NZ Marketing Insights & Trends 2024

Now available: the latest update to our NZ Marketing Insights & Trends Presentation (2024), which focusses in on some of the hottest and most important NZ marketing topics and trends for 2024 and beyond.

This comprehensive slide presentation will enable you to present to your clients and colleagues a preview of what marketing trends to expect in 2024.

This presentation looks ahead at what marketers should expect and plan for in the year ahead — based on local and global trends you may not yet have had the opportunity to examine — turning those forecasts into a comprehensive report & slide deck in PowerPoint format (with accompanying notes) – information that you can easily present to your team and your clients, bringing everyone up to speed on the latest New Zealand Marketing Insights for 2024. All presentations are unbranded, so you can add your own branding and comments.

This presentation consists of more than 200 slides, dealing with as many key insights.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of what’s included in the NZ Marketing Insights & Trends Presentation 2024 Report:

The New Zealand Marketplace

Surprising Kiwi business confidence: a majority of NZ respondents to a survey of businesses published in April 2024 expect better things in the year ahead. We take a look at what’s behind that unexpected level of confidence.

Diminishing support for Work from Home? Employees in at least one surveyed business sector are keen to return to the workplace. We dig deeper.

How bad is Greenwashing in NZ? 75% of New Zealanders place some importance on a product’s green claims being verified before it’s sold. Despite this, there is no independent vetting or checking required before products making green claims hit New Zealand’s shelves.

Businesses still hiring? Despite the challenging economic conditions, many businesses are continuing to actively recruit new staff, according to the latest data.

Biometrics Processing Privacy Code coming soon: Biometric-enabled devices have become commonplace in everyday life, from smartphone facial recognition to security checkpoints. But there are privacy concerns, prompting calls for regulation to safeguard individuals’ rights and mitigate risks.

Are “plant-based” claims real? Recent years have witnessed a surge in the popularity of plant-based diets. But there has been a concerning lack of NZ legislation to protect consumers from misleading product labels, leaving individuals vulnerable to ambiguous claims.

We also talk about business commitment to climate action, retail customer experiences, the growth of cybersecurity risks and a whole lot more.

Marketer Priorities 2024

Here are some of the key priorities that marketers say they have identified for 2024:

1. Customer-Centricity & Personalization: Get a much deeper understanding of your customers, their needs and their preferences, aiming to deliver relevant, more personalized experiences at every touchpoint.

2. Data-Driven Decision Making: More than ever, it’s about the numbers. Leverage data analytics to measure campaign performance, optimize strategies, and gain actionable insights.

3. Embracing AI & Automation: Yeah, AI is here to stay, and if you don’t embrace it, you’ll fall far behind. Integrate AI-powered tools for tasks like content creation, social media management, and customer service to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

4. Balancing Brand & Performance Marketing: Maintain a healthy balance between building brand awareness and driving immediate conversions through strategic allocation of resources.

5. Prioritizing Sustainability & Social Impact: Consumers’ hearts are in the right place, even if their current financial conditions don’t always allow them to do what they should. Preparing for both now and the longer term, you should align marketing efforts with sustainable practices and address social issues to resonate with conscious consumers and build brand trust.

6. Talent Acquisition & Development: The marketing world just keeps on changing, as technology drags us all along for the ride. You need to work on building and retaining skilled marketing teams equipped for the evolving landscape. (Hint: check out our courses to help your teams)

Purpose-driven shopping: Consumers increasingly support brands that align with their values like sustainability and social responsibility. Brands need to focus on driving impact, not just profits.

Mobile shopping: Phones are used throughout the shopping journey. Brands must optimize sites for mobile and leverage messaging apps for commerce.

Curated simplicity: Consumers are overwhelmed by choices and gravitate to curated selections that simplify options. Brands that curate products can connect better.

Local shopping: Consumers like to support small, local businesses that feel authentic. Local SEO and community engagement help attract nearby customers.

Experience preference: Customers prefer to spend on experiences and make purchases that lead to moments of joy. Brands should highlight the positive experiences they offer.

The Evolving Role of AI: Consumers are becoming more comfortable with AI-powered experiences, like chatbots and personalized recommendations. Explore the potential of AI to enhance customer service, personalize marketing campaigns, and improve product recommendations.

Data Privacy Concerns: Consumers are becoming more aware of data privacy issues and are seeking greater control over their personal information. Be transparent about your data practices, obtain explicit consent for data collection and use, and prioritize data security measures.

Convenience Reigns Supreme: Consumers crave fast, easy, and seamless experiences across all touchpoints, from online shopping to mobile banking. Streamline your customer journey, offer multiple payment options, and prioritize mobile-first design and functionality.

The Rise of Sustainability: Consumers are demanding more eco-friendly and ethically sourced products from brands they trust. Implement sustainable practices throughout your operations, communicate your commitment to environmental and social responsibility, and offer transparent information about product origins and materials.

Omnichannel Experiences: Consumers value omnichannel experiences that seamlessly integrate online and in-store shopping. Marketers should develop strategies that connect online and offline experiences to retain customers and enhance brand loyalty.

NZ Media

It’s been a challenging year so far in 2024, especially for traditional media.

Digital now accounts for 63% of New Zealand ad spend, more than 2.1 billion dollars. 88% of that revenue went to pure digital plays (eg Google, Meta, etc.), the other 12% to digital platforms for local TV, newspapers and radio.

NZ Advertising Expenditure 2012-2023

Meanwhile, television lost just over 14% of its revenues in 12 months, dipping from the previous year’s $517 million to $443 million in 2023 (excluding their digital revenues). That traditional TV total is lower than it has been for at least the last dozen years, inevitably triggering the latest rounds of belt tightening.

What About the Audience?

We know where advertisers are. What about the audience?

Yeah, Broadcast TV still gets good reach, but the Internet has some pretty compelling numbers. And if we look at how much time Kiwis spend with each medium, we find that people spend more than twice as long on the Internet as they do watching television (and that’s BOTH broadcast and streaming).

Search Marketing

Big changes ahead, for both SEO and PPC. Here are just some of them:

The Google Update of March 2024, when Google began cracking down on low-quality content in search results, may well affect you. Google expects that the combination of this update and their previous efforts will collectively reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in their search results by 40%. And that has direct implications for those who use AI to create their content.

Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE): This is an imminent AI-powered earthquake poised to reshape the SEO landscape. While traditional ranking factors still hold some sway, the SGE curates entirely new result sets for a staggering 33% of search queries, often bypassing even the top 10 organic listings. This means meticulously crafted content and link-building strategies could be rendered obsolete in the face of Google’s algorithmic oracle.

The heart of the issue lies in SGE’s opaque selection process. Unlike traditional ranking based on backlinks and keywords, the AI’s criteria remain shrouded in mystery. This presents a formidable challenge: how do we optimize for an algorithm we don’t understand?

While the answer remains elusive, the call to action is clear: we must adapt. Marketers need to shift their focus beyond traditional SEO tactics and embrace a more holistic approach that prioritizes user intent, content quality, and relevance across all touchpoints. The future of SEO lies not in manipulating algorithms, but in understanding and exceeding user expectations in a dynamic, AI-driven search landscape.

Google Ads’ new “Conversational Experience”: This is a gamechanger, an AI-powered tool poised to transform campaign creation. It’s a tool you engage with that will help you optimize search campaigns by more easily generating the text and assets you’ll need. Imagine an interactive assistant brainstorming ad copy, suggesting relevant keywords, and crafting captivating visuals.

How does it work? Just enter the URL of your preferred landing page. Google AI will automatically generate a short description of your business which you can edit. Next, Google AI will suggest relevant and effective keywords, headlines, descriptions, images, and sitelinks for your campaign.

What else will matter in Search in 2024?

Voice search optimization: Optimizing for voice search will become even more important as people increasingly use voice assistants and smart speakers. Brands need to focus on natural language and conversational queries.

Personalization: Search engines are getting better at understanding user context and intent. Search marketing will focus more on personalized and localized results.

Video SEO – Optimizing videos for search continues to grow in importance, including use of transcripts, titles, descriptions and tags.

Evolving Search Intent: Search engines are getting better at understanding user intent behind queries. Focus on creating content that directly answers users’ questions and provides the information they seek.

Focus on User Experience (UX): Search engines prioritize websites with positive user experience. Ensure your website is fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate for better search ranking and user engagement.

The Power of Featured Snippets: Appearing in featured snippets (answer boxes) on search engine results pages (SERPs) can significantly boost organic traffic. Optimize your content for concise answers, relevant keywords, and structured data markup.

Social Media Marketing

Here are some key Social Media Marketing trends for 2024:

The Rise & Rise of Micro-Content: With an overwhelming amount of content vying for limited attention, shorter formats like brief videos, succinct texts, and quick stories will dominate. Marketers should focus on creating short, impactful content that can quickly engage and deliver value to the audience. This brevity aligns with the reduced attention spans and busy lifestyles of modern consumers.

Ephemeral: The average TikTok viral trend lasts around three days.This trend is expanding to other social networks, where a viral dance, song, meme, activity or movement will be born, live and die in the space of 72 hours. To stay current and on trend, marketers need to track, conceptualise and execute creative that embraces the latest viral trend within 24 hours.

Authenticity vs. AI: There’s an ongoing battle between maintaining authenticity and leveraging AI in content creation. Brands are encouraged to experiment with AI for brainstorming and ideation, while also focusing on authenticity to build trust.

Investment in ‘Dark Social’: Brands are starting to recognize the importance of ‘dark social’ platforms  (messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, etc.), which are not traditionally monitored like public social networks. The trend suggests a significant portion of traffic may be coming from these sources, and brands should consider strategies like trackable links and private social communities.

Shift from Engagement/Traffic to Awareness/Discovery: Traditional social media metrics like engagement and traffic are giving way to a focus on awareness and discovery. Brands are advised to revisit their analytics and consider setting discovery goals for 2024.

Entertain, Then Educate: Current strategies for educating through social media are losing effectiveness. Brands are advised to find more creative, entertaining ways to grab attention before pivoting to educational content.

Long-Form Content: Despite assumptions to the contrary, long-form content is thriving. Brands are encouraged to think more like creators, focusing on storytelling, community engagement, and a strong visual identity.

Focus on Comments: Comments are becoming a critical part of social media strategy again. Brands should commit to acknowledging and responding to comments, reading them thoroughly, and using them as inspiration for additional content and customer engagement.

Channel Hyper-Focus: This trend emphasizes prioritizing specific social media channels that align with your goals, rather than spreading efforts thinly across many platforms. It involves evaluating the effectiveness of each channel in contributing towards your goals and considering the sunset of less effective ones.

Niche Communities and Micro-Influencers: Businesses will collaborate with micro-influencers within specific niches to create authentic and genuine engagement, building trust and loyalty among a dedicated audience.

YouTube Shorts: While growing rapidly, YouTube Shorts should be seen as a channel for experimentation and repurposing content rather than a primary strategy. Brands should consider integrating Shorts with existing YouTube content and including them in collaborations with creators.

The X Void: With the reduced influence of X (RIP Twitter), no single platform has filled its space. This trend suggests brands reassess their Twitter strategy and consider reserving handles on emerging platforms while increasing listening efforts on others like TikTok.

LinkedIn Personalization: LinkedIn is becoming more personal, with users sharing a wider variety of content on the platform. This shift is attributed to less activity on other networks like Facebook and X, and the rise of remote work post-pandemic, leading to more authenticity and transparency online.

Online Video

Here are some key trends for online video marketing in 2024:

Short-Form Video Reigns Supreme: It’s not exactly new news, but platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are booming, with short-form video content offering high engagement and ROI. Marketers need to embrace short-form storytelling, prioritize mobile-first formats, and experiment with trending sounds and challenges.

The Rise of Silent Videos: With increased mobile viewing and sound-off preferences, silent videos are gaining traction, requiring strong visuals and impactful storytelling. You should focus on clear visuals, compelling captions, and on-screen text to convey your message effectively without audio.

Live Shopping Takes Center Stage: Interactive live shopping experiences on platforms like TikTok and Instagram are driving sales and engagement, blurring the lines between commerce and entertainment. Partner with influencers for live shopping events, showcase products in real-time, and offer exclusive deals to incentivize live viewers.

More Use of AI Tools and Tricks: AI is increasingly being used in video marketing for productivity and creativity. AI-powered tools are making video editing, scriptwriting, and content generation more accessible and efficient for marketers with limited resources. Marketers should explore and integrate AI tools into their video marketing strategies to streamline production and enhance creativity.

5. User-Generated Content (UGC) Gains Trust: Consumers increasingly trust authentic user-created content over traditional marketing messages. Develop UGC campaigns, collaborate with micro-influencers, and provide clear guidelines for user-generated content creation.

Accessibility and Inclusivity in Video Content: Creating accessible video content with captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions is becoming increasingly important. Make accessibility a priority when creating video content. This broadens your audience reach, demonstrates social responsibility, and improves brand perception.

Vertical-First Video Content: With the rise of mobile viewing, vertical video formats optimized for smartphones are becoming increasingly popular. Adapt video production and editing to create vertical-first content for platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. Ensure your videos are visually engaging and optimized for mobile viewing.

More Real People on Camera: Brands are expected to feature more real people, like company employees and partners, in their videos to create a sense of connection and trust. Marketers should leverage the authenticity of real people, including company executives and staff, in their video content to build brand affinity and trust.

Product Videos Becoming More Prevalent: There is a growing trend towards using videos for product documentation and demonstrations, replacing traditional written help docs. Marketers, especially in software and direct-to-consumer businesses, should focus on creating product videos and GIFs to showcase their offerings more effectively.

Videos in Newsletter and Email Creative: Videos are being increasingly included in newsletters and emails, offering a more engaging way to communicate with audiences. Marketers should consider incorporating short, informative videos in their email marketing strategies to enhance engagement and customer experience.

Fewer Videos in Search Results: Google has reduced the number of video thumbnails in search results, particularly for videos that are not the main content of a page. Marketers need to ensure their main videos are correctly featured and optimized for SEO, as peripheral video content may not rank as effectively.

ABOUT THE REPORT

Oh, in case you’re wondering who we are to be preparing such a report:  the NZ MARKETING INSIGHTS & TRENDS FOR 2024 report & slide deck has been prepared (like its 7 predecessor annual reports since  2017) by Michael Carney, long-time adman, author, media director and strategic planning director. Michael is also the creator/training director of Netmarketing Courses, which provides online training across a wide range of digital marketing disciplines. See our About page for more.