Digital marketing refers to all promotional and sales actions that take place through online channels: search engines, social networks, email, websites. In 2024, two forces are reshaping this landscape. On one side, generative artificial intelligence tools accelerate content production and personalization. On the other, the European regulatory framework restricts the data collection mechanisms that fueled these same strategies.
European Regulation and Data Collection: What Changes for Campaigns
Since 2023, the CNIL in France, the AEPD in Spain, and the Garante in Italy have been more systematically sanctioning misleading cookie banners. The prominently visible “accept all” button when the “reject all” option is hidden is over. This pressure forces marketing teams to rethink their tracking, A/B testing, and retargeting mechanics.
Further reading : How to Write a Captivating Introduction for Your Blog in 2024
The Digital Services Act, in effect since 2024, strengthens advertising traceability obligations on major platforms. The European AI Act, adopted the same year, imposes transparency requirements on generative AI systems: clear mention of the use of AI, respect for copyright, management of biases. In practice, an advertisement visual generated by Midjourney or a text produced by ChatGPT must be identifiable as such.
To delve deeper into the fundamentals of these changes, several resources discuss digital marketing on Culture Entrepreneur with an angle tailored to French small and medium-sized enterprises.
See also : Essential Tips for Daily Car Maintenance and Improvement
The combined effect of these texts makes traditional data-driven strategies significantly less effective. Retargeting based on third-party cookies loses reach with each new formal notice. The most robust response involves a shift towards first-party data and zero-party data.
First-party Data and Zero-party Data: Building a Reliable Database
First-party data encompasses information collected directly by a company on its own channels: purchase history, browsing behavior on the site, interactions with emails. Zero-party data goes further: the customer voluntarily shares their preferences through a questionnaire, a product configurator, or a loyalty program.
The difference with third-party data lies in reliability and compliance. A loyalty program where the customer checks their interests produces more usable data than a cookie placed by an external advertising network. And above all, this data remains usable regardless of future regulatory tightening.
Implementing Effective Declarative Data Collection
Declarative data collection works when it offers a clear incentive. A product recommendation quiz, early access to sales, exclusive content: each mechanism must give the visitor a concrete reason to share their preferences.
- Preference questionnaires integrated into the purchase journey allow for email list segmentation right at registration, without resorting to anonymous behavioral tracking.
- Loyalty programs with personalized tiers encourage customers to regularly update their information, maintaining the quality of the database.
- Interactive configurators (size, style, delivery frequency choices) generate usable product data for campaign personalization.
The goal is to replace passive tracking with an active declarative relationship. The volume of data decreases, but their accuracy and lifespan increase.
Generative AI and Marketing Content: Legal Framework and Practical Use
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Midjourney enable the production of texts, visuals, and video scripts at an unprecedented pace. In content strategy, this changes the scale of production. However, the European AI Act now imposes safeguards that marketing teams must integrate into their processes.
The first constraint: transparency. AI-generated or assisted content must be identifiable. This does not mean placing a banner on every publication, but brands must be able to document the use of AI if an authority requests it.
The second constraint: copyright. Using a generative tool to produce a visual inspired by the style of an identifiable artist exposes one to legal challenges. Human oversight on every deliverable remains essential, both legally and qualitatively.
Integrating AI Without Compromising Editorial Quality
Generative AI excels at low-value tasks: writing variations of product descriptions, generating email subject lines for A/B tests, producing drafts of social posts. It reaches its limits when an editorial angle, industry expertise, or distinctive brand tone is required.
A common pitfall is publishing generic, high-volume content instead of targeted, high-value content. Search engines value expertise and depth, not publication frequency. One in-depth article per week outperforms ten superficial texts in terms of sustainable SEO positioning.
Social Commerce and Integrated Shopping Journey on Social Media
Social commerce refers to the direct sale of products within social platforms, without redirecting to an external site. Instagram Shopping, TikTok Shop, and Facebook Shops allow users to discover, evaluate, and purchase a product without leaving the app.
The appeal for brands lies in reducing friction in the shopping journey. Each additional step between discovery and payment results in lost potential buyers. Social commerce compresses this journey into two or three interactions.
- TikTok Shop leverages the virality of short content to trigger impulse purchases, with a video format that showcases the product in use.
- Instagram Shopping allows products to be tagged directly in posts and stories, turning every piece of content into a point of sale.
- Live shopping combines product demonstration and real-time interaction, with engagement rates higher than static formats.
The effectiveness of social commerce depends on the consistency between content and product catalog. An aesthetic flow of posts that redirects to poorly crafted product pages undermines the trust built by the content.
Digital marketing in 2024 is structured around a tension between enhanced technical capabilities and strengthened legal oversight. The companies that will make the most of this period are those that have invested in reliable proprietary data, a regulated use of generative AI, and integrated shopping journeys on the platforms where their audience already resides.