if you don’t want to. Make an effort to interact regularly with the people who already love your brand. You can do this through social media, forums, and online and offline events. Ask for UGC and customer testimonials, and reward those who deliver.

How can creators take advantage of this trend?

Honestly, this is *pretty* similar to the advice we just gave brands: Don’t neglect your community.

You can build and maintain a loyal community by regularly engaging with your audience through comments, live sessions, and interactive content.

Be authentic and super transparent–only share your real opinions and experiences to connect with your audience on a deeper level. It can be tempting to work with any brand that will hire you, but you’ll be better off in the long run if you only work with brands you genuinely admire. It’s unbelievable how easily viewers can sense when you’re being fake–don’t lose their trust for a bit of cash.

User-generated content or UGC

What is this marketing trend?

User-generated content is when customers create videos about their experience with a brand and post them online. It might seem pretty straightforward, but it’s become a whole industry.

How will this change in 2024?

Not to sound like a broken record, but AI is making genuine content EVEN MORE valuable because customers will get tired of hearing brand-generated content. They will want to hear the truth from real people like them. So, you’ll see businesses scrambling to fill this need by encouraging and curating all the UGC they can find.

How can brands take advantage of this trend?

There are a few ways you can jump on the UGC train for your brand:

• Encourage your customers to leave reviews, share testimonials, and make UGC. If your customers aren’t naturally doing this (and don’t worry–it’s a struggle for every brand), offer incentives like discounts or giveaways for participation.
• Highlight user-generated content in your marketing campaigns and social media channels, including UGC videos and testimonials.
• Use a UGC Platform (like Clip!) to source UGC content from phenomenal content creators!

How can creators take advantage of this trend?

As a creator, you are also a business owner, so the tips here are pretty similar:

• Encourage your followers to share how you’ve helped them decide while buying something–this speaks VOLUMES.
• Engage with your fans through comments and replies, highlighting them on your channels. These conversations will likely generate UGC that you can use (with permission!)
• Take a business approach to branding: get testimonials that speak to how great you are to work with.
• Bonus–if you love creating videos, consider becoming a UGC creator yourself!

Short-form video content

What is this marketing trend?

Short-form videos are, well… short. Usually, they’re under 60 seconds, capture the viewer’s attention quickly, deliver a message in vertical format, and then GET OUT OF THE WAY. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have made this format super popular with audiences, and we’re pretty sure that will only grow in the future.

How will this change in 2024?

As short-form videos grow, businesses will incorporate them into their marketing strategies even more. The algorithms on these platforms increasingly favor short-form videos, meaning brands must adapt to stay visible.

How can brands take advantage of this trend?

If you want to take advantage of the shift toward short-form content for your brand, here’s how:

• Focus your social media strategy on creating short-form content and posting on platforms that are friendly toward it. By that, we mostly mean TikTok, but you can post on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, too.
• Leverage trends for short-form videos, like participating in trending challenges and hashtags. This will help you increase visibility and engagement.

How can creators take advantage of this trend?

As a creator, you have an advantage with this one–short-form video is all about being creative and telling stories succinctly! Here’s how to make the most of it:

• Master short-form storytelling. Focus on creating compelling and engaging short-form videos that capture attention quickly, using hooks and other storytelling techniques.
• Ride the trend waves. Stay up-to-date on the latest trends and challenges on platforms like TikTok and Instagram to keep your content fresh and engaging.

Influencer marketing

What is this marketing trend?

Influencer marketing is when brands collaborate with social media influencers to promote products and services. They might work with nano influencers (someone with a few thousand followers) or celebrities with millions of followers.

How will this change in 2024?

Brands have generally followed the idea that “More is more” when it comes to an influencer’s social media following. Unfortunately, more is usually less.

In 2024, you’ll see brands shifting their focus toward working with micro and nano influencers due to their higher engagement rates and cost-effectiveness. More prominent influencers will still get brand deals, of course. Still, savvy marketers realize that hiring a few micro-influencers is much more cost-effective than a big influencer because smaller influencers generally have a more loyal and engaged following.

How can brands take advantage of this trend?

There’s only one clear takeaway: Focus on working with nano and micro-influencers yourself. They’re more affordable and will usually get you better results.

How can creators take advantage of this trend?

The good news for creators is that follower sizes will start to matter less–what’s important is having an ENGAGED community. So, focus on building a small but mighty army of engaged followers. You can foster this by engaging with your followers and, when you DO get brand deals, working only with brands that align with your values and audience.

Other marketing trends

We’ve already covered the five most impactful current marketing trends, but there were a couple of honorable mentions we wanted to cover, too:

AI-generated content

AI tools for content creation (text and images, mainly) are becoming more advanced and widely used. When you use them for your brand, make sure you strike a balance between artificially generated content and genuine, human-made content.

It’s good to get ahead of the curve on this one–just ensure that you’re still staying true to your brand and including lots of opportunities for real human connection, as we discussed earlier.

Voice search optimization

SEO is evolving, just like everything else, with the rise of AI-powered and voice search.

You can optimize content for voice search by making it user-centric. But, to be honest, we’re still in the early stages of this. You probably shouldn’t make it your #1 priority because information will be hard to find, and the learning curve will be steep.

Final thoughts

We know you’re probably tired of hearing about how “AI will change everything.” Online experts go a little overboard with their claims sometimes. But there is a bit of truth to it, too–as you can see from the marketing trends we’ve covered in this article.

Our advice? Ride the AI wave slowly. Experiment with it and use it, but don’t neglect to build community and authentic connections with your customers and followers.

If you can nail the mix of using AI to save time so that you have more opportunities to connect with people, you will win.