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Forward Focus: Key Marketing Themes Shaping 2024

'Ohr am Markt' – Marketing I

The discipline of marketing has seemingly been in a perpetual phase of exploration and repositioning for decades. Despite many factors working in favor of marketing over the years, such as the measurability brought about by digitization and the acknowledged need for businesses to become more customer-centric (with "customer data is the new gold," etc.), classical marketing disciplines have barely benefited from these developments.

Neither marketing graduates, market research, nor marketing agencies or CMOs have significantly capitalized on these trends. Why is this the case? What should marketers pay particular attention to in 2024?

 

Over the past decades, we’ve witnessed significant marketing trends—from the heyday of PR or unilaterally controlled corporate communication to the digitalization and social media era, and the singular focus on activities in performance marketing. Currently, the spotlight is on AI and virtual image/content/text worlds. But will this be the next savior?

 

Certainly not. Or, better said, not exclusively. Looking back, the common theme in all trends of the past decades has been the attempt to find a seemingly monocular approach to the increasing importance of marketing, rather than emphasizing the overall control effect of customer-centric market cultivation (“marketing”) and substantiating it with holistic approaches. Many companies and their marketing teams often take the easy route, copying exactly what a trendy competitor is doing instead of truly adapting the marketing strategy to their own business model and industry. These are the companies that then wonder why the desired effect is not materializing.

 

But what does this mean? What should marketers and CMOs focus on? The following 5 topics are, in our opinion, going to become even more critical in 2024:

  • Customer-Centric Adaptation of AI to the Business Model

It might sound like a role for a CEO/CIO rather than a CMO, initially. True. However, one of the primary goals in all roles is to generate growth for the company. Today, growth is closely linked to the use of digital technologies and artificial intelligence. As the use of AI also impacts the entire value chain, CMOs in the future will need to collaborate with their board colleagues to define the goal behind the use of AI. How can AI help us find better customer solutions, understand customers better, and be closer to individual target audiences?

  • Holistic and Interconnected Thinking for Marketers

This means they must not only know their customers but also develop a deep understanding of the product, sales channels, and the overall context within the company. Especially with the responsibility for digital marketing activities, the role of the CMO becomes increasingly analytical. In other words, CMOs must be proficient in both Brand Experience and Analytics.

  • Restoring Balance Between Performance and Brand Marketing Activities

The massively increased costs of Performance Marketing and ever stricter data privacy regulations force many companies to rethink how and at what cost they can reach their customers. For some company sizes and industries, it may make sense to withdraw some budget from the overheated Performance Marketing market and invest it in Brand Marketing activities. Either in “Entertaining Brand Storytelling” activities or in a meaningful brand story deeply rooted in the DNA of the brand, depending on the industry, but away from purely product-focused approaches. The right balance must be weighed on a case-by-case basis.

  • Bridging the Gap: Practical Marketing Knowledge in Academia

Until today, marketing programs at universities are too theoretical. When graduates then step into their first marketing role, they cannot apply what they learned at universities. This leads to frustration for both companies and new professionals. Therefore, a realignment of teaching at universities with much more practical relevance is essential. For example, through more guest lectures by CMOs and the inclusion of “real-life marketing cases.” This way, one becomes part of the system and changes it from the inside out.

  • Customer-Centric Work and Effective Use of Data

Many companies collect data but do not use it or do not use it comprehensively. Why not? Often, astronomical budgets are invested in tools and technology or in acquiring customer data. However, companies typically lack knowledge about the data. Only when the entire company consistently and continuously engages with customer knowledge, making customer-centricity a strategic imperative for corporate governance, will marketers truly achieve their goal. It’s essentially common sense, but especially in times of crisis, slow growth, and cost pressure, these are the ideal conditions to significantly focus more on understanding one’s own customers and optimizing their revenue and loyalty, rather than falling into the same old trap of thinking, “We have existing customers secured,” and placing too much emphasis on acquiring new customers.

 

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OhrConsulting, a strategy and management consultancy, helps clients focus on customers across the value chain. In our consulting work, we draw on in-depth strategic and operational expertise, and focus squarely on sales and implementation relevance. Our experiences show that strategies conceived from the customer’s perspective yield the maximum success for our clients. Our ecosystem of experts includes start-ups and innovative agencies in order to offer our clients maximum innovation.