Just like mullets, wide leg-jeans and bucket hats, trends in marketing come and go so it’s always useful to review current trends in marketing, whether it’s to get inspiration, improve the performance of your next campaign, or just to geek out.
Let’s review some of the most popular marketing trends of 2024, find out why they were so popular see if you should be following the same trends in 2025.
AI is here to stay
ChatGPT, chatbots, Claude and DALL-E are just some of the generative AI tools that marketers have started incorporating within their campaigns. With search engines displaying more AI generated results, responses and curated product selections, AI is helping companies to achieve what would have been impossible for them before.
While there are justifiable concerns about the use of AI – and it can easily go too far (I’m looking at you Toys R Us and Coca Cola), generative AI enables marketers to do more for less, faster and that makes it an invaluable tool for marketing campaigns and strategies.
As there are constant updates to generative AI, marketers are constantly finding new ways to make their workflows more efficient. Whether it’s for scheduling posts, conducting competitor research or automating responses to online comments, it’s all helping marketing teams get more done.
We’ve been using AI in some of our campaigns – We’ve been penning some of our social media posts with the help of AI, using it to simplify some of our more choresome tasks, and we generated an impression of what an artificial beach might look like at the Lincolnshire Show to promote the new attraction.
Don’t sleep on TikTok
Love it or hate it, TikTok has proven to be a powerful social platform. Since its user spike during the pandemic, TikTok is still thriving and providing an effective marketing space for the right campaigns.
Short-form, easily digestible content with a focus on human interest is a refreshing way to showcase a brand or specific product with little to no upfront advertising capital.
With total users continuing to grow to a total of over 1 billion users as of 2024, TikTok is a new marketing tool that is here for the long haul – and no, it’s not just Gen-Z who use it.
Lately, we’ve been finding that clients can reach bigger, more targeted audiences through TikTok than through traditional media so it’s formed a key part of many of our campaigns.
For example, this video we shot for Lincolnshire Show gave 28k people a flavour of the excitement the Show offers beyond the headline events, while the new TikTok page we made for Lincolnshire Institute of Technology has become a key part of our ongoing campaign.
Shifting SEO Strategy
The uptick in the appearance of AI within search results has shaken up the SEO sphere, with many marketers revisiting their initial strategies and altering them to reflect the drastic change to the SERP (search engine results page). However, according to HubSpot, 92% of marketers planned to increase or maintain their SEO investments in 2024.
Sure, perhaps some traditional SEO strategies are now obsolete, but marketers are expanding their original SEO efforts to video, image and audio search content, prioritising user experience.
The rise of the micro-influencer
Consumers need more than a cliche endorsement from a celebrity influencer. Genuine (and not-so-genuine) reviews from relatable content creators are starting to prove to be more effective. This has led to an increase in ‘micro-influencers’ on social media platforms, particularly within the short-form video sphere.
These ‘smaller’ influencers or reviewers have fewer followers than major celebrities, but they often have higher engagement rates with followers, making them a more lucrative choice when it comes to brands and ad campaigns.
Sustainability with a purpose
The younger generations are a lot more planet-focussed, with more individuals choosing to opt for environmentally friendly and socially conscious brands, and reaching less for fast-fashion alternatives that often come with questionable practices.
Although more consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious, they’re also becoming more aware of greenwashing, a term used to describe brands that portray a more greener image without actually being environmentally friendly.
It’s important to remain genuine with your branding whilst striving to make greener choices with your products or services in order to find a sustainable solution that your customers will appreciate in the long-run.
It’s not just Gen Z who appreciate sustainability – it’s a key value for a huge section of society; even the King is an environmentalist!
Going forward, those who make real, genuine commitments to be sustainable will be in a very strong position with a demographic that is only growing stronger in their influence and their buying power.
Keeping up with marketing trends
So there you have it, our round-up of the most notable marketing trends of 2024. As a digital marketing team, we’re always looking out for the hottest new trends, methods or technologies that can help improve campaigns for our clients.
Whether you want to refresh your brand appearance, change up your marketing strategy or improve your audience reach, get in touch with our team of digital marketers.
