Marketing Predictions: What to expect in 2025

Introduction

The marketing landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, shaped by groundbreaking technological advancements and shifting consumer expectations. From the transformative influence of AI to the increasing importance of privacy-centric strategies, marketers face both significant challenges and exciting opportunities. As we kickoff 2025, staying competitive will demand not just adaptation but innovation at every turn.

In this blog, we delve into the key trends and predictions that we believe will redefine marketing—providing actionable insights to help you navigate this dynamic landscape with confidence. Additionally, just for fun, all of the images you find in this blog were created entirely by AI. You can find the prompts used directly below each image.

The prompt used to generate this image: (marketer and AI collaboration), dynamic workspace that includes both a human marketer and representation of AI, a mix of (high-tech gadgets) and (creative chaos), (light and shadow interplay), (cool tone) lighting highlighting brainstorming materials, intense expressions of focus, a blend of intrigue and frustration, mood reflecting competitive tension, (4K ultra-detailed) illustration capturing the essence of modern marketing challenges.

1. AI Will Make Breakthrough Marketing Harder

We’re all using AI tools in some capacity, and as the tools improve AI will likely streamline and enhance greater portions of the marketing workstream. However, in our view, the ubiquity and similarity of AI output is going to make effective marketing more challenging in 2025 and beyond.

Beware the AI “Class System”

I recently had a conversation with another boutique agency owner who has been working in AI for at least 10 years. He’s developed his own tech, perfected his own models, and has a number of clients who enjoy his work. His entire team has also been hired out from under him multiple times due to their skill sets and larger clients’ ability to pay.

The point I want to make with this story is that we’re likely entering a period of AI haves and have-nots. The AI haves can afford to build or purchase their own models, spend the time training those models to speak in their brand voice and respond with funnel-optimized prompts, and feed the models massive amounts of data to optimize for performance continually. These models will need a small team to get up to speed and monitor and can cover massive amounts of digital ground wherever potential demand may exist.

The AI have-nots will be using off-the-shelf tools to create assets and responses and have their own data accessible, and while they too will realize efficiencies, it will become harder to compete with larger, better-trained models supported by bigger budgets.

My expectation is that the smaller your business, the harder you’ll have to fight to maintain awareness and reach.

Search Evolution

AI-driven search is fundamentally changing how users find information. Tools like ChatGPT and other conversational AI platforms are reshaping traditional search queries by providing personalized, curated results. However, these innovations are dramatically impacting organic traffic. A study by Seer Interactive found that organic clicks dropped by as much as 70% when AI summaries were included in search results. Such declines pose serious challenges to organic marketing strategies, often requiring costly paid campaigns to recover visibility. (Seer Interactive). As Rand Fishkin, a noted SEO expert, has said: “The SEO opportunity pie is shrinking.“

Strategies to Adapt:

• Broaden Awareness Campaigns: Evidence suggests Google heavily weighs user behavior. Driving traffic to your LinkedIn profile or other external sites can positively influence your rankings.
• Embrace Multimedia Optimization: Optimize content for video, voice, and visual search to align with evolving search preferences. (Moz)
• Focus on AI Recommendation Sets: Invest in appearing in AI-generated result sets, both organically and through paid placements, to secure a presence in this evolving search ecosystem.

As AI-driven search continues to grow, marketers must adapt by diversifying strategies and investing in new methods of visibility to remain competitive.

Campaign Management and Optimization

AI will enable automated adjustments in campaign targeting, messaging, and bidding across any programmatic platform (social, pay-per-click, and more). Predictive analytics will allow marketers to stay ahead of trends, offering a significant edge in a competitive space.

This approach will help support optimizations but may come with some risk as well due to AI’s reliance on existing data. While these systems will tell you what campaigns or geographies perform better, they will not be able to add a human interpretation to the data and will still require human input to test and evaluate potential creative approaches. Their creation engines will be based on what currently exists in the market, and overreliance on them can make you look very similar to your competitors.

Where Will AI Continue its Growth?

Creative Innovation
AI is also revolutionizing creative processes, enabling the production of assets like videos and written content at unprecedented speed. However, marketers must evaluate whether AI-generated assets perform as effectively as human-created content.

Pros:

• Scalability and Cost-Efficiency: AI enables rapid, cost-effective content creation. For instance, AI-generated models in advertising have streamlined campaigns while maintaining profitability. (Washington Post)
• Personalization: AI tools tailor content to individual preferences, boosting engagement and customer satisfaction. (Harvard Business Review)

Cons:

• Authenticity and Brand Voice: AI content can lack the emotional depth and nuanced understanding of brand identity that human creators bring, risking audience disconnect.
• Consumer Skepticism: Studies, like those from Washington State University, reveal that labeling products as AI-generated can reduce purchase intentions.
• Ethical Concerns: Overuse of AI-generated content risks diluting quality and raises concerns about job displacement in creative industries.

While AI offers scalability and personalization, marketers must balance these benefits with the need for authenticity and ethical practices, and the irreplaceable value of human creativity and emotional intelligence. The unique insights, nuanced storytelling, and ability to forge genuine connections that humans bring remain essential in crafting campaigns that resonate with audiences and build long-term trust.

The prompt used to generate this image: (confused marketer), sitting in front of a computer, overwhelmed expression, vibrant colors, dynamic composition, chaotic array of marketing networks, digital notifications exploding from the screen, modern office background, cozy yet chaotic atmosphere, ultra-detailed visual, warm lighting, engaging and expressive scene showcasing the complexities of digital marketing, high quality, 4K resolution.

2. Audience Fragmentation and Challenges with Reach

We expect marketers to run into reach challenges as audiences fragment and adopt new platforms. Impression volume from any single source will likely decline in 2025 and beyond as users retreat behind closed communities that do not report metrics with the same transparency as Google, which itself will likely lose share to AI search competitors.

Navigating Fragmented Platforms

Social media is now essential for brand visibility, but platforms are fragmenting as users grow tired of heavy ad volume, decreasing utility, and a lack of control over their own experience. Note that teen usage of many social media sites is flat or declining, while services that provide closed, self-hosted communities such as WhatsApp or Discord continue to see growth.
Increasingly, we expect that users will browse smaller, closely moderated communities instead of a one-size-fits-all site. And while these communities will likely evolve more targeted ad tooling, they are hard to target at scale due to a lack of known user information or affinities to any content or behavior outside of the specific topic at hand.

To maintain reach in the future, we recommend that marketers:

• Participate in new communities as a user first to understand their interactions and develop tailored strategies and content.
• Address declining organic reach by prioritizing paid placements and influencer partnerships.

The Future Beyond Google

Google currently owns more than 90% of traditional search traffic, but traditional search traffic is likely collapsing. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google’s share of overall search, including product search, AI search, and other modes, will likely drop to 50% in 2025. That means that marketers will need to explore alternative digital ecosystems to maintain the same reach that a Google PPC campaign might have been able to provide. Strategies may include:

• Investing in niche platforms. Explore niche platforms like Reddit, Etsy, and Substack, and dive into emerging spaces such as Twitch, Nextdoor, and AI-driven platforms to uncover unique opportunities and stay ahead in the evolving digital landscape.
• Testing your content across AI search engines such as OpenAI to understand your rankings
• Diversifying ad spend across emerging search engines and marketplaces such as Perplexity AI.

The prompt used to generate this image: (Marketer Deep in Thought), intense focus, surrounded by (abstract symbols of privacy), such as locks and shadows, cool tones with hints of deep blue and black for seriousness, soft and diffused lighting, modern and sleek atmosphere, portraying a blend of strategy and protection, high-quality, ultra-detailed representation, conveying a sense of reflection and contemplation on privacy in marketing.