A new year is always a time to start. A start to cement perspectives, develop ambitions and aim for goals. A reality that cuts across all industries, sectors and businesses. Trends inferred from the knowledge and experience of those who work in and build the industry and know its challenges and opportunities.
As far as Marketing, Communication and Public Relations are concerned, among the various surveys, studies and analyses that have been carried out all over the world, there are points of contact that allow us to draw up some perspective for defining the year that is now beginning.
First of all, there is optimism about the economy, despite some uncertainty – inherent in the current state of the world – which allows marketing leaders to say they feel more confident about the sector, employment, work and potential.
Even so, inflation remains high, leading to less investment in this area. But the pressure is easing, there is a greater habit of working with higher prices, which means that budgets are expected to grow this year, especially after the first quarter.
However, this increase will not be uniform for all areas – the expectation is for less investment in brand building and customer relationship management and greater spending on the introduction of new services.
Launching and communicating new services is an opportunity, as is Artificial Intelligence (AI), which, with the development of ChatGPT from the end of 2022, has become unavoidable.
More than half of the companies in the sector use AI to personalize and create content. Its widespread use to assist in content creation, personalization, content optimization, programmatic advertising, predictive analysis and segmentation decisions should be on the companies’ agenda.
Another opportunity lies in influencer marketing, which, after a downturn during the pandemic, is back in the plans of organizations and expectations are high: surveys point to growth of 109% in three years. The focus, as usual, will be on LikendIn, Instagram and company blogs, with the appropriate differences between B2B and B2C. The challenge lies in mediating the effectiveness of influencer marketing, so that expectations are well managed and defined, since it will be necessary to invest in order to achieve results.
Economic volatility justified the lower investment in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) marketing. However, in times of economic and social uncertainty, the promotion and communication of an inclusive and diverse organization is not only correct, it is also decisive for retaining customers and attracting talent, while at the same time driving growth and innovation.
AI, DEI and influencer marketing are synonymous with 2024. Let’s make the most of them for the development of businesses and organizations. Have a good year everyone!