Every year, HubSpot releases a State of Marketing Report, which shares several helpful new industry trends and insights to help your business thrive all year. For 2024, it published critical information on everything from how marketers are leveraging artificial intelligence to what new methods we should consider after third-party cookies are fully eliminated and which strategies may be best to use in their place.
These past three years have been completely transformative for the world of marketing.
- 44% of businesses have leveraged AI for content production.
- 75.78% of consumers have used social media to search for or discover new products and brands.
- 80% or more businesses have relied on third-party cookies, and 67% have reported feeling confused, disappointed, or even helpless when hearing about Google’s plans to eliminate them.
Below are five key takeaways from the HubSpot 2024 State of Marketing Report you may want to keep in mind as you navigate through the year.
1. Your business + innovation = a more human approach to marketing.
ChatGPT and other well-known artificial intelligence tools have been programmed to perform many tasks, but the one thing they can’t do is be human. As a marketer in this new era, this is your advantage. Unlike AI tools that are designed to scour the web for existing, relevant content and repurpose it to generate a response to user queries. A query refers to a specific request that has been inserted into an AI app by a user.
Since Google still rewards original, quality content, this approach can help you stay ahead of the game this year. According to the HubSpot State of Marketing Report, efficiency can lead to innovative, more human marketing.
As a result, marketers have been advised to do the following:
- Invest in channels that bring in the best results.
- Prioritize building relationships with your audience.
- Automate manual tasks to make way for more human marketing.
By leveraging AI to automate monotonous tasks, it can increase efficiency and you can use your energy to add that special human touch your marketing needs to better resonate with your audience.
2. Social media is the new hot spot for online search.
If you are aiming to target Gen Z and millennials with your marketing efforts, social media is the #1 product discovery platform. While TikTok and Instagram are more popular among individuals in this age range, 70% of users who are ages 50 and older reported to primarily using Facebook, and YouTube came in second place at 51%.
In the report, HubSpot encourages marketers to consider investing in Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok in 2024, since these platforms had the strongest ROI.
Below are some of the main social media platforms marketers are currently using:
3. Prioritizing E-E-A-T is essential for content marketing success.
E-E-A-T (or Double E-A-T) is an acronym used in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines (SQRG) to help better evaluate the quality of search results. E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Search Quality Raters will consider how well your content meets these benchmarks to determine whether it’s credible, insightful, and people-first content that online users find helpful.
Personalization is key.
When it comes to generating engaging content that resonates with your audience, personalization is paramount.
According to the HubSpot State of Marketing Report, personalized content will require these three essential elements:
- Content must be personal.
- Content must demonstrate experience.
- Content must address real needs.
🔎 Challenge: Content production and strategy is the # 1 challenge marketing & SEO professionals struggle with the most.
According to the State of Marketing Report, 16% of marketers say one of the most challenging issues they face with content marketing is finding ideas for new content.
💡 Solution: HubSpot recommends leveraging generative AI.
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI refers to the artificial intelligence technology (like ChatGPT or BARD), designed to produce and analyze content in various formats, such as audio, video, images, and so much more.
HubSpot recommends leveraging generative AI to familiarize yourself with your audience and better understand their desires, interests, and needs. By developing personalized content with AI, it can save time and it can also improve conversions.
According to the State of Marketing Report, 56% of marketers who use generative AI for content creation believe that content produced by generative AI performs better than content created without it.
Below is a breakdown of how marketers have been incorporating AI into their marketing efforts. According to a report by Gartner, here are the areas where businesses are currently leveraging generative AI, or where they plan to:
4. Embracing bots, and collaborating with them could result in more growth.
In a perfect world, we should always aim to meet a prospect’s needs, whether they are being fulfilled by a robot or a human. HubSpot suggests partnering up with artificial intelligence and embracing their capabilities, to develop a more productive, more harmonious process. By embracing bots, businesses can cut costs, and increase productivity.
5. Now is the time to find a predecessor for third-party cookies.
In the State of Marketing Report, 47% of marketers have reported to actively exploring alternatives for third-party cookie targeting. On January 4, 2024, Google depleted third-party cookie usage for 1% of its Google Chrome users. By Q3 of 2024, it aims to completely eliminate its use of third-party cookies 100%.
With that in mind, marketers are considering alternatives, such as:
- First-party data (also referred to as first-party cookies) is the information that your business personally collects from its audience that can be used to market to them more effectively. Some examples of first-party data would be purchase history, or feedback provided from surveys. A report shows that 86% of marketers recognize the value of this data type.
- Zero-party data pertains to information an individual willingly shares with your business. An example of zero-party data collected would be when a potential prospect shares their email address with you to acquire more information.
Both first-party data and zero-party data can be leveraged to further personalize the customer experience, which can help cultivate more loyal, meaningful relationships with customers and prospects.
Apply These Takeaways and Unlock New Opportunities for Your Business
For over 15 years, HubSpot has been a trusted source for marketers to stay up-to-date on the latest advancements in the industry. In its 2024 State of Marketing Report, there are several hidden gems you can use to polish your marketing strategy, so it shines bright all year.
For more takeaways, please read the full report.
Caressa Losier
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