Checklist: Top 3 Marketing Goals for 2024 — Plus One Bonus

What’s on your “top marketing goals” list for 2024? Does it match up with some of the major marketing trends coming our way this year?

And above all: What are realistic ways to make progress on these “big changes” — while juggling your other marketing (and business!) to-dos, too?

This simple checklist is a sound place to start. This year, Zoe Marketing & Communications is helping 300 businesses harness AI, video and localization to boost their visibility.

You can join them by working towards these goals in manageable bites:

1. Make your marketing more personalized with AI
2. Embrace short-form video content
3. Strengthen your local SEO and localization strategies
4. BONUS: Create and update content to evolve with Google

Keep in mind that some progress is always better than none. Let this manageable list inspire you to take action, even if it’s just one goal, and plan your next steps.

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Goal #1: Make your marketing more personalized — using AI

People want to be seen and heard. Your customers should feel like you understand their needs in your marketing content. In other words, whenever possible, personalize.

Luckily, artificial intelligence can make things more personal thanks to its ability to dig into data. Many marketing tools, from your CMS to your email delivery system, have built-in AI tech or plug-ins. These help identify the right content and deliver it to the right people.

Step 1: Understand your current audience

• Conduct surveys or analyze customer data to understand people’s preferences and behaviors.
• Segment your audience based on demographics, interests and behaviors, such as people who buy a certain product often.

Step 2: Pick AI tools that work for you

• Research, test and choose AI tools that align with your marketing needs — for instance, content creation, email campaigns, customer segmentation, and personalized recommendations.
• Test to ensure the tools work with your current marketing platforms.

Step 3: Personalize how you interact with customers

• Tailor content on your website, email and social media to people based on their browsing. AI tools like Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) or HubSpot help serve up personalized recommendations, relevant articles and other key messaging.
• Explore using chatbots to provide personalized product advice or support. Review the conversation logs to refine and improve responses and experiences.

Step 4: Analyze, test and optimize

• Set up systems to collect customer data across different touch points. Use AI tools to analyze it for patterns and insights.
• Regularly test different personalization strategies. Tap into AI-driven analytics to measure performance and make data-backed optimizations.

Goal #2: Embrace short-form video content

Digestible, easy to understand and engaging to watch: That’s the direction video is heading. Think YouTube Shorts, Reels and TikTok — and use these videos on social media and your web content.

Step 1: Identify what resonates

• Research trends and topics that connect with your audience.
• Plan content that is informative, entertaining or both. For instance, create a short video on a popular service you offer or a how-to guide.

Step 2: Keep it concise and relatable

• Create videos that are about 30 seconds long — 60 max. This is ideal, especially for social media. Consider sharing quick tips or a real-life look at your service in action.
• Aim to be authentic and creative. People crave relatable content that’s worth their time and not necessarily highly polished. 

Step 3: Use compelling, consistent visuals

• Keep your content dynamic and visually interesting.
• Use design tools like Canva to easily add appealing graphics, transitions and overlays to your short video. This creates a good experience and a consistent-feeling brand.
• Showcase people! Whether it’s your staff or customers, a real face chatting with the camera creates a sense of trust and connection.

Step 4: Adapt and analyze

• Get more traction by editing the same video for different platforms and audiences — Reels vs. Shorts, for instance.
• Track engagement metrics like views, likes and shares. Use insights to see what videos perform best. From here, refine and improve future video content.

Goal #3: Strengthen your local SEO and localization strategies

Your prospects are Googling for services near them. Do they find yours? From your Google Business Profile to keywords on your landing pages and blogs, localizing your content is essential.

Step 1: Use local keywords

• Research and pinpoint region-specific keywords that your local audience is searching for. Track the terms you want to rank for using a tool like SEMRush or Moz Local.
• Weave keywords naturally into your content, including blogs, webpages and social posts. Focus on headers in particular. Be careful not to overuse keywords.

Step 2: Create location-specific pages

• Use keywords to develop content that addresses local issues, events or interests that align with your business. Tailor your messages to resonate with your audience.
• Create service-focused web pages tailored to the different cities or locations you serve. Another great example is FAQ pages tailored to local questions.

Step 3: Connect with the local community and build up reviews

• Join in local online forums or social media groups, and, if you have helpful content, share it with local news sources to boost your awareness as a local resource.
• Encourage customers to leave reviews mentioning location-specific experiences.

Step 4: Optimize for local search engines 

• Ensure your business info is up-to-date in your Google Business Profile. 
• Get listed in other local digital directories, such as chambers of commerce. Regularly update your listings with fresh details (new hours, areas served, etc.).
• Review your local SEO performance monthly or more, tweaking based on analytics or local search trends.

BONUS: Goal #4: Create and update content to evolve with Google

Google is increasingly consolidating its search results using AI and tapping into social media to deliver the best “hits.” Things are evolving in this area, but you can get ahead of the game by applying a few content best practices. 

Step 1: Bring your experience to the forefront

Google now considers experience a big factor in its algorithm (besides expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness — now “EEAT” for short).

• Invite experts in your company to give their experiences and stories in your content. Share real-world examples, challenges overcome and lessons learned.
• Include your customers’ experiences with testimonials, case studies and success stories. It builds trust if they explain what makes you great (vs. you).
• Showcase experiences in social posts, too, which are being pulled into Google results.

Step 2: Refine your content to meet Google’s/people’s expectations

• Focus on user intent. Create content that aligns with what your audience is searching for. Think about their needs, worries and interests. Avoid overt self-promotion. 
• Create quality, relevant content. Include clear headers, bullets and graphics/media that make it digestible. Be sure to answer questions concisely at the very beginning.
• Optimize for mobile devices — and voice search. This is how most people are searching. So focus on using natural language and question-based phrases.

Next steps for setting and meeting your goals in 2024

Creating goals can feel daunting, but honing in on key areas makes the process manageable. In 2024, it’s worth focusing on AI personalization, short videos, localization and optimizing content.

And you don’t have to take it all on yourself! Talk to us. Our marketing experts at Zoe can help you pinpoint your goals and start making them happen, step by step, in 2024.

Whichever marketing path you choose, learn more about two timely topics here:

• 6 key 2024 marketing trends and the risks of ignoring them
• 10 top local SEO strategies for businesses