2023 in Review: AI and the Future of Marketing
Let's take a look back on one of the most chaotic years for marketing, 2023 and look ahead to 2024. Short Form Video, Voice Search, and of course, AI became extremely important for the industry going forward.
The Greatest Year of Change in Marketing History
Join Evan Facinger and Jon Ballard as they reflect on all of the crazy changes that came to the marketing industry in 2023. Since the creation of the internet, we have never seen any single year bring more massive changes to the marketing industry than this one. AI, while extremely useful, has been used by many as a new way to farm content. Short Form Video has officially taken center stage as something businesses can no longer ignore thanks to YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and other social medias. GA4 has fully replaced Universal Analytics. Voice Search has become normalized in the average household. There's so much to learn from last year and even more to adapt to and look forward to in this year to come.
Timestamps:
- 0:00 Intro
- 2:31 Dos & Don'ts for Using AI Properly
- 6:25 Search Generative Experience in its Infancy
- 13:40 Short Form Video Competing with Google for Searches
- 15:43 Don't Neglect the Basics in Pursuit of the New and Shiny
- 17:17 UA is Done, GA4 is Here
- 17:58 Voice Search & Long Tail Keywords
- 19:49 Keep Your Google My Business Profile Updated
- 20:59 Final Thoughts
Transcript:
Evan Facinger:
I think a lot of businesses, Google included, they’re trying to keep up.
Evan Facinger:
Embracing changes as they come, paying attention to it, making sure that you're not overlooking the basics and the things that are supposed to be done just to keep chasing the the new and fun.
Evan Facinger:
Alright, everybody. Thank you for joining the Foremost Media Marketing Chat Podcast. This is your host, Evan Facinger, and I'm joined with the other host, Jon Ballard, the CEO, and a co-founder of Foremost Media. Jon, how are you doing today?
Jon Ballard:
Hey good, Evan, I can't believe it's almost 2024. It just flew by this year. I say that every year, but this year was even faster.
Evan Facinger:
Yeah, yeah, I agree. I still think I'm in one of those camps, though that keeps saying they look back and feel like last year was 2019, and the past 4 years have just kind of gone by without anything. But here we are. It is gonna be 2024, probably by the time this podcast is going to be released and I think it was a pretty eventful year for 2023. Wouldn't you say?
Jon Ballard:
It's been a crazy year, a lot of stuff going on in marketing and just life in general. So let's dive into it. I'm excited to talk about what the future brings for 2024 and our opinions.
Evan Facinger:
Yeah. And I think that we could probably turn this into a podcast completely about AI. But I don't think we want to do that, although ignoring that would be definitely an error. If we're talking about how 2024 marketing things that we expect to see. Anything that's top on your list?
Jon Ballard:
I wanted to start with something a little different, something that you shouldn't do in 2024. So I got this friend named Evan Facinger and he gave me the brilliant idea of texting my wife messages from AI in the morning just to say Hello, or I love you, or whatever and Evan, that sounded like a brilliant idea to me. So I downloaded the ChatGPT on my phone and I started sending text messages. The first one I sent my wife storms over the bedroom, and she's like what the heck do you got a girlfriend or something? You've never written anything this nice for me. So that was the first and last AI text I sent to my wife. So don't do that in 2024.
Evan Facinger:
Yeah? Well, we're gonna find out, I guess, in 2024, if my wife actually listens to this podcast or not when my secret comes out that I've been using AI to text her on a regular basis.
Jon Ballard:
Whoops, I guess I just threw you under the bus. Maybe we need to have somebody edit that part out.
Evan Facinger:
No, I say we’ll leave it. It'll be a good test. I think you bring up a really great point with that. I mean, there's a lot of fun uses for AI. There's a lot of professional uses for AI, and of course, AI is gonna be a major part of marketing in 2024, because it has to be and I think that the gap’s gonna widen between the companies that really choose to embrace it and those that choose to fight it. But with that I think that the BS meter for AI, that is going to increase quite a bit. And if you're of the mindset that you can just use AI and put everything that it says out there, I think that's gonna end up, actually hurting a lot of companies that think they're embracing AI. They're just doing it in the wrong way.
Jon Ballard:
Yeah, it is easy to spit out an article and it's tempting to not even read it sometimes, or really put much thought into it. But I think what marketers can do- I was reflecting on this and how to embrace AI for content creation, which I think is really gonna be a big trend in 2024 is you've got to add experience. That's one thing AI cannot do. So if you're writing an article about a tactic for marketing, for example, add some experience. What have you seen? What kind of results have your customers experienced? That's something that AI just can't generate. And I think that AI and search engines are gonna start to look for that experience. Part of that equation in there to make sure that you really are writing this, and it's a valid article. And I think, users, I think can see right through a purely AI generated article as well. But that's not to say you shouldn't be using that. I think it's a great tool to kind of review your writing. Give you some ideas. So compare some of the other articles out there to what you're writing. So there's a lot of different ways you can use it for content creation.
Evan Facinger:
Yeah. And it's like you said, it's so easy just to have something added spun up. But just because it's easy doesn't mean it's good. So one thing that I do expect to see in 2024, because we're already seeing it now. So there's not really any Nostradamus sort of predictions here, but there's gonna be that flood of AI content that's being created. And as that AI flood happens there needs to be more checks to see what's going to be quality content. So there's gonna be that gap that I was talking about, or really people that can, of course use AI, be more efficient, but if you're just using it to create the entire article and put it out there… That's content farms right? I mean, those were a thing years ago, until Panda came through, and made it not as usable for it. That's what this is right. It's just content farms, the content spinning some of the old school tactics. But Google's smarter now and if you take a look at the experience. I think that's great, being able to actually put some experience that's gonna separate your articles, your content from those that are just using AI. And that's why they added the experience to the EEAT. Right? So they've got experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Those are still gonna be major signals. Because Google and all the other search engines. They need to show content that's trustworthy, right hits on all those different aspects, because then it's gonna be high quality content, so that the product that they give, which is content a lot of times, is going to actually be good and not just part of that AI content farm creation.
Jon Ballard:
Yeah and I think Google's gonna start to lean more on the engagement metric as well. If it's not a good article people aren’t gonna stick around and read it. So make sure you're writing good quality, engaging stuff. People aren't bouncing in all of your content, because they know it's AI generated. So good results on the search engines doesn't necessarily mean that you're gonna get people engaging and converting.
Evan Facinger:
Yeah, and that's a perfect segue to another thing that I think is worth talking about in 2024 is the search generative experience right? SGE from Google. So you mentioned that ranking high getting traffic to the websites, that was always the goal with SEO. Right? You wanna show up, be the result, be the answer, Google shows your website, the user then clicks on the link that's on Google and goes to your website. And then from there focusing on conversion rate optimization and other aspects to actually turn that into a lead, and of course a customer. So with SGE becoming more prominent, taking up a lot of space on the search engine result pages for it. They originally had said it was gonna be just a test that was gonna end in December 2023. But they took that away. So they removed that little asterisk there that was saying, this was a test until December 2023. And yeah, makes you lead to believe that it's going to be introduced, maybe sooner than some people were expecting into the Serp. So what do you think about that, Jon? Have you played around with that much?
Jon Ballard:
Can you back up a little bit, just for some of our listeners that might not know what SGE stands for and what it is. Can just kinda give a little picture there.
Evan Facinger:
Yeah. So SGE is going to be for Google. So search generative experience. And that's Google using generative AI to basically try to answer the questions on the search engine result pages. So not getting into a bunch of technical information with large language models and everything else that actually goes into AI. The easiest way to sum it up is that it's going to be you entering into Google, typing in your question. It's going to use AI to answer your question directly on the Serp as opposed to providing you just links of websites to click on to then go find your answer.
Jon Ballard:
Yeah. And I think it's a really interesting model back to your original question. What I'm afraid of for our customers, for our own sake, is that people won't be clicking into the website anymore if Google's answering all the questions on their site and it's an interesting model from their business perspective as well. If people aren't flicking through to ads and stuff like that to go look at websites. And they're just answering all their questions, what's Google gonna change for a revenue model. So lots of questions around that. But I've seen some of it. It's kind of cool. Sometimes it does a good job. Sometimes it's a little off, like most AI stuff.
Evan Facinger:
And I think it'll be interesting, too, because is this a 2024 where this is going to really take over, or maybe is, it's a 2025, right? Are we still a ways out before the average end user is going to use it and trust it? That'll be the interesting thing to watch as the year unfolds, because if you think about it from an end user's perspective, when they're going to the website, they're typing in a question, right? Or they're looking for information from it. They really, most circumstances just want that answer back to them. Right? So if they can get the answer back quickly, easily. Then, yeah, I could see SGE taking off having a major impact on the way websites function in SEO in the industry, as a whole, right? I mean, it takes you from focusing on the top level or top funnel pieces of content, trying to get people in, answering questions to maybe focus more on the mid funnel, right? The types of searches that still are gonna require a click, because it's more than just an answer to the question. That somebody might click in, or type into Google in order to receive. So that'll be interesting. But you mentioned how AI also returns incorrect information. So the end users are using it, and they roll it out. It's not producing things that they trust or believe in for it. Then, do they start to question a lot more? Do they just ignore it? It becomes something that is a feature that's not used ever. Do they have to still click down to get it? Or does it actually show them good results and it provides a better user experience?
Jon Ballard:
Yeah, I've got a prime example for that. I was looking to write an article for a customer up in the vacation area of Wisconsin here, and he wanted to highlight some of the restaurants that are on lakes near his town. So I start with AI and I’m kinda like, Hey, just give me some suggestions on which restaurants are good on lakes in this town and it came back with a bunch of restaurants in that town, but none of them are on lakes and it implied that. So I mean, I think they've got a ways to go. I mean, that's something maybe a local would know. But Google doesn't at this point have access to what is actually waterfront dining, and what isn't. So it's like you said. I mean, I think there's some trust factors they gotta get through there to really make that work well. But things are improving every day.
Evan Facinger:
Oh, yeah, and there's so many different models out there right now. Clearly, ChatGPT is the big one, and then Bard. Google's trying to use Gemini, which they had a really cool release video that came out really talking about how much better it was than at least GPT4. And then it turned out that video was actually a dramatization of what it actually could do. So yeah, I think it's gonna change. And I think a lot of businesses Google included, they're trying to keep up right? I mean, Bing actually released the first kind of generative AI experience when it comes to search on there with answering the questions. And yeah I used it. They were still providing links, and made me initially think, Hey, this gonna be ads, right? I mean, ads are gonna be important with it. And I think depending on what type of business you run, really making sure that you're optimized for AI itself is gonna be beneficial. Because if you think in regards to, if it answers the question, it says, 0 click search result. There's no reason to go on to the website. Yeah, there's not a lot of value there for the website to optimize their site for the content, that the AI is just gonna take and produce, and essentially get the credit right. But if you're like an e-commerce brand, right? You're selling a product. And somebody starts using that SGE, and they're typing in what's the best product for this? You wanna be shown right? So you wanna make sure that you are paying attention to what it's using to optimize for those different factors. So you could become the recommendations. And that's gonna have a big impact on all of those affiliate sites. Right? Cause I mean, clearly, if you're listening to this podcast, you're probably in the industry so none of this is a surprise. But so many of those, questions that you're answering or asking Google, trying to find the best product for something. and looking at all those reviews. Those review sites are affiliate links just sites making money, and it's hard to really trust some of those which leads to another aspect. Is Google where people are gonna continue to go, social medias, or like search engines in general? Or do they start to turn to more of those alternative places for search like social media. Right? Tiktok gets a lot of searches already. Youtube's already been called the second largest search engine for a long time. Pinterest, all of those are really something to keep an eye on from people looking and searching. Reddit gets a lot because it's user generated content versus a lot of AI created content and everything else that some of the search engines have.
Jon Ballard:
So a good segue for what I had on my list for things to watch in 2024 too was like short form video. I don't think as a business you can ignore that anymore. I mean, I think like you said, people are searching Tiktok now for product solutions or suggestions or just how-to things, and their filters are getting better every day, so you can filter by recent. And one of the things that foremost is gonna focus on a little bit more is short form video and influencer marketing. And along with that, AI has made video production, image enhancement. so much better that you can produce that stuff without as much effort as you used to in the past, in my opinion.
Evan Facinger:
Yeah, the editing, I mean everything has just become so much easier that it doesn't take as much skill right to actually get the editing. Now making it interesting, actually, going through creative that's something that isn’t being replaced as of yet for it. So yeah, I think short form video, just other forms of content versus just the written word. I mean, we've been preaching podcasts and videos for a while now. And I think 2024. You're gonna continue to see. That is gonna continue to grow, especially if there is so much content spam created from AI.
Jon Ballard:
So we talked a lot about AI. Is there anything else on your list of 2024 things to watch that you feel like are really important for our marketing audience.
Evan Facinger:
Well, one thing I think, is not forgetting about the tried and the true, right? Because there's always going to be those different shiny objects. There's always gonna be different marketing tactics to use. But having a good strategy is what's important. You can't neglect the basics, just because there's all these new things. There might be easier ways to implement them right. And there might be other ways to get some of the different results for it. But you need to still dial in on everything else, right? Focus in on the user experience. That's gonna be increasingly important as they're analyzing everything for it. But it's always been important. You wanna make sure that your website, or your app, or whatever somebody's engaging with you on, is easy to use, frictionless experience for it. That's gonna be important from search, conversion, user, everything. Right? So not getting too distracted, I think, is really something that's gonna be important to remember as all these new tools, all these new things and all these new possibilities start coming out.
Jon Ballard:
I swear to God you're looking at my notes. One of the last things I wrote down a really big bold of letters was, you need to review your marketing strategy, see what's working, and double down on that. Google adwords saw about a 9.5% increase last year. That still works as timely. You can pay for results. You can get there quickly. Like you said, maybe you can enhance it a little bit, but go into 2024 with a good strategy and not all new stuff, don’t go put all your stuff into short form video, keep working on SEO. Keep developing good content. Do the things that have been working for you, and make sure you have a plan. I think that's the biggest thing: plan out your year, what you're going to produce, what you're going to accomplish. Set some goals.
Evan Facinger:
Yeah. And also clearly, you can't ignore GA4 anymore. Right? So you're looking at the analytics and the data, I think it's time that- I see a lot of pushback still, even though you have to use it right. UA is done, GA4 is here. And that's something that I still see a lot of marketers sometimes just voicing open concerns. And that's gonna change right? I mean, there's gonna be a lot of different features I expect to be added to that, and actually being able to take a look at the data, use a little bit more, but that's just using what you have and what's available.
Jon Ballard:
The other thing I wrote down on my list that we haven't talked about yet is voice search. I think my kids got a couple of Alexas or something like that for Christmas, I mean, there's just more and more of that stuff invading our homes. My remote on my TV, I can talk to it now. That's gonna become more and more important to make sure you're kind of optimizing for long tail type questions on your site because it's using the net still and some AI technology to go search and find answers for that stuff. So if you want to be relevant I should think about incorporating. Some of that voice search into your strategy.
Evan Facinger:
Yeah, especially local businesses. And everybody's using the voice chat. That was something that I remember that being 3, 4 years ago, when those devices first started getting pretty popular. And that was the big thing, right? I mean, everybody had the Alexa and everybody was looking to make sure that their products were optimized for it, so that when people said, Hey, Alexa, order me batteries, they'd order the batteries that you had. And, I remember at the time, thinking, I find some of that a little, I don't wanna say far fetched, but it just wasn't quite there yet, right for a lot of different products. Because you look at products. Maybe batteries was a bad example, because essentially, if you say double or triple A or whatever you're looking for, I don't think there's a lot of too many people, at least that are really die hard brand believers on certain batteries. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm projecting, and it is just me who always generally buys the ones that are priced right. But I think a lot of that talking- about reviews and everything else with it. But if you're asking for suggestions on the hours right? Making it easy for somebody to contact your business, even if they're looking for the business of their use of the voice chat or who's a plumber by me? Things like that. I think it'd be really adopted a lot faster than some of the more national aspects when it comes to voice.
Jon Ballard:
Yeah, it's amazing to me how many people still haven't really filled out a Google, My Business profile, local businesses, and kind of update that stuff regularly. If they do fill it out, maybe they just set it, forget it. They're not updating hours or specials or any of that type of stuff. I mean, it's a huge opportunity for you to get more traffic locally. I mean, people are on their phones, looking for music and specials and hours and restaurants near me. And that's where that all comes from.
Evan Facinger:
Yeah, exactly. And If you think about that, too just making sure that even if you have it set up, when's the last time you looked at it? There's been changes over the year for that. Openness they've confirmed is a ranking factor. You can now have social media link management, which we’re glad that we found that because it defaulted to wrong links for us. So it's important to stay on top of that as everything is making changes. They are gonna continue to update that. There's gonna be more features, more reasons to use it. And it's a great way to get your information not only to Google, but everybody on Google looking for it. There's other locations as well too, Google isn’t the only one out there.
Jon Ballard:
Yeah, Facebook and Bing and I even see Yelp still hanging in there quite often.
Jon Ballard:
Well Evan, we've talked about a lot. Do you got anything else to add?
Evan Facinger:
No, I think I just want to reiterate a little bit about 2024 and what's gonna make the difference is embracing changes right as they come, but paying attention to it, making sure that you're not just overlooking the basics and the things that are supposed to be done just to keep chasing the the new and fun things for it. But the user behaviors are going to be changing. How much in 2024? Can't say for sure. Maybe it is a few years out. But it is gonna change. And I think, as marketers, we need to pay attention to where the attention is coming from, how people are finding us, where people are going for information and just making sure that we're there.
Jon Ballard:
Yeah, I was sitting here thinking, if you don't have a goal-based strategy give us a call. We'd love to talk about strategy, and would love to help you. I think that's your biggest mistake going into 2024 is not having a plan. Just kind of being reactive, not proactive.
Evan Facinger:
I agree. All right. Well, thank you everybody for listening. Make sure you like, subscribe, everything that is usually said at the end of a podcast and thanks again.
Jon Ballard:
Have a good day everybody.
Zach Baierl:
Thanks for listening to the Foremost Media Marketing Chat Podcast. If you want to stay on top of your marketing game, make sure to like and subscribe so you never miss an episode. For more episodes, show transcripts, and marketing insights, go to foremostmedia.com