HubSpot's 2024 State of Marketing Report reveals that 64% of marketers are already incorporating AI into their roles, with many having begun exploring AI's potential in content creation, market research, administrative tasks, and enhancing user experiences with their brands. While 2023 saw pilots and proofs of concept for generative AI, 2024 and beyond will witness AI moving beyond experimentation into large-scale implementations, extending its influence to a broader segment of the workforce. Emerging use cases in sales and marketing will include personalized customer journey mapping, predictive sales forecasting, automated lead qualification, real-time sentiment analysis, and more.

ESTABLISHING A DATA-POWERED CULTURE

Simply put, companies that leverage data to inform their decisions are much more likely to achieve their revenue goals than those that don't. With a wealth of data at your fingertips, your team has a golden opportunity to make smarter, more informed decisions. AI plays a crucial role in this process, automating much of the data analysis to deliver insights faster than ever. Sales leaders can then utilize this data to make better decisions, uncover hidden opportunities within deals, and fine-tune growth strategies, among other advantages.

SOCIAL SELLING

Social media platforms are increasingly evolving into e-commerce ecosystems, significantly reshaping the digital shopping landscape. A key trend in social selling has been the development of personal brands, with CEOs, managers, and other company representatives establishing their authority on social media, particularly LinkedIn. By embracing these changes, you can capitalize on the shifting digital commerce landscape to engage with your audience and convert that engagement directly into sales.

NATIVE ADVERTISING

Native advertising involves paying to feature your brand's content on a third-party website. Unlike traditional ads, which are designed to interrupt and stand out, native advertising is designed to blend in, promoting your brand to a new audience that might not otherwise discover you. According to HubSpot, more than a third (36%) of marketing teams plan to increase their investment in native advertising in 2024, with 56% planning to maintain their current level of investment. Because native ads don’t "feel" like traditional ads, consumers are more likely to engage with them — in fact, native ads are viewed over 50% more than banner ads, making it wise to start optimizing your process for creating native ads.

PERSONALIZATION & MAINTAINING AUTHENTICITY

As more marketers begin integrating AI into their writing processes, it's inevitable that we'll see an increase in low-value, generic content online. You can't afford to be so enamored with AI's allure that you overlook the importance of "human intelligence" and what it takes to connect with your human audience, who can spot inauthenticity from miles away. Your best strategy is to stand out by anchoring your brand messaging in your unique human voice and using AI to support your sales and marketing efforts, rather than relying on it to do the job alone.

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We can only wait for INBOUND 2024 to see if our predictions come true!

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