While we can never fully predict the direction INBOUND will take each year, certain trends and innovations are undeniably sweeping through the industry.
It's clear that AI is driving the faster development of more creative variations for hyper-targeted, personalized experiences. However, there are also growing concerns about its potential to spread misinformation, along with the usual challenges of job displacement, data privacy, and maintaining the human touch.
Beyond AI, marketers are increasingly turning to short-form video content to engage digital-first generations and investing in community-building efforts to foster deeper connections and brand loyalty. While we can't confirm whether every marketing trend or practice will be featured at INBOUND, we can anticipate that some topics will be more prominent than others.
These are the trends our experts believe HubSpot will be eager to discuss!
SCALING AI
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.
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 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 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.
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.
We can only wait for INBOUND 2024 to see if our predictions come true!
If you want to stay on top of these marketing trends and hear what HubSpot has to say about them—along with all their usual product announcements, demos, and expert insights that will be dropping over the course of the three-day conference — sign up for our newsletter.
Our INBOUND-edition newsletter will be delivered to your inbox every day of the conference, September 18-20, as well as before and after the event, packed with updates, special offers, marketing and sales resources, and expert insights. Sign up on this page right away!