5 ways experts expect marketing to evolve in the new year. 

Getting ready for the new year means adapting your plans to keep pace with customers, competitors and technology. The following five marketing trends for 2025 will help you stay ahead of the curve.

SEO shifts to cover more platforms

Marketers no longer focus solely on Google results to be seen. Increasingly, they’re investing in SEO (“search engine optimization”) on specific platforms like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. As Neil Patel puts it, “SEO has shifted to search everywhere optimization.”

Email as a vital communication tool

As audiences continue to move away from search engines toward platforms of their choice, email becomes more vital. Emails that feel like real-world conversations create engagement. Plus, they can be used to deliver insights and tailored solutions, reports Exclaimer.

Growing transparency with AI use

How big was the increase in marketers using AI over the last year? 2.5 times according to HubSpot.

AI has proven to be a valuable tool for managing tasks and generating content and applications, but it needs to be used with care. Many brand experts recommend posting a disclaimer when using AI generated material.

“The smarter and more integrated AI applications are, the more worries customers may have about privacy, security and data ownership. Customers may be skittish about apps that capture and share location data without their knowledge or about smart speakers that may be eavesdropping on them,” say Harvard Business Review writers Thomas Davenport, Abhijit Guha and Dhruv Grewal. They urge business leaders to be transparent about how data is collected and used, and ensure that customers have some say in how their data is used.

Going beyond brand guidelines

As social platforms make more creative options available, Hootsuite says more organizations are tossing traditional marketing playbooks aside to prioritize entertainment on social media.

Those who experiment with brand voice and persona are being celebrated for it; even the most buttoned-up brands see their creative efforts paying off.

The rise of micro influencers

Global influencers with hundreds of thousands and even millions of followers have helped power brands on social media for years. Now, brands are turning to influencers with more niche audiences to grow markets.

Micro influencers with 1,000 to 100,000 followers offer opportunities to “target a particular segment of the population with content related to a specific topic, hobby or industry,” says CMSWire.

One thing to watch: TikTok

In anticipation of a TikTok ban going into effect in January, many marketers who rely on this social media platform are making contingency plans. Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat are leading alternatives that millions of TikTok users will likely migrate to.

No matter where marketing trends take in you in 2025, remember that we’re always here to provide you with comprehensive business banking services.

 

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