Bring it 2024!
The New Year is upon us and many of us have already finished our fiscal and business projections / goals for 2024 wanting to get ahead of the game so that we can hit the ground running.
Typically, your marketing strategy for the upcoming year should be done in advance. However, you know as well as I, that trends change minute by minute. So, since we are mere weeks away from the New Year…here are some trends to look for and some strategies to consider.
Influencers
Influencers continue to grow (even for B2B).
Influencer marketing is set to reach approx. $13.8 billion in 2021 and continue to grow. Regardless of the size of your business, consider taking on local and distanced influencers to help your brand grow.
SEO is less game and more integrated.
Search engine optimization is one of the oldest and most valuable forms of digital marketing. As search algorithms have continuously become smarter and more contextual, marketers need to focus less on the "hacks" and "tricks" of SEO and more on providing an outstanding and meaningful experience to their users.
Keep your skills sharp!
According to LinkedIn, digital skills are the most in-demand. Yet there is a big skill gap between the number of businesses searching for digital skills and the skills in the marketplace.
Linkedin is growing
LinkedIn continues to be a rising star in the digital space. Each quarter they show considerable gains in monthly active users and engagements on the platform. They are also continuously launching new features that drive better results for businesses and pages.
Be More Strategic
As automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning take away a lot of the grunt work of digital marketing, marketers must become more strategic. The options in digital marketing continue to grow.
Strategize specifically about what Marketers need to think strategically to focus on what really drives their business growth.
Experiences are the new social currency.
Businesses still clamor to drive word-of-mouth and earn social attention. As the advertising landscape becomes noisier, earned media and word-of-mouth become more important to break through.
Recommendation: Marketers should focus on creating experiences at every stage of their interactions with customers to earn social media word-of-mouth.
Facebook (Meta) doesn't go anywhere.
There are so many headlines about people leaving Facebook, but the truth is that Facebook isn't going anywhere. Facebook now has almost 3 billion users and the user numbers grow every month.
Optimize your website
10. Websites get faster.
Website traffic is overwhelmingly mobile; however, most websites still don't have fully mobile-optimized experiences. As Google launched Core Web Vitals site design, speed will become ever more important.