Top 5 Digital Marketing Tools for Businesses in 2024

by Buana Sari Digital Marketer

As 2024 begins, the world of digital marketing is buzzing with rapid changes, mirroring the dynamic shifts of recent times. The latest Dentsu Global Ad Spend Forecasts, an authoritative compass for marketers spanning 58 global markets, predicts a robust surge. Advertising spending is poised to expand by a substantial USD 33.0 billion in 2024, propelling the industry to reach an impressive USD 752.8 billion. This forecast signifies a notable 4.6% year-over-year growth, outpacing the momentum observed in 2023, which stood at +2.7% compared to 2022.

Amidst this crescendo, digital marketing emerges as the harbinger of transformative change. It is slated to ascend to USD 442.6 billion in 2024, constituting a formidable 58.8% share of the global advertising spend. The anticipated growth trajectory for digital, albeit slightly moderated from 2023 (6.3%) to 2024 (6.5%), is projected to become the new norm. A three-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3% until 2026 reinforces the enduring role of digital as the primary engine propelling global ad spend growth (Source : Dentsu).

The world of business is evolving fast with rapid digitization. As technology advances, businesses need to rethink their strategies and use advanced digital tools. This is the perfect time for businesses to explore the best digital marketing tools, helping them succeed in the fast-changing marketing world of 2024.

With the imminent prevalence of digital dominance, businesses can no longer depend completely on traditional marketing for more sales. The digital shift has become an acknowledged imperative, and those yet to embrace it risk being left behind.

In this unfolding scenario, disruptive digital marketing tools have seized the spotlight. Giants like Google, Meta Platforms (Facebook), moLotus, Microsoft, and Amazon shape the digital landscape. Notably, the mobile video advertising segment claims a prominent spot, driven by the surging popularity of video content, mobile promotions, and purchasing through mobile platforms. Video marketing has ascended as the preferred medium for digital marketers, boasting a 49% reported growth in revenue acceleration and a staggering 35x higher likelihood of mobile message opens compared to emails (Source: Wordstream).

For marketers seeking to amplify their digital marketing ROI in 2024, a profound understanding of essential tools like moLotus mobile video customer interaction platform is paramount. The right set of digital marketing tools empowers marketers to execute strategies with precision. As experts counsel marketers to prioritize tools offering personalization, customization, automation, integration, and interactivity, the stage is set for businesses to acquire, engage, and retain customers more effectively, yielding increased revenues in a shorter timeframe.

Here, we unravel the top 5 digital marketing tools poised to redefine marketing campaigns and catapult businesses ahead of the competition in 2024.

1. Google Ads

As the landscape of brands and advertisers undergoes shifts due to factors like rising inflation, pandemic effects, and geopolitical events, Google Ads is committed to providing an enhanced experience. It caters to businesses of all sizes – small, medium, or large – and stands out as a powerful digital marketing tool heading into the new year.

This year, billions of searches will continue to happen on Google every second, and most search results pages will prominently feature Google ads. Paid for by businesses, Google Ads remains a potent method for driving real-time traffic to websites precisely when potential customers are actively seeking products or services.

In 2024, Google Ads strives to simplify the ad optimization process for brands and advertisers by implementing real-time optimization. The Smart Bidding capability is anticipated to yield superior results and contribute to the growth of ad accounts through automation and machine learning, considering numerous signals that manual bidding might overlook. The platform's ability to collect more data points enhances its capacity to optimize ad campaigns effectively.

Google Ads will persist in driving website visits, increasing customer calls through a click-to-call feature, and boosting foot traffic in retail stores. The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities improves the tool's speed and usability. Advertisers can leverage AI to achieve faster results, and the diverse targeting options empower businesses to reach their customer base based on various factors such as age, gender, location, and profession.

In response to the digital marketing industry's shift toward first-party data, Google Ads is adapting by creating its own tag to capture customer data points. Segments like customer match types are going to play a crucial role in 2024. Advertisers must ensure accurate tracking of all customer data points, and these segments can be seamlessly uploaded to Google.

Beginning in February 2024, Google is set to revise its Personalized ads policy, introducing additional limitations on personalized ads associated with consumer financial products and services. This policy update extends the coverage of the "Credit in personalized ads" policy to encompass "Consumer finance in personalized ads." (Source: Google)

While Google's automation and machine learning algorithms remain somewhat mysterious for advertisers, they play a crucial role in bid strategy optimization. However, advertisers still lack complete insight into the signals used by Google Ads for this optimization, posing a challenge for advertisers in the coming year.

Digital marketers should invest time in mastering Google Ads in 2024 for more effective utilization; otherwise, they risk inefficient allocation of resources without maximizing advertising revenue.

2. moLotus

As businesses step into the new year, moLotus, an innovative and disruptive mobile video customer interaction platform owned by Novosol, is set to redefine customer experiences and mobile advertising campaigns for them in 2024.

moLotus stands out by seamlessly integrating images, text, videos, and links into a single message, directly delivered to consumers' mobile inboxes. Its rich media ads are designed to render on all types of handsets without causing inbox clutter, making it a unique tool that requires no mobile app download or costly data connection.

The moLotus marketing platform exhibits remarkable capabilities, delivering millions of personalized, customized, interactive, and automated messages daily to customers across diverse geographies and industries. Digital marketers leverage moLotus to create engaging campaigns with easy response options like SMS, mgram, USSD, Call, Click URL, and more. The platform offers extensive customization options based on business criteria, demographics, interests, income, age, and other factors.

In 2024, moLotus is poised to introduce new revenue generation models for advertisers, offering not only video interaction but also assisting in brand exposure, lead generation, customer acquisition, rewards, loyalty, retention, cross-selling, upselling, direct sales, and more. The platform empowers digital marketers to scale revenue and performance through easy online campaign creation, response management, big data reports and analytics, digital transformation, and mobile automation API.

moLotus is not only a favorite among performance advertisers, but it also ensures high brand visibility and customer response rates. Renowned brands like Amazon, Suzuki, HSBC, DBS Bank, L’Oreal, and others have already embraced moLotus technology to generate more revenues at lower costs, and this list is expected to expand further in 2024.

This breakthrough technology is disrupting the USD 1.7 trillion Global Marketing Spend (Source: PwC) and participating in USD 1.3 trillion Digitalization, Transformation & 5G Opportunity (Source: Ericsson and Arthur D. Little).

moLotus has strategically partnered with major telecom operators like Indosat Ooredoo Hutchinson, Airtel, Vodafone, Celcom, Maxis, offering innovative ways to access the global direct marketing spend while leveraging their enterprise and mobility assets alongside existing infrastructure. It has proven to be a lifeline for telecom players facing threats from over-the-top (OTT) entrants that have been challenging traditional telecom services.

In addition to reshaping customer engagement, moLotus presents a unique opportunity for telcos to monetize subscriber data, leading to increased top-line and bottom-line revenues. Furthermore, it contributes to cost savings in call center processes, reducing expenses related to training, printing, compliance, and distribution. Various industry verticals, including Banking, Ecommerce, Insurance, Consumer Electronics, Retail, Automobile, Government Sectors, continue to reap the benefits of moLotus's smart marketing technology.

Experts are of the opinion that moLotus is going to play a significant role in forthcoming elections in countries like Indonesia. Brands, advertisers, resellers and agencies have already been advised to seize the vast election advertising opportunity by leveraging moLotus's unique capabilities.

3. Canva

In 2024 the significance of visuals in capturing customer attention continues is likely to grow, making it imperative for brands to incorporate more visual elements into their promotional messages and ads. The demand for high-quality graphics, including colorful graphs and engaging infographics, has surged, and platforms like Canva have become indispensable in meeting these requirements.

Canva, an innovative tool that has evolved over the years, is expected to play a crucial role in assisting digital marketers in creating original and engaging graphics swiftly in 2024. The platform is anticipated to introduce more graphic design tools and templates tailored for various purposes, including social media, eBooks, infographics, and other elements essential for digital marketing.

In the upcoming year, Canva is set to expand its collection of both free and paid templates, offering brands and advertisers a versatile range of options. Small businesses, in particular, stand to benefit from the existing templates on Canva, allowing them to upload, enhance, or create new graphics at a low cost or even for free. Notably, Canva eliminates the need for businesses to hire graphic designers, making graphic creation more accessible.

However, it's important to note that Canva, as a digital business tool, faces certain challenges. One limitation is the absence of basic fonts in its database, posing a hurdle for digital marketers striving to adhere to brand guidelines. Additionally, some brands may encounter difficulties when attempting to create templates from scratch on the platform. Despite these considerations, Canva remains a valuable resource for digital marketers seeking efficient and cost-effective graphic design solutions in the evolving landscape of 2024.

4. Ahrefs

In the landscape of 2024, the ongoing debate about the best SEO tool persists, and one tool that has consistently garnered agreement among digital marketers is Ahrefs. Recognized as the optimal choice for those seeking a top-tier SEO tool, Ahrefs proves invaluable for tasks such as keyword research, SERP ranking tracking, and comprehensive SEO management for brand websites.

Ahrefs maintains its status as a multifaceted SEO tool, providing digital marketers with the capabilities needed to optimize websites in alignment with digital marketing strategies. Its application extends to both on-page and off-page SEO, backed by an extensive data index that positions it as one of the most sought-after digital marketing tools in 2024.

Originally launched in 2010 by Dmitry Gerasimenko, Ahrefs has evolved to become the preferred choice for several leading global brands, including Netflix, LinkedIn, eBay, Meta (Facebook), Shopify, and more. The bots employed by Ahrefs diligently crawl websites and search engines, delivering actionable data insights to brands and advertisers.

Digital marketers leveraging Ahrefs can effortlessly incorporate numerous verified projects into the dashboard, offering a consolidated overview of all ongoing projects. The Site Explorer feature empowers marketers to conduct competitor analysis, providing a comprehensive snapshot of competitors' websites. Ahrefs proudly claims to possess the world's largest index of live backlinks, refreshing data every fifteen to twenty minutes, placing it ahead of arch-rival Semrush. This backlink data serves as a crucial metric for assessing a website's domain rating, rank, and URL rating. Ahrefs also boasts one of the most robust keyword research tools, supported by an extensive keyword index database.

However, the accessibility of Ahrefs as a digital marketing tool comes with a caveat. Its considerable investment requirements may render it unaffordable for small and medium-sized businesses, posing a notable downside to its usability in certain contexts.

5. WhatsApp

WhatsApp manages to garner a huge user base of more than 2.78 billion monthly active users, boosting its position as the world's top messaging app. This massive figure underscores the app's universal appeal, connecting individuals in 180 countries.

According to data.ai, over 2.78 billion people engage with WhatsApp monthly, a testament to its widespread adoption across diverse cultures and demographics. The app's user base is projected to surge by 18% by 2025, reaching an estimated 3.14 billion monthly active users, showcasing its enduring popularity and relevance.

India leads with the highest number of WhatsApp users, boasting 535.8 million monthly active users, followed closely by Brazil and Indonesia with 148 million and 112 million users, respectively. A staggering 140 billion messages are exchanged daily on the platform, emphasizing its crucial role as a global communication channel.

These statistics underscore WhatsApp's dominance in the messaging landscape, offering a user-friendly interface and diverse features that connect people across borders and cultures. As the platform continues to innovate, its expansive user base is poised for further growth, solidifying its status as a global communication powerhouse.

In 2023, WhatsApp emerged as a pivotal tool for messenger marketing, becoming a widely used mobile messaging app for digital marketers. This cross-platform instant messaging service, founded by Brian Acton and Jan Koum in 2009 and acquired by Facebook for $19 billion in 2014, has evolved into a revenue-generating engine through WhatsApp for Business API. With open rates as high as 98 percent, secure conversations, and the ability to reach a vast customer base, WhatsApp Marketing has opened new avenues for brands and advertisers in 2024.

However, WhatsApp is not without its challenges. Data protection concerns, such as the automatic reading of all saved contacts and their phone numbers, pose notable drawbacks. Additionally, the limitation of installation on one smartphone and up to four other devices, all linked to the same number, requires addressing. Overcoming these challenges is crucial for WhatsApp to ascend to the top slot in the digital marketing space.

Conclusion

As 2024 begins, a notable shift towards technology-based marketing is imminent, prompting digital marketers to expand their toolkits. While the prospect of incorporating new tools may seem daunting, the aforementioned ones offer valuable assets for more effective digital marketing campaigns in the coming year. However, it's crucial for marketers to weigh the pros and cons of each tool before integrating them into their marketing mix.

Among the innovative tools, moLotus stands out as a new-age digital marketing solution. Its unique advantage lies in its ability to act without the involvement of internet connection or mobile application download. This unique feature positions moLotus as a superior choice, contributing to enhanced marketing revenues, ARPU, customer lifetime value, and overall profitability for businesses in 2024. Consideration of such tools is pivotal as marketers navigate the rapidly changing field of digital marketing.