Looking Ahead to the Marketing Trends Best for Your Business

At the beginning of a new year, everyone makes predictions on the next marketing trends. These are the ones we think you should keep in mind:

Don’t give up.

Economists are still debating whether there will be a recession. If there is, many small businesses will feel pressure to cut their marketing budgets. Historically, experts warn, that has not worked out well. Instead, look for cuts elsewhere and be as creative as possible in stretching out your marketing dollars. Remember, too, that if your competition is pulling back, that gives you even better odds for your own campaigns.

SEO is your best ROI.

When it comes to allocating your budget, optimizing your website is probably the best return on your investment. Having the research done on what your prospective customer is looking for, where they are searching, and what words they use will pay you back on your website pages, your blog content, your social media feeds, and so on. SEO work also doesn’t shut off immediately like the end of an advertising campaign, giving you a little breathing room.

Simple is good.

Everything is all too much and that includes advertising. More and more, people are tuning out pop-ups and flashing banners. What’s catching their eye instead is minimalistic design that get the message across immediately. The message isn’t necessarily “Buy this!” Rather, the message is “This will make your life easier or more beautiful or more envy-inspiring.” Simple can be less expensive, too.

Personalization is more vital but more challenging.

While the personalization trend is flourishing, the tools for identifying characteristics in prospective customers are being reined back because of exploitation by bad actors. Privacy concerns make people less likely to share information and make governments more likely to enact protective laws. But since folks really respond to personalization, small businesses will need to create new ways to know their customers.

Email is STILL not dead.

Although it’s been predicted over and over again, the death of email is not this year either. Instead, email can be one of the tools that will help small businesses gather the data needed to personalize marketing strategies. New design and content trends can help remake this old tool for 2024.

AI is useful for everyone.

Now that we’ve all played around with AI, it’s time to learn how to use it properly for our businesses. Yes, it can help create content, but it can do so much more. Since customer data is going to be harder to come by, AI can help us analyze the data we do have so we can use it for marketing and personalization. One option for personalization is offering a chatbot on your business website, something that is also available through AI.

Jumping on each and every one of these trends should not be your goal. Instead, choose one to start with and decide what you want to achieve and how you will measure your progress. Keep your eyes open for discussions about the other trends so you’ll be informed when it’s time to choose a new goal. Certainly, no one can predict the future, but since the trends we talked about here are improvements on carryovers from the past year, they are a pretty safe bet.

As always, the team at Sprocket Websites would love to work with you in 2024 and help you reach your marketing goals. From free SEO audits to managed websites to social media services, we are your digital marketing partner. Call us today to learn more!

Photo by cottonbro studio

Kate GingoldKate Gingold

I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

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