Marketing in 2025: What trends are rising to the top?

Maria Nelson

Guest Columnist

July 7, 2025

With evolving technology and shifting consumer habits, traditional marketing is transforming. 

Adopting trends like artificial intelligence (AI), hyper-personalization and innovative video strategies is crucial for staying visible and driving measurable growth.

Marketing is deeply intertwined with business development, driving growth, sales and outcomes. This raises the key question: What aspects of marketing are trending in 2025, and how can they be leveraged to drive measurable results?

Personalized marketing strategies for smarter ROI

Traditional mass media advertising remains effective but is now paired with targeted advertising. 

Personalization is essential, as audiences expect personalized experiences.

For instance, a construction company hiring qualified candidates can use digital ads targeting specific personas or detailed descriptions of the ideal customer.

Messaging can be customized and even translated into languages like Spanish or Hmong for inclusivity.

When people see messages that resonate or feature individuals like them, they feel valued and are more likely to engage.

To craft effective targeted ads, marketers must understand their audience – including their habits, culture, preferences and interests.

AI is enabling this shift by driving hyper-personalized interactions.

This elevated level of customization engages audiences more effectively and fosters deeper trust and loyalty with target audiences, creating a direct path to meaningful consumer relationships and improved return on investment (ROI).

Email marketing is also evolving from a volume-based approach to one that prioritizes precision. 

Email validation ensures campaigns reach legitimate audiences and are built on accurate data. 

Validated and enriched email addresses not only reduce inefficiencies but also yield unique insights to inform smarter marketing strategies.

By pairing these metrics with social media analytics that track content interaction, backlinks or a link from one website to another and conversions, marketers gain a sharper understanding of what works.

AI-driven marketing

AI is reshaping marketing strategies in nearly all industries, offering business tools for enhanced visibility, efficiency and engagement.

For example, AI-driven content creation is having a massive impact on healthcare marketers, enabling them to produce optimized, authoritative articles and posts that align with search engine algorithms.

AI is useful for refining ideas, but starting with human-generated content ensures authenticity – which is crucial for expert advice, especially in health care.

Additionally, AI’s ability to track a marketing campaign’s performance in real time allows businesses to measure engagement metrics, analyze ROI and quickly fine-tune strategies when necessary, making marketing efforts more effective and cost-efficient.

Technology evolves quickly, and though SEO-driven content is standard, the landscape is rapidly shifting.

Google is testing AI-driven search options that deliver detailed answers to complex questions.

The rise of AI search engines will affect businesses that rely on web traffic and SEO.

People will no longer need to visit and search webpages to access information, which will decrease website traffic and click-throughs.

People will be able to obtain information right from the AI overview, and this begs the question: How do you make sure your content is being optimized for this new type of search?

By creating high-quality, trustworthy, relatable and helpful content, your content will populate more in the new AI-based search function.

Make sure your website is fast, mobile-friendly and has a clear structure and proper indexing so AI crawlers are more prone to use it.

Ensure the website has high-quality backlinks that link information from your website to credible other websites – this will signal trustworthiness to AI algorithms.

With all this discussion on how AI can assist, it’s important to remember the human touch is irreplaceable.

Trust is an integral part of marketing, especially in industries like health care and manufacturing, where credibility and reliability are paramount.

Human oversight ensures AI outputs align with the company’s values and resonate with audiences.

It also allows for nuance, empathy and adaptability that algorithms cannot achieve.

Use storytelling to drive sales

Storytelling is arguably the most authentic way to connect with people, no matter your industry. 

Marketing that helps tell a story alongside a public relations (PR) campaign can be highly successful.

By weaving a compelling narrative, brands can transcend the transactional role and become relatable and memorable to their audience.

At the basic level, storytelling means you are sharing a story.

An example of this could be that it’s your law firm’s 75th anniversary, and you create a special logo (marketing) that ties to a press release (PR) that you distribute to the media.

In that press release, and the follow-up PR pitches, is a story about how your company got started, the impact it has made over 75 years and the plans for the future.

Then there could also be a marketing social media campaign and maybe even a radio commercial running in tandem with the PR campaign that is garnering press interviews.

All of these efforts together help to weave the story, and a compelling story can build trust and connect customers to a brand’s mission or product.

Storytelling humanizes a brand by fostering connections with customers who resonate with shared values or experiences.

When combined with PR, it becomes a powerful tool to drive loyalty and boost sales.

By sharing your brand story in these strategic ways, companies can tell their stories in a way that feels organic rather than promotional.

Video content is king

One of the most effective marketing tools today is video content, because it offers companies the ability to connect with audiences in dynamic and visually compelling ways.

Product demos, educational videos and live streaming are proven strategies to build interest and foster deeper connections.

People engage more with brands offering value beyond sales, like webinars or free resources, such as recipes or fun and informative TikToks from a cardiovascular clinic.

These strategies not only build trust but can also establish a loyal client base.

Adding to this trend, the rising influence of social media platforms, particularly YouTube and TikTok, is reshaping the marketing landscape faster than traditional media.

Social influencers amplify this shift, offering authentic and highly relatable ways for brands to reach and resonate with their target audiences.

There’s no silver bullet

When it comes to effective marketing, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Effective marketing requires tailored strategies and a blending of social media, PR, ads and digital campaigns.

Though digital tools enhance connections, a human touch is key to building relationships. 

Partnering with communication experts can ensure your campaigns are not only impactful but also efficient, helping you make the most of your budget and achieve your measurable marketing goals with confidence.