Looking to 2024

by Ashley Graham-Wilcox

As the end of year and your Spotify Unwrapped reveal approaches, let’s take a look at non-profit and communications trends being predicted for 2024.

Per Forbes, AI will power most of these trends, which include conversational marketing (think customer service chatbots), integration with virtual/augmented reality, and hyper-personalization. They also predict that audiences will continue to use their values for decision-making (think: sustainability), and short-form content and videos will continue to dominate communication channels. Elsewhere, non-profit professionals are also looking at hyper-individualization as a key driver for fundraising initiatives.

Broadly speaking, this “Life Trends” report from Accenture has some interesting statistics about how people are feeling and engaging with the world, like that 50% of survey respondents say the pandemic and everything that happened since has made them question their life choices.

What does all of this mean for church communications? It means that our organization’s brand identity and messaging must be clear. It means that we must continue to educate ourselves and our organizations about evolving technology, how it can be used, where we might want to focus, and how that might impact our budgets. It means that if you’ve been putting it off, now is the time to get comfortable with video. It means that it’s time for a data cleanup: What do you know about your church’s audience, how is it stored and managed, and how can you use it for smart decision-making?

Do any of these trends resonate with you, personally or professionally? How are you considering evolving your church communications in 2024?