For the best success in your digital marketing strategy it is key to stay up-to-date with changes to best practice and consumer behaviour. Rather than doing the same thing year after year, it’s time to update your strategy for 2024. Our expert team at Ducard has highlighted their top tips for digital marketing in 2024.
Focus on Unique People-First Content
Lewis, Head of SEO at Ducard says:
Your strategy needs to have a people-first focus, but also looking into the purpose and intent of content that is being added to a site. It’s said quite a lot, but a people first focus is even more important in 2024 due to the influx of spam content created by AI we’ve seen recently, which means search engines are going to be clamping down even harder on site content that doesn’t serve a purpose to an end user or is just regurgitated nonsense.
So, for that reason, you need to be clear on what purpose the content you are adding to a site is going to serve, which can usually be categorised into:
- Entertain
- Inspire
- Educate
- Convince
So, people should be braver about creating content that hasn’t been done before rather than rewriting what has been done loads of times before and be clear on what that content is going to do on their site and how it’s going to benefit users, etc. Monitor performance and if it doesn’t work as expected, you can either rework and try again or remove and learn from data.
Be Selective in Your Use of AI
Eleanor, Content Team Lead at Ducard, says:
It would be naive to think that AI is going anywhere this year, but it is time to be more mindful of how we use it. As a content creator who has experimented with AI tools like ChatGPT, it is interesting to see the content that is created seems great at a glance, but to people with interest and knowledge in a particular area, it is riddled with mistakes.
It’s risky to use – if you’re writing for an industry where your customers have a high level of knowledge in the niche, you could alienate your clientele with wrong information. For newcomers to the business or for certain topics, it could even be dangerous to provide misinformation. Nothing can replace the in-depth research and fact-checking skills that a human copywriter can offer!
With Google prioritising human-created, unique content, it is more important than ever in 2024 to ensure you are using AI in a more selective way. AI tools can instead be used to help with other digital marketing tasks, such as creating marketing briefs, so you can identify areas for further research on a topic or inspiring blog topic or social media post ideas.
Be Careful Googling Your Ads
Hayley, Account Manager at Ducard, says:
Be careful when searching for your own ads on Google. If you do not have any intention of clicking on your ads, Google will likely deem it as irrelevant and show the ads less and less. This can also negatively affect the quality score of your ads as the relevance score will likely decrease as a result.
Complete More Regular Competitor Research
Gemma, Content Writer & SEO Executive at Ducard, says:
There’s a lot to be learned from where your competitors perform well and where they don’t. Understanding the gaps between you and market leaders’ sheds light on areas that you’re missing out on and reinforces opportunities for improvement. For instance, more frequent keyword gap analysis, provides valuable, on-going insight into keywords, queries and topics that you had not previously considered.
Learn From Your Customers
James, Head of Delivery at Ducard, says:
Interview your customers to understand why they have bought from you and what problems your product or service has solved for them.
Nurture Relationships With Influencers
Phoebe, Influencer Lead at Ducard, says:
Relationships are everything! Never underestimate the value of a solid relationship with a creator.
By forming strong relationships with influencers, you’ll have an extra team ready to help when you need new creatives or to promote your latest product.
Testing is Key
Hayley, Account Manager at Ducard, says:
When making any significant changes to your Google Ads account, most of the time, it’s best to be led by the data. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different versions of your ads before making any ultimate decisions. Even something as simple as changing punctuation in your ad copy. Why not test it first?.
Using Relevant Keywords
Shannon, Digital Marketer at Ducard, says:
Make sure your content has relevant keywords. In 2024, keyword use is still an important part of SEO, but you need to make sure the keywords you are using are relevant. What you need to avoid is old SEO keyword practices, like keyword stuffing, as these tactics can now cause you to be penalised by Google.
Need some help updating your digital marketing strategy for 2024? Get in touch with us, and our team will be happy to suggest ways to improve and get you on the right track for success.