Looking ahead to 2024
The festive season is always fraught with competition, for product innovation, sales, brand reach and perception. It is a key point in the calendar for brands looking to cement their position in the mind of existing customers, and to reposition it in the eye of new prospective audiences.
?The infamous Christmas advert has played a vital role in this over the years, as the media and consumers alike countdown to see the latest festive stories unfold across some of the nation’s biggest brands.
?However changing attitudes and behaviours in media consumption have seen a shift in if, how and where this is delivered. Almost 5 in 10 marketers consider Christmas rebranding to be an unnecessary cause of waste, and nearly 50% of British consumers look to actively avoid channels and streaming services with adverts. So, what does this mean for brands looking to reaffirm their perception and align their values with those of target audiences? As we approach 2024, there are a number of learnings and trends which the industry can look to take into the new year.
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Aligning brand actions with consumer values and social culture
The perceived and practiced values of a brand continue to be a strong influence on consumer buyer behaviour, with 80% stating that they look to buy from businesses that support shared causes of interest. Whilst this provides great opportunity for increasing reach and revenue through efficient and effective targeting of new audiences, brands also need to consider the risk of losing existing customers, should they fail to maintain or deliver the values expected of them. ?
Reaching new audiences through targeted and relevant marketing strategy
The perceived value of influencer marketing to brands can be expected to remain for 2024, as 59% of marketers intend to increase spend in this category, creating further social connections through online targeting.
The power of SEO is also likely to remain a key focus for brands looking to maintain and expand their online presence, as 2023 has seen search engines shift to the 5th strongest touchpoint for brands, up from 11th place in 2018. It will be interesting to see how this focus changes alongside increasingly complex algorithms and changing consumer behaviour.
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Delivering effective and meaningful measurements of impact
Sustainability has continued to have an increasing influence on how companies and consumers perceive success throughout 2023, with 42% of companies now listing sustainability amongst their performance metrics, a 16% increase since 2021.
The changing focus on customer values and how businesses choose to manage and market their day-to-day operations, can also be seen in the interest and support around initiatives such as the Better Business Act (which is now made up of over 2,000 companies) and B Corp Certification.
?The impact and opportunity around meaningful impact can further be identified through the growing shift towards shopping local over global, with 1 in 2 consumers stating a preference to buy from smaller businesses than global giants.
?There will of course be additional criteria that will influence the impact and focus of these trends, including but not limited to uncertainty around energy prices, interest rates and cost of living, which can be expected to impact business and consumer spending. There is reason to be positive on future consumer spend however, as the percentage of adults in the UK experiencing an increased cost of living has reduced from 76% in 2022 to 47% in 2023.
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As we look to 2024, we can expect social channels to remain a key channel focus as usage continues to grow. The average time spent per day currently sits at 2 hours 24 minutes, providing further opportunities for increased targeting and more effective and impactful implementation of marketing strategies.
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