The German literary figure Johann Wolfgang von Goethe advised, “Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.” Although it’s impossible to predict with absolute certainty what 2025 has in store for the marketing industry and the world at large, it’s safe to say that we should all be prepared for changes in the months ahead.
For professional marketers, adjusting your approach to align with shifting consumer expectations and preferences is essential if you want to stay ahead of the competition and deliver stellar customer experiences (CX) that foster loyalty and repeat business.
If you’re fine-tuning your team’s strategy for the rest of the year, here are some notable marketing trends to watch in 2025, according to industry experts.
1. Marketers will increase their reliance on generative artificial intelligence (genAI) for automation and insights.
GenAI has become an essential tool for marketers looking to boost their productivity and craft personalized campaigns. Approximately 34 percent of digital professionals say they plan on prioritizing artificial intelligence this year, according to Content Square’s 2025 Digital Customer Experience Trends report, “What’s Next in CX?”
GenAI can assist with tasks like content creation, brainstorming, social media monitoring, and data analysis, among others, according to SurveyMonkey. Agentic AI – capable of acting either fully or semi-autonomously – is also expected to take center stage and handle up to 15 percent of day-to-day work decisions by 2028, compared to zero percent in 2024, according to Gartner’s 2025 Top Strategy Technology Trends report.
This next step in the evolution of AI can automate customer service, increase situational awareness and support better business decisions through data analysis and prediction intelligence.
“Agentic AI has the potential to perform as a highly competent teammate by providing insights from derivative events that are often not visible to human teammates,” Gartner Senior Director Analyst Tom Coshow stated in the report.
However, qualms about data security, accuracy and ethics will persist as marketers and other professionals adopt AI tools. Thirty-nine percent of marketers say they aren’t sure how to safely utilize artificial intelligence, and 31 percent express concerns about accuracy and quality related to AI, according to SurveyMonkey.
2. Younger buyers will drive demand for self-service in the business-to-business (B2B) space.
More than 70 percent of B2B buyers are now either millennials or part of Gen Z, according to Forrester. Subsequently, marketers in the business-to-business arena must cater to younger purchasers’ preferences – including a strong inclination toward self-service.
Thirty-eight percent of Gen Z and millennials say they’ll abandon their efforts to resolve a customer service issue if they can’t do it themselves, according to Gartner. AI-powered chatbots and interactive voice response systems are essential for marketing professionals who want to avoid driving away the new generation of B2B buyers.
3. The value of first-party data will increase.
We live in a golden age of data in terms of the sheer volume available, and organizations that analyze and utilize that information properly will come out on top. Companies that adopt a data-driven approach grow by over 30 percent annually on average, according to Content Square.
The Content Square report also notes that first-party data (which businesses collect directly from their customers) is becoming increasingly popular. With direct insights from your channels, you can minimize your reliance on third-party sources while laying the foundation for highly personalized customer service.
To learn more about embracing a data-driven mindset, check out our previous blog entry, “How to improve your marketing team’s data literacy.”
4. Marketers who want to stand out in a sea of generic outreach will embrace hyper-personalization.
Consumers today face a constant barrage of generic marketing emails and outreach efforts, and engagement rates are fairly low. For example, the average open rate is 32.55 percent across all industries for email marketing, according to Constant Contact.
Marketers who want to capture their target audience’s attention effectively and retain customers after initially attracting them must prioritize hyper-personalization. Seventy-eight percent of consumers say personalized content increases the likelihood that they’ll make repeat purchases – and AI tools capable of analyzing large amounts of data and efficiently highlighting key insights support high levels of customization at scale, according to Content Square.
5. Generative engine optimization (GEO) will be paramount for marketers who want to reach prospects searching online.
Artificial intelligence is transforming how people search for information. Your target audience might rely on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Copilot, Perplexity and other AI tools to scour the web and research products and services.
As a result, marketers must create content with genAI in mind and optimize content for AI search. Generative engine optimization (GEO) will become the new SEO, according to the Digital Marketing Institute. Gartner forecasts that traditional search engine volume will drop by 25 percent by 2026 because of AI chatbots and virtual agents.
“Generative AI (GenAI) solutions are becoming substitute answer engines, replacing user queries that previously may have been executed in traditional search engines,” Gartner Vice President Analyst Alan Antin said in a press release. “This will force companies to rethink their marketing channels strategy as GenAI becomes more embedded across all aspects of the enterprise.”
If you want to explore solutions that support exceptional CX, our trusted technology advisors would be happy to help. After assessing your current business processes, goals and pain points, we can efficiently leverage the latest market data and advanced decision-making tools to identify products and services that will empower your team to deliver the best possible customer service, including
Start today by calling 877-599-3999 or emailing sales@stratospherenetworks.com.