Partnerships with

Introduction
Awareness
Creators are now

Engagement
indispensable

Personalization
for business

Efficiency
growth.

Growth
KYLE DENHOFF
Director of Marketing,

Conclusion
Media, HubSpot

The State of Marketing 2024 12

SEO Top 5 challenges marketers face with content marketing

Introduction
The future of content Finding ideas for new content

marketing is personal
16%

Awareness
Creating content that receives high levels of online engagement

Engagement
BEN STEELE (clicks, shares, comments, etc.)
Senior Editor, Search Engine Journal

16%

In an increasingly competitive search

Personalization
environment, your content strategy
Creating content that attracts more traffic to your website
must start with what users need,
not what’s most efficient for you.
15%
If you look at recent Google updates,

Efficiency
you’ll notice that Google has been
refining what “helpful content”
Reaching your target audience
means and prioritizing the “E” for
“experience” in E-E-A-T.

Growth
15%
Your content must be personal,
demonstrate experience, and address real
needs. And you’re already playing catch-up.

Conclusion
Creating content that generates leads

14%

The State of Marketing 2024 13

HubSpot State of Marketing, 2024
Content is a consistent Create content personal to readers

Introduction
struggle for marketers Over the last two years, three types of ebooks at
According to HubSpot’s State of Marketing Report, SEJ reliably generated a higher volume of leads:
marketers struggle most with finding content ideas • A functional tool that readers can use.

Awareness
and creating high-engagement content.
• First-party data and insights.

• Collaborations with thought leaders.

#1 Let’s address the first two: tools and data.

Engagement
most challenging aspect of an They are core parts of a wider trend — create content directly
SEO professional’s job is content applicable to an individual user’s specific situation and needs.
strategy and production. That makes the content personal to them without the need for
Search Engine Journal State Of SEO 2024
personalization data.

Personalization
There’s no substitute for direct, first-hand experience.
Drawing traffic to on-site content through search To address many readers this way, you must:
will become significantly more challenging. With • Know the parameters of situations a reader might encounter.
generative AI-powered search platforms, content

Efficiency
• Predict outcomes and the reader’s education or
that can be easily produced can be readily served in
troubleshooting process.
a chat box. If an AI can write it, an AI can serve it to
users instead of a link. • Provide them with information they don’t know they need.

Growth
Generative AI offers powerful efficiency tools, but Proving direct experience is SEO gold. You also need this
I don’t believe it’s a wholesale answer to content knowledge to provide usable tools and curate relevant data.
marketing. I predict an increased demand for Helpful tools and first-party data work for lead generation

Conclusion
verifiably human content about deeper and more because users can take what they need and adapt it to their
complex topics. circumstances. Now, let’s talk about the third content type:
thought leadership.

The State of Marketing 2024 14

Create content personal to you

Introduction
Search platforms curate information, but humans can curate in a way the

Key 2024 trends

platforms can’t. It takes genuine experience to predict and answer the specific
situations a reader might encounter. Leaning into your unique knowledge allows

Awareness
you to curate experiences that address what users don’t know they don’t know —
content that surprises, delights, and provides new insights. to help you embrace
the next era of SEO
That is an edge over algorithmic search and LLMs, which try to show users what
they expect by default. This method tends to work much better coming from a

Engagement
person than a brand, and it’s the domain of thought leaders and influencers.

There are two ways to access thought leadership for content. The first is to find Search is going through one of the biggest
influencers and partner with them. The second is… transformations in recent memory. We asked

Personalization
20 top SEO experts how to adapt and maintain
Create thought leaders your competitive edge. Check out this insightful
Is anyone at your company a video editor? A podcaster? Heck, a fiction writer? compilation of insights, best practices, and tips
These people have the skills to become content leaders and engagement drivers. to help prepare for the year ahead.

Efficiency
They know how to resonate with people and might jump at the opportunity to
bring a creative skillset to their role. Or maybe you employ genuine thought
leaders already.
Get the Top SEO Trends

Growth
Identify or create thought leaders in your organization. Guide them with
marketing best practices and audience data. Creating new leaders is, in my
opinion, how you win at content.

Conclusion
The State of Marketing 2024 15
AWARENESS

Introduction
Takeaways
and action items

Awareness
Engagement
Decision makers are going to social for
everything — search, sales, and service.
Invest in Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube and

Personalization
make it easy to buy from your brand on social.

Authentic partnerships with micro

influencers are fueling brand growth.

Efficiency
Try micro influencer marketing campaigns and
work with the same partners over time.

Growth
The best content is personal. Embrace
individual personalities and creators.

Conclusion
Build thought leaders within your organization and
try new media formats like podcasts and videos.

The State of Marketing 2024 16

 Introduction
ENGAGEMENT

Awareness
The strongest connections happen

Engagement
via call, click, chat, and camera.

Personalization
The customer journey is shifting and brand
communication affects every decision.

Efficiency
Chat Messaging Email Video

Growth
Conclusion
The State of Marketing 2024 17
CHAT How marketers are using chatbots

Introduction
Marketers, it’s time Day-to-day marketing tasks

36% of marketers use AI chatbots in their marketing

to embrace bots

Awareness
role. And 58% of marketers plan on increasing their
investments in AI and automation like chatbots in 2024.

HubSpot research found that 55% of businesses predict that by 2024, Personalized experiences

Engagement
most people will turn to chatbots over search engines for answers. AI- 72% of marketers agree that AI and automation tools
powered chatbots offer a conversational approach to research, provide like chatbots help them personalize the experience
individualized, user-friendly results, and gather data that helps businesses customers get with their company.

grow. Twenty-five percent of marketers who report having “effective”

Personalization
marketing strategies in 2023 used AI and automation like chatbots versus Customer service and growth
only 5% of those who report having “ineffective” marketing strategies.
24% of marketers feel that AI tools that help
“It’s time to embrace bots. To get started, experiment with a marketing customer service teams respond to tickets (chatbots,
bot for your website. Train your bot on your content so it can quickly self-service tools, generative AI emails) would help
their business most.

Efficiency
answer questions specific to your customer’s needs about products,
pricing, and case studies. At HubSpot, we introduced a Gen AI-powered
chatbot to our website and the results have been promising: 78% of
chatters’ questions have been fully answered by our bot, and these Want a free personal

Growth
customers have higher satisfaction scores.” marketing assistant
that’s available 24/7?
YAMINI RANGAN

Conclusion
CEO, HubSpot Try ChatSpot

The State of Marketing 2024 18

MESSAGING

Introduction
“The more personalized we
Commerce has joined are, the better results we

the conversation see. Integrating [HubSpot]

Awareness
with MessageMedia’s
In 2024, 87% of marketers plan to continue or increase their investment in mobile SMS platform gave us

Engagement
messaging through channels like SMS, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. Around
one in five marketers globally currently use mobile messaging, 10% say it’s a top the power to provide a
driver of ROI, and 12% plan to invest in mobile for the first time in 2024. France and
Singapore are early adopters of this channel — closer to one in four marketers already
consistent omnichannel

Personalization
report having mobile strategies.
customer experience.”
Automated messaging helped The results of JOBETH HARVEY
Vinomofo scale the omnichannel personalized messaging Former CRM, Loyalty, and Wine
Club Manager, Vinomofo
customer experience

Efficiency
Vinomofo, one of the biggest Australian online
120X
wine retailers, wanted to maintain a personal return on investment

Growth
touch with their customers as they grew. After SMS for HubSpot
hitting roadblocks with disjointed systems, the 50% with MessageMedia
team brought on HubSpot and MessageMedia. better customer re-engagement

Conclusion
By automating personalized SMS communications, WhatsApp Business
Vinomofo improved sales conversions and
streamlined internal workflows, too.
21% integration with
HubSpot
increase in sales conversions

The State of Marketing 2024 19

EMAIL

Introduction
RE: Email — it still works,
but be ready to adapt

Awareness
Email is an OG marketing and communication strategy that’s still exceptionally powerful.

Engagement
Email marketing is tied for second place as the channel that provides the highest ROI.
One in three marketers reports using email and 87% plan to maintain or increase their
investment in 2024. But today, email marketers need to be ready to adapt.

HubSpot research revealed that marketers across the globe noted that the biggest

Personalization
changes in marketing in the past year included:

Being ready to pivot in case of a major event

27%

Efficiency
Creating content that reflects brand values

25% Create an email with HubSpot’s AI email writer

The importance of personalized experiences

Growth
23%
49%

Conclusion
In the year ahead, email marketing teams can create authentic and personalized of marketers using AI
experiences using tools like AI and should be ready to respond to even the most generate email content with it.
unexpected happenings.

The State of Marketing 2024 20

How to Create an Email Program That’s Ready for Anything

Introduction
Litmus’ annual State of Email Workflows Report revealed that 41% of email marketers count email marketing as their most
effective channel — that’s pretty darn effective. Here’s how to make the most of your email marketing program in 2024.

Awareness
1. Use dynamic content to personalize at scale 2. Integrate email programs to save time
It isn’t enough to rely solely on a first name in a subject line anymore. The game has gotten Sixty-two percent of email marketing teams take two or more weeks
more sophisticated! With your first-party data in tow, marketing teams should turn to the to create an email. Let that statement really sink in! Plus, 23% of teams

Engagement
inbox to experiment with hyper-personalization. have up to five emails in production at any given time. Long lead

AI-powered product recommendations, location-specific information, and personalized times and multitasking make it harder to react quickly to changes, but

images are some of the ways brands are getting dynamic content right. Litmus Personalize email marketing integrations can ease that pressure.

users have seen a 52% increase in conversions with dynamic content personalization — Only 9% of email marketing leaders believe their ESP is very highly

Personalization
with some companies seeing as high as a 44% increase in email-driven sales. integrated with other marketing channels, which means that’s a great
place to start. Email integrations make a noticeable difference for
Top dynamic content ideas to try this year:
email teams — EzCater actually saved 2-3 hours of production time on
• Personalized content and product every email with their Litmus integration!
recommendations based on past purchases

Efficiency
• Countdown timers

• Live in-email polls

Growth
• Nearest store map

• Personalized images

Social media feeds

Conclusion
•

• Social signals

• Weather

The State of Marketing 2024 21

3. Increase efficacy with AI & emerging technology

Introduction
The good news is that email has an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent.

Start Your
The better news — AI-powered personalization in marketing can increase ROI
by up to 70%, and that’s just one of many ways email teams can use emerging

Awareness
technologies like AI. Integrating AI tools into your email marketing process
streamlines tasks like brainstorming and QA, while also leveraging predictive
analytics for email design. Marketers should also consider solutions that can Personalization
Journey
continuously monitor their emails, protecting against unexpected changes from

Engagement
email client updates and beyond. With more opportunities than ever for great
brand engagement moments these days, brands can (and should) turn to advanced
technologies to ensure their emails result in the best possible experiences.
Easily create personalized email experiences

Personalization
Make Every Send CountTM at scale across your entire customer journey
Email isn’t going anywhere but up. Analysts expect the number of email users to with Litmus Personalize.
grow by 2.5% in both 2024 and 2025 until the number of email users worldwide hits
a projected 4.73 billion. Try it now

Efficiency
In the year ahead, email marketing teams can use the inbox to learn about and
connect with customers through dynamic, personalized experiences. Integrations,
collaboration, and AI-powered tools will help them work efficiently and drive value.

Growth
In 2024, personalization is more important than ever. If you’re ready to start your
personalization journey, choose a tool that has powerful capabilities like quick-start
personalization templates, dynamic content automation powered by your CRM,

Conclusion
and AI-powered product recommendations, just to name a few.

The State of Marketing 2024 22