1,400 marketers weigh in ⚖️

Greetings, fellow marketers,

Welcome to AI Marketing School, your go-to source for the latest in AI-powered marketing insights.

This week, we'll look at the latest marketing trends for 2024, based on insights from over 1,000 marketing pros, and how AI can help you master them.

Let’s get straight into it.

Up your marketing game this year

Every marketer is looking to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to testing out new methods. You never know which one will click and really turbocharge your strategies.

But with the rise of AI, keeping up has become much tougher. There are stacks of tools, tips, and tricks out there – some good, others rubbish. 

One of the best things we can do is learn from what other successful marketers are doing and figure out ways to improve their methods. 

And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing this week by trawling through some marketing industry reports, such as the HubSpot State of Marketing Report 2024 – one of the few that’s actually enjoyable to read.

I’ve dug through the 40+ pages and data collected from 1,400 global marketers to pick out the core themes and strategies that I think have legs. 

I’ve them put them together with some proven strategies that you can deploy pretty much immediately. 

Short-form video is killing the game 📹 

As attention spans continue to shrink and mobile usage soars, short-form video content has emerged as a powerhouse for driving engagement and ROI. The report reveals:

• 56% of TikTok users plan to increase their investment in the platform

• 27% of marketers plan to invest in YouTube for the first time in 2024

• 48% of marketers say video has the highest ROI of any content type

⬇️My advice

Experiment with creating engaging, informative, and shareable short-form video content tailored to platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. 

Runway and Pictory are worth experimenting with for text-to-video generation. Opus Clip is ideal for video repurposing. Synesthesia is a powerful tool for creating AI avatars and voiceovers. 

Draft some ideas for short-form video content and trial them out (all of these apps offer some sort of free trial).

Marketers become AI-powered 🤖 

AI is transforming marketing workflows. The report shows:

• 64% of marketers are already using AI

• AI is saving marketers 2.5 hours PER DAY!

• 77% are using AI for personalization

⬇️My advice

We all probably know how to use LLMs for time-consuming marketing tasks like content creation. But there’s almost definitely more you can squeeze out of them. 

For example, Claude 3 Opus can work effectively with massive text files of several thousand words. You can also upload multiple articles as attachments and ask it to work with each individually. ChatGPT currently lacks this functionality – it’s a big winner for Claude in my book.

I take advantage of this by uploading content I’ve already produced on a particular topic or niche and spinning out new article ideas, complete with facts, stats, and quotes I’ve used before – all consistently aligned in tone of voice, style, format, etc. 

Prioritize personalization 🎯 

In a world where consumers are bombarded with generic messaging, personalization is the key to cutting through the noise and building meaningful connections. The report highlights:

• 88% of marketers say collecting first-party data is a top priority

• 25% of marketers plan to increase their spending on targeted social media ads

• 72% agree that personalization helps increase customer engagement

⬇️My advice

Create interactive content, such as quizzes and polls, to gather first-party data and use it to create targeted, personalized marketing campaigns. 

Segment your audience based on their preferences and behaviors to deliver highly relevant content. You can use ChatGPT, Claude 3, etc, to brainstorm ideas that cater to specific audiences. 

There are so many AI social media tools now – too many to list – but I like Taplio for LinkedIn. 

Buffer, Hootsuite, etc, have plenty of useful AI tools (but don’t forget the human touch – it’s essential for socials). 

Social media is the most effective channel 🚀 

Social media is a powerful tool for building brand awareness – and driving direct traffic to your pages is SEO-proof.

• 79% of marketers say social media is the most effective channel for engaging their target audience

• 45% plan to increase their investment in social media marketing in 2024

• Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube have the highest ad ROI in that order

⬇️My advice

Here’s a smart ad workflow I want to pass on to you:

Use Facebook’s own ad library to search all live ads by category. It’s extremely useful competitive information – start with competitors or bigger companies in your wheelhouse. 

With ad images, copy, and data at your fingertips, generative AI makes it straightforward to design, remix, and test your own ideas based on top-performing ads. Let top advertisers do the testing – follow their lead and improve on their ideas. 

The 3 best links

Here are a few great AI marketing resources and tools I’ve encountered recently. Enjoy!

1. Got a business idea?! Get the ball rolling with a few clicks

Definitely one of the most interesting AI tools I’ve played with. Audos, developed by prehype, is a business-building AI co-pilot that runs on Instagram. It auto-generates everything from pitch decks to landing pages (yes, really). View the video to learn more about how it works. [Click here to learn more].

2. Write a book in 30 days (that’s not rubbish)

Author and data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz discusses how to write a high-quality book in 30 days with ChatGPT without sacrificing quality – which is the key. In fact, Seth discusses how AI made the experience all the more enjoyable and helped him pack in more detail. There are plenty of interesting, specific techniques on how he achieved this practically here. [Click here to learn more].

3. How long should blog articles be In 2024? 

A couple of weeks ago I discussed the Google algo update and potentially seismic shifts in SEO as we know it. I’ve now seen quite a few sources highlighting that shorter, more direct and high-quality content is soaring up the SERPs at the cost of yawningly long skyscraper pieces – something I’ll be keeping a close eye on! [Click here to learn more].

That’s all for this week. Hope you enjoyed it.

If you’re hungry for more AI marketing insights, check out last week’s edition. 

Until next Thursday! Happy marketing.

The AI Marketer