Happy New Year! 2024 is upon us and it’s time once again for our take on emerging B2B marketing trends.
But first, a disclaimer. Things can change quickly. As the year progresses events could unfold that have a serious impact on my predictions. And, I’m no fortune teller. But I am pretty proud of my track record calling out what to watch for in years past. This year I thought I’d take it up a notch and tie each trend to a pop song. Because, why not?
Without further ado, here’s the first trend I think we can expect in B2B marketing this year. If you can’t wait to hear the rest of the trends, you’re in luck! Click here to get your very own copy of the full report for free.
Trend #1: Obviously It’s AI, Right? Obviously.
Now this is a story all about how AI got our lives flipped-turned upside down. At least it kind of felt like that for a second, right? It consumed our LinkedIn feeds, frequently comes up in news broadcasts and legislative conversations, and somehow managed to be a seemingly ever-present conversation in our Teams chats and meetings.
The great controversy tends to focus around the fact that generative AI can feel like a looming threat for artists and creatives everywhere. The incredibly limited regulation of AI is a major concern for businesses and creatives who want to protect proprietary information from becoming a part of the data feed that powers these technologies.
It’s not that AI is new, in fact B2B Marketers have been using AI for years in marketing automation, chatbots and analytics. The reason AI is a central part of our collective conversations is the tidal wave of generative AI applications being used to create assets in today’s market.
But whether you’re a fan of AI (we are, with the proper guardrails in place) or not – we expect to see a continued increase of adoption of these tools in B2B marketing in 2024.
According to a recent study from Forrester, 65% of B2B marketers say their companies are investigating, experimenting with, or already using AI to plan and produce content. We expect the number of marketers leveraging AI to plan and produce content will continue to grow.
But the smartest marketers and creatives will implement AI as a part of their creation process, not the final asset. Even as these tools continue to grow, consumers are still able to detect AI content (53.4% of images and 57.3% of copy) with younger audiences having a higher accuracy than their elders.
Explore the Rest of the Trends
Trend #2: It’s the First-Party Data Party!
Trend #3: Video: It’s Still Totally Dominating.
Trend #4: Personalized Content: It’s Here to Stay.
Trend #5: More Marketing Forecasting, Please!
Did you recognize the song lyric we massacred (for the vibes)? It’s from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.
