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The bad news is that marketing won't be that easy in 2024 either. The good news is that using these three predictions to work smarter and harder in the new year will definitely improve your marketing results.
We expect marketers to do more in three key areas: producing video content, collecting first-party data, and keeping humans in the chatbot loop. None of this is easy, but enterprising marketers will be rewarded for following these trends in 2024.
Green light: Marketers go all-in on video
How popular is video content?
According to statistics compiled by Oberlo:
- 91% of consumers want to see more online video content from brands.
- 66% believe short-form videos are the most engaging type of content on social media.
- 86% of marketing professionals use video as a marketing tool.
Clearly, marketers are listening to their customers. However, by 2024, marketers are expected to double or triple their video production.
Video will be here to stay this year, and it's easy to see why. Video channels are a powerful way to generate audience engagement, showcase your products, and build deeper connections with potential customers.
ANA notes that live streaming has gained traction, allowing “real-time interaction and authenticity as brands host live events, product launches, and behind-the-scenes experiences to deliver immersive and engaging content.” We predict that
Smart marketers edit livestreamed events and republish the content as recorded webinars or snippets on social media.
In 2024, another type of video will also gain traction. Video customer feedback.
Most companies survey their customers to find out what's working and what's wrong with their business (NPS, CSAT, etc.). However, in 2024, more companies are expected to collect video customer feedback in addition to the usual written responses.
One interesting use case we've seen with Alchemer is companies collecting American Sign Language (ASL) feedback from customers with speech or physical disabilities. These customers can sign their feedback using our survey platform's video feedback collection product. It's great to be able to help underserved communities by using the power of technology to bring people together.
Red Flag: Marketers are starting to disassociate themselves from third-party data.
Tighter privacy regulations and the decline of third-party cookies are forcing B2B marketers to take a hard look at where they source their leads. In 2024, we expect marketers to sever ties with third-party data vendors and get serious about collecting first-party data.
What does that mean? HubSpot includes a great overview of first-party, second-party, and third-party data. Suffice it to say that list buying is being replaced by list building. This is a long-term commitment, so some companies may be reluctant to make the transition, but the path is clear.
First-party data (data collected directly by a company) allows marketers to personalize campaigns, build long-term customer relationships, and improve the overall customer experience.
Benefits of using first-party data include:
- quality and precision
- Manage customer data and privacy
- Data ownership
- Customization and personalization in marketing campaigns
- Improved targeting
- cost efficiency
Third-party data comes with significant privacy concerns. This is primarily because the data is collected and aggregated by organizations from sources that are not their own customers or users. Important privacy concerns related to third-party data may include whether the user explicitly consented to the sharing of the data, whether the data is accurate, and the origin of the data.
Marketers know it all. However, recent regulations require us to do more and faster.
In 2024, we expect marketers to move away from their reliance on third-party data and get serious about collecting first-party data.
Yellow flag: Marketers need to be careful when deploying AI chatbots
We're going to hear a lot of hype about AI over the next year. Some of them may be wonderfully true. Some of them require a little more caution when applied to your business.
Marketers have long been interested in chatbots, and the promise of generative AI is that algorithms will one day be able to solve customer questions, increase sales, and reduce cart abandonment. . But that day is not today.
While interest in AI chatbots is high, with Statistica reporting that the market is expected to be worth approximately $454.8 million by 2027, marketers are predicting that by 2024, human You should take a cautious approach to chatbots that generate content at the moment of query without using any filters.
Forrester analyst Rowen Curran warned against using autonomously generated AI in chatbots on a recent episode of the podcast “What It Means.” “Right now, if we allow our systems to create arbitrary content, we run the risk of producing content that can have a negative impact on our brand.”Human involvement is at a very high level. ”
That's not to say that B2B marketers and their customer support representatives won't embrace AI. B2B marketers are using generative AI to create content at an unprecedented scale. Customer support agents can use AI to pull up relevant help articles during a call.
AI can and will become part of the marketing mix for the foreseeable future.
But be especially careful about customer-facing generative AI. A fully autonomous AI chatbot carries too many risks. Humans are still needed.
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Marketing won't be that easy in 2024, but knowing these three trends ahead of time will help you prepare for next year.
To set yourself up for success this year, dust off your video cameras, prepare your first-party data collection, and keep humans in the chatbot loop.
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