As we move into the New Year, marketers must look ahead to the trends and technologies that will define how we will engage and connect with our audiences well into 2024.

With digital advancements moving at a rapid pace, particularly in artificial intelligence and machine learning, along with Google’s unprecedented phasing-out of third party cookies, it’s vital for marketing teams to begin building the strategies that will continue to make impactful impressions on audiences.

Below, we explore three key trends that will undoubtedly shape those strategies in 2024.

Programmatic display

This is one channel that has typically been reserved for large companies with equally large budgets, but that is set to change with a growing number of platforms beginning to make it more accessible to smaller advertisers and companies.

Programmatic advertising has changed the way ads are bought and shown, allowing marketers to more specifically target people based on a range of data points such as online behaviour and location. While platforms like Google Display have been around a while, they struggle to benefit from the nuanced targeting options that are available.

However, we’re increasingly seeing this channel becoming more attractive to a wider pool of marketers and advertisers with platform like The Trade Desk opening up better TV placements and targeting, with others such as Rollworks and Influ 2 combining the channel with sales to further improve and optimise sales and marketing efficiency.

With one study finding marketers putting 54% of media budgets into programmatically purchased media, there is a growing need for marketers and brand to establish a solid programmatic strategy than ever before.

AI in SEO and content

AI has already become a game changer in multiple industries and AI in marketing will only continue to get more sophisticated. While it is perhaps not currently as useful as many are already giving it credit for, as more applications are developed for creating content and optimising keywords, 2024 will be the year we will start to see a surge in use cases.

Excelling at data analysis, AI can identify patterns and potential market gaps with far more accuracy and efficiency than a human user, creating huge potential for advanced keyword search and SEO. As developments continue, marketers need to go beyond merely keyword matching, and instead connect clusters of related concepts and topics to maximise the reach and engagement of their content.

The applications of AI in content generation are similarly powerful, building on its abilities in data analytics. It can assist with drafting SEO-friendly content, creating dynamic content that changes depending on user behaviour, and even provide additional insight to help human content writers draft more engaging and effective copy.

If companies and agencies alike are not already beginning to explore how they can use AI tools and applications to increase their efficiency, they risk being left behind as the industry moves on.

First party and zero party data

For marketers everywhere, one of the defining features of 2024 will be Google’s phase-out of third-party cookies. Presenting one of the biggest challenges to marketing to date, this is set to shape nearly every aspect of how data is collected and used to inform campaigns.

While the trend of first party data is already in full swing - with Statista finding that in 2021, 31% of brands were using exclusively first-party data to personalise their customer experiences, with this figure rising to 37% in 2022 – 2024 will see this trend continue to grow.

Similarly, zero party data, that is, data directly provided by the customer to the company – will similarly take on a whole new level of importance, with research indicating that 74% of consumers are willing to share their interests, preferences and demographic information with brands if it would directly improve their online experiences.

With zero party data coming directly from consumers and as such offering a greater degree of reliability, marketers can use this as an opportunity to form a more intimate knowledge of their audiences, forming a strong informational basis for personalising campaigns and communications, while building stronger relationships between brand and consumer.

If your company is not already developing strategies for collecting and harnessing first and zero party data, 2024 is the year to start.

Final thoughts

While technological innovation will continue to shape much of 2024, it’s a year that is also set to be characterised by how well marketers and advertisers are able to blend technology with a human touch. Developments in AI and programmatic advertising are already changing the marketing landscape, but it’s the strategies that can successfully integrate these technologies with effective personalisation that will see the biggest return.

Sam Martin-Ross is UK Managing Director of digital marketing agency, Eskimoz.