I’ve read dozens of predictions for marketing trends in 2024, and I’ll save you the time - AI dominates them all.

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But their crystal balls miss the biggest trend of 2024.

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The over-reliance on AI as a sales driver.

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Here’s why this is the actual trend you need to remember and how to avoid the AI-fuelled temptations that will frustrate companies this year.

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“AI will make marketers obsolete.”

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“Every ad will be written and designed by AI.”

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“AI will give ad campaigns unheard-of cost efficiencies.”

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It’s tempting to drink the koolaid. I mean, making advertising vastly more efficient and eliminating the current human bottlenecks is beyond tantalizing because everything related to marketing is expensive.

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Writing ad copy.

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Producing videos.

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Designing ad creative.

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Positioning a brand.

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Conducting market research.

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Setting up online ad campaigns.

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Securing pricing for print, TV and radio ads.

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All are time-consuming and expensive. That’s why agencies, consultants and internal marketing teams still exist in massive numbers. 

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Somebody needs to do that work, much of it remains manually done - at least mostly, with some parts being handled to algorithms.

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So AI can solve all of this, right? Need a video? A written ad? Market analyzed?

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The answer will be yes - but only for the labor, not for the foundational principles of marketing.

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The psychological principles of marketing never changes. You’re getting a person to feel an emotion that your product or brand soothes. That’s it.

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The invention of print, radio, TV and social media ads didn’t change this fact. They’re simply the newest methods of accomplishing that same principle. A marketer in 2024 is chasing the identical holy grail to a marketer from 1924. Just with less cigarette smoke circling them.

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What marketing gurus and the companies that turn to them for oracle-like advice are missing is that AI is simply the next medium on this timeline. It will by definition make the generation part of stimulating emotions within people faster and cheaper by multitudes.

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But the big danger here? Assuming that an AI-generated [insert type of ad] will improve your sales and help a brand reach more people.

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“We never had the budget to produce video ads, but now I can do it for $49 and ask ChatGPT to come up with a script. 2024 will be our year!”

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No, it won’t.

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See the real brick wall between brands growing sales isn’t a lack of advertising tactics or tools. It’s the fundamental misunderstanding of what emotion their potential customers need soothed.

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Competitor reviews are a gold mine for new features. 

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Search trends are indispensable for spotting product qualities that are in demand.

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But an AI model built on this data still can’t fundamentally capture the burning fire driving humans to buy things. That has to be done by the classic five-why’s model for a market. Keep asking why until you’ve distilled a market’s need to a pure, incredibly simple question.

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So the biggest marketing trend in 2024? It’s not short-form video, chatbots or AI-generated creative.

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It’s the rapid decline in the use of the foundational principles of marketing by brands on a worldwide scale.

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The explosive adoption of the marketing strategy equivalent of get rich quick schemes.

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The year that cases of shiny object syndrome surges as a consequence of the AI gold rush. The perceived belief that AI will make you rich, and if you’re not grabbing an AI-made pickaxe for yourself, your competitors will strike gold without you.

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Even in the end of 2023 we’ were already bombarded with so-called AI influencer deep-dives, starry-eyed X threads on AI applications and daily updates on the Sam Altman CEO musical chairs saga. All the signs I see point to companies being unable to resist the lure of trying the "new thing" and expecting it to be a marketing game changer for them.

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With all the hype it’s understandably difficult for companies not to click on these stories and think:

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“Hmm…how can I use AI in my business?”

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Which is only a question you and your team should be asking if you understand your customers’ pain points like the back of your hand.

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But here's the secret - most of your competitors don't know the back of their hand. That's the real opportunity for you to beat them.

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Luckily, there’s an easy fix to avoid getting swept up in AI-mania.

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Humans.

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If you’re a founder or business owner, talk to your human customers. Or get human members of your team to do it.

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Know their routines, fears, desires and beliefs. The emotions that drive them to do what they do.

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Then ensure your product soothes that emotion.

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That’s it.

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Once that underlying understanding of your market is there, leveraging AI to streamline elements of your marketing and sales efforts is perfectly fine. But only, only, only, ONLY once that understanding is clearer than day to every single person in your organization.

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Which AI can’t do.

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Why? Because only humans truly know what humans feel.

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Don’t forget that in 2024.