3 Digital marketing trends to watch in 2024

It may feel like it is impossible to keep up with digital marketing trends, but with the explosion of AI tools, new software and all the shiny new things, it can feel overwhelming. No matter what the interweb experts say, it is a continuous learning journey that we are all on together.

At Crisp Apple we come across lots of new shiny things every day, so we want to help to keep you up to date with some of the most relevant, user-friendly digital marketing trends that can give your business a competitive edge.

Ai Text-To-Video Creation

AI software that can create video content from text instructions. AI is rapidly evolving from its first attempts to create visual and video content. The weird and wonky test results that had images of people with 6 fingers or 5 legs and pigs with 3 sets of eyes are almost firmly in the rearview mirror.

Sora is an Open AI programme that can create realistic videos from text instructions. Check out this Wooly Mammoth video it made.

Voice Friendly Search

The rise of voice search has completely changed the way search queries and behaviour are handled and delivered. 

Smart speakers, AI and virtual assistants like Siri are driving voice search optimisation as more and more people opt for hands-free, voice-activated tech. Content that is optimised for voice search is going to be a strong positioning tool for SEO in the not-so-near future. Watch this space!

Voice Search Tips

Optimise your content by adding long-tail keywords, positioning them as part of answers to questions that people might ask using voice search. Keep your answers to 30 words or less for optimal reach. For example, instead of using the phrase “bridesmaids dresses” try to use a longer, more specific phrase such as “long sleeve bridesmaids’ dresses with online delivery in New Zealand”

Digital Personalisation

High-tech digital personalisation used to be a merge tag that pulled someone’s name into an email. It was cutting-edge stuff. But that’s old news. 

These days personalised content and data-curated experiences are the benchmark, with consumers having very high expectations of their needs not only being met in every step of the customer journey but being anticipated as well.

Which is probably all standard stuff already if you’re operating an enterprise-sized e-commerce empire. 

But what does that look like for the rest of us who aren’t? The best way we can describe it is if you think about personalisation as a marketing strategy. 

Personalisation Marketing

Think about some of the things you can do to make your customer feel seen, remembered and heard in a way that relates to your business. You don’t need fancy software and a team of AI bots to get the job done, but you don’t need to rush out and print flyers to drop in post boxes, either.

Here are some examples.

• Break up your email database

Organise your email database into groups of customers and send each group emails that are specific just for them.  Instead of sending out a generic email to everyone. 

Programs that you might already be using like MailerLite and MailChimp already have these types of functionality and so much more. You can even set up systems to automatically tag customers into these groups based on where they came from, what form they filled in or what page on your website they opted in on.

• Get to know your customers

Where do they hang out online? What social media channels do they use? Lots of people use social media as a search engine, so take the time to find out so you can show up in the right places.

• Send out surveys

 Ask your customers and clients what they want, what they thought of their experience or purchase and get the information directly from them.

• Use personalisation tags

Personalisation tags can be used for things like tagging recipient names, address, previous purchases, inquiries and even their birthday. Just be sure to have a robust privacy policy in place and transparency around how this information is collected and used.

It doesn’t matter if your business is a global brand or local store, there are lots of exciting options you can implement to improve your customer’s experience with you. That old-school touch but in a digital world.

Keen to get some of these ideas for your business? Have a chat with us at Crisp Apple. We’d love to hear from you.