The Tech-Powered Marketing Revolution: Key Innovations Shaping 2024
Time is flying, and so is the digital marketing revolution, fully spreading its wings with the help of technological advancement.
In fact, CMOs spent 25.4% of their marketing budgets solely on technologies in 2023. As of today, 68% of startups leverage innovative tech tools for marketing.
What is so special about technologies that makes brands and marketers allocate their budgets to them? What innovative marketing trends should you focus on through 2024 and further?
Our article answers these questions and gives an accurate overview of revolutionary trends revamping how businesses market and advertise. Cover photo by Google DeepMind.
Why Technology Is Itself a Mega-Trend Driving Marketing Innovation
Advanced tech adoption in marketing is widespread, and this tendency continues to prevail. Here’s why.
Technology in marketing is disruptive.
Technology disrupts marketing because it revolutionizes traditional methods, paving the way for strategies such as account-based marketing. It strongly orients brands toward the future of marketing by providing tools to try new ideas and techniques. For example, emerging eCommerce trends like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) pushed the boundaries of creativity in brand marketing (you’ll see how exactly in a moment).
Technology in marketing is customer-driven.
Marketing innovations with technology are socially dependent because modern consumers expose higher demands to sellers than ever before.
Let’s take mobile technology. Societal demand spurred the growth of mobile marketing. Over the years, the number of smartphone users has been coming close to the record high of seven billion, whereas 73% of shoppers prefer to buy from their mobile devices, even in-store.
Technology in marketing is profitable.
When launching promotional campaigns with tech-driven approaches, 77% of marketers notice increased conversions. And that’s not all. Marketing automation typically drives a 14.5% boost in sales productivity.
However, profitability can vary greatly depending on how successfully you integrate technologies into your digital marketing strategy.
7 Marketing Innovations Worth Embracing in 2024 and Beyond
Explore the cutting-edge marketing trends and their practical implementation by brands.
1. AI – the new electricity for marketing
Even if artificial intelligence may have become an eyesore mentioned in every article, you must build the future of business with AI because it literally generates marketing power.
AI-driven content
67% of businesses count on AI due to its high content quality, and 65% notice better SEO results when using AI. You may want to harness AI for SEO, resonating narratives, or eye-catching graphics.
Consider AI content creation tools like these:
- For social media posts → OwlyWriter AI, Peppertype.ai
- For blog articles → ChatGPT, WriteSonic
- For AI copywriting → Jasper.ai, Quillbot
- For images and videos → Getimg.ai, Synthesia, Colossyan
- For SEO → neuroflash , Frase, Alli AI
AI-powered ads
With AI’s data-driven insights, you can apply lead segmentation to target your ads at different customer groups.
For example:
The Economist tapped into a demographic segment and targeted a female social media user on Facebook with the following Ad about endometriosis that affects women.
Ready to bring this marketing innovation into your business?
Then – use AI to improve ad targeting.
AI chatbots
Grant Aldrich, Founder of Preppy, sees AI’s significant potential in conversational commerce and chatbots in particular. She reveals, “A conversational AI bot expanded the horizons of our marketing efforts. It also offers self-service and guides users through the sales funnel even outside business hours.”
AI influencers
You might have heard of AI tools for influencer marketing. But have you ever considered partnering with AI influencers, virtual figures created by artificial intelligence?
Well, 60% of brands have already done so, and 15% included AI influencers in their marketing plans.
The most famous AI-generated influential figures are:
- Milla Sofia
- Janky
- Puff Puff
- Lu of Magalu
- Shudu
- Plusticboy
- Kyra
For example:
Samsung turned to Lu of Magalu to promote its products on Instagram and YouTube.
2. Advanced Animation Techniques
Heads up, marketers!
Animation is marching its way to help you out. It’s time to welcome it with open arms and create animated marketing videos and ads.
The amount of animations in advertising grows by 7% annually. Statista also predicts that animated ads will generate $40 billion in revenue by 2025.
Here are several trending techniques in animation:
- 2D/3D animation
- Hover and rollover effects
- Dynamic typography
- Surreal animation
- Gooey effects
- Facial animation, etc.
Let’s look at some of them applied in digital marketing.
On the website
Roman Zrazhevskiy, Founder & CEO of MIRA Safety, claims, “Dynamic and captivating animations are must-haves for modern websites. When nestled within lead generation forms, they have enough capacity to hook and draw leads in.”
For example:
This animated form with a mystery discount on MIRA Safety’s website demonstrates how lead generation can be even more engaging and innovative.
You can also animate your cookie consent and privacy policy banner to leave a memorable impression on website visitors.
On social media
Facial animation is among the most impressive trends in paid social.
Nowadays, you can create social media ads with lip-syncing characters. For example, Leya animates Facebook Ads with lip-synced customer reviews.
Via email
You can likewise revive email marketing with animated content.
Even your welcome email can be refurbished with animation. Check out this one from Later.
MarTech gave rise to the evolution of marketing from manual, bear-handed manipulations to streamlined campaigns with innovative tools. Perhaps that is why global spending on MarTech grows at a CAGR of 13.3%.
Here are several MarTech solutions that may be worth your attention this year and onwards:
- CRM platforms (Salesforce, Nimble CRM)
- Advertising tools (Google Ads, Facebook Ads)
- Sentiment analysis tools (Keyhole, InMoment, Sociality.io)
- Social media marketing solutions (ContentStudio, SocialPilot, Loomly)
- SMS marketing software (TextMagic, Podium)
- Email automation tools (Moosend, Brevo, Sendinblue, Smartreach)
Chris Aubeeluck, Head of Sales and Marketing at Osbornes Law, prioritizes SMS marketing software for business and shares the company’s experience: “As part of MarTech, we use a text messaging tool to keep our clients informed about their cases, whether it’s cycling accident claims or serious injury claims. This ensures timely updates on court dates and required documents, saving time and improving client satisfaction. By maintaining clear communication, we enhance our service delivery across all our legal areas, from divorce cases to estate and probate matters.”
At the same time, Alex Rhodes, Founder at AutoNoMail.com, dwells on the importance of email MarTech. He emphasizes, “Since email marketing still remains the alpha and omega of customer communication, not investing in its automation equals freezing in time, missing out on the marketing revolution, and lagging behind your competitors.”
4. AR/VR Brand Experiences
AR and VR are poised to reform digital marketing.
The adoption level of AR/VR among global businesses has been increasing steadily. Already, 38% of marketers use AR, whereas 28% leverage VR technology.
Discover how different brands create fascinating AR/VR experiences for their audiences.
- TOMS
The footwear manufacturer made a huge social impact story with VR. The brand launched a digital donation campaign, TOMS Giving Trip, through an immersive virtual reality experience. The users took a virtual trip to Peru.
The results were incredible: 325K people with restored eyesight and 45M pairs of shoes donated to the community, among other things.
- IKEA
IKEA’s Place app is one of the most recognizable examples of AR in business. It has changed the way people buy furniture. Customers can put IKEA objects in their homes virtually, scaling them to size depending on the room’s dimensions and placing them whenever they wish.
- Walmart
Walmart is another brand effectively leveraging AR to innovate marketing. The company developed a virtual fitting room, which was met with a tremendously positive customer response. Shoppers can now better visualize how clothes will look on them via AR try-ons.
5. Interactive blogs
Out with dullness and inertness, in with interactivity for blog content creation!
“The era of motionless, unengaging blog posts is over. It’s time for bloggers and businesses that exploit blogging for their marketing needs to celebrate the rise of interactive and immersive content,” advises Thomas Medlin, Co-founder at JumpMD.
Stop writing boring articles that make your blog visitors drift off while reading. Thomas Medlin has a few ideas to spice them up with interactive and engaging content:
- Clickable tables of contents
- Audio clips
- GIFs
- Embedded videos
- Slideshows
- Quizzes
- Calculators, etc.
As many as 69% of bloggers have already added social share buttons to their posts. Have you?
This tendency (to intertwine blogging with social media marketing) is here to stay because the optimal coupling of a blog and social channels helps engage and interact with users more effectively via cross-channel marketing.
6. Marketing in the Metaverse
Zooming in on the horizon at a dizzying pace, here comes one of the biggest marketing innovations—the Metaverse, a fantastic blend of AR, VR, and MR. Its market size worldwide is projected to hit $507 billion by 2030 from roughly $74 billion in 2024.
The Metaverse is yet another great playground in marketing innovation, but it is much broader and richer. Imagine a unique digital universe, a new virtual market, where you can establish your brand presence and expand customer engagement. The Metaverse makes it possible.
“By promoting branded content and selling virtual assets, your business can stand out and shine brightly in the Metaverse. Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, and many other luxury brands already indulge in brand promotion during the Metaverse Fashion Week or create the Metaverse buying experiences for their customers,” mentions Sergey Taver, Marketing Manager of Precision Watches, company that sells Pre-owned Rolex watches since 1946.
Let’s look at the example of Metaverse shopping.
Forever 21 created Forever 21 Shop City, the Metaverse fashion game, in partnership with Roblox. It offers exclusive MetaMerch from Forever 21 (clothes, accessories, and makeup). Users can also play with friends and socialize with their favorite content creators.
7. Podcasting and “Webinaring”
Webinars and podcasts have been tried and tested by many companies as new marketing trends reshaping the digital world.
Podcasts
Today, every second marketer uses podcasting to promote a brand.
Kim Perry, Chief Growth Officer at emtelligent, compared podcasts to “gulps of fresh air for marketers.” She also said, “A podcast is an ideal tool to share industry-relevant insights with your audience and position your brand as an authoritative figure in your niche. Its main advantage, however, lies in building a deeper emotional connection, trust, and loyalty.”
You may also select the proper podcasting software and make your business voice heard:
- Audacity
- SquadCast
- Anchor
- Hindenburg Pro
- Waveroom
Webinars
Just to give you an idea, 95% of companies regard webinars as critical marketing elements, and over half (57%) host around 50 webinars annually.
Yet, Albert Kim, VP of Talent at Checkr, doesn’t see the need to organize so many webinars. He recommends focusing on regularity: “It’s better to host webinars on a regular basis (once or twice per month) to keep an audience engaged and incorporate live webinar events into a social media marketing strategy to interact with users more authentically through Q&A sessions, polls, and live chat features.”
For example:
Here’s a live webinar event on Essentials of Background Check Compliance hosted by Checkr via LinkedIn.
As to creating and hosting webinars, opt for one of the following tools:
- GoToWebinar
- Livestorm
- WebinarJam
- Zoom
- WebinarNinja
As we wind up this article, one thing is quite evident: the future of marketing is here, and your business should grab hold of groundbreaking innovations in it.
