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After our observations about marketing and branding over the past year, as well as some research, we compiled a short list of major trends to prepare for in 2025.
Four of the five trends are closely connected, and one seems to be pointing in a different direction altogether.
But whichever way you look at it, all of these five trends will help to shape the online marketing landscape in 2025.
Top 5 Marketing trends for 2025:
1. Trust, human connection, and authenticity will become even more important.
AI has made it easy to do many things. In fact, on Youtube, many people boast about how they create “fake influencers” – based on personas and graphics which were all created by AI.
In your social media feed, more and more of the content you see comes from AI.
However, many people still prefer actual human connection – not to mention that most people prefer “real”, “human” content.
As such, we expect that people will gravitate towards things that help them verify the authenticity of the people they deal with on social media, which is likely to be a key deciding factor in building trust.
And since you need trust to build your brand…
Do the math.
2. Podcasts will become more popular.
It is easy to put out bits and pieces of information if you pretend to be a guru. A quick bit of research makes it easy to gather a short list of talking points, each of which can be turned into a short form video.
Similarly, AI can generate those videos for you, making you look like an “expert” – or so it seems.
However, when someone goes onto a podcast interview, and is able to speak on their topic of authority for an hour or more…
Their knowledge, expertise and credibility is put to the test. It isn’t possible to pretend for an hour or more. Anyone paying close attention to the content of the video, and the non-verbal cues, will see through someone pretending to be an expert, or a professional in their particular industry.
Since you cannot hide incompetence or pretense in a podcast, these will be come a way for audiences to verify your authenticity and your capability.
Since the pretenders won’t be doing podcast interviews, the real professionals and experts will shine in 2025.
3. For now, live events will also become more popular.
In similar fashion to podcasts, live events – live streams, live webinars and live shopping – will become more popular in 2025.
Aside from the fact that there it is also a longer content format, which makes it difficult for the presenter or guest to fake their abilities, these events also contain one element of critical importance:
The Q and A session at the end.
Opening yourself up to questions in public is a great way to not only prove your expertise, but also your authenticity.
4. Personal branding will continue to rise.
In an online world cluttered with AI generated content and fake AI personas, people want to be able to connect with people. They want to connect with people they relate to.
Just like we expect to see a rise in popularity of podcasts and live events, we expect that the value of personal branding will increase dramatically.
While we have been taking note of Elon Musk’s influence for a while (long before he bought X), it seems that Alex Hormozi has redefined online personal branding.
While people still have their favorite brands they prefer to deal with, there is more and more emphasis on the people behind the brand.
In a world increasingly cluttered by AI generated content and fake avatars, and even deep fakes, authentic personal brands will provide a way for potential customers to find brands they can trust, and which really align with their personal values.
5. AI will be used to improve marketing efficiency.
Yes, there will be many who will use AI for “everything”.
But smart, authentic marketers will use AI in smart ways:
a. Streamlining processes.
b. Doing research.
c. Data analysis.
d. Intelligent email sequences.
e. Researching competitors.
In conclusion:
In short: In 2025, AI will change from being “the oracle” to being “a business tool”.
Smart marketers will figure out where AI fits into their businesses, and use it to save time and money without compromising their brands or their personal brands.
It should be a very interesting year.