Introduction
Despite the rapid pace, marketers can stay ahead by relying on both research and expert insights. One major influence in the field, Salesforce, highlights key focus areas in their latest “State of Marketing” report. These include integrating customer data from various sources, adopting AI while being aware of its risks, achieving full personalization, and building stronger customer relationships through account-based marketing and loyalty programs.
Data has become crucial for any marketing strategy especially when running a competitor analysis in order to get a leg up on the competition, yet many marketers find it challenging to utilize effectively. According to Salesforce, only 31% of marketers are satisfied with their ability to unify customer data. Additionally, while 57% have access to real-time data for campaigns, 59% still require IT support to use it efficiently.
AI remains a significant focus in marketing, identified as both a top priority and a major challenge. The most popular AI applications are predictive AI, which automates customer interactions, and generative AI. The field is rapidly expanding, with new tools emerging daily.
A report from Chiefmartec reveals that the marketing technology landscape has grown for the 13th consecutive year, now featuring 14,106 products—a 27.8% increase from the previous year. However, this constant influx of new technology can be overwhelming. Kristen Habacht, Chief Revenue Officer at Typeform, argues that “less tech” is often better. She emphasizes the importance of simplifying workflows and prioritizing tools with strong integrations to enhance efficiency.
As marketers navigate these changes, they are looking towards upcoming trends to better connect with their audiences. AI will continue to be a cornerstone of marketing strategies, becoming as fundamental as computers were in the past. Its applications will extend far beyond generative AI, underpinning virtually all marketing activities.
By staying informed and adapting to these shifts, marketers can successfully identify, reach, and engage with their target audiences in this fast-evolving landscape.
1. Short-Form Videos have Taken Over Our Feeds
Short-form videos have become the centerpiece of our feeds, capturing attention with quick, engaging content. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have turned brief video clips into the go-to format for entertainment, marketing, and viral trends.
Vitaly Gerko, Chief Business Development Officer of Viqeo.tv, an adtech platform, highlights the continued rise of video content in marketing communications. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are driving this trend, with a particular focus on short-form videos.
Gerko references wyzowl’s research, noting that short, impactful clips are most effective. Specifically, 39% of marketers find success with 30- to 60-second videos, followed by one- to two-minute videos (28%) and videos under 30 seconds (18%). Videos longer than three minutes see only 5% success.
Paige Arnof-Fenn, founder and CEO of Mavens & Moguls, adds that the world is becoming increasingly visual, with platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok gaining popularity. As a generation that prefers watching to reading rises, the trend towards more visual content, including pictures, memes, diagrams, and infographics, will grow. In a mobile-first world, attention spans are shorter, so video content is crucial for engaging audiences and boosting rankings.
However, simply creating and posting videos isn’t enough. Gerko advises that marketers must understand their target audience’s characteristics and create captivating, meaningful content tailored to different platforms. Each platform’s unique audience and preferences should influence video length, style, and content.
2. Tailored Marketing Experiences through Hyper personalization
Hyper personalization takes marketing to the next level by delivering customized experiences for each user. Various tools have emerged that enable marketers to leverage AI to clone themselves and generate personalized outreach messages at scale.
This innovation has revolutionized previously unscalable marketing tactics, significantly enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. For instance tools like Colossyan exemplifies how AI can scale personalization in marketing a feat that seemed impossible a year ago due to the difficulty of scaling effective B2B marketing strategies.
This has also resulted in a rise of AI influencers which has greatly transformed the way we do marketing, blending technology with personal branding in unprecedented ways. These virtual personalities, powered by advanced algorithms and machine learning, are taking on roles traditionally filled by human influencers.
Unlike their human counterparts, AI influencers can operate 24/7, generate content at scale, and adapt quickly to trends and audience preferences. Brands are increasingly turning to these digital stars for their ability to engage diverse audiences with tailored messages and create immersive, interactive experiences.
Advancements in AI are transforming digital personalization into a reality, according to Gurdeep Dhillon, Chief Marketing Officer of Contentstack, a content management systems provider. “Companies can now tailor digital experiences to individual users more effectively and swiftly,” Dhillon explains.
With technological barriers diminishing, marketers can finally achieve the personalized digital experiences they’ve been aiming for. Historically, marketers have attempted personalization, but with limited success. Dhillon points out several reasons for this. First, true personalization requires numerous permutations—potentially thousands—depending on a business’s complexity.
Personalization technology has only supported about 1% of what’s needed for most businesses. Second, even with advanced technology, very few organizations possess the capacity to create content for these thousands of permutations, making the task overwhelming.
Personalization also enables marketers to offer more inclusive experiences, notes Sara Faatz, Director of Technology Community Relations at Progress, an infrastructure software provider. AI helps marketers gain insights, personalize content, and better understand their audiences. “AI technology can deliver content in local languages and detect and mitigate unconscious bias in content,” Faatz adds.
Dhillon concurs, stating, “True personalization at scale will eliminate friction throughout the process, allowing marketers to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.”
3. The Marketing trends and Engineering Fusion
Technology is transforming marketing, creating a new era of collaboration between marketing and IT engineering. With no-code platforms like Make.com, bubble.io, zapier, webflow etc breaking down barriers, marketing teams are now integrating more deeply with technical functions.
Sara Faatz, Director of Technology Community Relations at Progress, predicts a growing trend where control of marketing functions shifts from marketing to IT engineering roles.
According to Gartner, 33% of marketing professionals experienced this shift last year. Zylo’s 2024 SaaS Management Index indicates that the average organization now uses 269 apps, necessitating this shift in marketing technology ownership from marketing to IT.
This shift allows for the consolidation of data and tools across the organization, saving time and money, says Faatz. However, it also empowers marketing professionals, as evidenced by Workato’s 2024 Work Automation Index, which shows that 44% of automated processes are built outside of IT.
Despite the increasing role of technology, a solid understanding of marketing fundamentals remains essential for effectively leveraging these tools.
4. Subscriptions are now the New Normal
What was once a niche model has become a mainstream approach for delivering products and services, offering convenience and value to both sides. Companies are leveraging subscription models to create steady revenue streams, build lasting customer relationships, and offer exclusive benefits. From streaming services and monthly boxes to premium memberships and SaaS platforms, the subscription economy is thriving.
Subscriptions offer companies a steady stream of recurring revenue and increased customer value, says Cary Lawrence, CEO of Decile, a customer data and analytics firm. According to Lawrence, tiered and VIP loyalty programs enhance customer engagement and retention by providing exclusive perks. These approaches can result in increased purchase frequency and greater long-term profitability.
Lawrence advises that by analyzing first-party data, businesses can better tailor subscription services to match customers’ buying patterns, preferences, and sensitivity to pricing. This personalized method, he says, can boost customer satisfaction and loyalty.
While free enrollment is effective, Lawrence also recommends introducing paid VIP tiers that offer exclusive perks, such as early access to products, special discounts, and free shipping, to incentivize higher engagement and loyalty among top customers.
Arham Khan, Founder and CEO of Pixated, a marketing and web design agency, agrees that subscription models are popular and expected to continue their growth. Direct-to-consumer subscription models provide a steady revenue stream and help develop long-term customer relationships. These models offer consumers convenience and personalized experiences, increasingly valued in today’s market.
Subscription models, Khan notes, help DTC brands build a loyal customer base, reduce churn rates, and increase lifetime value. Subscription data can also be used to better understand customer preferences, allowing companies to tailor their offerings accordingly. This shift is not just a trend but a fundamental change in how businesses operate and how consumers access the products and services they love.
5.The New Era of SEO
Joe Karasin of Karasin PPC explores how the search generative experience (SGE) is marking the dawn of a new era in SEO. With SGE changing the game, informational websites are focusing on richer content, while e-commerce sites are working to perfect their product pages. Learn how these shifts are redefining SEO strategies.
Karasin highlights that, as with previous SEO changes driven by Google algorithm updates, content creation is primarily affected. “Websites with substandard content will not be seen in the SGE, resulting in significantly reduced web traffic,” he explains. This is because search engine results pages (SERPs) are increasingly providing direct answers to user queries.
Even before SGE, marketers were preparing for Google’s plan to eliminate third-party cookies and its impact on SEO. Although Google started to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome earlier this year, this effort has been delayed until at least early 2025. Kristen Habacht, Chief Revenue Officer at Typeform, notes that these delays give marketing teams more time to adopt privacy-centric strategies. However, she warns that this latest delay has raised the stakes.
Habacht anticipates that companies that proactively prepare for a cookieless future will emerge ahead of the competition. She emphasizes that the current delay should not be an excuse for inaction, as others are already moving forward.
Rena Ren, Americas Regional Director of Baidu USA, echoes this sentiment, emphasizing that privacy concerns and regulatory restrictions are driving the move towards a cookieless future. Advertisers need to explore innovative methods for connecting with their target audiences.
At Wirelink Digital, we experienced the direct impact of these changes while running client campaigns in June 2022. One day, our ads were tracking properly, and the next, the metrics were suddenly inflated and innacurate. The number of leads shown in our advertisers’ Facebook and Google dashboards did not match the actual results. We quickly adapted by shifting our tracking from browser-based to server-side. Although the landscape has evolved considerably since then, this incident highlights how rapidly the marketing landscape can change and the tangible effects of phasing out cookies.
“In a cookieless world, where user tracking is increasingly difficult, contextual targeting is essential for precise ad delivery,” Ren explains. “Relying solely on first-party data is insufficient. Advertisers need to leverage deep learning technology to fully utilize first-party data, providing personalized advertising and achieving growth targets.”
Marketers must rethink their strategies for attracting website traffic and delivering messages to diverse audiences. Embracing these changes and adapting to new technologies will be crucial for staying competitive in the evolving landscape of digital marketing.
Conclusion
The marketing landscape is experiencing rapid changes driven by new technologies and evolving consumer behaviors. In this fast-moving environment, Ben Guttmann, digital marketing expert and author of Simply Put: Why Clear Messages Win—and How to Design Them, advocates for a return to marketing fundamentals. “While the future of platforms like TikTok and trends like the metaverse are uncertain, the core principles of effective branding and messaging will endure,” Guttmann advises.
Looking ahead, the role of AI will be pivotal in shaping new marketing strategies, but balancing these innovations with reliable, time-tested tools like web and email will be essential for achieving success in the ever-evolving marketing landscape.