In 2023, the big shakeup of generative AI, a growing dissatisfaction amongst consumers, and ongoing crises around the world have led to trends that we’ve already seen before, but given them newer, sharper importance.

2024 could be a year of diving profits, increasing dissatisfaction, and an impossible-to-overcome disconnect. Instead, the trends we’ve seen coming for this year leave a lot of room for hope: brands are still going strong, consumers still look to business as their guide into a more sustainable and supportive future, and small changes in the way we work have led to gigantic leaps for the better.

We’ve looked at BI. We’ve looked at consumer macro trends. We’ve looked at social media, marketing, brand and storytelling trends.

Now we’re handing it over to you. Everything we’ve researched, everything we’ve put together, everything you need to make sense of 2024 and start strengthening your business for the now, and the beyond-now.

May it serve you well!

P.S. Want more of this kind of content? Sign up to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn!

The post The Big Book of Trends 2024 [Free eBook] appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Get a designed PDF copy of Business Intelligence Trends 2024

If you don’t have the time to read this article now, you can download the PDF version of Business Intelligence Trends 2024 for free by clicking below. Otherwise, just keep reading.

Wait, why are we talking about Business Intelligence tech?

If you’ve been following our trend reports for the last few years, you’ll notice that we’ve never broached the subject of Business Intelligence. 

Because we’re not a tech or software company. 

Our speciality is the translation of technical expertise and experience into clear communication. So far, our trend reports have translated our own knowledge and foresight, but we understand that businesses need more than just guidance on brand and communication to excel. 

To extend the usefulness of these trend documents, we’ve collaborated with our tech partners at Cleverbit Software to deliver this report on a tool that can be the difference between surviving and flourishing for businesses of all sizes: BI. If you’re new to the field, we recommend taking a look at Cleverbit’s own content on the subject. They literally wrote the book on Business Intelligence.

But if you’re aware of the essentials, and are looking at what the next year has in store, keep reading.

Business Intelligence in 2024: Data Quality, Governance, and AI-Driven Trends

As we journey through 2024, the landscape of Business Intelligence (BI) is undergoing a transformation that is both profound and multi-dimensional. This transformation is not just about the adoption of advanced technologies; it’s an evolution in the very ethos of how businesses interact with data.

Businesses who have already invested in business intelligence software will have an edge above their other competitors, having been grandfathered into the functions of business intelligence before this point, however despite the significant expansion within the BI industry, 2024 makes it far more accessible to companies who haven’t yet taken the plunge – and a far greater need. Significantly more than in previous years, business intelligence software is no longer something that can be put aside because of the expense: the staggering quantity of data that is heading to business in 2024 is impossible to parse using humans. 

Main BI Predictions for 2024

1. Explainable AI to reinvigorate the way businesses consume and manage data. 
2. Natural language processing will increase the amount of data sets available. 
3. Collaborative BI technologies will be on the rise, leading to a greater proportion of cloud-based BI systems. 
4. Renewed importance for data quality and data governance.
5. The unavoidable implementation of democratic data.

Trend 1: AI will reinvigorate the way businesses consume and manage data

AI has already made an indelible mark on the business intelligence industry, however in 2024 this is going to go a step further. As organisations gear up to adapt to an exponentially larger amount of data, AI is going to provide the much-needed clarity and understanding that organisations need. Explainable AI is easy to understand –  flexible in how it is used and applicable to various use cases, allowing for any member of the organisation to understand the insights that the AI model provides and also how it came to those results. 

The integration of AI in BI tools is not just about automating tasks; it’s about uncovering insights that would be impossible for humans to find. AI algorithms are now capable of identifying patterns in vast datasets, offering predictions and recommendations that guide strategic decisions. This AI-driven approach is transforming industries, from retail where it’s used for personalised marketing, to finance where it’s revolutionising risk assessment.

AI features in BI tools are a game-changer for businesses. Features like predictive analytics, AI-generated reports, and natural language queries are making it easier for users to interact with data and derive valuable insights. These tools are becoming more adaptive, learning from user interactions to provide more relevant insights, which in turn streamlines the decision-making process.

• By 2025, more than 60% of industries will adopt easy-to-understand AI techniques in their business intelligence processes. 
• By 2027, the global AI market will grow at a CAGR of 40.5%.
• 84% of business leaders consider AI as fundamental to drive growth objectives. 

Why is this important? 

Data is always getting bigger, and as more AI models come into the fray, data is no longer just embedded in reports from integrated machines, but also in text, speech, images, and music. If it exists, an AI can analyse it – and at this the amount of data available is so significantly larger that humans will struggle to know where to start, much less to analyse it. 

Trend 2: Natural language processing widens the available data for most businesses

Natural language processing (NLP), a subfield of artificial intelligence, analyses natural language data such as texts, speech, and images; this then allows humans to ask questions of the system using natural language. Going hand in hand with the above trend, NLP in BI means that anyone across the organisation can take insights provided by BI software, and ask a few simple questions to get a few simple answers. It can understand user intent and interpret preferences according to the user, so any question can be answered within a few short seconds. 

Why is this important?

A key issue of adopting any kind of new technology is the widening skills gap in employees; while businesses have the capacity to adopt as many new technologies as their budget allows, finding people who know how to efficiently and accurately use that same technology is a much harder matter, leading to the same issues that made them adopt those technologies in the first place. Without someone to interpret and explain those results, they are no closer to understanding their insights. This effectively makes it a non-issue, as anyone with even basic technical skills can understand NLP-based insights. 

Trend 3: Collaborative BI technologies

Although it’s been a couple of years since COVID-19, the fallout is still very much impacting businesses. During the height of the pandemic, on-premises BI solutions couldn’t withstand the pivot to a largely remote workforce, necessitating the rapidfire adoption of cloud-based BI systems. At this nearly all BI and data analytical elements have been shifted to the cloud, allowing your employees to access the data they need wherever they are. 

• 40% of all workloads are already in the cloud. 
• 45% of consumers consider cloud business intelligence critical. 
• Cloud analytics solutions held 68% of revenue share, and this figure is slated to grow. 

Why is this important? 

The growing popularity of cloud-based systems opens up new opportunities for data analytics. As we move further and further away from the COVID-19 pandemic’s fallout, the changes to business will stay – especially the flexibility of cloud-based solutions. 

Beyond flexibility, cloud analytics are also overall cheaper to run, which means SMEs may find it a more accessible option for business intelligence solutions. Additionally, the cloud-based model can work out cheaper for smaller businesses, as it would allow them to access their data and analytics with a cloud-based service pricing model, rather than creating an internal IT infrastructure from scratch.  

Trend 4: Prioritising data quality governance and security

As data gains importance, so does the importance of its security and governance. Advanced encryption techniques, data masking, and access control mechanisms are being implemented to protect sensitive data. Additionally, with the advent of technologies like blockchain, data governance is becoming more transparent and secure, ensuring that data is not just safe but also ethically managed.

As a result, data quality management transcends basic accuracy. It’s about creating a framework where data is not only precise, but also fit for its intended use. With regulations like GDPR, the need for compliance adds another layer to data governance, making it a strategic priority for businesses. Advanced data governance tools are being leveraged to automate compliance, ensuring data is not only clean but also legally compliant.

Why is this important?

With every passing year, the amount and complexity of data that we have at our fingertips grows considerably, and so do the laws governing the use of that data. While legal ramifications take a longer time to catch up to the pace of technology, it always does eventually, and companies will need to comply with that data if they wish to remain in operation. Additionally, security issues can ruin a company – all it takes is one security breach, and a wealth of data will end up on the internet. As a result, companies need to prioritise both the quality of the data that they have, and maintain high security regulations to protect that data. 

Just how critical is data quality?

For a business to run efficiently, ensuring its data quality is of the highest standards is essential to mitigate operational and decision-making risks. If the data is fragmented, biased, or lacks integrity, it can have a profound impact on the overall business success. Duplicate entries, inaccuracies, or inconsistencies can lead to bias and misunderstanding of the situation for the company, and decisions made can steer the business in the wrong direction

For businesses that need that data for decision-making, this can be catastrophic. 

Trend 5: Democratic data

There are two ways in which data is democratised in 2024. 

The first is the establishment of a data-driven culture: this requires more than just access to data; it requires a mindset shift. Businesses are investing in training programs to imbue their workforce with data literacy, ensuring that every decision, from the C-suite to the operational level, is backed by data. 

The second are self-service analytics tools. Self-service analytical tools are breaking down barriers between data and decision-makers. These tools are becoming more intuitive, with user-friendly interfaces and natural language processing capabilities, enabling users to ask questions and receive insights in plain language. 

Why is this important?

This is fostering a more agile decision-making process, where insights are not bottle-necked in the IT department but are accessible to all who need them. As a result, businesses heading into 2024 and beyond have a much greater portion of their employees involved and aware of the daily decision-making processes, which leads to better operations overall. 

Conclusion 

The BI landscape in 2024 is a blend of technological advancements and cultural shifts. It’s not just about adopting new technologies – it’s about embracing a new way of thinking about, and interacting with, data. By integrating AI, prioritising data governance, and democratising data access, businesses can unlock the full potential of their data, driving innovation and maintaining a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving digital world.

If you are looking for a tech partner to help you navigate the world of BI and data, get in touch with our partners at Cleverbit Software. Their team specialises in guiding businesses through their data analytics and visualisation journey, bringing tangible business insights to the forefront. Find out what a BI solution could do for your business with a no-strings-attached consultation and workshop with their team.

The post Business Intelligence Trends 2024 appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

If you don’t have the time to read this article now, you can download the PDF version of Marketing Trends 2024 for free by clicking below. Otherwise, just keep reading.

For the past three years running, brands have been living on borrowed goodwill. They have been happily jumping onto every bandwagon without thinking more deeply than showcasing their innovative thinking. 

Consumers don’t want just innovation. Consumers want action. Consumers want the brands they follow to speak up for them. Consumers – especially the younger generation, the ones that have yet to settle their loyalties with one brand – know that their purchasing power has a way of changing the status quo, and aren’t afraid to wield it. 

In 2024, businesses are practically the only trusted institution remaining. Governments, NGOs, and media entities are all lagging behind. Their ability to influence their audiences, their equity, and the power of their voice is all eroding underneath the faster-paced, louder business presence. 

But this doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way. 

And marketing in 2024 will mean very little unless this is understood very clearly by the brands doing the marketing. 

This is not a year where you can please both sides. This is a year where brands have to make a decision on which consumers they want to speak to – and to consistently speak to them thereafter. 

And they can do that by speaking where consumers will hear them. 

A snapshot of 2023: 

Marketing grows more complicated every year that passes. 

There’s new technology to use. There are new audiences to speak to. There are new voices added to an already crowded fray.  Every campaign has to be better than the ones of the year before. Every campaign has to cut through the noise of what’s happening outside the little slices of the world that brands live in. 

And 2023 had a lot of noise. The world is in crisis, and has been for a while – wars, recessions, climate crisis, growing dissatisfaction, protests on protests. 2024 will not see things get better immediately (and could possibly see things getting worse) – but as we said in our Consumer Macro Trends blog, there is light at the end of the tunnel for marketers. 

Brands just need to put in a little more work to make sure they’re on the right side of the conversation. 

Marketing trends in 2024: innovation, escalation, personalisation

Barriers between consumers are shrinking – and something that happens halfway around the world will be heard everywhere in a matter of seconds. 

But it isn’t just for bad news. Brands that do good – or at least their best to do good – will find that their accolades are shouted about in markets that they might not have previously considered – and the old method of communicating with their consumers based on their basic demographics is proving itself to be lacking when it comes to this generation of consumers. 

In 2024, brands aren’t speaking to audiences that are bound by causes, by opinions, by the way that they see things in the world, by the technology that they use, by a deep and understated need to find themselves in marketing. 

It means better conversations, deeper analysis of those audiences, and best of all, the room to let creativity go wild. 

It means innovation, escalation, and personalisation.

Trend 1: Innovation 

• Short-form video has the highest ROI of all marketing ventures. 
• 79% of consumers want to use AR before buying a product. 
• 65% of all internet traffic is conducted via mobile 

We live in an age of unmatched connection. Everything, from customer service to entertainment, is available immediately and in its full scope. 

Consumers no longer like to wait. As new technology is dreamed of, finding consumers who are willing to wait for your brand to keep up with current events is harder and harder – so, as they say, if you can’t beat them, join them. 

But it’s not just a case of having a website. 

There are technologies available today that make your brand experience an experience. Whether it’s using AR to showcase your products in real time, or hopping onto the latest social media trend in video, you can’t avoid beating technology, so you might as well join it. 

In 2023, the metaverse was all the rage. This isn’t the case in 2024, but we’re seeing fringe technologies like AR and VR command attention.

It isn’t really about the tech. 

For consumers, it’s about the brand; it’s about knowing what product or service they’re buying is actually what they want. Globally, the real value of wages is down. Globally, there is a sense of being out of control, and being unable to fix the big, glaring issues that affect most of society. Something that takes them out of that state of thinking – even if it’s only a little thing – will make waves. 

Case study 

Hand in hand with ten leading ASD associations and over 100 patients, Samsung released a free app called ‘Unfear’ that pairs with their Galaxy earbuds to help people with auditory sensitivities live their lives freely. The app, which is AI-enabled, blocks distressing noises and plays sounds to cover the noises that distress that user in particular – and suppresses what it can’t block. 

 Trend 2: Escalation – deeper communication fostered

• 40% of marketers see controversy as inevitable. 
• The increase of over 2.3 million US citizens as cross-border buyers precipitates greater cross-border and no-border purchases in 2024. 
• 76% of consumers are using social media as a search engine. 

If you’re marketing in 2024, you’re marketing to the entire world – both the good and the bad. 

Brands have been slowly, inexorably going global since the creation of the internet, but it was after COVID-19 that globalisation really peaked. On the one hand, it’s an excellent opportunity to court the kind of audience that might be difficult to find locally; on the other, it means that your conversations are subject to a lot more scrutiny than they might have been initially. 

Coupled with an audience that has become increasingly stratified and a worldwide obsession with black-and-white thinking, brands have to dig deeper to make the kind of conversational connections that they used to – and that’s not taking into account the moments when those conversations go wrong. 

This isn’t bad for brand. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. Consumers like this care deeply about a company – so deeply that they see brands as extensions of themselves, extensions of how they think about the world, extensions that they can proudly champion. 

While it means that brands need to be more careful about what they say, and craft their narrative to fall on the side of the conversation they want to be on, audiences today are smart and dedicated to the companies that they want to see thrive. For brands, it’s an easy win, and a hard road to get there. 

This doesn’t mean that brands will always be in the right. Controversy is part of the brand experience for 2024, and no amount of hedging your bets is going to help you avoid that.

If you find a position you’re willing to stand by, stand by it. If you find an argument you want to make, make it. If you think that an issue has no place for you to communicate in, stay quiet, and communicate about an issue you can talk about. 

Brands cannot afford to stay silent.  

What does this mean for you and your business?

You have to pick a side, and you have to talk. Controversy is unavoidable – that isn’t a bad thing. There will always be an audience that will see the side of things that you see, so if you’re happy to continue to communicate with that audience, then do so. If you’re not, you need to communicate with the audience that you are happy to talk to. 

Staying silent, pleasing both sides, and simply walking back any controversial statement has diminishing returns. It’s time for your brand personality to take the centre  

Case study 

Ahead of the release of Scream VI, QYOU created a series of interactive content campaigns that played out across social media in order to draw the interest of both new and existing fans of the franchise. They employed over 16 creators in four different campaigns that culminated in 17.5M views, 1.9M engagement, and an overall click-thru rate nearly 3x the platform’s benchmark. 

Trend 3: Personalisation – the individual, not the audience

• 56% of consumers state they will become repeat buyers after a highly personalised experience. 
• 92% of businesses will be investing in AI to create better personalised experiences.
• 62% of consumers will move away from a brand if it does not provide personalised recommendations.

The amount of data brands have at their disposal is staggering – so it isn’t surprising that consumers expect more from their experiences with brands than what they currently get. Add in the lingering effects of the post-pandemic chaos, and the fact that there is simply too much choice for consumers to make, and you have a perfect storm of consumers that both expect a personalised experience from brands, while maintaining a modicum of privacy and rigidly aware of the minor factors that can make or break a successful brand interaction. 

Think of cookies. 

Cookies offer that very personalisation by knowing you: knowing what you browse, knowing what you buy, knowing where you go when you want to read something or spend some time on the internet. However, as a result of the changing legal requirements around consumer data privacy – pushed into law by the same consumers who thrive on personalised shopping approaches – third party cookies are on their way out. 

Consumers have an overabundance of choice available to them, and there are few brands who will be able to withstand an audience deciding to switch. As consumers more heavily consider brands as an extension of their own selves, they expect to see a reflection of what they find interesting in the brand selection process to start with, and for brands to know them as well as all that collected data suggests. 

Case study 

Dove teamed up with Open Source Afro Hair Library and Edelman to launch the ‘Code My Crown’ campaign, a free to use guide that teaches young gamers and developers how to code natural and protective hairstyles in video games. The guide follows on from Dove’s previous efforts to end race-based hair discrimination in workplaces and schools and champion a real change in the world for the individual. 

What does this mean for you and your business?

You probably already have data on your consumers. Now it’s time to dig deeper into it, and find the aspects of that data that you can use to show your business knows its audience as well as they know themselves. 

This means occasionally leaning into efforts that might not result in immediate return, but can build your brand’s efforts to stand out, to speak for its consumers, and to create a real, lasting change. 

Trend 4: Fandometrics

• 83% of consumers admit that tie-ins influence purchase decisions. 
• 61% of fans enjoy seeing brands create content that relates to their fandom, provided that they make an effort to understand it. 
• 95% of 2023 content was part of a franchise. 

Fandom has come a long way from being a movement on the fringe edges of awareness; it’s now something that dictates a significant portion of the entertainment industry, and spills over into several others. Brands that partner up with fandoms tend to see a surge of interest in their products, and as 2024 rolls on, the power of the fandom is even more pronounced. 

Tie-ins, brand deals, limited edition offerings: these are all excellent ways to build a conversation with a powerful segment of modern audiences, however it comes with its own pitfalls. Fandom is particularly finicky about how brands communicate to them, and it is likely that any attempt to speak to a fandom by prioritising the brand over the fandom will not be met well. 

Figure out a happy in-between, though, and it’s an excellent way to start an organic conversation with your audience that has a lot of opportunity to keep growing. What it does mean is investing some time into understanding these audience segments – and making sure that they feel listened to.

Case study 

LEGO has recently unveiled their kid-friendly metaverse, a multiplayer crafting-based spin-off of Fortnite, one of the most popular games for the segment they are targeting with over 400 million registered users and around 80 million active players per month. This continues on from Lego’s increasing attempts to digitise their offerings, following their online loyalty program launch, Lego Insiders, this past August. 

What does this mean for you and your business?

Fandom is powerful, and fandom can make you money – but if you’re going to wade into this facet of marketing, you need to know the fandom you’re speaking with will almost certainly be split into factions, and that pleasing all of them is going to be difficult. However, this doesn’t mean you should avoid it: not at all. Study the way other brands interact with fandoms. At the end of the day, this is another conversation, another tie you can build with your consumers, another form of data that you can use – and done well, it has immense potential for lasting brand relationships. 

And in the end…

Business has come a long way since 2020. What started as an upheaval due to COVID-19 has become a completely new way of doing business – and, as a result, a new way of marketing. 

This would be the part where we say there’s no wrong way to market. 

It would be a lie. 

It has become increasingly obvious that the way marketing works has changed, and both marketers and brands have to walk a fine line. Partially due to brands’ easy access to a near never-ending audience, partially due to the fact that that same audience is tired of being marketed to, marketing is no longer as effective as it used to be, and more thought has to go into the messages being relayed to consumers. 

This means understanding those consumers, and also understanding that there is a limit to the amount of marketing messages that those consumers will absorb, much less listen to. 

But this isn’t new. This is the continuation of something that started before now, with a deepening pattern of globalisation and audiences that are inundated with a barrage of information at all times. 

It isn’t hopeless. Most brands can easily pivot into communicating in ways that matter. 

But it takes time, and it takes understanding your audience – and how it changes from one year to the next. 

If you struggle with that, and you need some extra advice, we can help you.

The post Marketing Trends 2024 appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

If you don’t have the time to read this article now, you can download the PDF version of Trends That Will Shape Your Business in 2024 and Beyond for free by clicking below. Otherwise, just keep reading.

Integrating our trendwatching practice into our daily operations isn’t just wise, it’s essential. As a consultancy that is well-known for our trendwatching work, we very rarely talk about how we integrate the practice within our own business. 

Like our trend-focused client consultancy, we scrutinise our own business throughout the year to identify actionable trends. We consider these trends across three critical levels:

• Trends that impact our business operationally (such as increased remote working)
• Trends that affect the services we offer (the rise of authenticity in external communications)
• And finally trends that we research to help our clients stay ahead of the curve and their competition.

We focus on the last one in our external posts (see them all here), but today I’ll cover the ones that I’m looking at as a business leader who’s interested in taking our own business forward.

I aim to achieve a simple goal: I’d love to help you apply our trend articles to your business and benefit from the insight on a daily basis. How to take the theoretical and apply it in a practical fashion that will help you drive your business ahead of your competition’s.

We can monitor a vast number of trends professionally, but we can’t apply all we learn to our business, otherwise we’d be floating around in eternity. This is why we choose three trends that help give us focus (or help us fix what we’re doing) operationally and another three to help us direct the services that we’re offering.

The three that affect us operationally are:

• AI & the AI revolution
• The New Work Revolution – or talent acquisition & retention in a world in which we have remote work & increased flexibility
• An increasingly connected post-pandemic world

In terms of how we’re adjusting our services to focus on needs that become more acute as time goes by, we’ve been taking a long, hard look at the following trends:

• Authentically Human 
• Human Made
• Collaborative Marketing

Trends Affecting How Switch Works

AI & the AI Revolution

We’ve discussed this at length. To a certain extent it is the trend that’s impacting all trends, and a trend that will impact the ways in which we live and work over the next few years. There are so many ways in which this is affecting every aspect of work that it would take more than a paragraph or two to cover how we’re including this megatrend in our daily lives here at Switch.

Because it’s changing our daily lives. We use AI transcription tools to record and archive our calls. We use other tools to synthesise our conversations and others to build knowledge-banks for subjects or clients. We’re looking into AI to help improve the creative process and we’re looking at AI tools to help us produce better outputs across the board. We’re also pretty sure that we’ll look at this paragraph in a year’s time and think how basic our usage was.

And that’s where I’m getting to. What we’re doing around the AI megatrend is opening up ourselves to learning about new AI tools as they come along. We’ve set up a working group to look for new tools and to identify whether they can help us do better work. We’ve set a budget aside for tools we don’t even know exist yet. We’re preparing for a series of major shifts in our industry in ways that we are not even expecting. As cliche as it might sound, we’re expecting the unexpected, and we’re excited about it!

How you can benefit from this trend: This is a somewhat universal trend, one that crosses verticals and horizontals. At this stage our advice is to make a conscious decision to be on the lookout for AI innovations that could impact your industry and to be ready to adopt new tools and ways of working as quickly as possible.

The New Work Revolution

The world of work changed in the couple of years of the pandemic, and it’s still changing as we speak. At Switch we are constantly looking out to see how we can be better employers. We want to ensure that our employees are getting the best conditions possible, and at the moment that’s not the easiest task, which is why trendwatching is critical here.

People expect much more out of their jobs now -they want good conditions and they want great wages-  but they are also on the hunt for working conditions that respect them as human beings, that give them the flexibility to work from wherever they want to and to live a life that’s more fulfilling. 

Running a completely distributed team is not easy, working fewer hours every week is not easy, either, but we understand that if we want to secure the best talent and, more importantly, if we want to keep our people happy, we have to make the extra effort it takes to work on both.

We’re working 4-day weeks for more than half the year, and we encourage the team to work from practically anywhere in the world. This has allowed us to consistently keep an extremely low employee turnover. The benefits to this are immeasurable. We get consistency in the people we’re working with. Our training program centres around upskilling, not re-training people on things we’re already familiar with. And with a fully-distributed model, it’s also allowed us to not lose people when they decide to move homes. We also cast a far wider net when we recruit.

How you can benefit from this trend: Even with all the innovation and automation we’re seeing, human capital is still immensely valuable, so you need a workforce that’s nimble and dedicated. Take a long hard look at how you treat your people and challenge every notion you have that might make you be perceived as an inflexible or an inconsiderate employer. You might decide to change nothing, but at the very least you’d have considered all options.

Increased Worldwide Connectivity

The other major change in a post-pandemic world was the increased connections between people around the world. These barriers had made it very hard for us to specialise in an area of business that we wanted to focus on, but as times changed, so did Switch. We’re now working with clients from all over the world, specialising in high-quality content and strategies for B2B businesses across 22 different time zones. 

Our clients rarely care about where we are, because during the pandemic they got used to working with suppliers over calls, no matter where they were. And in that spirit, if we were the best fit for their needs, it made no difference if we were 20km away from them or 5,000 km away – as long as we’re OK to take calls in their time zone, we’re only judged on the quality of our work, not where we’re sitting while we’re on a call.

How you can benefit from this trend: Is your business as geographically dependent as you think it is? Are you looking beyond your immediate catchment area to see whether there could be opportunities beyond your traditional area of business? Have you tried recruiting from beyond your postcode?

Trends Affecting What Switch Does

Authentically Human / HumanMade

If you can’t beat them, join them, someone wise once said. We’re not sure we agree, and in that spirit, we’re tackling the big AI revolution sideways. While, as you read earlier, we’re embracing AI innovation wholeheartedly, we’re also conscious of the fact that we have to stand out in a sea of AI created (and curated) content.

It’s easy for any one of our clients (or potential clients) to simply use one of the hundreds of AI tools that can churn out vast volumes of content, so as an agency we have to focus on the areas in which we can bring real value, not the areas that can easily be replaced by a machine.

Anyone who’s used an AI tool to generate content will tell you that it probably takes as much time to get the machine to create something that you’re happy with as it would take you to write something out. But that will become faster.

Humans, especially the humans at Switch, however, can bring something completely different to the table. We can make sense of things in ways that Machines can’t (yet). We have context and we have a broader knowledge of the people we work with, the industries they’re in, and the peculiarities of each and every person we work with.

This allows us to work on strategies and to create content that’s highly personalised and that’s deeper than you could (currently) get from a machine. And we’re constantly on the lookout for ways to innovate that will keep us relevant in a sea of automation.

How you can benefit from this trend: Which parts of your business can be automated? Which parts of what you do can be easily replaceable by machines? This is the time to automate and replace as quickly as possible, all while elevating the areas in which a human touch makes all the difference. 

Immersion over Innovation

Even though this is primarily a B2C trend, this is one we can learn a lot from in our daily interactions with the brands we partner up with to create strategies and content for. In a sea of rapid innovation, we have to accept that our scope for innovation is relatively limited. 

We can (and do) innovate with the strategies we work on, and we’re constantly innovating in the ways we package our products, in the ways we communicate on behalf of our clients and in the ways we deliver our services, however these are relatively small innovations in comparison to the innovations happening in the world at the moment.

So our biggest strength, at the moment, is our level of immersion with the brands we’re working with. We’re partnering up with fewer brands than we used to, and we’re immersing ourselves much more deeply than we ever have in the past. We’re also allowing the clients we work with to immerse themselves much more deeply into our processes and with the people they’re working closely with at Switch. We’re breaking down walls that existed in the past, giving more direct access to the people clients are working with, to the processes we’re using, to the inner workings of the agency that we’d intentionally obfuscated in the past.

This gives the people using our services a much more immersive experience, and while it puts the onus on us to run a much tighter ship, it makes the process of working with us feel much more authentic.

How you can benefit from this trend: Like the trend above, this is an area in which you can benefit greatly from deeper human connections and deeper integrations with your clients. Are there areas of your service offering that can forge stronger connections? These would be the ones I’d be looking at improving and growing in 2024.

Collaborative Marketing in B2B

Collaborative marketing has been a thing for decades, so why am I bringing it up as a trend now? The change that we’re seeing is the new application of collaboration in B2B. And we’re not talking about influencers, here. This is not a collaboration between someone who’s making it their life goal to achieve influence and monetise it.

We’re seeing collaborations between business leaders and marketers from all businesses. People and brands who see that their area of influence can be used to grow other brands’ reach in a way that benefits everyone involved. This is a new currency of influence that’s created from scratch, and when used correctly it actually amplifies the reach of everyone involved and offers a great service to the audiences who are being reached, too. 

This trend is still on the rise, we haven’t officially identified it as a trend that’s going to dominate the marketing landscape yet, but it’s one we’re keeping tabs on and will probably include it officially as a trend in a year or two.

As time goes by we’re seeing that more and more B2B brands and business leaders are reaching out to others to grow their businesses by collaborating with others, using the people they’re collaborating with to also help spread the content that’s been created once it’s ready to be spread.

This emerging trend requires wider adoption before we officially recognize it, but it’s already on our radar.

How you can benefit from this trend: Who are the people in your industry who have the loudest voice (both online and in real life)? Can you reach out to them to create content with them? Mostly you’re going to be looking for people in areas that complement your business, but there might also be benefits in collaborating with people who you might traditionally see as your competition. It’s not a zero sum game, and there’s enough business to go around…

And in the end…

Trends are critical to running your business if you want to stay relevant. Sometimes it might seem overwhelming to make sense of all the changes that are happening around us. And when we’re overwhelmed we tend to go into ostrich-mode, hiding our head in the sand and hoping that if we hunker down and just work harder, we’ll get ahead because that’s what we always did.

It’s becoming tougher and tougher to justify that stance, so I’m hoping that by giving you practical and tangible uses of trendwatching in how we run our own business you can see ways of implementing this content in yours.

And if you’re stuck – reach out. We’re always happy to help brands identify the trends that could be game changers for them in the future.

The post Trends That Will Shape Your Business in 2024 and Beyond appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

If you don’t have the time to read this article now, you can download the PDF version of Brand Storytelling Trends in 2024: Back to Basics for free by clicking below. Otherwise, just keep reading.

Narrative is the most human trait. 

It defines us as a species – we are able to tell stories to each other with the intent of changing someone else’s mind. Without the ability to convey a narrative, we are just free-range monkeys.

Since it is that old, one may argue that narrative doesn’t change much – in essence it either tells us a story to motivate us (you will look great in this outfit) or to scare us (protect your business from cyberattack).

But the stories that surround us, the ones that get us to pay attention and eventually change our behaviours or beliefs, are the ones that are in tune with what’s going on around us.

The word on the street, the zeitgeist, the meme du jour, the trending tweets (fuck X), this hour’s TikTok dance… while these might all fit within the structure of a core narrative, they speak to us about what’s going on right now. 

And we live right now.

As 2023 comes to a close, here’s a look at the narrative trends that could shape 2024. 

After all, a year is just a collection of the stories that it leaves behind.

As always, strong narratives will win the game. 

When the ‘noise’ gets louder, as audiences are bombarded by even more messages from even more sources, it is the strong stories that will stand out.

Think of it as signal-to-noise ratio. Our stories need to be a strong signal if they are to stand out from the noise.

And it isn’t just about the narrative. It’s about how that narrative gets to where it needs to be. It’s about how that story lives in whatever medium it is told in.

Audience-driven insights

There are three underpinning insights that will most likely dominate narrative trends in 2024.

The general frustration in a post-truth era. 

Not knowing what narrative is true, having stories that reach us devoid of crucial context, and faced by an overwhelming stream of contradictory information, audiences will respond positively to anything that appears unequivocal. This is further complicated by the era of generative AI. As audiences are exposed to more content that’s generated by minds made of silicon, their ability to discern what’s real, what’s human, and what’s been made up by machines continues to sow doubt.

Lack of time, lack of interest

Consumers oscillate between being very busy or being bored – both states welcoming brevity over depth. While this has plenty to do with the behavioural shift towards doomscrolling, it still favours concise storytelling that grabs attention.

Data privacy determinism

Finally, there is the reluctance of audiences to go on trading large amounts of information about themselves in exchange for products such as social networks. This trend is, for now, on the fringe compared to the other two but it will have consequences on the way we tell our stories.

Market-driven insights

Particularly in B2B marketing, more marketers are citing a lack of resources as their major stumbling block. With an ever-expanding set of tools at our disposal, the spectre of a recession, and narrower margins almost across the board, this comes as no surprise. 

There has also been a steady rise in the use of paid media. While smart content marketing and first-party data strategies reduce the dependency on paid media, a surprising number of marketers admit to operating without at least a 12-month plan, let alone a strategy for sustainable communication.

On the other side is the ubiquity of artificial intelligence, giving small marketing teams the tools they need to punch well above their weight, saving money on content writing, planning, and even the need for additional human resources. This is a big thing – AI has become part of the marketing tech stack within a shorter timeframe than any technology has.

This time last year we weren’t speaking about AI unless it was in very specific and very tech-oriented spaces. This year, 3 out of 4 of those working in B2B marketing say that they use at least one AI tool at work.

As resources appear to shrink and new tools emerge to help the industry do more with less, we should be seeing briefer, more punchy pieces of content that, happily, suit the ever-shrinking amount of time audiences are willing to give up.

On top of this is the sheer volume of data that is available to anyone who wants to communicate. Narratives that are driven by data will be the ones that reach their target with the highest degree of precision, winning on cost-effectiveness and efficacy.

Narrative Trends in 2024

Trend 1: Inter-ACT

• Interactive content saw 52.6% more engagement than static content
• 52% of marketers find interactive emails as the most effective form of marketing.
• 88% of marketers see interactive content as a way to differentiate themselves

The data is clear on this and it isn’t surprising. In an era where most of our distribution platforms are interactive, there is little reason to produce static content, particularly when interactive content sees over 50% more engagement than static content. 

The same applies to interactive emails, with over half of marketers experiencing more engagement from interactive emails than static ones.

What is surprising about this trend is that it sounds obvious and yet marketers seem reluctant to go the extra mile and think in terms of interactivity. Broadcast media like TV and radio had a good run that lasted decades but their time as dominant players is over. Thinking like broadcast is the only method of reaching an audience is to remain stuck in a time when today’s tools aren’t available.

You’ve seen influencers try their hand at interactivity: “What’s your favourite ice-cream flavour?” As simple as this sounds, it is an invitation to interaction with the lowest barrier to engagement possible.

Let’s learn from this practice (but implement it better) by thinking of friction. If we produce interactive content, we must give audiences the pathway to reach out that has the least friction possible. Let us make it easy and interesting for our audiences to interact and be sure to offer a good reason (read ‘reward’) for them to reach out.

In a sea of one-way comms, interactive content is a chief differentiating factor. It tells your audiences that you’re up for conversation and, done well, it tells them what kind of chat you’d be happy to have. It turns your brand into that person we’d meet for a coffee, knowing a good conversation is to be had. 

And that’s the start of a friendship right there.

Trend 2: Authentically Human

• 51% of marketers consider differentiating their content the biggest challenge with the rise of AI tools.
• 54% find the amount of content available overwhelming, but find the quality lacking
• 31% of marketers find AI-generated content quality to be lacking

During the time when fast-food restaurants were on the rise, traditional restaurants tried to differentiate themselves by writing ‘home-made lasagna’ on their menu boards. 

We knew it wasn’t true but we willingly bought into the distinction.

As AI-generated content improves in its coherence and quality, it is becoming harder to tell what’s been made by a person and what’s been generated by an AI. Meta has launched a series of AI influencers, each able to interact with millions of humans at the same time without missing a beat.

The chances are that a third of the content you’ve read today has been, at least in part, created by an inanimate device. And this is set to increase as more and more of the workforce climbs over the perception hurdles and adopts this tech in some form or another.

The result is that there will be more efforts to distinguish AI-made content from human-made content. 

And content that can be verifiably created by a human will score points for authenticity.

This is not to say there is anything wrong with machine-made content. It is simply an echo of the way humanity reacts to new technologies. When every leather handbag was stitched by a human hand, there was little to distinguish one from the other. Now that machines stitch most bags, the handmade becomes more valuable.

This blog was written entirely by a pair of human hands and a kitten’s paws      sfl,,,,,.                                 Bv jik eeeerrrrttt

Trend 3: Brevity is the soul

• 94% of marketers agree that short articles is the most popular form of content
• 95% of all content distribution happens on social media
• 47% of marketers put all their content in images

We are all competing for attention all the time. We are also afflicted by an epidemic of ever-decreasing attention spans.

This ushers the era of short headline-style content that conveys as much information as possible in as short a consumption moment as possible. By ‘headline-style’ we mean any form of content that one can consume in a very short time. Memes, gifs, zero-click content, images, and short videos all qualify. 

What about long-form content? Longer reads, in-depth podcasts, long-form video, and other forms of narrative that are involving or longer to consume still have their place in telling a complete story. 

We just need to lead to them with a much shorter hook.

This should not be an issue for content creators. It is good practice to find the shortest possible way to convey a message while retaining clarity and all necessary information. As the trend towards brevity gains more traction, cunning storytellers will find new ways of telling short-form narratives.

Ultra-short form, the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it form of content, is something of a novelty in mainstream comms but it has been quite standard in niche and closed-group circles, especially those composed exclusively of Gen Z and younger individuals. The move from niche to mainstream is inevitable and we will see more content that’s ultra-brief, usually depending on a link to an established narrative that we, the audience, are already aware of. Think of this kind of content as a mass-appeal in-joke.

Another useful angle to this trend is the creation of micro-moments within longer narratives. These serve as little breaks, giving our audiences a short reprieve from longer form content in the shape of a snack-sized piece of content that’s there to distract for a moment. Micro-moments can be informative, entertaining, or even a simple change in content delivery method (like a 5 second video within a blog post) and that help keep our audiences engaged for a little longer as they skip down the path of your defined user journey.

In essence, however, brevity is an ever-appreciating commodity:

1. Scrap useless words (or scrap words completely)
2. Lead with a benefit
3. Consider the appropriate platform
4. Link to a wider story
5. Grab attention in 5 seconds or less

Trend 4: Data destiny

• Data storytelling has increased by 233%.
• 93% agree that data storytelling boosts revenue.
• Consumers are 63% more likely to remember data if it’s presented as a story.

We’ve had accurate and real-time consumer data available to us for decades now. We’re used to data feeding into accurate targeting, consumer insights, and campaign optimisation, to mention just a few ways in which data carves the messaging we create. But having much more data available to us is not enough to form an emerging trend.

The trend is being shaped by data storytelling itself. Presenting data alone isn’t enough. There is no story to a statement that says “62% of consumers prefer this drink to its competitor”. A story alone is interesting but it is much more captivating when backed up by real numbers. And this is the basis of data storytelling – the way we can use data as a component of an engaging narrative.

Over the past 5 years, data storytelling has grown by 233%. Which forms the shape of a gentle trend but this is set to grow significantly next year as the technology that’s available to us boosts this trend from multiple angles.

The intelligence that was needed to properly harness data for storytelling purposes was reserved for companies with deep enough pockets to afford powerful Business Intelligence and market research capabilities. As AI services become affordable to all, the ability to spot behavioural patterns in huge datasets reaches the masses.

Tugging this trend from a completely different angle, but pulling it in the same direction, is the ever-increasing epistemological crisis – we simply don’t know what the truth is any more. Data-driven storytelling is one way to let the market know that what you’re saying is rooted in an unquestionable truth.

Another way of looking at this trend is a shift of narrative from the ‘what’ to the ‘why’, particularly in the case of B2B narratives. It takes us from “this is what people do with this product” to “this is why people change their minds and here is the data to prove it”.

Finally, there is much to do with the way our brains are wired. While we tend to understand the numbers, we don’t remember them. We are 22 times more likely to recall a story than numbers alone. The linking of story and data is a combination that bends credibility with memorability and it is this confluence that will create powerful narratives going into 2024.

There’s more

The trends that have been shaping up over the past few years are digging in deeper and turning from trends into mainstays of commercial narrative.

The desire for authenticity and transparency isn’t going anywhere. If anything, it is being reinforced by the difficulty our audiences experience with being certain about what is real. Deep fakes, AI personalities, the distorted narratives around politicised events, and all other forces that distort the stories that describe our world raise more questions than they answer. Demonstrable authenticity, aided by data-driven storytelling, will form the mainstays of the stories that matter.

This demand for authenticity will favour human-led narratives and put even more value on the local and the hyperlocal. The closer to home a story appears to be, the more likely we believe it to be authentic and relatable.

In the same vein, the humanity of our narratives, the ability of our content to be consistent with who the organisation is, what it stands for, and how it is different from all others, will be the currency by which the greatest stories are measured.

Finally, we remain ever hopeful that this will be the year of A/V/XR, the year when the market finally sees excellent VR hardware at mass-market pricing, paving the way for truly immersive content. Apple’s launch of their high end device is little more than a proof of concept and was aimed at studios and content developers but a launch of this nature usually portends a shift towards a more widely accessible product. When it happens, a third dimension will really be added to the content we produce and consume.

2024 the year of human lore

The art of storytelling won’t suddenly become more important in 2024. It has always been the way we stood out from the rest of the animals on earth and will continue to do so.

But there are trends that will define the year and they will be greatly influenced by the tools we have at our disposal and the general behavioural patterns of the market.

More than ever before, stories backed by facts and figures in a post-truth world will win on authenticity. We do have more data available to us. Let’s use it wisely to reach the right people with the right message.

The right message is never noise – it feels personal and stands out from the rest of what’s being said by appealing to us in a way that’s respectful of our time (brevity), of our intellect (clearly useful to us), and of our identity (a match in fundamental values).

The right message is also one that honestly promotes diversity, equity, and inclusiveness (DE&I). While this was a brand trend a few years ago, it has gone from the fringe to the boardroom and that will strongly influence the narrative of 2024.

And while this is nothing new, we must endeavour to differentiate by telling a unique story. It seems like one out of every two pieces of content is a repost from another channel. And half of that again is a poor rehash of a trending topic. In a sea of sameness, the original will stand out.

Keep it short. Keep it relevant. Keep it human. Keep it unique.

The post Brand Storytelling Trends in 2024: Back to Basics appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

If you don’t have the time to read this article now, you can download the PDF version of Brand Trends 2024 for free by clicking below. Otherwise, just keep reading.

Brand behaviour plays a game of cat and mouse with whatever is happening in the world around us. 

Most brands follow the zeitgeist. 

Some act in a way that shapes it.

Brand trends in 2024 are a mixed bag. Some trends will simply build on the momentum of trends that are already being shaped while others could surprise us.

One of the trends that will shape brand narratives as we roll into 2024 is brevity. In anticipation of that trend, this will be as concise as possible. If you want to dig deeper into any one of these trends, reach out and we’re happy to provide more context.

Trend 1: Authen-tick

What makes audiences tick? There is a sea of faceless brands and sterile products out there so the ones with a real story stand a better chance of engaging the curiosity of our audiences.

Brands that show authenticity and transparency will come across as human. As we recoil from the overwhelming wave of tech that is cresting, authenticity delivers a clear differentiating factor over brands that are so large that they inevitably collapse into a diffuse narrative of corporate speak and hollow promises.

As always, it is great to lead with benefits. We are, after all, selfish creatures. But we don’t form long-term relationships with benefits alone. For us to form an emotional relationship there needs to be authenticity and a narrative that we can identify with. This will be more important as we enter a period of uncertainty about what is human and what isn’t.

The great thing about this trend is that the majority of brands started with a great story. Sometimes, all it takes is to step back and turn to the original reason for the brand to exist, building an authentic narrative around this in a way that suits the audiences and channels of today.

Trend 2: Immersion 

We are finally entering the golden age of omnichannel brands. VR and AR are one consumer product away from changing the way we interact with the world around us again.

As the porosity of the wall between IRL and virtual experiences continues to increase, the possibilities for brands to be where the audiences are in a rich and immersive way are also in plentiful supply.

Omnichannel immersion is not the death knell for retail. We’ve seen the way consumers behave when a new channel is made available. Online retail did not kill IRL retail. On the contrary, the two channels are entirely complementary. For some, while the final purchase is online, in-store interaction is a decisive factor. Others prefer to browse online and then make a purchase IRL. 

This hybrid is a reflection of who we are as a species. Individually we might have defined preferences but as a whole we are beautifully messy and often unpredictable.

So, while I might want to use AR to see what a pair of Danish speakers will look like in my living room, I will most likely visit a brand store for the final purchase.

VR will add a significantly immersive layer to the spread of experiences available to consumers. With Apple making inroads and Meta stepping up their hardware game at consumer-friendly pricing, 2024 could be the year that sees VR finally become a mainstream reality. And the brands that are ready and waiting will be the ones with significant first-mover advantage.

Trend 3: Personal-AI-zation

As marketers, we have access to huge amounts of data. We also have unprecedented access to very, very intelligent machines. Together, they usher the era of hyper-personalised marketing.

This is not new. We have been progressing, in fits and starts, towards the hallowed audience-of-one. What we have at the output end is machines that can converse in language that approaches that of an average person. This brings conversational marketing for personal customer interaction to the masses. 

The AI-powered customer service rep that’s tuned to our specific personality could finally be the rep that we will actually like.

The gold rush of 2024 will be shaped by those who make the most creative use of the technologies that are flooding our landscape to harness the data that’s already available to us.

Trend 4: Diversity, Equity & Inclusiveness (DE&I)

We have been feeling our way around on these values. Most brands can be accused of missteps but we are finally making proper headway.

While many larger companies thought it was fine to pay lip service to DE&I, consumers are now demanding that these values be more than a marketing campaign. The thinking in the boardroom must wholly embrace a more equitable view of the world and this is the way beliefs are changed. This is the way beliefs lead to appropriate behaviour and communication. This is how everyone feels represented and respected.

Of course, there will be those that attempt to buck the trend – the right-wing  anti-woke will dig in and make their voice heard. And the stronger this faction digs in, the better for the trend in favour of DE&I because contrast is a powerful driver of perception.

Trend 5: Sustainability / Ethical practice

The idea of putting all the ‘doing good’ into one bucket and hoping for the best is slowly going out of the window. We are splitting environmental and ethical manufacture from social issues and, in the longer term, there will be even more fragmentation. 

This is a good thing.

We rebranded CSR to ESG when CSR was seen for what it truly is. CSR was a bolt-on set of activities that companies paid for to divert attention from the truth about their activity. And ESG will also see its day but it won’t be this year.

2024 will see even more demand for sustainable practices as consumers put their money where their mouth is. More and more consumers state that they are prepared to pay more for a product that is ethically manufactured. And once consumers put their hands in their pockets, brands will deliver on the demand.

Trend 6: Less is again more

This has more to do with brand expression, with a particular emphasis on visual identity and brand communication. Historically, we have gone in cycles that broadly swing from maximal to minimal. The excesses of Art Deco gave way to a pared back Art Nouveau. The gradients of the nineties were replaced by flat vector illustration when we’d had enough of it. 

It appears as though we’re diving right back into the minimal end of the cycle. This means a search for memorability through symbolism and meaning rather than maximalism, with strong colour palettes to keep the excitement going.

This ties in with the overall fatigue that could very well be afflicting our audiences. With so much going on all the time, a minimal approach to visual expression could present itself as a soothing break from the constant visual stimulation.

Trend 7: Get shorty

One more expression of the trends that are in favour of brevity and minimalism is the rise of the micro-moment – short videos, memes, tiny brand experiences, and other snack-sized pieces of content that serve as a little distraction.

To be more specific, microinteractions give a little dose of instant gratification – they deliver a tiny shot of dopamine that keeps audiences’ attention focused. 

Micro-moments can take the form of a clever or unusual CTA, cute error messages, unusual UI behaviours, or any form of little reward that is at least mildly surprising or unexpected.

Trend 8: Purpose-full

More than ever before, purpose-driven brands will be the ones that emerge victorious in 2024. This is a trend that’s adjacent to authenticity but it is not the same thing. Brands that are led by purpose more than anything else are visibly committed to their reason for existence.

This drives a clear sense of focus in the minds of its audiences. A brand that digs deep into its reason for existence and acts purely in accordance with this purpose is one that is evidently out for more than profit. 

Of course, without profit a brand cannot exist. 

But that cannot be its only goal.

Too many brands lose their way after a while. These are the ones we vaguely remember but don’t consider as part of our lives any more. 

A few brands keep their purpose alive. Think of Toms, Lego, The Body Shop, GoPro, and other brands that have been unwavering over decades. These are the ones we have a continued relationship with. They are the brands we think of as having a clear space in our minds. They benefit from the almighty one-two combo of focus and differentiation. We know their place in our lives and we know what makes them different from every other brand in their space. These are purpose-driven brands.

Why do brand trends matter so much going into 2024?

While it is always important for brands to be fully in tune with their purpose at all times, it counts more when the going gets tough. 

The spectre of an economic downturn is looming. 

We’d be reckless to ignore the metrics and hope for the best. In times of strife, our audiences are more cautious with their purchases and will limit these to those entities they feel they can have a personal connection with – the entities that have a clear resolve.

The Wildcard

This is not really a trend for 2024. It is more a hopeful speculation based on the way we see the world around us.

Take this with a bucket of salt. 

But if you are responsible for a brand that has clout, think about it as a possibility.

Never has there been so much technological and economic advancement. And yet, all this plenty isn’t having the impact it should on our environment, on economic equanimity, and on social justice.

In the absence of the political will to address these issues, a handful of brands out there are taking matters into their own hands and driving the change they would like to see around them. We are privileged to work with a couple of clients that think this way and it drives us to do some of our best work. Even if this ‘trend’ is no more than a little stir, it is a start.

Brand Trends 2024: Wrapping it all up

2024 will see brands look inwards for a good look at their purpose and the truth behind the stories they tell. It will also see brands look outwards at the preferences of their audiences and put more focus on brevity and short-term gratification. 

Bringing these two viewpoints together will be the mighty and unstoppable force that emerging technologies are bringing with them – AI and A/V/XR giving us unprecedented granularity and immersion.

The post Brand Trends 2024 appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Fair warning, this is a relatively long read. If you don’t have the time to take it all in now, you can download the PDF version of Business Trends for 2024 for free by clicking below. Otherwise, just keep reading!

Businesses have a lot to combat in 2024. 

The U.S. election cycle. Ongoing unrest in the world. Stricter climate measures shepherded by world governments. Shrinking talent pools and competition for limited resources. A heap of new technologies and subscription services that will provide ever growing amounts of data. 

We’ve already spoken a little about consumer trends, the backbone of trendwatching itself. 

Businesses are no different from consumers here. They are equally impacted by current affairs, and they  should adapt to the changes that are coming their way. Consumers are a ruling class. 

Businesses are what they rule. One feeds into the other. 

2024 business trends can carry on from where we left off. Consumers want personality, immersion, and quality in their services. 

Businesses need simpler data, upskilled employees, and go-to-ground strategies to deliver those promises.

A snapshot of 2023

The pandemic might be over, but the fallout across industries is still a key concern. Manufacturing, shipping logistics, and the price of goods have remained higher than pre-pandemic levels, and it is likely that we won’t see a downturn as limited resources continue to make production difficult.

But beyond the issue of deliveries, there is an issue of capacities. Burnout is on the rise, with 42% of businesses reporting burnout in their workforces. A shrinking talent pool has made it difficult to fulfill some of the legacy roles that have built modern business, such as lead IT and development. The creation of new automated technologies and business intelligence software has also led to the creation of increasingly niche jobs, many of which have limited experts available, and where training may take years to produce employees of that same calibre.

And while AI has definitely increased the productivity of companies, it is also significantly increasing the operational costs of businesses who are opting into the strategic advantage of AI as they pay for access to those AI models. 

2024: the year of simple data, employee prioritisation, and strategy

The biggest driver for 2024 is AI. 

How AI can increase productivity. How AI can help you brainstorm ideas. How AI can pull your human employees away from tasks that are time-consuming and repetitive, better left to a computer. How AI can help enhance the creative you put out. 

AI is a tool that consumers can have diverging opinions on. AI is a tool that consumers can opt out of.

For businesses, it is a necessary asset. There is no future for businesses that opt out of using AI: every industry has been redefined in the last handful of years to require it. 

But AI used for AI’s sake is not going to help. 

In 2024, AI in business means simplifying the data you work with. It means prioritising the roles your human employees play in your organisation. It means developing a strategy that balances resilience, sustainability, and innovation.  

Here’s what that looks like.

A note on trendwatching

Trends exist because consumers exist. Your business exists because you have consumers who make purchases – and those consumers will change their minds as the circumstances surrounding their lives change. 

To understand where trends are coming from means you understand your audience, and that means your business always has its finger right on the pulse of what will work. 

Do businesses need trendwatching?

Every business benefits from trendwatching. Consumers are influenced by the environments in which they live and survive in, and with the way the world is changing, brands have become a way for these customers to showcase what side of history they are on. They use brands as an extension of their value, their personality, their beliefs; they use brands to communicate with other, like-minded people who also use those brands. 

And every business around the world is potentially tied to one of these expressions. Trendwatching means that you are always on the right side of what your audience wants to see. 

Trend 1: Data downscale

• From 2023 to 2025, data will balloon from 120 zettabytes to 181 zettabytes of information. 
• 30% of businesses are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data. 
• 90% of generated data is unstructured. 

Businesses need data to function. 

But simply having that data isn’t enough. Most businesses have more data than they actually need, and no idea what to do with it. Every day, we add more data to the pile, so businesses need to parse through their numbers much faster than they used to. 

Turning that data from numbers and statistics into usable information about their audiences is a job for that self-same AI. 

They need to know which of their products is exceeding their expectations, which of their services has started to dip in efficacy, and what their customers are spending the most time on. 

When social media was still a major change to the business landscape, that data came in dribbles. 

This is no longer the case. 

Businesses in 2024 have too much data to keep track of – and most of the data that is generated and given to businesses today doesn’t fall into neat categories that businesses can look over at their leisure. The rate and speed at which businesses obtain data has become unmanageable and an area that is actively losing businesses profit that they could be making. 

For 2024, AI-led data summaries will become crucial for businesses to start cutting through to the heart of the data that matters to them. AI trained to summarise and produce insights off given BI datasets is going to be a wise investment for organisations in 2024, and will become an essential tool for organisations by the end of the year. 

How does this trend benefit bigger businesses?

Businesses generate data from an enormous number of collection points: transaction rates, digital touchpoints, physical retail, socials, campaigns… – and bigger businesses may have more data to contend with than those that are still in the start-up phase. If it hasn’t happened already, these organisations are already inundated with too much data for them to make meaningful, impactful decisions, and it’s far past the time when an investment in data management should be made. 

How does this trend benefit smaller businesses?

Setting up your smaller business with the capacity to both handle big quantities of data and generate decisive summaries of that data means the path going forward is much smoother in the long run. As these businesses continue to grow and generate more data than they need, AI-powered analysis can help set them up to only draw the relevant information out of a sea of content. 

Trend 2: Employee initiative extensions

• 44% of employee skills will see disruption in the next 5 years. 
• 73% of businesses consider most employees to require reskilling due to AI. 
• 1 in 16 employees may have to switch jobs as a result of changing work habits.

Employees determine the success of your business. 

They are also vastly underprepared for the years that are to come. 

Employees in 2024 are facing an unmitigated change in their working environment, one that will force them to change the way they work the same way Gmail and Google Drive and Slack did. With every business diving feet-first into AI to try and streamline processes, employees face a reckoning to  develop a skillset for a tool that is in its infancy, and won’t see the end of its early development cycle without drastic change. 

And beyond the necessary need to upskill, there is the additional concern that many employees are facing: Where will they fit into work if AI is coming for their careers? 

For 2024, businesses need to invest in their employees: in upskilling them to prepare them for the year to come, in making sure that there is continuous development to address concerns, and in giving their employees a reason to remain with the business.

How does this trend benefit bigger businesses? 

Your biggest asset is always going to be your employees. For larger businesses, investing in your employees now means that the risks of them leaving to find jobs in other sectors is minimised. Retaining employees and upskilling them rather than hiring for new positions is fundamentally better: both from an economical perspective as well as a company culture one. 

How does this trend benefit smaller businesses?

Hiring new employees is expensive. Smaller businesses who are operating on smaller profit margins than larger organisations will struggle to maintain profits if they’re continuously looking outwards to fulfill new roles – and with the shift into new operations affecting every organisation regardless of size, upskilling employees becomes a necessary lifeline for smaller businesses. 

Trend 3: Strategising for sustainability

• 75% of CxOs have increased their sustainability investments.
• 82% of consumers will only buy from companies who match their values.
• 60% of consumer purchasing behaviour is tied to the ethical and environmental aspects of a business, and this increases by 10% YOY.

If sustainability wasn’t a business concern up until now, it’s going to become one in 2024. Consumers are increasingly driven by their values, and paying far greater attention to what a company does – or does not – do. Boycotts, which have historically proven to be one of the less effective methods, have started to gain efficacy as consumers refuse to populate businesses which no longer share their values or act in a way they don’t like. We’ve seen threads of this in previous years, but it is becoming a matter that businesses can no longer put off. 

And it involves a lot more than just green initiatives.

Businesses will get no more second chances from here on out. They are communicating with a population that is disaffected by its experiences, and has determined that there must be a line drawn somewhere. For most businesses, that line exists in black and white, and they will fall on one side or the other depending on consumers’ personal preferences. 

Sustainability in 2024 is resilience. It’s staying afloat in the face of both the internal – remote working, employee talent shrinkage – and the external factors. It’s realising that businesses, now more than ever, have become a language to the people they service – and it’s realising that, to remain on the right side of that language, they have to pivot, over and over again. 

Data. Skills. Sustainability. 

Businesses who want to move forward in 2024 will not find these trends surprising – but the speed at which these factors have developed is leaving very little room for error. 

But there’s hope, still. Businesses can find their way back to what they set out to achieve, find a purpose that fits them, find values that they want to champion. Where all the other work is external, 2024 will have businesses focusing internally, on what they can do with resources they already own or resources they should have in play. 

And if they’re not quite sure what those resources are, there’s companies that can help them figure it out. 

We’ve published these trend reports for years. And we’re always willing to help – just drop us a line!

The post Business Trends for 2024 appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Fair warning, this is a relatively long read. If you don’t have the time to take it all in now, you can download the PDF version of Consumer Behaviour Macro Trends 2024 for free by clicking below. Otherwise, just keep reading!

Let’s talk about trends. 

Last year, the trends we spoke about were trends we’ve seen before. After the great reset of COVID-19, with the world still wheeling to try and understand how to move forward, humans pivoted towards what they knew, and focused on regaining a little bit of their equilibrium. Trends that we’d already seen years before – the rise of subscription services, the infancy of AI, the ongoing consumer demand for more sustainability and accountability and economical responsibility- cropped up again, with a much louder voice. 

2024 is the same. The trends we’re seeing now are trends that we’ve seen before – but they’re taking on new importance in the face of global uncertainty, mass-production of content and the shrinking availability of free time, and the growing discontent of our circumstances. 

But there is light, and there is hope. 

Here’s how to capture that light. 

2024: the year of personality and immersion

The biggest driver for 2024 is AI. 

What AI can do. What AI can’t do. How we can leverage AI for better business. What AI tools can help us create more organised, productive lives. Can AI write a better story than a human? What can AI make of this artwork?

The technology available to us in 2023 has pushed the limitations of what we know far higher than we could have anticipated, and we’re heading into 2024 with the full breadth of human capability at our fingertips. 

But it’s not the technology that drives consumer behaviour – or at least, not permanently. New technologies introduce consumers to new possibilities, but when it comes to putting their money down, consumers still want the same things:

Personality. Immersion. Quality. 

Why do we use trendwatching?

Every business caters to people. Every business has to make money to survive. 

Trendwatching is the intersection of where those two facts collide. Trendwatching is what people are doing, what people are interested in, and where they’re spending money. Trendwatching is taking the behaviours of the world as a collective and identifying the big shifts in behaviour that led us to where we are now. 

Trendwatching shows you where money is going next, and how your business can get there. 

Do I need trendwatching as a small business?

Yes. Every business, at every size, needs trendwatching. 

Public opinion moves quickly, and your consumers will change their minds much faster than a business can pivot to meet their demand. People are inspired by the world: they’re always online, always learning, and always repurposing their understanding. 

Businesses have to keep up.

How does trendwatching benefit business?

You get to survive another year. 

Trendwatching isn’t something you can opt into. Trends exist, whether your business pays attention to them or not. Your consumers change, whether you want them to or not. The least you can do as a business is understand how your consumers are changing, and how to keep speaking to those consumers in a way that makes sense for you, for your business, and for them.

Our CEO on Trends: 

“Trends are never the answer for every question your business can have about the future. They’re just another part of a complex set of tools we need to use if we want to stand out in a crowded market. You might read through our trend documents and think that there’s very little that’s of relevance to you today, but I can guarantee that at some point over the next year you’ll come across a situation that you’ll understand a little better, or a problem that you can solve quicker, if you can make sense of it in the framework of a trend that’s affecting the world or your specific industry.

Trendwatching is not speculation. We’re not trying to guess what’s coming in the future. We don’t have a crystal ball.

It’s simply looking out at the world and analysing patterns to help us figure out what’s changing, so that we can change and stay ahead of the curve.

Every year we work on trendwatching we realise that it’s becoming even more of an acute need. The past three years have shaken so many of our beliefs, and they’ve reinforced so many others, that trendwatching has become an essential part of what we do, and we believe that it should be a part of what you do, too.

As the world evolves at an ever-faster pace, the only thing we can do is our utmost to keep ahead of it, moving at breakneck speed to keep up with what we see as the major shifts impacting people’s behaviour.”

A snapshot of 2023: 

The year is 2023. 

The global cost-of-living crisis continues to impose stricter limitations on the consumer body as a whole. Wars, and the continuing climate change crisis have led to a largely despondent consumer body that’s inundated with bad news. 

A proliferation of AI tools has led to the creation of far more content, but with it comes a wider-spreading circle of misinformation that businesses and consumers parse through have to at unprecedented rates. The internet has shrunk significantly, with fewer online spaces to spend time in without being encouraged to purchase.

Consumers are tired, pushed to the brim of what they can withstand, and looking for brands that will commiserate with them. Lacking admirable public figures and trust in the government, brands have extended beyond their use as a public value identifier and become more or less the only institutions that consumers trust to bring about real change. 

Macro Trend 1: Immersion over innovation

• 56% of consumers consider immersive environments to be better than traditional social media for advertising. 
• 44% of consumers have tamped down on spending except for experiential purchases. 
• There is a 7% increase in consumers who state they will make repeat purchases after a personalised shopping experience, bringing the total to 56% of consumers in 2023. 

Think about the last product you’ve purchased. 

What do you remember from that exchange? We’re willing to bet it wasn’t how you paid. 

Consumers are drowning in technology. Our lives have never been so optimised, connected, or crafted in living memory, and as a result, we’re seeing a lot of technology-based burnout when it’s all that’s been on the news for the last handful of months. 

On the other hand, brands that leverage that technology to create an experience where the technology isn’t at the centre have seen some impressive reactions. 

We can never go back to a world without the technology that we know and have available – but it’s no longer what pulls money in. 

Immersion does. Brand experiences that pull people into a little microuniverse of their own can attract lifelong consumers: ones that will keep coming back to you not just because of your product, but because of the way you sell that product. 

Case study: 

Heinz, an international ketchup brand, has created a collectable sauce packet for all 50 US states, with each one highlighting a regional delicacy. 

But these sauce packets aren’t easy to find, and collectors can win prizes up to $100,000 if they collect them all. Customers can also log onto the Heinz website and play a series of games to further immerse themselves into the Heinz universe. While it’s still early days, the campaign appears to be doing well.

How does this benefit bigger businesses?

The longer you are in business, and the bigger your business is, the easier it becomes to think smaller. Campaigns like this are inherently riskier, and far more expensive than a billboard, but their pay-off is much greater – and in a world that has diminishing opportunities for consumers to relax and enjoy themselves, brands becoming a source of entertainment is a quick way to both build their brand equity, and become known for something outside of their product. 

How does this benefit smaller businesses?

It only takes one great immersive campaign to elevate a smaller business into a bigger business – but everything else tracks the same as for larger businesses. People are still bored. There’s less of the internet to just lose themselves in. The sense of FOMO and the sense of adventure is still prevalent. A small business that prioritises immersion in its products will draw attention, and pull consumers towards it. 

Macro Trend 2: Humanmade

• 47% of UK consumers concerned they might end up interacting with AI more than people. 
• 61% of US consumers do not consider AI-generated materials as art. 
• More than half of US Consumers prefer human-created content to AI-generated content.

Can you tell the difference between content made by a machine and content made by humans?

Your consumers can. 

2024 is going to be the start of a rising reliance on generative content using AI. As more tools become available faster and the bulk of creators turn to AI to streamline their process, content that is wholly crafted from start to finish by humans is going to matter more. Regardless of where you personally fall on the side of AI tools, or whether you show them as a positive or a negative aspect to your business, consumers still mistrust AI tools even as they use them. 

On a more practical note, the same generative AI tools that we are using to generate that content are in their infancies, and the ongoing changes being continuously adapted to their datasets, the current discussion about the use of generative AI in Europe, and public opinion on the veracity of generative AI as a tool make this trend a little more complicated than just siding with one segment of your audience over another. Regardless of your final choice, human-created content isn’t on its way out: the exact opposite. As the market floods with AI-generated stories, videos, photographs, artworks, companies will be expected to push and protect human-created artworks over those that are made by generative AI.  

This isn’t to say that generative AI shouldn’t, or can’t, be used in tandem with human content. Generative AI’s capacity to create is still considered impressive, just not solely on its own.

Case study 

Nikon Peru’s ‘Natural Intelligence’ campaign debuted a handful of months ago, encouraging their consumers to pick up their cameras and fight against generative AI creation. Using real-life locations and photographs taken using Nikon cameras, each image is accompanied by a generative AI prompt that highlights how truth, in this case, is far stranger than our imagination. 

How does this benefit large businesses? 

It’s tempting to fall into the idea of using generative AI as your sole content creation machine, particularly if you’re only looking at cutting some costs and increasing productivity. Larger businesses have the capabilities of paying for unique artist collaborations that are used on their own or in tandem with AI. Regardless of company size, human-made content will sit at a higher premium, and as the AI tools that we use become even more intricate and hard to tell apart, consumers will look for content that they can definitively tell was created by humans.  

How does this benefit small businesses?

In general, smaller businesses are trusted more than larger businesses, and the use of generative AI as their sole content creation method may have a negative effect on consumers’ opinion of the business, depending on how the business markets itself. Smaller companies that market themselves as artisanal or independent may find that consumer opinion is very quick to condemn solely AI-generated content, and that it goes against their business values in the eyes of their consumers. 

Macro Trend 3: Money over Matter

• 78% of consumers consider themselves worse off heading into 2024. 
• 69% of consumers have slowed down or pulled back on non-essential spending. 
• 75% of consumers are worried about the price of essential goods. 

Money has been a concern for three years running, so this isn’t really a new trend – but we’re likely to see the cost-of-living crisis worsen in 2024, unless something drastic changes the status quo. 

Here’s the truth of the matter: consumers will still try and buy what they like, but with less disposable cash at hand, they’re going to scrutinise their purchases before they make them. Quality, durability, and whether or not they can use it repeatedly are going to be questions at the forefront of their minds, and with so much of the essentials becoming expensive, they’re not going to pay a penny more than the perceived value of the goods in mind. 

To this end, brand value is going to skyrocket in importance. The perceived value of a brand by its consumers becomes one of the determining factors in whether or not your audience buys from you, whether they see brand value in the durability of the item, or in the legacy that it carries behind it. Legacy brands who have been in operation for years – such as 170-year-old clothing firm Levi’s, or similarly-aged camera company Leica – are going to be far more highly-rated than new brands, but to a certain extent, price and a good story can sway your consumers significantly. 

Case study

Nisolo, an American shoe manufacturer, ships every one of their products with a Sustainability Facts label that provides consumers with additional information on how their shoes are made. Subdivided into ten categories and featuring public data as their cornerstones, the Sustainability Facts label is intended to be used by the fashion industry to reduce the abuse and harm of an industry that is often obfuscated. 

How does this benefit bigger businesses?

Businesses that have marketed a product well enough to grow significantly have one thing on their side that smaller businesses won’t have yet: legacy, heritage, and a story to tell. Legacy brands and brands that have been around long enough that the consumers’ ancestors would have used the item are going to attract attention, especially as the rising rates of practically everything else forces consumers to trim the fat from their lives, and focus only on bargains. Leaning into your heritage as a larger business, and highlighting your many years of service or your particular attention to detail, will do a lot to sway consumers to keep you when they cut everything else in their lives. 

How does this benefit smaller businesses? 

There are two separate paths that smaller businesses can take to benefit from this trend, and they’re these: add more freemium services to your already-existing product range, or focus on the durability and usability of your products. 

Consumers who have turned away from legacy brands, or don’t have that necessary connection in the first place, are looking for products that have the same aspects of certain heritage brands without the steep price tag. Highlighting that you can use this product or this service for years without any additional incurred costs is a good way of getting consumers on your side.  

Personality. Immersion. Quality. 

2024 won’t change the game for most businesses, and it hasn’t drastically shifted where the goal posts are – but the importance of a good brand, a good story, and good communication have grown astronomically. 

2024 will be a defining year for businesses. Second chances will be rarer: consumers are less likely to spend money on a product or a service they tried and didn’t like. Your brand’s value is going to be tied intrinsically to what people are willing to pay for it in a way that’s never been seen before. 

But there’s hope. These trends show that there is light at the end of the tunnel – and that it’s just a little extra work before the payoff. As a business, these trends are going to help you decide where your business is going next, and whether it’s going to grow into a brand that will be active a hundred years from now.

And if you need help making sense of these trends for your industry, or you want to know how we got here, there’s a way to do that too. 

We’ve published these trends reports for years. And we’re always willing to help – just drop us a line!

The post Consumer Behaviour Macro Trends 2024 appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Most studies on social media usage and metrics tend to look at audiences present in much bigger countries, and some of those results can be difficult to apply to Maltese businesses, Maltese consumers, and Maltese behaviours. With the benefit of a much broader range of responses behind them, global studies predict behaviours that might take a longer time to get to Malta – and in this, the studies that we can use to predict local behaviour are limited. 

There’s a way around it, of course. 

You can create your own survey. 

Here’s one we prepared earlier, and what it means for your business. 

The survey

Our aim was to understand how consumers use social media. 

Social media plays an important role in businesses around the world: it’s become a significantly important e-commerce platform, brand building tool, and a communication method between businesses and consumers. It’s also become an early way to predict what’s going to happen in the future. 

People talk. Those conversations happen everywhere, but a lot of them happen online, and those online conversations are how we can tell what’s going to happen to businesses in the future, what trends will emerge as the year closes out and a new one begins, and how to work within what the early signs are telling you. 

For this survey, we had an additional aim: to produce a report that would highlight Malta’s unique perspective on social media. As a small island, finding statistics that apply to us specifically can be a struggle. 

So we ran a survey, and collected answers through Facebook. 

Now, we have our own report to look at. 

Here’s what we found out. 

Less than 40% of 13- to 17-year-olds use Facebook multiple times a day.

Ages 25 – 34 use Facebook most frequently, with 27.5% checking Facebook multiple times a day, followed by 35 – 44 at 20.83%. 

Facebook has a 93.1% penetration rate in Malta. This means that mostly everyone uses Facebook, and more than that: they use it to find out what their favourite businesses are doing, and they use it often.

Except if they’re younger. If they’re younger, Facebook usage in that age group is down. For 13-17 year olds, the most popular platforms to use constantly are Instagram (74.4%), Tiktok (69.2%), and Youtube (44.7%). 

What does this mean for your business?

If you’re not catering to this audience, not a lot – you can go ahead and keep doing what you’re doing if all you’re interested in is short-term sales. 

However, if you’re looking to build your brand, this is a statistic you want to keep an eye on. Facebook might be serving you well right now to attract consumers with the disposable cash to make purchasing decisions, but omitting the importance of the 13-17 age group is a mistake: they’re going to come into their own money eventually, and it’ll be a lot harder to build a connection with clients who don’t know you from their formative years. While it isn’t impossible, nostalgia is a huge connecting point for consumers – and it’s one you need to keep in mind. 

What should you do about it?

Start working on brand representation on other platforms as quickly as you can. This audience in particular needs time and dedication to address correctly – but they’re an audience with a high pay-off when you give them enough time to come to terms with who you are as a brand. 

7/10 13 – 17 year olds use Tiktok multiple times a day.

Tiktok’s hold on the younger generation is well-documented – and Malta hasn’t escaped the wave of Gen Z turning to Tiktok as their primary social media platform, but it goes beyond using Tiktok as a social media platform. From search engine to communication device to source of entertainment, Tiktok’s tiny communities have created real-world consequences for brands: Vaseline has become synonymous with good skincare, makeup brands are struggling to keep ‘Tiktok famous’ products in stock, and companies can build their reputation overnight with one well-memed video. 

What does this mean for your business?

It depends on how early you want to start building up your audience. For most brands, 13-17 is a segment of audience that has limited access to funds that will allow them to purchase your products, and therefore if your business objective is purely to turn a profit, creating a Tiktok profile might not be something that meets that business objective. However, building a brand connection to a younger generation is not necessarily a waste of your time: on the other hand, if that connection has already been put into place before the audience is ready to purchase, you’ll find that the nostalgia factor can prove useful in the long term. 

What should you do about it?

Creating a Tiktok account is not going to waste your time – but if you’re not ready to take that plunge, then you can look into the current trends on Tiktok instead, or consider Tiktok as another marketing platform to take advantage of. There are influencers who will market your products to their audiences, and it’s worth looking into if you’re interested in using Tiktok, but not quite ready to add another social media platform to your list.

⅔ of consumers trust brands more than influencers. 

How likely are you to trust communication about a brand/service from the brand itself?

Influencers were – and still are – a brand staple for a number of reasons: brands tend to struggle to communicate on a human level with consumers, and influencers put a relatable human face on a brand in a way that is difficult to emulate when it’s a corporation speaking. However, influencer burnout is real – and while megainfluencers have already felt the pinch in bigger markets, in Malta it’s only just started to take hold. 

Part of this is because Malta is a smaller country, and so we have far fewer influencers to use. Anyone who has reached the point where they are a recognisable face might already have become old news according to consumers, and consumers who have a specific dislike for that influencer may be repelled away from the brand that aligns itself to them. 

What does this mean for your business? 

If you’re already investing in influencer marketing, you need to take a look at who you’re using. If you have a tendency to choose the same influencers for your campaigns, it might be worth revisiting if those influencers are the right ones to align with your brand. 

What should you do about it? 

Influencer marketing can be effective, so you need to figure out how it’s going to be effective for you. Take a look at your audience: who’s most likely to resonate with them? Is the big-name influencer with a dedicated following that’s been in business for years, or would they relish seeing a fresh face on the scene, someone with a smaller audience but a lot more authenticity? This will depend between brands: there’s no one correct answer for everything, and it’ll depend a lot on the areas you’ve grown your audiences in. Younger audiences might prefer someone their own age; older generations might prefer someone that looks like them or a familiar face from their childhood. To find out, you need to go back to your brand. 

People who prefer watching short-form videos cite Instagram Reels and Tiktoks as their top choices twice as often as Youtube Shorts

Although Youtube has a decent user-base as a platform, its short-form video content hasn’t quite picked up to the same extent as Tiktoks and Instagram reels. Only 25.6% of consumers mention using Youtube Shorts, which can still be a usable audience segment, however it’s worth pointing out that the lower figures may be difficult to overcome given Youtube’s position as a social media platform. Youtube is well known for its longform videos, but Instagram and Tiktok have already claimed a significant share of the short-form audience, and so Shorts can take longer to pay off at the same rate of success. 

What does this mean for your business? 

If you want your content to stand out, creating material for Youtube Shorts is definitely an option, especially if you’re already in the habit of creating short-form video content already. 

What should you do about it?

Take a look at your content. 

Chances are, there’s some content that will serve better as shortform video, and that’s the content that you should consider putting up on Youtube shorts. Content that tends to speak to Youtube’s core nature – crafting, cooking, organising, tech: all those physical, handy things – might tend to do a little better than Instagram reels, which focus on beautiful aesthetics, or Tiktoks, which can tend to cycle through trends faster than other platforms. For content that’s meant to stay online for longer, content that’s explanatory, content that you can turn into a longform video, you might want to try Youtube Shorts. 

Over 50% of surveyed say that brand behaviour affects their purchase decisions.

What you do matters, and this is not new information. Consumers don’t like to support brands that go against their values, and they certainly know that their purchases will make a difference; annoy enough consumers, and your bottom line will suffer. 

That said, you won’t be able to please everyone. This is where you, as a brand, need to decide where your loyalties lie, and how best to meet those loyalties – but regardless of what position you choose, this doesn’t change the fact that the way you act matters to your consumers. 

What does this mean for your business?

Your brand is more than just the products it sells. It’s how it talks to its consumers. It’s what it supports as a movement. It’s how it addresses complaints. If these are aspects of your business that you’ve either neglected or have simply just not paid enough attention to, it’s time to start – and to make a public effort to showcase what your brand stands for. 

What should you do about it?

All of this goes back to brand. Do you know what your brand stands for? Is it something you can put into words? Remember: you can’t please everyone. Your brand is going to behave in ways that will annoy some people, and will please others, and the only thing you can do is decide which side of the conversation you’re going to stand on. This is one thing you can’t avoid: trying to please everyone means you won’t please anyone. Pick your side. 

3 out of 4 people would spend a little more if the brand acted responsibly.

This goes hand in hand with brand behaviour, but it bears a unique perspective in Malta. Maltese consumers are used to irresponsible behaviour – just hop onto any Facebook page and see how they react to the latest construction news – and while it’s true that most of those reactions are negative, what they’re reacting to is largely issues that the average Maltese consumer has already expressed dislike for. 

Brands acting responsibly, like brands choosing a side, means that they are at the heart of those conversations, and championing causes that people feel strongly about means that they’ll create lasting impressions of their brand. 

The monetary pay-off follows naturally then. 

What does this mean for your business?

It’s time to take a look at what causes you’re championing – and if you’re championing none of them, it’s time to start thinking about which ones to add. In today’s world, every brand has to stand for something, and yours needs to as well.

What should you do about it?

Find a cause to support. State that support loudly, and with pride. Consumers aren’t stupid – far from it – and the way that you support initiatives will say a lot about who you are as a company, and conversely, the people who choose to purchase your products. 

Almost 40% tend to choose a local retailer over a global brand.

There’s one great thing about local retailers: the shipping. 

The global shipping industry has been through a couple of rough years – and while it’s starting to ease back into pre-COVID functionality, we’re still a long way off from regaining the same levels as before, and so it’s not surprising that consumers are mindful of where they’re shopping from. Add to that the steep prices that Maltese consumers often have to pay for shipping, and the fact that not every website ships to the island, and the popularity of local retailers makes sense. 

What does this mean for your business?

If there’s a retail aspect to your business, you need to look at how it works. If your biggest competitors on the island are local businesses, that could mean revamping the way that you advertise, the way that you use your e-commerce, the way that you communicate. Local stores can have a big advantage over much larger global storefronts, so it’s important to see where, and what, you can do to make the most of your local consumers. 

What should you do about it?

If you’re struggling to make an impact with local consumers, it might be time to look at what you’re doing to connect with them. Do you post on social media only and leave it at that, or do you also do events? How do people buy your products? If you have repeat consumers, what keeps them coming back? 

Most importantly: do you offer any benefit to your customers that makes you a more appealing option than the bigger stores available online? If you can’t compete on variety, then can you compete on shipping? Once you have those answers, you can start recreating the way your brand exists to locals. 

Every third person follows a brand because of their value alignment within the brand.

This isn’t new information, but people tend to use the brands they support as a larger extension of their own personality, ideals, and character, and so they seek out brands that will align with them on values. This is especially true for younger audiences, and only grows more significant as brands continue to communicate on social media. 

What does this mean for your business?

Similar to championing a cause, this means you need to know your business well enough to understand why consumers follow you, and why they pick your products over any other. There is a reason why your primary consumers are drawn to you, and understanding that reason is the first step to helping your business grow bigger and better. 

What should you do about it?

Take a look at your brand values. Are they still values that you agree with?

If your brand has changed in the intervening years, and you no longer feel as though your brand values represent the brand, it might be time for a change. Whatever adjustment you do make, though, remember this: consumers pick the brands they like for a number of reasons, and it’s not all based on price. Making your brand values clear to your consumers can surprise you. 

34% of all interviewed shop both online and in-store.

We’re a small island. It’s understandable that online shopping is part and parcel of living on that small island: sometimes, the brands that we do want to use don’t come to local stores, or we’re looking for something that no retailer in Malta carries.

What’s interesting to note is that there doesn’t seem to be a big preference for one or the other among the younger generation, the split between shopping online and shopping in-store is about 50/50, and that tapers off as you go up in the age-groups. 

However: the older generation has a tendency to prefer online shopping above shopping in-store, with almost 42% of 35 – 44 year old respondents preferring to shop mostly online.  

What does this mean for your business? 

It doesn’t mean shut down your e-commerce store, but it does suggest that e-commerce is only a small part of the main driver behind which brands local consumers tend to pick. If you’re putting a lot of effort into your online store, but neglecting other aspects of your brand, it might be time to put some of that effort in other areas. 

What should you do about it?

Convenience is still a very important factor to keep in mind, but it can take a lot more forms than just allowing for online purchasing. See if there’s pain points in your business that’s driving people away from purchasing from your brands: you might be surprised at what you find. 

95% of all interviewed are interested in giveaways/competitions if they like the brand.

Say you want to drum up support for an initiative. What kind of prize do you offer?

Overwhelmingly, the answer seems to be this: something that’s related to your own brand, merchandise that they either can’t get through a normal store, or something that’s created specifically for this contest. It’s interesting because brand merchandise has become a status symbol in its own right – we all remember LIDL bringing out its own range of clothing, and how quickly it all sold out. 

What does this mean for your business?

If you’re in the habit of running giveaways, your brand is your biggest asset, and creating products that showcase your own brand is more likely to get you responses that provide some meaningful interactions. 

What should you do about it? 

Brand merchandise. Your brand is followed for a reason, and humans are collectors of the things that they like: give them something to collect.

Why should I know all this?

Whether you’re a local business or not, it highlights a microcosm of the world. Consumer demand changes, and it changes rapidly. 

Brands need to be able to pivot to keep up with what’s going on: this means understanding your values, understanding your brand, and understanding how the combination you work with can influence the audiences you connect with. 

It also means that you need to keep a regular eye on the way that your brand is, and anticipate how it’ll need to change. 

And your brand will need to change. 

The world is getting confusing. Brands need to make their voices heard, but this way forward is pitted with places where they can stumble. 

Understanding your audience is part of the way forward. 

And if you need help figuring out how, we’re always happy to lend a hand.

The post Social Media Use in Malta: A Switch Survey appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Trends and emerging behaviours can affect an entire industry. This applies to your brand or company if you’re in the industry that’s seeing this shift. New opportunities, drastic shifts, or even a stable, long-term change to the industry situation can be the result. Here are some insights we have gained from a retrospective look at industry trends:

• Be strategic in Content Marketing and document it
• Have a dedicated Content Marketing Team
• Measure the effectiveness of Content Marketing through ROI accurately
• Prioritise the audience’s needs over yours when it comes to Content Marketing
• Instagram was the platform with the highest ROI

It’s all about communities (and valuable content)

• 54% of surveyed technology companies are confident in investing more in creating communities.

Companies should try more than ever to build a community that has an interest beyond just products/services. Values, vision, mission, and goals are a powerful mechanism to keep people engaged and interested.

Consumers want to know more about your company. Today more than ever, buying a product is often a personal statement. Therefore, companies should do all they can to build a community that has an interest beyond just products/services.

What do I do about this?

To build a community, it’s important to figure out what your specific audience finds interesting. More specifically, ask yourself who the company wants to target and why. Community building is not about imposing your will on potential customers. Rather, it is a two-way game of positioning yourself (in terms of values) and recognising what is important to your target audience. People out there build the community, not the employees, the CEO, or the company itself. Content should be created to match the current customer journey. Content should add value to the community.

Class, not mass

• Experts predict that a mass of (low quality) content will be produced with AI and flood the market.

Generative AI is now accessible to everyone and can be used for content creation. Therefore, many will not check or adjust the content in detail, which can lead to an immense wave of unqualified and undifferentiated (or even factually incorrect) content.

What do I do about this?

Generate high value content. What does high value mean? Tailor it to your target audience and their needs. You could do good and talk about it, show your workflows, and engage in discussions with your audience. Help readers reach their goal and understand the reason for their search and pain points. Ask yourself what is the benefit of your content for each of your audiences regarding their goals. Use AI as a tool not as the solution. HubSpot mentioned that Generative AI can be very good for idea generation, text improvement or information retrieval. At the same time, be critical, check the content, and give it a personal touch.

The new use of Social Media

Social Selling

• McKinsey predicts that in 2025 5.2% of all e-commerce will be  made by Social Commerce.
• Hubspot anticipate that in 2023 more sales will be generated via social media platforms than via the company’s own website.

Social media is increasingly being used for sales transactions. Social Selling is a major selling point in China and even in America it is too big to ignore. Someone scrolls on Instagram and sees a great piece of clothing or is reminded of their recently broken cable and has the opportunity to buy the products directly on the platform.

What do I do about this?

To sell on social media, brands need to establish trust on these platforms. Users ask questions about security, legitimacy and quality. This raises questions such as: Can I return it? Is it really genuine? Is it of the same quality as on the brand website? At this early companies can develop structures to exploit this new sales source.

Customer Service

• About 20% of GenZ, Millennials or Gen X have sent a message on social media to contact customer service.

Social Media is an easily accessible source for consumers to contact a company. Therefore, it’s no wonder that customers are increasingly contacting companies via social media.

What do I do about this?

Companies should train their customer service department on this and work closely with the social media team. As part of the emerging trend of “social selling,” these inquiries may become more frequent. See it as a chance to gain trust and to build a long term relationship with a customer, if you are able to solve their problems fast and with patience.

Social SEO: Social media as search engines

• Social media are supplementing search engines. This is a prediction from Hubspot.

The reason lies in the change in search behaviour. Consumers use various sources of information, including YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc.

What do I do about this?

Evolve your information points to take advantage of this as a company and stand out. The integration of keywords/hashtags is essential and an easy and consistent username is convenient for consumers to remember. Make it as easy as possible to find your company throughout the whole internet. You can use these sources for research as well to be up to date.

Your opportunity

Trends can change drastically from year to year, but they will still affect the way your business will grow and change in the coming year, and so it’s vital that you pay attention to what’s happening around you. Whether you’re a small enterprise or a large corporation, trends can still bite into, or create profits.

If you’re struggling to make sense of how to use these trends, we’re always happy to help, so drop us a line and let’s do this!

The post Navigating industry shifts with trends in content marketing appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.