MarketingDojo #62: 📊 Gartner leaks Web Traffic 2028 Diet Plan 🍽️
Gartner predicts 2028 web traffic decline, the importance of ebooks in b2b content, your bank is also your advertiser now and more.
Hello
Your inbox is a busy place, so thank you for making the time for the 62nd issue of the Marketing Dojo.
By the time you receive this email, I will be navigating a 25-hour journey from Singapore's sweltering heat to Minnesota's cooler climes. I inherited my Grandfather's skill of falling asleep on demand. Whenever I go on these long trips, I just silently thank him.
This visit finds me near Scott F. Fitzgerald's former residence in St. Paul. It's serendipitous that today marks the 99th anniversary of his book The Great Gatsby. As I immerse myself in my online writing course, I hope to capture some of Fitzgerald's creative spark.
The marketing world is buzzing, and I've got plenty to share:
📚 Are eBooks the key to B2B content success?
📉 Gartner's startling prediction: a 50% drop in web traffic
🏁 The puzzling race to become an advertising platform
🐶 Creative excellence: Fluff-first marketing
And lots more.
Ready to jump in? Let's get started!
Half-empty or AI-full? Say goodbye to web traffic.
By 2028, organic search traffic will decrease by 50% or more as consumers embrace GenAI-powered search.
Gartner's Marketing Predictions, 2024, has alarming insight into the evolving relationship between search & web traffic.
Search Generative Experience (SGE), which answers a customer's search query in a conversational Q&A form, takes up the topmost position of an organic search. This AI-driven feature lessens users' need to click through to external sites, significantly denting web traffic.
Gartner's Digital IQ Index suggests an immediate 9% traffic drop for brands this year, with a stark forecast that by 2028, website visits could halve.
This changing landscape is a good time to:
Reevaluate the role of websites in marketing strategies.
Tailor content creation to thrive within an SGE-dominated search environment.
The other 4 predictions from Gartner's study are:
#1 AI will increase creative talent spending, not reduce it: Contrary to cost-cutting expectations, GenAI will necessitate increased investment in creative talent and technology to ensure quality content.
#2 CMOs will guard brands against deception unleashed by GenAI: The role of the CMO will expand to include aspects of brand safety & authenticity
#3 One-half of consumers will significantly limit interactions on social media: Social media is a leading channel for brand discovery. As per Gartner's study, 53% of the respondents felt a drop in their social media experience. Top reasons for the decay? The spread of misinformation, toxic user bases, and the prevalence of fake accounts/bots.
Over 70% of consumers expect AI to impact social channels negatively.
#4 "Acoustic brands" will differentiate themselves as AI-free:
Customers approach AI usage cautiously as companies race towards incorporating AI into their products. Gartner predicts that by 2027, 20% of brands will lean into positioning and differentiation predicated on the absence of AI in their business and products.
eBooks are the kings of the B2B content jungle.
For those navigating the B2B marketing realm, Netline's 2024 State of B2B Content Consumption & Demand Report, derived from 6.2 million first-party, fully-permissioned leads, is an essential guide. Here are five intriguing takeaways:
The Case For Gated Content: There's been a 14% increase in gated content consumption in 2023, a significant jump of 77% since 2019. This aligns with my previous discussions on the necessity of gating content, especially with the advent of Search Generative Experience and the phasing out of cookies. Gated content—material accessible only after submitting a form—remains a robust strategy for acquiring first-party customer data.
eBooks are the king of B2B content: Dominating the B2B domain, eBooks account for 39.5% of all demand generation, with 37% of C-suite executives preferring them as their go-to content format.
Astounding Interest: The appetite for AI-related content has surged in 2023, reflecting AI's growing interest and relevance in the business sector.
Widening Content Consumption Gap: The lag between downloading and engaging with content has stretched to an average of 31.2 hours, up by 2.5 hours from the previous year. This suggests that marketers consider a 48-hour buffer before following up on freshly downloaded content to allow users ample time to engage.
This report offers a lens into the evolving landscape of B2B content marketing, highlighting the increasing importance of strategic content gating, the unyielding power of eBooks, the rising demand for AI-themed content, and the nuanced timing in content engagement follow-ups.
Every company is an advertising platform.
Uber, Lyft, and Grab paved the way, followed by Netflix, Marriott Hotels, and Amazon Prime. Now, JP Morgan Chase has stepped into the arena as the latest entity to launch an advertising platform.
Chase Media Solutions, JP Morgan Chase's new media network, leverages customer spending history and purchase behaviour to allow advertisers to target ads to the bank's 8 million U.S. customers.
The advertisers are charged on completed transactions, which promises to make the network cost-effective for advertisers.
Notable brands like Air Canada, Blue Bottle, Whataburger, and Solo Stove have already engaged with Chase Media Solutions.
My perspective on this development is mixed. On the one hand, diversifying ad spending away from giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon and utilizing networks with rich customer data seems beneficial. On the other hand, the potential impact on customer trust is concerning.
For JP Morgan Chase customers, the idea of being further monetized, on top of bank fees and interest rates, to receive personalized ads might be unwelcome. This move by Chase could set a precedent, potentially leading other banks down a similar path.
Imagine buying a new pair of shoes on your credit card and immediately receiving an email from a nearby gym asking for a membership—personalized ads are about to get much more accurate and intrusive.
Creative excellence: Out with marketing strategy, in with fluff.
Good humour can break through the clutter even in a highly crowded cereal category, even on a B2B platform.
The case in point is the marketing team at the cereal brand Surreal.
Last week, Surreal's LinkedIn content made me stop scrolling, laugh out loud, and then look them up—genuine marketing gold.
The post's premise is simple: the team did a couple of posts featuring a cat and a dog.
These two posts did 233% better than anything else they worked hard on in Q1,2024. The message? Their marketing strategy is now going to be "fluff-first".
Their organic carousel on LinkedIn has gone viral with over 30k likes, 1.8k comments and 800+ reposts.
Wit, humour and creativity have the potential to cut through noise and achieve extraordinary results. Surreal's latest post is a testament to the power of creative excellence.
Short Stuff:
TikTok users don't mind watching TikTok shop ads on the platform. (Bring those TikTok shop ads)
Facebook has updated its video player to look more like TikTok (FB, the OG of copying, does it again).
Roku has filed a patent for a system that allows ads to be displayed on any device connected to HDMI. ( Testing the limits of how many ads are too much).
That’s a wrap on this week. Thank you for your time and attention. If you liked this week’s newsletter or found something interesting, please give me a like ❤️ or drop a comment🗨️. Your support helps drive the newsletter's discoverability.
Once again, thank you for your time. See you in your inbox next Wednesday.
Regards,
Garima Mamgain
P.S: I experienced a lifequake in 2018.
5 years ago, I moved to Singapore, leaving my personal, professional, and social resources behind. Rebuilding my career taught me hard-earned lessons.
In the debut episode of Astha Pasricha's podcast "Reset Diaries," we discussed 3 things I did to strengthen my network:
1. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐲𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞: I committed to meeting three people every week—marketers, hiring managers, or anyone willing to meet me.
Whenever I met someone, I requested references to three other people I could meet. Thus, I sowed the seeds of my pyramid scheme.
2. 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞: Creating, curating and commenting on LinkedIn helped me find new connections in my field.
3. 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: In the book How Brands Grow, Byron Sharp discusses mental availability. Memorable brands get bought more frequently.
I applied the concept of mental availability to my personal brand.
By consistently sharing industry insights and engaging with potential employers' content, I ensured my presence remained top-of-mind.
In the 28-minute podcast, Astha and I also discuss:
• Concept of micro-sponsorship
• How to beat hedonic adaptation
• Phil Stutz's life forces
• Building systems to tide over unpredictable motivations
And more.
I invite you to listen to our discussion and share it with anyone who might find it useful. Your feedback is invaluable—let me know what resonated with you.
Bruce Feiler coined the term lifequake in his book "Life is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age." A lifequake is a significant transition that disrupts your life to such an extent that it feels like a major upheaval, causing profound and often long-lasting effects.
Astha's podcast Reset Diaries showcases stories of people who deal with such lifequakes so we can learn from each other.