The past year has brought on revolutionary changes for digital marketing. AI is reshaping how B2B companies market online and this is only the beginning. You can expect to see more changes in 2024 as AI matures and digital marketing continues to evolve.
Let’s take a look at the top trends for digital marketing in 2024 and what you need to do to get results and thrive online in the coming year.
We’ll start with a brief history lesson.
Massive Changes in Digital Marketing Over 25 Years
Digital marketing has changed dramatically over the past 25 years. It has gone from being a novelty to being synonymous with marketing itself. I designed and launched my first website in 1998 and this experience has provided me with unique perspectives.
Websites in the early days of the internet were not much more than online brochures. At the time, I had a novel idea. Why not write content to help people do their job better and enhance their lives and put that content on websites? I did not know it at the time, but I was at the dawn of content marketing and the beginning of digital marketing as we know it today.
Along the way there have been many trends, disruptions and fads. The influence of mobile, the growth of Wi-Fi, social media, COVID, the ability for users to post unlimited content online, and now AI tools like ChatGPT (backed by Microsoft) have all influenced digital marketing as we know it today.
In 2020, COVID supercharged digital marketing. People spent more time online during the shutdowns, and companies were forced to market online. It was a turning point for many businesses who finally had to get serious about their websites and digital marketing efforts.
In the age of AI, digital marketing continues to evolve. AI is supercharging content marketing and pushing digital marketing into new uncharted areas. ChatGPT and Google’s Bard are having an enormous impact on digital marketing strategies, market research, content, apps and more.
AI and Digital Marketing
AI is having the biggest impact on digital marketing since the introduction of mobile. Companies that leverage AI in their marketing efforts will gain an advantage over competitors.
Here are a few ways your marketing team can use AI tools in the coming year to drive results from digital marketing:
- Write fantastic and engaging digital content using AI as a first draft.
- Prepare a checklist of the benefits and risks of your product and services.
- Use those benefits and risks to write content for your website’s homepage and key landing pages.
- Use AI to help write a direct and clear homepage tagline for your website and put it in the banner.
- Write personas of your ideal customers and how to get your content found by them in their research.
- Use AI tools to write content your key personas want to read when evaluating your services and products.
- Use AI to write first draft, thought-leadership content for your website, social and email marketing campaigns.
- Develop interactive tools for your website such as calculators and forms.
Take advantage of AI tools to improve what you already do well and save time and money. Always, have a human edit and revise AI generated content and use a hybrid of AI and human written content in your digital marketing and on your website.
Changes Coming to Google
Keep a close eye on Google in 2024. AI has rocked Google’s world as the massive company attempts to find a way to monetize AI and not conflict with revenue from Google Ads, which is how Google makes money. AI poses a threat to Google’s business model, even though Google is partly responsible for creating AI!
AI will change how people use search engines and eventually force Google to make changes in order to keep users on the Google website and make money from Google Ads.
People have options and no one has a contract to use Google for research. Users will happily switch to methods that are more convenient and get results faster. AI has the potential to do that starting in 2024.
Be ready for these changes by watching the sources of your website traffic and how they change in 2024. Make it a point in 2024 to know how people discover your brand for the first time using online research channels.
AI and Online Research – The Principles of EEAT
In 2024, online researchers will expect Google to function more like ChatGPT. People will begin turning to AI tools for researching purchasing options as opposed to Google.
The best way to make sure your website and digital content is ready is by focusing on the principles of EEAT. Expertise, experience, authority and trustworthiness (EEAT) must be communicated clearly in your digital content. This approach will translate best to get found in AI searches to come from tools like Bard and ChatGPT. This will also help you get found and be ready for the transition to voice activated search using AI tools.
Voice Activated Search
This is a key trend that will start to get traction in 2024. AI tools will eventually make voice activated search reliable and useful on mobile devices.
Apple will have a great impact when it makes the iPhone an AI powered device. Apple will have to pick between Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s ChatGPT. My guess is they will go with Bard because of their history with Google and the need for Google to monetize AI.
Make sure to be using Google Analytics 4 in 2024 and have it customized to track your website’s data and metrics. This is critical to measure the results from voice activated searches to come in the near future.
SEO Tactics for 2024
SEO is alive and well in 2024. It is more important than ever to help your company grow sales and to get your brand found by new customers.
Here are a few key SEO tactics to grow website visits from Google searches:
- Write engaging content using AI for first drafts.
- Repurpose old website content using AI to write a new and updated version.
- Focus on local content and local SEO results.
- Get keywords into web page title tags and write meaningful meta descriptions.
- Focus on overall traffic, not just keywords but long tail searches as well that come from having depth of content.
- Keep the website fresh with regular content and design updates.
- Build a hierarchy in the navigation menu that makes sense for users and that is easy for Google to index.
- Review the combined results from both paid and organic search and sync up Google Ads with your SEO data.
All of these tactics will prove useful as AI plays a more active role in driving search results and helping people research buying options on their devices.
Collect Emails and Grow Your Database
Google’s privacy updates in 2024 will make it harder than ever to track people that engage with your digital content. The solution is to collect email addresses and build a database.
Develop and launch a monthly email newsletter and collect email addresses on your website homepage. Write eBooks, put on webinars and other content that requires an email for the user to access. Use tools like HubSpot to monitor people in your database and send them regular, high-value, email communications.
The Big Three Digital Channels
Google search, social media and email marketing are the three most important digital channels for the online researcher in 2024. Develop a plan for each area in 2024 and track the results closely in Google Analytics 4. These channels have proven to be the most popular and must be part of your digital strategies in 2024.
Finally, put the effort into having a great website in your market space. Your website is at the core of your brand and marketing strategies.
Summary
Don’t delay effective digital marketing in 2024. Take advantage of AI as an amazing resource for your marketing team to get things done and move quickly. Get your website content in order and focus on traffic growth from Google, social media, and effective email marketing newsletters and campaigns.
The growth of your company is dependent on how you get found by the online researcher. Getting more people on your website translates to more people in your sales funnel and more qualified prospects and customers. This leads to growth, a larger company and wins over your competitors.
Embrace these key digital marketing trends in 2024 and fuel your company’s growth.
