As part of my involvement as a senior digital strategist (contract) for Think Shift, I occasionally write for the Think Shift website. Recently I published a piece forecasting key digital advertising trends that will impact the agriculture industry in 2024.

I encourage you to visit the Think Shift website to read the full piece, but I have summarized some of the key points here.

Trend 1: Brand Safety (in the age of Elon Musk)
Musk is the most recent tech owner/founder that has brought extra attention to the X platform due to his own personal views and opinions. His own personal opinions (and he is very eager to share those on whatever platform he is given) have an impact on advertisers’ desires to support his platform. This will always be a problem as long as individuals are in control of social networks and online publishers – so what are we to do?

Trend 2: X’s Evolution in Agriculture Marketing
We’ve long been able to rely on #AgTwitter as a rich source of engagement and discussion, but over the last 12 months I have seen declining performance on the platform. It may be due to platform changes, or a user exodus, or a reduction in fake accounts, but X/Twitter is no longer the shining light for agriculture advertising it once was. Where do we go?

Trend 3: Influence of AI
Artificial Intelligence is becoming ubiquitous in marketing, and it is critical that we learn how to best leverage this new tool to be more successful. How will you embrace AI in your work? (or maybe you are already there)

Trend 4: Performance Marketing
E-commerce has not taken off in agriculture, but we are starting to see more interesting adaptations of e-commerce, lead generation, and other key concepts of performance marketing. As we see a global economy adjusting to rising inflation, interest rates and growing costs, we are seeing a greater need to attribute real business results to our marketing activities. As a result, we are going to see more agriculture companies look to understand the actual results that are being contributed by our marketing activities. How do your marketing activities drive sales performance?

Trend 5: Contextualization
Contextualization is all about connecting in a more meaningful way with your audience by delivering value. This typically is in adjusting messaging, content and approach based on who your audience is. Ultimately this increases the likelihood of engagement and conversion because we speak to the audience on their terms. What approaches are you adoption to connect with your audience on their terms?

Trend 6: Video
Video has been in a trends list for the last 10 years, but each year we see even more adoption of the video format via social media. Video now is critical to success (regardless of how you define that success). What are ways you can embrace video in 2024?

Embracing these trends in 2024 will empower agrimarketers to effectively navigate the digital landscape and cultivate meaningful connections with your target audience.