Top 5 marketing trends in 2024

Reading time: 6 min

Top 5 marketing trends in 2024? A new year means new visions, new trends and new assumptions. To quote the classic “new year, new me”. Marketing, like other areas of life and science, is constantly evolving and developing. It has changed over the decades, starting from a product-centric era, then becoming product-centric, customer-centric, and finally focusing not so much on the customer, but on people, and then technology. The newest direction in marketing, the so-called marketing 5.0, combines the features of marketing 3.0 and 4.0, focusing on both people and technology.

What does this direction mean and what trends can it herald? I will try to explain this in the text below, in which I present my subjective, but based on analysis, observations and experience, set of five trends in marketing communication that, in my opinion, will rule in 2024, and maybe even longer.

Let’s start with what human and technology centricity is. In short, human orientation means focusing on socially responsible activities, honest communication and sticking to the values important to our community. As a result, issues that are important to society also become important to the brand. In turn, the focus on technology is building multi-channel communication, based largely on digital channels and activities, in which customers become not only the recipient, but also, to some extent, a co-creator of the brand’s content and image, as people who are aware and involved in building it.

The conclusion that, in my opinion, follows from this is simple. Brands should not only communicate their commitment to particular values, because customers expect it, but also be socially responsible and actually defend and follow these values, because in the era of social media and high user activity, any “marketing fraud” or publicity activity will come out unscathed. sooner than anyone thinks.

And how does this translate into specific trends and actions worth taking this year? What are or should be the marketing trends for 2024? Of course, everything depends largely on long-term strategies or the industry, but several things, at first glance, come to the forefront of this peloton.

Top 5 marketing trends in 2024. Corporate social responsibility.

This slogan has been used in communication for a long time, but what exactly is it and what does it mean in building a brand? This aspect, in fact, directly refers to the values described above and focusing on the community, not the product or the customer. Society is becoming more and more aware on many levels and expects such conscious actions from the companies whose clients they are. Social expectations concern issues such as environmental protection, support for local communities, or other types of pro-social activities that develop people’s awareness, especially in matters related to business.

Examples:

Clothing manufacturer – care for ecology, recycled products, etc.
Insurance company – participation in a campaign promoting road safety
Pharmaceutical company – various types of health-promoting preventive campaigns
Banking and online sales – ensuring the security of customer data

This last example in particular perfectly illustrates the evolution of marketing. The product of selling or accessing banking products online is no longer special. Data security, i.e. the above-mentioned corporate social responsibility, is becoming important.

Top 5 marketing trends in 2024. Ecology and environmental protection.

Ecology and care for the environment is a trend that we have been noticing for some time and in the marketing aspect it is almost a direct result of corporate social responsibility. Social awareness in this aspect is increasing, and aware of the threats, people increasingly care with their everyday choices and activities to ensure that their negative impact on the destruction of the natural environment is as small as possible. They expect the same from the companies they are customers of and are increasingly choosing “ecological” products and brands that support ecology. Many brands introduce pro-ecological solutions, and others change the language of their communication, elevating information related to their “ecological advantages”.

Examples:

manual car wash networks – an important argument is that they use less water than automatic ones
chains of cafes and restaurants – introduce biodegradable and ecological packaging
energy companies – development of renewable energy

The topic of ecology is very important, but for various reasons it can also be very difficult even for companies strictly related to it, and not only “posing” as ecology. Conducting communication related to ecology also involves debunking many myths, conspiracy theories, internet hate and facts that these brands have no influence on, such as “so what if your car is electric if the electricity comes from coal?” “. Well, as the classic said, “Rome was not built in a day”, and the ecological trend is something worth supporting, not hating.

Top 5 marketing trends in 2024. Personal data protection.

This is also a topic discussed in examples of corporate social responsibility, which is certainly worth a separate chapter. All kinds of online services are booming. We can do more and more things online without leaving our chairs. Day after day, new startups are emerging, offering innovative services and solutions both for other companies as well as individual customers, who today have an incredible choice. From online shopping, through banking and insurance services, ordering food, training and diet plans, to listening to books in the form of audiobooks.

In the digital era, with almost unlimited access to online services, security becomes a key issue. I don’t just mean the security of our data online in the context of technological security of individual tools, which is of course crucial. While the B2B market is aware of these dangers, individual customers are not so much. Therefore, education about what threats await them is a very important issue, and this is what brands are slowly starting to base their communication on and will certainly continue to do so.

An example is mBank’s latest campaign based on lurking threats. Who among us hasn’t received a strange phone call or text message asking for a “penny” subsidy for electricity? At first glance, this seems to be quite a long shot, but criminals are waiting for our inattention and many technology companies will base their communication on it in the near future.

Top 5 marketing trends in 2024. Healthy lifestyle.

“If you are healthy, everything will be fine.” Who among us hasn’t heard this type of wishes at name days, birthdays or family holidays? Despite the triviality of this sentence, it cannot be denied that a healthy lifestyle, disease prevention and a holistic approach to health are undeniably trends that are developing in society – and this is a very good thing!

More and more conscious people start to care not only about what surrounds them, but also about themselves. Sport or less demanding physical activities, healthy eating, limiting alcohol, preventive examinations and many, many other daily activities that improve our health are becoming more and more common, and brands, wanting to follow these trends, are increasingly presenting products and services in in this context.

Examples:

food industry – highlighting the advantages of products (e.g. dairy products) for active people
ecological products – colloquially speaking “one apple a day keeps the doctor away”
beverage producers – water enriched with minerals
sports equipment manufacturers – health, endorphins, character building

Top 5 marketing trends in 2024. Local marketing.

Last but not least. Local marketing is another manifestation of building communities, in this context local ones. In the era of globalization, consumers are increasingly starting to look for something “from here”, and supporting local communities and businesses is becoming important for them. Living at a huge pace and struggling through everyday problems, they look for services and products close to them not only for convenience, but also out of the need to build everyday relationships, stability and a sense of community.

Therefore, the need to build local communities should also be important from the point of view of brands. Wisely conducted local marketing ensures building a relationship with the customer and, in the long run, trust, thanks to which the customer will not even think about using another service or buying a product somewhere else. What’s more, customers will even be willing to pay a slightly higher price for the certainty that the company they have built a relationship with and trust provides them with quality and safety.

In this aspect, social media, in particular local groups centered around districts and cities, where users exchange opinions and companies can present their offers, are becoming increasingly important in the communication of companies that want to promote themselves locally.

Summary

The above trends are, of course, not a recipe for success in every industry or brand. Nevertheless, I am convinced that these are trends worth considering and based on them to build your communication strategy, focusing on issues such as values, responsibility, community, trust and commitment.

The world is crazy today and brands and organizations should demonstrate social responsibility. Remember. The best customer is one who will come back to you with a smile on his face.

We invite you to take advantage of our new offer and cooperate with us in creating an unforgettable brand image. JM Publicity – Your partnership in achieving business success!

Want to learn more? Go to the OFFER tab or DOWNLOAD THE OFFER IN PDF.