At the end of the day, “business is all about people, so if you know people, you know business and can get a pretty good idea of what’s coming next.” In this episode of The Creative Cantina Podcast, I’m walking through my top four small, creative business trend predictions for 2024.

Custom Client Experiences: The Golden Ticket

I’ve been harping about client experience for years now. It’s one of the top things I help 1:1 coaching clients with in my business. So much so that I turned my framework into a course to help other creative service-based business owners wow their clients & covert more of their leads.

What I’ve seen time and time again is that the businesses with a huge focus on continually bettering their client experience based off of feedback and needs, thrive! These are the businesses booking out a year in advance. They’re the newborn photographers so in demand, the first things moms do when they get a positive pregnancy test is book a photo session for the month they’re due.

In the world of custom recommendations on Netflix and personalized haircare from places like Prose, we’re seeing a trend toward the desire for very custom, specialized to that consumer, experiences. Tune in to hear a few small tweaks you can make to do this.

Connection-Driven Content

AI can do a lot of things, but it’s not a human. It doesn’t have lived experiences and relatable stories to share. While anyone can use AI to generate educational content to pass off as their own, we can feel whether or not a story is authentic.

It may not seem like much of a bold prediction considering story-telling has literally never gone out of style since the beginning of time, but… I think that’s where we’re headed again. Reality TV proved it. Influencers continue to prove it. We are curious people and want to hear about how others live.

Don’t have anything interesting to share? I’m gonna challenge that. Listen in for tips on what you can share and a quick hack around a boring lifestyle!

Reviews & Referrals: The Instant Trust Builder

I could write an entire book of stats that prove how effective referral marketing is, but I’ll share two major ones in this episode instead. There’s a reason affiliate marketing is on the rise. As a small business owner, what can that look like for you? It may not make sense to invest in software to build out this massive affiliate team, but there are ways you can capitalize on it!

You can create a rewards program or loyalty program with your current clients. If they refer two clients, maybe they get a free print or session or small token of gratitude. And when it comes to reviews, this one is easy… ask for them, repeatedly! Not sure why they’re such a big deal? Tune in and I’ll give you some fast stats along with a little backstory on how it impacts your SEO.

Short, Snappy Videos: Seconds to Grab Attention

My final business trend prediction for 2024 makes me sad, honestly. In the past 24 years, our attention spans have reduced by 4 seconds. That may not seem like a lot, but it’s actually 33%. And that means that our attention spans as humans are officially now less than that of a goldfish. Yikes!

We’ve already seen the consequences of this. Shorter videos. More clip changes and fast text scrolls on videos that are a little longer. The solution to the short attention span is causing even shorter attention spans. It’s not great. But if you’re going to use video marketing, which is still on the rise and helpful in again, the AI age, you gotta play the game.

Your Business Trend Predictions for 2024

I want to hear from you. What do you think will happen in the business landscape in 2024? I kiiiiind of hoped that maybe social media would just tank while we all get fed up with what it’s doing to our mental health. A girl can dream, right? I mean, I love it for connection, but hate it for every other reason.

Whatever you believe about this coming year, just remember that if you serve people well with an incredible service, and you do it all in a way that is sustainable, you’ve found the golden ticket to long-term success in business. Cheers to a great year for you and your creative business!