With over a hundred marketing communication channels available, it’s close to impossible to support all the channels at once, no matter the budget. That’s why in this fast-paced, ever-changing world of marketing, it’s crucial to prioritize the channels that will give you the most bang for your buck.
Now, you might be thinking, “Should I focus solely on digital marketing? What about offline channels? Can they still deliver a good ROI?” In today’s omnichannel and multichannel world, it’s more important than ever to find the right mix of marketing communication channels.
But with so many options out there, how do you know which ones to prioritize? That’s where the world’s pros, official surveys, and hottest marketing trends come in.
So get ready to discover the core marketing communication channels you use this year. Let’s dive in and take your marketing to the next level!
Core marketing tendencies for 2024
While marketers must satisfy the needs of today, they also need to predict and prepare for the forthcoming trends. Lucky for us, the Digital Marketing Institute has analyzed the main marketing trends to anticipate this year, giving us a glimpse of tomorrow.
DMI’s conclusions are grounded in research and detailed interviews with leading CMOs and senior marketing executives worldwide. And let me tell you, there are some exciting changes on the horizon, with a special focus on B2B marketing.
Personalization and user engagement are not going anywhere and will remain the top approaches in marketing communication throughout 2024. But the marketing process’s complexity will be steadily increasing.
Why, you ask? Well, there’re two reasons for this:
- Fast-evolving technology;
- Marketing communication channels formed by interconnected locations and objects.
And here’s where things get really interesting. Technology now allows customers to move back and forth between the conventional and underground cultures (counter-culture), and as a marketer, you have to find a way to efficiently interact with both using multiple communication channels. Yikes!
Admitting this, leading marketing experts claim that this year, they will concentrate specifically on interactive marketing communication channels that allow for the personalization of customer experience.
The top three of them are:
- social media (63%)
- internet (53%)
- mobile apps (47%)
And, sorry, radio, television, and print, but publishing-centric communication channels scored far less.
You’re no longer marketing AT people. You’re influencing them in an environment where they’ve already had a chance to form a view.
CMO at JPMorgan Chase
Marketers have already caught wind of some automated social media campaigns but expect them to become even more prevalent this year.
Automated campaigns are tailored and refined according to responses and can be used to reach new leads in a number of ways, for example:
Content promotions: You can set up automated content promotion campaigns for your website or blog, which helps you increase traffic and engagement with your content.
Delivery schedules: If you don’t have time to post every day on all platforms, no worries! Automated delivery schedules allow you to set up content ahead of time so that posts go live when you want them to, without any extra effort on your part.
This means your brand’s messages will reach new leads that might be interested in the products or services you offer. By refining your audience targeting, you’ll be able to ensure your message reaches the right people at the right time and in the right way.
The growing impact of video content
More and more companies are realizing the power of video content for communicating with their customers and target audiences. And it’s not just for entertainment but also for educating and engaging viewers.
Studies have shown that the human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text, so video content is the perfect way to deliver messages. And guess what? 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, which means the video is the way to go!
While traditional videos are still popular, live streaming and augmented reality have taken the world by storm in the past year and will continue to be a hit in 2024. With video, you can create an immersive experience for your audience, which leads to increased engagement and better brand awareness.
Customer experience is fundamental
Marketing used to be all about providing information to customers, but now search engines and social media have changed the game. Customers can find all the information they need about products and services by themselves. So users already understand what you can give them.
That’s why marketing experts are shifting their focus to customer experience (CX) and creating powerful experiences based on the context to engage customers.
Сompanies strive to get a more comprehensive understanding of customers’ behaviors and preferences to preempt problems in customer journeys. Visioneer companies are already applying modern methods of measuring CX. According to McKinsey’s report, they “regularly, lawfully, and seamlessly collect smartphone and interaction data from across their customer, financial, and operations systems, yielding deep insights about their customers”. The predictive, data-driven insights they collect help these companies to anticipate their customers’ behaviors and identify CX issues and opportunities in real time.
Automation is expected to take over more day-to-day tasks, freeing up time for marketers to focus on strategic initiatives. This includes developing innovative customer journeys and honing in on target audiences.
And that’s not all! AI-driven strategies are becoming more sophisticated and scaled across the enterprise. AI can analyze customer data and provide actionable insights that drive campaigns forward or uncover growth opportunities.
By leveraging automation and AI together, marketers can gain a better understanding of their customers’ preferences and needs, creating the potential for more effective personalization at scale.
So, get ready for the future of marketing, where customer experience is king, and automation and AI are your trusty sidekicks!
New trends in cultivating personalization
As consumers become more independent, businesses embrace new methods to grow brands through engagement and personalization. Let’s have a look at a couple of trends.
✔ Don’t get stuck on a “great idea”
Some time ago, marketing communication used to be clustered around some “big idea.” In other words, a particular idea that represents the product or brand across all the target audiences. Instead, today marketers apply analytical data to generate “big capabilities.” That is, immediately learning the context a user is in and then building personalization of their comprehensive client experience across various devices, platforms, and locations.
✔ Identify your “best reality”
But how do you create a comprehensive picture of your client’s reality? By identifying their “best reality” – a complete understanding of their behavior, preferences, and psychographics. By predicting their next move, you can supervise their actions and create a personalized experience that resonates with them.
✔ Communicate with clients directly, not via advertisements
Direct communication is becoming the new norm as indirect marketing communication, like mass media, is slowly fading away. By communicating directly with your clients through personalization and technology, you can create a connection that resonates with them and builds trust.
✔ Aim to be useful and helpful
Can your product, service or brand be valuable for a client? How? To find out, one consumer products company initiated a partnership with Google to examine over 11 billion global yearly searches linked to salon hair care and styling. Using these reports, the company produced targeted value content for its marketing communication purposes and spread via its online video channel.
✔ Get noticed in the noise by being quieter
Many experts claim the personalized CX approach performs extremely well in an environment overstuffed by marketing information. Companies must help people simplify their lives so that we all don’t lose our minds as this world grows more complicated daily. The brands that concentrate on this idea will open the true potential of CX data.
The experience is the marketing and the experience is what drives performance.
CMO at JPMorgan Chase
Conclusion
All the marketing communication channels are becoming “programmatic.” This term might evoke negative connotations, but the essential concept that most marketing communication channels can be accessed via data input like an API is a powerful idea.
At this time, social marketing communication channels are successfully implementing this idea. The rest of the digital marketing channels are gradually getting on board with it.
In all cases, genuine success is not just about the trends, tools, and channels – it’s still about your product and its value to your customers.
