Looking for a heads up about the key marketing trends for business in 2025? From the best ways to utilise AI to increasing interest in social commerce – I’ve got you covered. Let’s dive in.
1. Human connection & authenticity in marketing has never been more important
We’ve seen the AI-generated memes with the extra fingers, we’ve read the AI-written articles that use “elevate” in every other sentence. But these clangers aside, AI is here to stay and whilst it can be incredible for helping you to think fast and generate ideas, using AI to create your content for you will most likely see your online channels tank in 2025.
The key thing to remember is that AI content is a personality void. It sounds the same on every account, from pet shelters to industrial pump manufacturers. And crucially, it lacks that sense of authenticity that helps the audience really connect with your brand. Connection is king. So, I’m telling the brands I work with to go all out to integrate more personality into their content in 2025.
Be relatable, be yourself. Be human.
2. Classic acronym E-A-T gets upgraded to E-E-A-T
Marketing geeks love a new acronym, and a new E has been thrown into the classic E-A-T marketing acronym – Experience has joined Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness as a key component that search engines consider when they rank your content. Try Search Engine Journal for a more in-depth read about the new acronym, but in summary, search engines will prioritise content that demonstrates direct experience of the topic at hand.
Think adding author bios, about our team pages or behind-the-scenes content.
3. Live by the quality over quantity rule when it comes to your digital content
With the oversaturation of content on social media, customers are craving quality content that they can connect to. Let’s not forget that the OG platforms like Facebook and MySpace were set up to help people stay in touch with people they care about, and that urge to connect remains. People don’t want to be constantly sold to with 7 sales posts a week, they want something genuine that they can connect to.
So, take a look at your content and ask yourself: Will my target audience value this content? Will they learn something? Will it make them feel something? Will they want to hear more of my story? If you can answer yes to these questions, you’re on the right track.
4. The boom of Voice Search
As voice-activated devices become commonplace in homes and workplaces, voice search will emerge as a critical channel for reaching customers in 2025. 58% of consumers use voice search to find local business information. Voice searches are often used to research and locate local businesses because of their convenience for people who are on-the-go.
Ensure your google, apple and yahoo business profiles are up to date with the correct information and for a top tip be sure to add in some FAQ’s. By taking a more conversational and natural language approach to digital content you’re more likely to be included in voice search results. Keywords are becoming more focused on question-based or longer, more specific phrases that users typically ask in speech, rather than short, typed keywords.
If you don’t have a frequently asked questions page on your website… it might be time to work on this.
5. Sustainability and ethical practices is ALWAYS on trend
If I have to sell ethical and sustainable practices to businesses through calling it a “trend” so be it – It is always on trend to care when you’re in business, and consumers in 2025 are more socially and environmentally conscious than ever before.
Put more simply, if the audience doesn’t like who you are, they won’t buy from you. Some brands have obvious sustainability credentials – think locally grown vegetables and sustainable florists – others have to flex a little more to build sustainability into their content strategy. But remember, posting about something you care about showcases your brand values, even if it doesn’t directly relate to your product.
If anything, it feels more genuine because you’re not talking about something you make or sell. It’s selling without selling.
6. Make the most of smart AI tools to help optimise paid adverts
AI may have limitations when it comes to content creation, but it can help to boost your paid advert performance. What could take a huge amount of time for a person to analyse and tweak paid ad campaigns on the likes of Google Ads. AI can optimise paid ads by analysing data in real time to improve targeting, bidding, and ad creatives, often resulting in a higher ROI with less effort.
This means you can get more out of your advertising budget, fine-tune your ads strategy to hit your goals and save you time. It’s a win, win!
7. Harness the power of Interactive Content to connect with your audience
The popularity of interactive content with consumers has grown over the years, with the introduction of polls, surveys, quizzes, games etc. Interactive content can help brands with driving awareness, engaging audiences, generating leads, driving sales, and nurturing brand loyalty.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here, something as simple as using poll, question and link stickers on your Instagram stories or a poll on your next LinkedIn post can be enough to start a conversation, generate leads and gain feedback.
The key is to create opportunities to talk with audience.
I had a client who was struggling to fill spaces on their creative workshops for adults. We put out a couple of Instagram stories with polls and open questions asking for suggestions of which workshops they’d love to see more of, and what days and times they would be most likely to book. The feedback from all the adults who responded, gave them the information to make some crucial informed changes for their workshops moving forward and increase the workshop bookings.
Gaining feedback in this way gives you the power to work with your audience and understand more about what they want from your business.
8. Gain more conversions with Social Commerce and Shoppable Content
We saw growth with online shopping integrations on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok in 2024. Each platform offers unique features for selling products to potential customers and the easier you can make it for new customers to convert the better.
As an example – Instagram allows product tags to your posts, reels and stories, meaning that someone can click on an item they see on your videos and photos, and get taken straight to your website to buy it. They don’t have to waste time searching your website, and you don’t run the risk of “losing” their custom if they navigate away from your post or get bored trying to find a product on your website.
Commerce integrations can be incredibly lucrative, but you need to make sure they’re set up properly. If you’re not sure what you’re doing it might be worth hiring someone with experience to help you.
9. Increasing demand for engaging short-form video content
Video has dominated in 2024, and many reports predict it will grow even more in 2025. However, not all video content is equal.
We are already starting to see a shift in the top performing video genres (and guess what, it’s all about authenticity). So whilst edutainment content is top of the list, people are also craving longer videos from brands sharing more informative videos that tell the story behind their business.
One sure-fire winner is “storytelling content” that takes viewers on a journey from the product or service and the problem it solves, to the customer who benefitted. This type of video is super powerful because it showcases your products, your services and the people behind your brand, and helps build a personal relationship with customers.
I’ve included a few examples of some of the top performing videos I’ve created for clients below.
10. Augmented Reality (AR) Experiences
Remember the marketing funnel? Then you’ll know that discovery and consideration are two of the key steps that help a visitor to your website become a paying customer.
Sometimes, potential customers need to see a product in situ to decide if it’s right for them – industries such as make up, beauty and furniture. So how can we deliver that digitally? Enter the AR experience – an incredible tech innovation that helps bridge the gap between online and instore shopping.
A great example of this is Sephora Virtual Artist which lets customers try on beauty products virtually so they can choose the right products for them.
Another is the IKEA Place app which allows you place items of furniture, virtually, in your home, office or surroundings. The app automatically scales products, based on room dimensions and lighting. A real game changer.
Not only is AR great for people to try out different products and creating their perfect spaces, AR tours of spaces like museums are also a huge boost for increasing accessibility. Immersive tours can also be a great way for those who may not be able to physically access a space due to disability or location, to experience your product from afar. AR tours can also be incredible resource for people with learning disabilities who might rely on precise information in advance to process visiting a new place before they go in person.
AR experiences aren’t just a game changer for marketers, they’re going to become integral in the future.
Need a little help building your own marketing strategy?
If you want to create a winning marketing strategy for your business, I’d love to work with you! Take a look at my upcoming Marketing Workshops or see how I can work with you one-to-one to support your business marketing.
