3 Interesting MarTech Trends I'm Watching

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2024 is off to an interesting start. It feels like a lot of things are in motion but we haven’t “arrived” yet. The economy appears to have “landed softly”. AI is in full swing, but still early. VC funding is… different.

In times of flux, similar to right now, I like to lean into the trends. This week I’ll be looking at 3 that have popped on my radar recently.

Not every trend is immediately actionable, but often, just a few steps ahead in your business can mean everything.

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The Rise of the Professional “UGC Creator”

I’ll admit to having no idea what this term meant when I first encountered it. Apparently it’s a thing! And maybe something I need to learn more about.

So what the heck is a UGC Creator?

Well, first let’s examine “UGC”. It’s an acronym for “user generated content” and typically refers to content created for free by people online. Some Good examples of what this looks like is Wikipedia, Reddit, Quora, or any variety of forums.

Traditionally, these have been great business models for the owners because once you have a “forum” for people to share and get questions answered, this can become a self-fulfilling flywheel.

With the recent Google search changes, UGC sites have seen a huge boost (Reddit more than doubled). This is why you see Reddit all over the search results now.

SO, now may be “the moment” where influencers and creators on these UGC platforms can cash in on (or build) credibility. This article from Buffer has a great summary.

Counterpoint: Many professional SEOs don’t think the UGC prevalence is sustainable long term as Google is essentially giving market share to Reddit. There’s also a bit of semantics here. A Creator vs UGC Creator vs Influencer are all overlapping circles.

TikTok B2B Trends

The fact that TikTok is on-trend isn’t a surprise.

The macro is is actually fairly steady, after bursting onto the scene in 2019.

I’m intrigued by the rise of ancillary TikTok searches around business models and marketing tactics.

First, there’s “TikTok SEO”

There’s also “TikTok dropshipping”

And finally, “TikTok affiliate marketing”

For all of these trends, I’m seeing a similar network effort to Shopify. B2B tools might not be the first thing you think of in reference to TikTok, but there’s a signal there.

There seems to be room for an “X for TikTok” service, productized service, or SaaS model.

Counterpoint: I’m wary of going “all-in” on TikTok, mostly because of the wider regulatory environment. There’s a lot of politics involved, but a “TikTok ban” would certainly be catastrophic if that’s your primary channel.

AI Ads

Another emerging sub-trend within the wider AI boom is for creative ad generation.

For truly revolutionary creative, you probably still need human-led creative. BUT, for the average brand operator looking to get something professional, catchy and “B+” up without hiring an agency or internal team…. there’s something here.

There’s very low risk in at least trying it out. I’ve found it’s ideal for creating multiple versions of ad creative or creating copy cat ads from different industries.

Particularly if you can pare creative with custom data inputs about your customers, I could see this really ramping up in 2024.

The “AI ad tech” market is still in it’s infancy, but here’s some names to watch:

• AdCreative.ai: This is probably the market leader and the one I’ve played around with most.

• Pencil: More of an agency with AI augmentation.

• Adcopy.ai: Right now it’s geared towards Meta Ads, which is a good place to specialize.

That’s it for this week, I’ll be back with in a couple weeks with some more deep dives.