We are days away from closing the books on 2024 (thank goodness). How did your year go?
I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. Yet, at times, it seemed to crawl. We’ve been confronted by one head-turning moment after another: the economy, the election, and people buying Tesla Cybertrucks. That’s not even including the changes that continue to transform marketing.
But as we begin to compose our witty out-of-office replies, I want to take a moment to look back at where we have come this year and what to anticipate for 2025.
I don’t do predictions or trend-spotting. Predictions have become worthless given the pace of the 24-hour news cycle, technology, consumer adoption, and market fluctuations in marketing technology. Trend-watching is too often motivated by self-interest.
What’s more important is identifying what we must attend to in 2025. These aren’t trends. Instead, these are areas where we might need to rethink, reprioritize, budget or re-budget.
I’ll answer that in two ways: What I learned in 2024 and what I’m watching for in 2025.
3 lessons from 2024
Plan a fallback business plan if things fall apart
My company had a great 2023. Then 2024 turned into a rerun of 2020, the year we had to trash our playbooks thanks to an unexpected turn of events. This time, it was an unanticipated slowdown in client and customer spending.
My team could have rushed into fear-driven tactical changes. Instead, we took a step back and worked together to retool our strategy to accommodate the changed landscape.
This is where the “strategy before tactics” mindset pays off. It gives you muscle memory, a starting point to start over. You’re less likely to make mistakes or run your company off-course.
Having a trustworthy team helps. I turned to my executive team, friends, and other leaders in the email space and beyond for confirmation, affirmation, and different points of view.
If you’re the team or company leader, you don’t have to have all the answers. Resist the urge to find the path forward. Instead, reach out to your community. Ask, “How can we partner together to find a solution?”
Unwilling as I am to predict 2025 trends, I will say we should expect instability in the U.S. and other countries (more on that later). It’s more important than ever to have a fallback plan if things go south. Work with your team before it happens to keep the tactical zombies away.
Dig deeper: 3 recession-defeating marketing strategies
Move fast without breaking things
Besides the slowdown in email investment, I noticed a definite uptick in the number of companies sending image-only emails to my professional and personal inboxes.
I’ve already ranted about these emails and why they insult your recipients and devalue your email program. Relying on image-only emails points to a larger problem.
We, as email marketers, have to move fast to keep up with changes in the economy, technology, and expectations of our companies and customers. But we’re not necessarily moving smarter. We’re cutting corners, and sending image-only emails without text is one of those corners.
Besides sending more image-only emails, marketers also suffered from a lack of focus. I hope these trends are a momentary glitch and not a fallback marketers are using to solve deeper problems.
One of my regular talking points is that executives must start investing more in email marketing to see the major gains that email can deliver. I hope we see that happening in 2025.
Oh, sorry. I’m getting into 2025, and we’re not ready for that yet. Stand by for greatness.
Is everybody happy?
As someone who regularly works with clients on technology migrations, I noticed this year that marketers are not moving to new platforms. Now, that shouldn’t be a surprise given the flat spending we saw elsewhere in the marketing industry. But I am surprised that people appear content with their marketing technology, no matter its condition. Here’s why.
The tech market is divided into roughly three parts:
- One-third are comfortable with their current tech.
- Another third is in some stage of migrating, from assessing needs and writing RFPs to assessing vendors and starting the migrating process.
- The final third is either migrating or settling into their new platforms.
We didn’t see that movement this year. This is surprising because most organizations investing in technology are always looking for new platforms to help them engage customers or operate more efficiently. Change for the sake of change isn’t productive, but it’s part of the plan for corporate transformation.
Are people really happy with their tech? Or did they just press “pause” on their technology hunt until 2025?
Speaking of which, let’s look ahead.
Dig deeper: Why 2025 is the year for martech optimization, not expansion
3 areas to pay attention to in 2025
Ask the questions
As I noted above, 2024 was a hold-back year. We are past the things that likely got in the way of spending, whether it was interest rates, economic concerns, the U.S. election, or consumer spending.
This doesn’t mean we won’t have new issues cropping up. I’ll discuss those shortly. But 2025 will be an investment year. People will spend their budget not just on platforms but also on strategy and execution in their quest to knock their goals out of the park. If that sounds like you, start thinking now about where you would like to invest.
Companies typically don’t sit still for long because their competitors will pass them up. Additionally, CMOs don’t last long in their jobs — four years for B2C, four-and-a-half years for B2B. You’ve always got fresh ideas and new approaches coming in from outside, and that breeds change.
“It costs nothing to ask,” my dad always said. That has been one of my mantras throughout my career. Always ask the question. Email technology can do so many things now that it’s almost criminal not to look at what would change or integrate a new strategy, tactic, or partner.
Always ask the questions.
Prepare for more AI transformation
Even though we’re still in the beginning stages, AI has already evolved quickly thanks largely to major ESPs that have readily adopted agents that can bridge the gap between data and personas and cohorts and relevant messaging. This will help AI grow into its own place in 2025 and beyond.
We’ll see even greater acceleration from ESPs and adjunct technology. The technology is smarter, partly because marketers are asking it to do things that make their lives easier, faster, and better.
Email platforms are rapidly evolving from their basic role as just pipes to send messages in mass quantities. If you’re limping to the starting line on AI, you’re in danger of falling behind.
Sure, you can create segments, but they will be rudimentary. Sure, you can report, but your reporting will be rudimentary, too. With today’s higher expectations, that won’t work anymore.
The marketers I talk to want to use data science that returns results in a heartbeat, not in a six-month project that requires an entire data team. Agents can get that information proactively and present it to you as actionable segments. That’s revolutionary messaging.
Dig deeper: AI transformation: How to prepare your marketing team
Watch for instability
Marketers hate instability. The last five years, and especially 2024, have been nothing but gyrations from one surprising development, for good or ill, to another. It’s not surprising that marketers pulled back on spending in 2024.
I expect the outlook will remain in flux in 2025. We still need to be ready to pivot on a dime when something unexpected happens and to watch the news every night to see what could affect our businesses, consumers, and brands.
More than ever, we need to be smart about email. But we must also be brilliant about reading the room — your company’s target market.
Staying connected in 2025 will be key to any marketer’s success. Think ahead and list the things that affect your business. Plan what you could do to counter each of them. Tie this in with the rest of your organization. Claim your seat at the table. Join the conversations instead of just being the email person. Become an active participant.
Instability won’t go away. We just have to get better at dealing with it. Is your technology up to the challenge? If you held back from investigating new platforms, now is a good time to see what’s out there. Remember, it costs nothing to ask.
Wrapping up
As the New Year arrives, I don’t make resolutions. I just comment, usually sarcastically, about what I want to commit to for the year, like personal and business goals. But in 2025, I will commit to being a better marketer. I will strive to do better in my own business and my work with clients.
I also will continue to learn. After 26 years in the business, I get bored when I have to keep talking about things we should have moved on from years ago. But I’m also finding new questions, topics to investigate, and ways to progress and evolve.
Take a deep breath before you tackle 2025. Congratulations! You made it through another year. Now you get to do it all over again. Thank your team for their work and dedication with a round of drinks, a dinner, or some other tangible show of gratitude. Your thanks will have a way of coming back on you, especially if the going gets tough.
For now, enjoy the rest of the year. I’ll see you on the other side!
The post What every marketer should watch for in 2025 appeared first on MarTech.
**Key Marketing Trends and Insights to Monitor in 2025**
The marketing landscape is constantly evolving, shaped by advancements in technology, shifting consumer behaviors, and global economic trends. As we approach 2025, businesses must stay ahead of the curve by understanding the key marketing trends and insights that will define the future of the industry. From the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) to the growing importance of sustainability, here are the top trends marketers should monitor to remain competitive and relevant.
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### **1. Artificial Intelligence and Automation: The New Marketing Powerhouses**
AI is no longer a futuristic concept; it has become a cornerstone of modern marketing strategies. By 2025, AI-driven tools will dominate the marketing landscape, enabling hyper-personalized customer experiences, predictive analytics, and real-time decision-making.
– **AI-Powered Personalization:** AI will allow marketers to deliver highly tailored content, offers, and recommendations to individual consumers based on their preferences, behaviors, and purchase history. This level of personalization will drive customer loyalty and engagement.
– **Chatbots and Virtual Assistants:** Advanced AI chatbots will handle more complex customer interactions, providing 24/7 support and improving customer satisfaction.
– **Predictive Analytics:** AI will help marketers forecast trends, optimize campaigns, and allocate budgets more effectively by analyzing vast amounts of data in real time.
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### **2. The Rise of the Metaverse and Immersive Marketing**
The metaverse—a virtual, interconnected digital world—is expected to revolutionize how brands interact with consumers. By 2025, the metaverse will become a mainstream marketing channel, offering immersive experiences that blur the lines between the physical and digital worlds.
– **Virtual Brand Experiences:** Companies will create virtual storefronts, events, and experiences within the metaverse to engage consumers in innovative ways.
– **NFTs and Digital Collectibles:** Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will continue to gain traction as a way for brands to offer exclusive digital assets, fostering brand loyalty and community engagement.
– **Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR):** AR and VR technologies will enhance product demonstrations, virtual try-ons, and interactive storytelling, providing consumers with a more engaging shopping experience.
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### **3. Sustainability and Purpose-Driven Marketing**
Consumers are increasingly prioritizing sustainability and ethical practices when choosing brands. By 2025, purpose-driven marketing will be a key differentiator for businesses looking to build trust and long-term relationships with their audience.
– **Eco-Friendly Practices:** Brands will need to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability through transparent supply chains, eco-friendly packaging, and carbon-neutral initiatives.
– **Social Responsibility:** Companies that actively address social issues, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, will resonate more with socially conscious consumers.
– **Greenwashing Backlash:** As consumers become more informed, they will scrutinize brands’ sustainability claims. Authenticity and accountability will be essential to avoid accusations of greenwashing.
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### **4. The Evolution of Social Commerce**
Social media platforms will continue to evolve as powerful e-commerce hubs. By 2025, social commerce will account for a significant portion of online sales, driven by seamless shopping experiences and influencer marketing.
– **Shoppable Content:** Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest will integrate more robust shopping features, allowing users to purchase products directly from posts, stories, and live streams.
– **Influencer Partnerships:** Influencers will play a pivotal role in driving sales, with brands leveraging micro- and nano-influencers for more authentic and targeted campaigns.
– **Community Building:** Social media will shift from being purely transactional to fostering deeper connections between brands and their audiences through interactive content, user-generated content, and exclusive communities.
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### **5. Voice Search and Conversational Marketing**
As voice-activated devices like smart speakers and virtual assistants become more prevalent, voice search and conversational marketing will gain prominence in 2025.
– **Voice Search Optimization:** Marketers will need to optimize their content for voice search by focusing on natural language, long-tail keywords, and local SEO.
– **Conversational AI:** Voice-activated chatbots and AI assistants will enable real-time, personalized interactions with customers, enhancing the overall user experience.
– **Audio Content:** Podcasts, voice ads, and other audio formats will become integral to marketing strategies, catering to the growing demand for hands-free, on-the-go content.
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### **6. Data Privacy and Ethical Marketing**
With increasing concerns about data privacy, marketers will need to adapt to stricter regulations and changing consumer expectations around data usage.
– **First-Party Data:** As third-party cookies phase out, brands will focus on collecting and leveraging first-party data through direct interactions with customers.
– **Transparency:** Clear communication about how customer data is collected, stored, and used will be crucial for building trust.
– **Ethical AI:** Marketers will need to ensure that AI-driven campaigns are free from bias and respect consumer privacy, aligning
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