💡 KEY INSIGHTS
As we delve into the dynamic world of marketing, it's crucial to stay ahead of the curve. One pivotal trend reshaping the industry is Inbound Marketing, a strategy that's increasingly relevant in our digital age.
On top of that, the lead acquisition cost for inbound marketing is at least 67% less than that of outbound marketing!
Inbound Marketing places the power back in the hands of consumers, fostering organic engagement rather than intrusive advertising. It's not just a fleeting trend; it's a fundamental shift in how businesses connect with their audience.
As we step into 2024, what's essential for your marketing strategy? Our industry experts are ready to navigate you through the 9 inbound marketing trends for the year ahead.
Meet Our Experts
Our team comprises industry-leading experts in fields ranging from design and marketing to growth strategies, each bringing a wealth of experience and unparalleled knowledge to the table.
Vlad is a founder of MarketSplash and its parent company Empact Partners. Vlad is a serial entrepreneur & SaaS founder with 10+ years of experience in the tech industry. Vlad is deeply passionate about digital publishing, software, and growth marketing.
Shanal, the Chief Editor at MarketSplash has diverse experience in content strategy and digital publishing. Her skills extend to integrating AI tools, managing social media, and navigating affiliate partnerships, reflecting her deep passion for the tech and publishing sectors. She is passionate about writing, research, and innovative tools in the marketing niche.
Juxhina is a content creator, editor, and researcher. She has an MSc degree in Communication Science from the University of Vienna and 10+ years of experience in the tech industry. She is passionate about startups, SEO marketing, content creation, art, and photography.
Jini Reddy is an experienced professional who excels in Psychology, Project Management, Finance, and HR. Known for her excellent, conflict resolution and communication skills, she creates a positive, collaborative work environment at Empat Partners. She is skilled in balancing diverse organizational roles, while emphasizing operational efficiency and employee well-being.
Sharné is an artist, digital designer, researcher, and informal educator by training. She has 5+ years' experience in the SaaS industry as a Product Marketing Manager and Head of Customer Support. She supports a handful of remarkable SaaS brands in achieving sustainable business growth through targeted online content.
Trend 1: Short-Form Video Content
Short video content first gained popularity among younger audiences through platforms such as Vine and Instagram. Today, brief video clips are thriving across all age groups and demographics on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
If you're not incorporating video platforms into your inbound marketing strategy for 2024, you'll miss a significant portion of your potential target audience, regardless of your industry.
Examples Of Short-Form Video Content:
- TikTok Videos: TikTok is known for its short, creative, and entertaining videos, covering a wide range of topics from dancing and lip-syncing to cooking and DIY tutorials.
- Instagram Reels: Similar to TikTok, Instagram Reels allows users to create and share short video clips, often featuring music, special effects, and filters.
- YouTube Shorts: YouTube's answer to short-form videos, Shorts are vertical videos of up to 60 seconds that are typically more concise and informal than traditional YouTube content.
- Snapchat Stories: Snapchat allows users to create short video stories that disappear after 24 hours, encouraging quick and engaging updates.
Why Marketers Use Video Marketing
| Reason | Share of Marketers |
|---|---|
| Helps increase traffic | 87% |
| Helps increase Dwell Time | 82% |
| Helps increase understanding of product or service | 94% |
| Helps generate leads | 86% |
| Helps directly increase sales | 81% |
| Helps reduce support calls | 49% |
| Helps increase brand awareness | 93% |
| Helps generate good ROI | 87% |
Video content is no longer exclusive to fashion brands and social activist groups. Lawyers, dentists, and HVAC companies are now leveraging video to promote their services.
Video marketing has become an essential component of the inbound marketing strategies for numerous companies in 2024, so make sure it's a part of your strategy as well.
James Wedmore's statement highlights the critical role of Short-Form Video Content in modern marketing strategies.
As an authority in digital marketing, Wedmore's insights are particularly relevant for businesses looking to thrive in a digital landscape.
Stop thinking of video marketing as this separate entity that is optional for your business. Video is an effective form of communication that needs to be integrated into each and every aspect of your existing marketing efforts.
Wedmore emphasizes the necessity of integrating video marketing seamlessly into all areas of a business's marketing efforts.
By doing so, he suggests that Short-Form Video Content is not just an optional tool, but a fundamental aspect of effective communication in the digital age.
This perspective underscores the transformative impact that Short-Form Video Content can have on how businesses engage with their audience, convey their message, and build their brand in an increasingly digital world.
Trend 2: Influencer + Social Media Marketing
Utilizing influencers for social media marketing is renowned for generating impressive return on investment (ROI) for B2C brands.
Leveraging interactive content in an inbound marketing campaign aimed at an existing follower base is a highly effective strategy.
Examples Of Influencer + Social Media Marketing:
- Product Endorsements: Influencers promote a product or service to their followers through posts, videos, or stories. For instance, a fitness influencer partnering with a sports brand to showcase their athletic wear during workouts.
- Giveaways and Contests: Brands collaborate with influencers to run contests or giveaways. Followers participate by engaging with the influencer's content or following the brand's social media accounts. This boosts brand exposure and engagement.
- Unboxing and Reviews: Influencers unbox and review products, providing honest feedback. This type of content can build trust and influence purchase decisions. For example, a tech influencer reviewing the latest smartphone.
- Guest Posts or Takeovers: Influencers temporarily take over a brand's social media account to create content or engage with the brand's audience. This cross-promotion can introduce the influencer's followers to the brand and vice versa.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness through video content is a strong way to reach your target audience. Since we know 69% of people want to learn about new products using video, it makes sense to pair video marketing with the influencers your target audience already follows and trusts.
Existing Audiences
Marketing campaigns can spend a lot of money identifying and targeting the best audience to generate relevant traffic. Using an influencer makes this easy because they already have organic traffic produced at their expense. Instead of finding the right audience, you only have to find the right influencer.
Consumer Testing
Consumer behavior on social media is different than on a search engine results page. Social media focuses on interactive content through engagement. Likes, shares, comments, and follows are all part of the way people use social media. This makes it an ideal way to test how customers interact with your brand and services.
In Europe and the United States, fashion, cosmetics, and luxury marketers have ranked influencers into different tiers based on their perceived effectiveness.
- Micro-Influencers (10K-100K followers) – 45.8% of respondents agreed that these were the most effective.
- Macro-Influencers (101K-500K) – 33.6% believed that these were the most effective.
- Mega-Influencers (501K-1.5M) – 9.3% indicated that these were the most effective.
- Celebrity Influencers (1.5M+) – 11.3% reported that these were the most effective.
As evident, the size of an influencer does not always correlate with their effectiveness. Therefore, it is crucial to closely track the performance of your influencer marketing campaigns.
A recommended approach is to conduct several influencer marketing campaigns involving influencers with varying audience sizes.
By comparing the outcomes, you can determine which audience size yields the most favorable return on your inbound marketing investment.
Trend 3: Podcasts & AudioBooks
Interactive content in the form of videos isn't the sole option for marketing leaders. Audio, including podcasts, talk shows, and audiobooks, presents a viable avenue for generating inbound traffic.
There are 464.7 million podcast listeners globally as of 2023. This number is predicted to reach 504.9 million by 2024.
In the past, traditional advertising heavily utilized audio, particularly through radio ads, to enhance brand recognition across various regions, including towns, cities, and larger areas.
For brands aiming to educate consumers, connect with a somewhat older demographic, and boost audience engagement, podcasts can serve as a potent inbound marketing approach.
Examples Of Podcasts & AudioBooks:
- Emerging Genres in Podcasts and Audiobooks: Identifying new and popular genres or themes that are gaining traction. This could include true crime, wellness, science fiction, or educational podcasts and audiobooks.
- Technological Innovations: Discussing the latest technological advancements in the production and distribution of podcasts and audiobooks. This might cover new formats, platforms for distribution, or interactive features that enhance the listening experience.
- Influential Creators and Narrators: Highlighting key figures in the industry who are setting trends, whether they are podcast hosts, authors, or narrators known for their distinctive style or content.
- Audience Trends: Analyzing current trends in listener demographics, preferences, and behaviors. This could include insights into what types of content are resonating with different age groups or communities.
of people prefer podcasts over TV
prefer podcasts over social media
of people listen to podcasts to learn new things
If your marketing strategy involves a phase dedicated to engaging customers and enhancing their knowledge, incorporating podcasts can be an effective approach.
This medium serves as a valuable tool in reaching and educating your audience within the learning segment of your marketing funnel.
Trend 4: Chat Bots & Messaging Apps
One highly valuable but surprisingly underused function is the utilization of chatbots.
In today's world of immediate satisfaction, where, especially in major urban areas, a morning online order can be at your doorstep by nightfall, your business is competing with these high expectations for customer contentment.
Chatbots have a presence in approximately 17% of marketing efforts.
Whether your business provides products or services, the ability to provide customers with instant responses to their inquiries is crucial; otherwise, they may seek alternatives elsewhere.
Examples Of Messaging Apps:
- WhatsApp: A widely used messaging app that allows users to send text messages, voice messages, video calls, and share images and documents. It's known for its end-to-end encryption.
- Facebook Messenger: A messaging app and platform developed by Facebook. It allows users to send messages, exchange photos, videos, stickers, audio, and files, as well as react to other users' messages and interact with bots.
- WeChat: A Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. It offers services like messaging, social media, and even financial transactions.
- Telegram: A cloud-based instant messaging, video telephony, and voice over IP service with end-to-end encrypted video calling, VoIP, file sharing, and several other features.
| The most common use | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| Sales | 41% |
| Support | 37% |
| Marketing | 17% |
| Others | 5% |
Contemplate the inclusion of a chat function on your website. Implement a floating invitation that warmly invites website visitors to receive tailored and valuable responses to their inquiries.
Be mindful when configuring your automated replies to align with user intentions. Avoid causing frustration in potential customers prior to engaging in direct communication with them.
Chatbots represent a new trend in how people access information, make decisions and communicate.
Pitts emphasizes the innovative nature of chatbots as a trend, suggesting that they are not just tools, but a shift in how individuals seek information, make decisions, and interact with one another.
This perspective indicates that chatbots and messaging apps are becoming integral in the digital age, transforming the traditional methods of communication and information processing.
Trend 5: Evergreen Content Is King
Producing valuable content has stood out as a prominent trend in inbound marketing for the past 25 years, and it is expected to maintain its significance for the foreseeable future. But what exactly is meant by "evergreen content"?
Evergreen content pertains to the enduring lifespan and sustained utility of a piece of content. For instance, the core concept of this blog post is considered evergreen content. However, some might contend that it doesn't strictly qualify as evergreen because we update it annually to align with the latest inbound marketing trends.
In essence, evergreen content should typically be infrequent, enduring assets that require minimal maintenance and continue delivering value to consumers over an extended duration.
Examples Of Evergreen Content Is King:
- Investing in paid media, email marketing, and maintaining a sales team all come with significant expenses, and these costs tend to increase as time goes on. On the other hand, adopting inbound marketing strategies centered around interactive content can prove to be a considerably more budget-friendly and, consequently, cost-effective approach.
- Leveraging artificial intelligence to pinpoint valuable search queries and directing them toward lead generation enhances the efficiency of inbound marketing carried out through content creation.
- The presence on social media dramatically amplifies both the reach and engagement levels for new content. Consumers now have an easier time interacting with their preferred brands and sharing their favorite products, thanks to the convenience offered by social media platforms.
Best Types of Content Marketing
These statistics highlight the diversity and volume of content production. Firms truly dedicated to content marketing are consistently investing in premium content on a weekly basis.
Trend 6: Mobile Apps
Mobile devices have become an integral part of daily life, frequently used for a variety of tasks. These include navigating to new destinations, organizing meetings, setting reminders, and conducting online shopping.
While this extensive use of smartphones and tablets presents a great chance for delivering marketing content, it simultaneously poses a challenge.
In 2023, mobile apps will yield revenue exceeding $935 billion.
Numerous website owners neglect to develop dedicated mobile websites, opting instead to depend on sites that are merely "mobile-friendly," and they often just cross their fingers and hope for positive outcomes.
Here’s Why You Should Build A Mobile App As Soon As Possible:
- Utilizing your mobile application allows for enhanced personalization due to its capacity to gather a wealth of customer data. Employing machine learning on this data can potentially boost lead generation from your customer base.
- Push notifications grounded in customer information represent a superior form of interactive communication compared to traditional email messages. These notifications offer an effective means of engaging with customers while maintaining a non-intrusive approach.
- Mobile apps offer a multitude of advantages over websites, including offline functionality, integration with smartphone features, and expanded branding opportunities.
Number of App Downloads
| Year | Downloads (in billions) |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 86.7 |
| 2021 | 88.3 |
| 2022 | 87 |
| 2023 | 88 |
If you haven't developed an app yet, it's the perfect moment to begin the construction process.
End users not technologies shape the market. Consequently, marketers need to stay abreast not only of technological developments but also of the way people respond to them.
Haig emphasizes that while technological advancements are important, the real market shapers are the end users and their responses to these technologies.
This perspective highlights the necessity for marketers to understand and adapt to how people interact with and respond to mobile apps.
He suggests that success in the mobile app market is not just about the technology itself, but about how well it resonates with and meets the needs of the users.
Trend 7: Marketing Automation
Marketing involves the process of connecting with customers, while sales entails the skill of finalizing transactions.
A notable trend in inbound marketing is the convergence of marketing and sales efforts, achieved through methods such as newsletter campaigns and chat flows.
63% of marketers have indicated their intention to increase their budget for marketing automation this year.
A successful approach involves the integration of marketing and sales activities to both engage with customers and facilitate the completion of transactions simultaneously. This synergy is facilitated by the use of marketing automation.
Examples Of Marketing Automation:
- Email Marketing Campaigns: Automating email communications based on customer actions or time triggers. For instance, sending a welcome email when someone signs up for a newsletter or a discount offer on a customer's birthday.
- Lead Nurturing: Automatically sending a series of emails to leads to guide them through the sales funnel. This can include educational content, product information, and persuasive messaging tailored to each stage of the customer's journey.
- Social Media Posting and Ads: Scheduling posts and ads to be published on different social media platforms. This helps maintain a consistent online presence without the need for manual posting every time.
- Customer Segmentation: Using automation tools to segment customers based on their behavior, preferences, or demographics. This allows for more targeted and personalized marketing efforts.
Reasons for Using Marketing Automation
Bill Gates' words highlight a critical aspect of marketing automation and its impact on business operations.
The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.
Gates outlines two fundamental principles regarding the use of technology, specifically automation, in business. First, he points out that when automation is integrated into an already efficient operation, it serves to amplify that efficiency.
This suggests that marketing automation can significantly boost productivity and effectiveness when applied to well-structured and functional marketing strategies.
Second, Gates warns that automation applied to an inefficient operation will only increase its inefficiency. This serves as a cautionary note for businesses looking to adopt marketing automation.
It emphasizes the importance of having solid marketing processes in place before implementing automation.
Trend 8: Specialist Roles
A significant inbound marketing trend affecting businesses is the growing demand for specialized roles.
The expansion of machine learning, along with an increase in customer bases and data volumes, is making the necessity for dedicated marketing teams more pronounced than before.
Examples Of Specialist Roles:
- Data Analysts/Scientists: Responsible for analyzing large sets of data to derive insights about customer behavior, market trends, and campaign performance. They play a crucial role in informing marketing strategies with data-driven insights.
- Content Strategists: Specialists who plan, develop, and manage content. They are crucial in ensuring that content aligns with the company's marketing goals and resonates with the target audience.
- SEO Specialists: Experts in search engine optimization, they work to increase a website's visibility on search engines, driving organic traffic and improving user engagement.
- Social Media Managers: Professionals who specialize in managing and optimizing a company's presence on social media platforms. They create and curate content, engage with the audience, and analyze social media trends.
These specialist roles are crucial in crafting a more targeted, effective inbound marketing strategy that leverages specific skills and technologies.
Competitive Edge
Businesses with specialized marketing roles are better equipped to stay ahead of the competition, thanks to more refined and effective marketing strategies.
Customer-Centric Approaches
These roles facilitate a deeper understanding of customer needs and preferences, leading to more customer-centric marketing strategies.
Adaptability in a Dynamic Market
Specialists like digital advertising experts help businesses quickly adapt to changes in the digital landscape, such as algorithm updates or new platform features.
Long-Term Growth
By leveraging specialized skills, companies can foster sustainable growth through continuous optimization and innovation in their marketing efforts.
Dpecialist roles in marketing are not just pivotal for current strategies but will continue to evolve and play a central role in shaping the future of marketing in an increasingly digital and data-driven world.
Trend 9: Outsource To A Digital Marketing Agency
As some firms choose to manage their marketing internally, a rising number of small to mid-sized businesses are opting to entrust their marketing activities to specialized digital marketing agencies.
This approach is gaining traction because of its cost-effectiveness and practical benefits.
Examples Of Outsource To A Digital Marketing Agency:
- Content Creation and Strategy: Agencies can develop a comprehensive content strategy, create blog posts, videos, infographics, and other content types that engage audiences and drive inbound traffic.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): They can optimize your website and content to improve your ranking on search engine results pages, increasing visibility and organic traffic.
- Social Media Management: Agencies manage social media profiles, create and schedule posts, engage with followers, and analyze social media performance to enhance brand presence and engagement.
- Email Marketing: This includes designing email campaigns, writing newsletters, managing subscriber lists, segmenting audiences, and analyzing the performance of email marketing efforts.
Adopting this strategy eliminates the requirement for employing a single marketing expert or maintaining an entire marketing team. It offers access to a diverse group of specialists at a significantly lower expense.
Additionally, many reputable marketing agencies offer flexible terms without binding contracts, allowing businesses the freedom to change agencies if the outcomes aren't satisfactory.
FAQs
What is Inbound Marketing?
Inbound Marketing refers to a marketing methodology that focuses on attracting customers through relevant and helpful content and interactions. It contrasts with traditional outbound marketing, where businesses push messages out to potential customers.
How important is content in Inbound Marketing for 2024?
Extremely important. Quality content is at the heart of inbound marketing, serving as the primary tool for attracting and engaging customers.
What role will social media play in Inbound Marketing in 2024?
Social media will continue to be a vital channel for distributing content, engaging with audiences, and building communities around brands.
How will AI change Inbound Marketing strategies in 2024?
AI will enable more personalized content recommendations, automate certain marketing tasks, and provide deeper insights into customer behavior and preferences.
Future Insights
The broadest trends shaping the marketing landscape include the automation of inbound marketing, the growing influence of influencer marketing, and enhanced personalization driven by data utilization.
This moment presents a crucial opportunity to revamp your marketing approaches and team structure, maximizing these evolving trends to boost sales in 2024.