2024 was a big year for marketing. The year saw more marketing teams experiment (and struggle) with AI tools, wider embrace of short form video, and Google finally admitting, after years of vacillating, that it has no plans to breakup with third-party cookies.
Speaking of Google, the rise of AI search engines in the latter part of the year couldn’t have come at worst time for the company, as its search monopoly ruling threatens to shake up marketing as we know it.
As we hurdle into the new year with intense speed and a laundry list of questions, here are the top marketing trends for 2025.
Multichannel SEO
SEO’s value to marketers is about skyrocket. It’s no longer "just about Google," but about being visible on every platform where your customers spend their time.
The rise of AI search engines like Perplexity and OpenAI’s Search GPT, combined with shifting search habits, has evolved SEO into a multi-platform strategy.
Today, people are turning to multiple channels to find the information they need: podcasts, YouTube, social media, and more.
In a world perpetually overflowing with more content than people can consume, people will need search more than ever to sift through the noise and find what they want.
If a platform has a search bar, SEO is essential. As platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, and TikTok double down on their search capabilities, this has never been more evident. The mechanics of SEO may vary by channel, but the goal remains the same: help your audience find you when they need you most.
Just like the rest of your marketing strategy, your SEO should be multichannel and tailored to where your customers spend their time. Whether that’s Google, SearchGPT, or some place else, your customers are out there searching - and if you’re not meeting them, your competitors will.
🎯 What to Focus On:
Elevate keyword research with social listening and trend-tracking to build out more niche and timely content
Adapt your overarching SEO strategy to your social channels, YouTube, and podcasts
Evergreen Brand Building
A 2024 report from Interbrand reveals that since 2023, the world’s top brands have lost $200 billion in unrealized value by prioritizing the short-term gains of performance marketing over long-term brand strategy.
Modern consumers and buyers expect more than ads – they want meaningful interactions and experiences.
To meet these expectations, marketing teams are shifting toward building evergreen brands - brands designed to stay relevant and thrive year-round, not just during campaigns.
Evergreen brands focus on longevity and adaptability, ensuring their messages, values, and customer experiences remain consistent, relevant, and impactful across all channels, no matter the season or market conditions.
We expect to see this shift towards long-term brand building serve as the backbone to B2B marketing plans in 2025. As businesses face longer sales cycles and increasing competition, building brand equity will be critical to standing out and staying relevant.
🎯 What to Focus On:
Prioritize bi-lateral engagements with your audience
Connect with your audience through content and experiences that match their lifestyle. Expand your trade show marketing strategy by hosting your own events to stand out
Stay flexible & relevant by adapting to trends and preferences more efficiently
First Party Data & Owned Media
While Google vacillated on third-party cookies, the B2B marketing world jumped ahead by prioritizing first party data.
In 2024, more B2B brands turned to owned media to capture first-party data and establish deeper connections with their audiences. Hubspot bought the Mindstream newsletter to support its AI efforts, while SEMRush expanded its influence in the search engine marketing space by acquiring Search Engine Land and its SMX conference series.
Obviously, most marketing teams don’t have the luxury of buying pre-existing media properties. Instead, they’re taking matters into their own hands and building their own.
In 2025, with 65% of B2B marketing budgets shrinking or staying flat, teams will be under growing pressure to do more with the same.
As organic reach on social media continues its slow decline, relying on these platforms to connect with your audience becomes riskier than ever. What better way to spend your budget than on assets and data you own and control - safe from the perils of algorithms?
🎯 What to Focus On:
Newsletters and content portals
Podcasts and video channels
Community building
Interactive tools or apps
CDP's
AI & Hyper-Personalization
AI marketing tools often focus on benefiting marketers, but the real impact lies in driving value for customers and the business as a whole. Unfortunately, not many marketers have figured out how to do this yet. In fact, 74% of companies struggle to scale AI’s value beyond individual use.
One area where AI delivers value to the marketer, organization, and customer is hyper-personalization. Tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Clay are rolling out advanced AI features that make personalization more seamless than ever. These tools analyze vast amounts of data in real-time to craft tailored email campaigns, and website experiences, ensuring customers receive the right message at the right time.
As generative AI innovation slows (and costs continue to climb), 2025 will be a “fish or cut bait” year for AI marketing tools. Teams must move beyond dabbling in niche experiments and focus on trying to extract real value from industry-leading platforms.
🎯 What to Focus On:
Segmentation automation
AI-enhanced email campaigns and A/B testing
AI-powered content ideation and recommendations
Predictive analytics
Content Authenticity
The web is currently awash with AI-generated content. From Google to LinkedIn, an influx of AI-driven fluff is flooding platforms, resulting in diminished engagement and reach for many.
In 2025, proving your authenticity will be as critical as proving your expertise. Audiences are becoming increasingly adept at spotting generic, regurgitated, AI content. Authenticity differentiates your brand, proving to audiences that you offer genuine insights and experiences rather than lazily repackaging those of others.
To reinforce authenticity, we expect more marketers to focus on creating content in credibility-rich formats like podcasts and videos, where your unique message and perspectives are on full display. Additionally, we expect to see more marketers invest in building proprietary data, including research reports, surveys, case studies, testimonials, expert interviews, and more.
🎯 What to Focus On:
Podcasts and videos
Proprietary data, such as research reports, surveys and case studies
Testimonials and client stories
B2B Marketing Trends for 2025: Start Now
For most B2B marketing teams, doing more with the same won’t just be a challenge in 2025…it’ll be the norm. The trends I've highlighted aren’t predictions; they’re proven strategies that are already building momentum. Embrace them now and stay ahead.
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