2024 Advertising Trends | Corkboard Concepts

The world of advertising is in a constant state of flux. As we stand on the cusp of 2024, it’s clear that the strategies that worked a few years ago might not be as effective today. With the rapid evolution of technology and consumer behavior, advertisers need to stay agile and informed. This guide aims to shed light on the top 10 2024 advertising trends that are expected to dominate.

What were some of the biggest marketing changes in previous years?

• In 2019, there was a boom in micro-influencers.
• In 2020, we saw the introduction of TikTok advertising.
• In 2021, virtual events and webinars were on the increase.
• In 2022, data privacy came to the forefront of marketing considerations.
• In 2023, there were two letters on every marketer’s mind — A.I.

Top 10 2024 Advertising Trends

1. Diversifying Major Advertising Platforms

The past decade has been that of Google and Meta, but as more digital platforms breakthrough and potential antitrust suits take place, a need to diversify marketing platforms is going to be at the forefront of 2024.

Rather than relying on Google’s dominance in search, consider the way that Chat GPT has taken off and is used natively in Bing search. Do you think Google’s Bard will maintain the previous skew in search engines?

Google’s demand-side platform (DSP), as well as a few others like The Trade Desk, have been the primary ways for Programmatic Advertising but there are plenty of major online platforms getting into the space now. Amazon’s DSP and Disney/Hulu provide some very tangible competitive benefits over the traditional DSPs. For instance, the Amazon DSP is a treasure trove of buyer behavior.

Facebook and YouTube have seen a number of upstart competitors throughout the years but never in a way that’s been as quick to catch on, and seemingly to stay, as TikTok. What’s more, TikTok’s advertising marketplace continues to build and provide advertisers with new capabilities.

These are the 3 platforms — , Disney/Hulu ads, and TikTok Ads — that every marketer should be on the lookout for in 2024.

2. Voice Search Optimization

“Hey Siri, where’s the nearest coffee shop?”

“OK, Google … (fill in the blanks)?”

Voice search, once a novelty, is now becoming a dominant mode of online search. With the proliferation of smart speakers/homes and voice-activated devices, consumers are increasingly bypassing the keyboard in favor of their voice.

For advertisers, this means a major shift in SEO strategy.

You’re no longer comparing just desktop and mobile devices. Let’s start to factor in Voice SERPs.

Content needs to be optimized for natural language and question-based queries. Moreover, with many voice searches being local (“…near me”), there’s a renewed emphasis on local SEO. For those who are stuck in their ways and value tradition — there’s good news here! Local nuances have been a major part of SEO for a long time and this should come as refreshing news!

Brands need to ensure that their online presence is optimized for these voice searches to capture this growing segment of consumers. Not sure where to start? Take an elementary school approach and begin by sounding it out! Don’t just write your SEO strategies down, say it allowed, talk to a friend, or see if your smart devices will listen (or are they already?). Here are a few quick tips for optimizing your content for voice search:

1. Focus on Natural Language Queries
2. Optimize for Local Search
3. Ensure Fast Page Load Times
4. Create a FAQ Section
5. Optimize for Featured Snippets

3. Personalized AI-driven Advertising

The third trend on our top 10 2024 advertising trends list is personalized AI-driven advertising.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer the future; it’s the present. Honestly, this may have cheated the list a bit because it may already be in the past — but there is still so much to come.

In the area of advertising, AI’s ability to analyze vast amounts of data in real time is a game-changer. Advertisers no longer need to rely on broad demographics to target their ads — or manually match creative that fits those targets. With AI, advertisers can drill down to the individual level, ensuring that consumers only see ads that are highly relevant to them. AI has the ability to impact:

This level of personalization was unthinkable just a few years ago. Now, it’s rapidly becoming the norm. Brands that want to stay competitive in 2024 will need to integrate AI-driven tools into their advertising strategy, using data analytics to gain a deep understanding of their audience’s behavior and preferences.

4. Exploiting OTT Advertising Opportunities

Traditional TV is on the decline, but that doesn’t mean people have stopped watching shows and movies. As of August 2023, nearly 40% of the time spent watching TV was on OTT devices. People are still consuming content and more specifically — long-form content — they’re just doing it on Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms like Hulu, Roku, and Amazon Prime Video (note that two of these platforms were in an earlier update). These platforms offer advertisers a golden opportunity to reach a younger, more engaged audience.

Where OTT is not a new item, it’s getting to the point where it is more feasible and impactful for advertisers than ever before. In the years leading up to 2024, OTT was oftentimes overpriced and under-targeted. With the increased adoption of OTT-delivered media , pricing has come down as targeting has increased.

And, this trend is here to stay. So, I guess that it’s not a trend!

2024 will be the year that advertisers fully embrace OTT offerings to get better targeting, stay ahead of the competition, and stay out of political advertising windows.

With OTT viewership skyrocketing, costs decreasing, and targeting increasing, coupled with political advertising pushing traditional media costs up — 2024 could be a big year for OTT advertising!

5. Video Content Dominance

The next trend in our top 10 2024 advertising trends list is video content dominance.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a 2–3 minute, 60fps video might just be … more than I am willing to calculate in this article.

Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram have shown that consumers have an insatiable appetite for video content. For advertisers, this means a shift in focus from text and image-based ads to video. And, that’s for-purpose video, not just animated imagery to show in an MP4 format.

But it’s not even just about creating video ads.

It’s about creating video content that tells a story that resonates with the viewer on an emotional level. I realize that the attention span is shrinking, but the “old school” mentality of selling within the first couple of seconds of a video is a moment in the past. Audiences want to be sold to without really even realizing they’re being sold.

So if you aren’t writing scripts, you need to be.

And, if you’re currently writing scripts, you need to make sure that you’re engaging first and selling second, or even third.

Brands need to invest in high-quality video production and come up with creative ways to integrate their products and services into compelling narratives. This includes:

• Changing your aspect ratio (thinking phone-sized portrait videos, along with horizontal — depending on platform)
• Bringing video into your day-to-day — nothing tells a story better than daily operations that build your business as a professional.
• Consistency and frequency are key — There may be times to skip overproduced videos for more videos at regular intervals.

6. Cross-Platform Integration

With the abundance of digital media, people jump from one platform to another in the snap of an instant. Consumers interact with brands through a multitude of touchpoints, including websites, social media, email, mobile apps, offline stores, and more. Each of these touchpoints offers an opportunity to engage with your audience. Cross-platform integration acknowledges the importance of these touchpoints and aims to provide a consistent brand presence across all of them. When we’re discussing Cross-Platform integrations, we’re considering both external and internal elements.

External Platforms:

From perusing social media, to catching up on local or national news sites, to checking their Outlook for communications, to searching on Google, purchasing on Amazon and watching TV on a Roku device. This is a very simplified example of the complex and interwoven digital landscape. To maintain reach, frequency and top of mind awareness, advertisers need to provide a connected experience cross-platform that is unified in messaging, data and analytics.

External platforms most closely align with Earned and Paid Media.

Internal Platforms:

As the name likely indicates, internal platforms are a brands owned media. These are items like their website, app, ecommerce store and even physical location, as well as items like email and SMS communications. These are all platforms that are internal to a company that clients and prospective clients interact with.

Regardless of internal or external platforms, the experience must connect.

One of the more obvious items to consider here is Brand Identity across platform. This is a fine line that brands have to walk by upholding their core brand values while also considering how users interact on each platform. Your brand is your brand, but a person may choose to interact differently on Facebook than on TikTok, or may be looking for a different experience on a Sports News app than on a Political News Website. Considering how contextual elements impact your messaging is very important while staying within your brand guides. This must guide a seamless brand experience while allowing for the nuances of the platform to push interaction.

Cross-platform integration also involves the effective integration of data from different touchpoints. This means that customer data, preferences, and behaviors are shared and utilized across platforms to provide personalized and relevant experiences. For example, if a customer adds items to their cart on your mobile app, those items should still be visible when they visit your website later. Integrated data analytics and attribution models are essential components of cross-platform integration. By tracking and analyzing user interactions across different platforms, businesses can gain insights into customer journeys, understand which touchpoints are most effective, and allocate resources accordingly.

Cross-platform integration is closely related to the concept of omnichannel marketing. In an omnichannel approach, all marketing channels work together seamlessly to provide a holistic customer experience. For example, a customer may discover a product on social media, research it on your website, receive an email with a special offer, and then make a purchase in your physical store, all without feeling any disconnect in the process.

Ultimately, cross-platform integration is about putting the customer first. It acknowledges that consumers expect a seamless and consistent experience when interacting with a brand, and it strives to meet those expectations. This customer-centric approach can lead to higher customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.

7. Neuromarketing and Emotional Analytics

Move over GA4, it’s not 2023 anymore and there’s another analytics conversation happening in town!

2024 advertising trends are taking over, and the world is set to embrace the power of neuromarketing and emotional analytics.

Understanding consumers’ emotional responses to advertisements is crucial for creating campaigns that resonate and compel action. Brands are leveraging advanced tools and research methodologies to delve into the emotional impact of their advertisements.

Investing in neuromarketing research to gauge the emotional responses your advertisements evoke. Finding a well-rounded group to test your marketing approaches on is important now more than ever. Utilize emotional analytics tools to tailor your campaigns, ensuring they resonate positively with your audience, and driving them to action. This deep emotional connection can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your advertising efforts.

What’s the value of a slight, yet more positive emotional response to your brand and advertising? What if this was taken into consideration during a significant political advertising year?

8. Niche Platforms and Community-focused Advertising

Beyond mainstream platforms like Facebook and Instagram, niche social media channels are emerging or have been around for a while with a niche following, catering to specific interests and communities. We’ve already discussed the emergence of TikTok, but there are also platforms like Reddit (for discussions) and Pinterest (for visual inspiration), as well as industry-specific and local forums.

With the abundance of content on these major social media platforms, “noise” becomes a difficult thing to escape.

These niche platforms offer advertisers unique opportunities to engage with highly targeted audiences who are deeply interested in specific topics or products.

Identify niche platforms that align with your brand and products. Create community-focused campaigns that provide genuine value and engagement to these specific audiences. Authentic and valuable engagement on these platforms can drive brand loyalty and conversions. Don’t exclude these popular social media platforms, but make sure that your brand is spending time strategizing alternative platforms to engage in.

9. Data Privacy and Transparent Advertising

Data privacy concerns are at the forefront of consumers’ minds, making transparent advertising practices more crucial than ever. Brands that are open about their data collection and usage practices are likely to build stronger relationships with consumers.

The EU has had GDPR for some years now, as California has had the CCPA. Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia all have state laws that explicitly define data and privacy protections. This may seem like very few states, but this is just the onset of the trend.

How does a company stay up to date with data compliance?

To respect the legal nature of this, always consult with a legal professional for serious questions on how data collection applies to your company, industry, and local laws.

There are plenty of tools out there that can help a company better comply with Data Privacy and Transparent personalized advertising. With so many pixels and cookies existing on websites for various tasks, it is helpful to use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) and a Tag Management solution (ex. Google Tag Manager) . These two items bring data transparency to the forefront of your website experience, with the former requiring people to actually consent (or not) to tracking and then the latter for following through with which pixels are deployed based on the consent given.

10. The Rise of Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) advertising enhances user engagement by providing immersive and interactive experiences. AR provides one of the biggest opportunities to bring products and customer interactions to the virtual space — stepping beyond the static “digital showroom” of most traditional websites.

Users can interact with products, try them out virtually, and explore content in a more dynamic way. This increased engagement often leads to higher conversion rates and brand recall.

Augmented Reality has applications in the following:

• Enhanced Engagement — AR advertising enhances user engagement by providing immersive and interactive experiences. Users can interact with products, try them out virtually, and explore content in a more dynamic way. This increased engagement often leads to higher conversion rates and brand recall.
• Virtual “Try-Ons” and Product Demonstrations — AR allows consumers to virtually try on clothing, accessories, makeup, and even home furnishings before making a purchase. This feature is especially valuable for e-commerce and retail brands, as it reduces uncertainty and boosts confidence in buying decisions.
• Interactive Storytelling — AR can be used to tell compelling brand stories. Advertisers can create augmented reality experiences that guide users through a narrative, providing them with valuable information and entertainment along the way. This form of storytelling can leave a lasting impression on the audience.
• Location-Based Experiences — AR can leverage location-based data to provide users with relevant information and promotions based on their physical surroundings. For example, users walking by a restaurant can receive AR ads with special menu items or discounts.
• Gamification in Advertising — Gamification is a powerful technique to engage audiences, and AR makes it easy to integrate games and challenges into advertising campaigns. Brands can create AR games, scavenger hunts, and quizzes that encourage user participation and reward them with discounts or incentives.
• Social Media Integration — AR features have been integrated into popular social media platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Advertisers can create AR filters, lenses, and effects that users can apply to their photos and videos, leading to user-generated content and increased brand exposure.
• Increased Product Visualization — For industries like automotive and real estate, AR enables users to visualize products or properties in 3D. Potential car buyers can see how a vehicle looks from every angle, while homebuyers can virtually tour a property, helping them make more informed decisions.
• Customization and Personalization — AR advertising can be highly personalized. By collecting user data and preferences, advertisers can deliver tailored AR experiences that cater to individual tastes and needs, strengthening the brand-consumer relationship.
• Brand Innovation and Differentiation — Brands that adopt AR early in their advertising strategies can stand out as innovative and forward-thinking. It’s a way to differentiate themselves from competitors and capture the attention of tech-savvy consumers.

The increase in Augmented Reality in advertising for 2024 represents a shift towards more interactive, engaging, and personalized advertising experiences. AR empowers brands to connect with their audiences in novel ways, making advertising campaigns more memorable and effective. As AR technology continues to evolve and become more accessible, advertisers who embrace it will have a competitive edge in capturing the attention and loyalty of consumers.

2024 Marketing Planning

In conclusion, the advertising landscape in 2024 is characterized by innovation, personalization, and a strong focus on data privacy and emotional connection. Brands looking to succeed in this environment must stay abreast of these trends, adapting their strategies to meet the evolving expectations of consumers.

Leveraging platforms like focusing on voice search optimization, and embracing OTT advertising opportunities are just a few ways brands can stay ahead in this competitive landscape. Additionally, a commitment to data privacy, emotional engagement, and authentic, community-focused advertising will be crucial for building strong, trusting relationships with consumers, ultimately driving brand success in 2024 and beyond.

By understanding and leveraging these top 10 advertising trends, brands can position themselves at the forefront of the industry, creating meaningful connections with their audiences and driving success in their advertising endeavors. Stay informed, stay agile, and embrace the future of 2024 advertising trends.

Originally published at https://corkboardconcepts.com on November 1, 2023.