The 2025 State of Marketing: Navigating the AI-First Business Landscape

In an era where artificial intelligence has fully integrated into professional workflows, marketing is undergoing a profound transformation. The 2025 State of Marketing reveals how the marketing landscape has evolved into an AI-first business environment where success depends on intelligent content strategies, visual storytelling, and authentic brand experiences.

This comprehensive analysis examines the key trends shaping marketing strategies, the shifting focus toward attention rather than just traffic, and how marketers are leveraging AI to create more personalized and engaging content experiences.

Marketers now prioritize creating meaningful connections through AI-enhanced tools, recognizing that genuine engagement drives better results than traditional metrics alone. The integration of AI has enabled unprecedented levels of personalization while simultaneously demanding greater authenticity from brands hoping to stand out in an increasingly sophisticated digital landscape.

The Evolution of Marketing: From Traffic to Attention

The marketing paradigm has fundamentally shifted. According to HubSpot’s recent survey of 1,200 marketing leaders across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, the industry is transitioning from scaling traffic to scaling attention—a subtle but critical distinction.

“Marketing is going to change in 2025. Instead of scaling traffic, we need to scale attention. It’s different. Marketers need to learn a new skill set. A lot of the science of marketing will get automated by AI, leaving more time for the craft,” explains Kieran Flanagan, SVP of Marketing at HubSpot.

This shift represents a move from direct attribution and scaling traffic to indirect attribution and scaling attention. With AI handling much of the analytical heavy lifting, marketers can focus more on creative strategies that capture audience interest in meaningful ways.

Key Strategy Trends for 2025

1. Generative AI for Multi-Modal Content

The most significant B2B marketing strategy for 2025 involves using AI to transform text into multi-modal campaigns. Approximately 25% of marketers plan to leverage AI for creating video demos, product walkthroughs, presentations, and podcasts from text-based content. This trend acknowledges the growing consumer preference for visual and audio content over traditional text formats.

2. AI-Powered Analytics and ROI Evaluation

Marketing teams are increasingly relying on AI-powered reporting tools to evaluate campaign ROI. These sophisticated tools, coupled with conversational AI, help marketers understand which activities and channels drive revenue, allowing for more informed decision-making and strategic allocation of resources.

3. Automation of Marketing Strategy and Execution

About 20% of marketers plan to explore using AI agents to automate marketing initiatives from end-to-end strategy to execution. Generative AI tools like Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT are being deployed to plan social calendars, create case studies, and develop content briefs, freeing marketers to focus on higher-level strategic thinking.

4. Value-Driven Content Reflecting Brand Values

Both B2B and B2C brands are investing more in content that showcases their mission, vision, and core values. With 65% of marketers reporting that addressing social issues in marketing campaigns was effective in 2024, there’s a clear trend toward more socially responsible content that resonates with audience values.

5. Authentic, Personality-Led Content

Authenticity remains a top priority across marketing sectors. Brands are achieving this by highlighting individual voices from creators and employees and infusing personality into their content. For B2C brands specifically, user-generated content (UGC) has become a cornerstone strategy to establish credibility and build trust.

The Generational Shift in Target Audiences

A notable trend in the 2025 marketing landscape is the increased focus on younger demographics:

• Over 70% of marketers plan to target Millennials in 2025, making them the largest audience of decision-makers
• Interest in targeting Gen Z is growing year over year
• Interest in marketing to Gen X and Baby Boomers has declined by more than 30% compared to previous years

This shift acknowledges that Gen Z and Millennials, who grew up online, now represent significant purchasing power and decision-making authority. According to Deloitte, 64% of Gen Zers and 63% of Millennials are willing to pay more for environmentally sustainable products, and one in four have reduced their relationship with businesses due to unsustainable practices.

The Brand Awareness Renaissance

Brand-led marketing is experiencing a significant resurgence, with 92% of marketers planning to maintain or increase their investments in brand awareness in 2025. Additionally, one in four marketers is currently exploring ways to create content that better reflects their brand’s values.

The importance of brand-building is highlighted by the industry’s recognition that brand experiences and brand-led content represent the two most significant changes to marketing in the past year, ranking even higher than leveraging AI or data.

Data-Driven Strategy in an Era of Privacy Concerns

While data-driven decision-making has become essential, marketers face three primary challenges:

1. Consumer resistance to sharing personal data
2. Poor data quality within existing systems
3. Increased data privacy regulations, including the phasing out of third-party cookies

Despite these challenges, marketers recognize three key advantages of data-informed strategies:

• Reaching target audiences more effectively (35%)
• Increasing marketing ROI (34%)
• Planning media mixes more strategically (32%)

As third-party data becomes less accessible, first-party data grows increasingly valuable for personalization efforts. This has prompted marketers to invest more in data quality and cleaning workflows while being more transparent about how consumer data is used.

Content Trends: Visual Storytelling Takes Center Stage

The Rise of Visual Content

Short-form video has emerged as the leading content format for both B2B and B2C marketers, with 30% of companies leveraging it in their content strategies. Following closely behind are images (29%) and long-form video (21%).

The content formats delivering the highest ROI are:

This trend toward visual content reflects the changing consumption habits of audiences who increasingly prefer watching and listening over reading.

Audio Content Growth

Podcasts and audio content continue to gain traction, with 91% of marketers planning to maintain or increase their investments in this medium during 2025. The popularity of podcasts stems from their unique blend of education, inspiration, and casual listening that builds audience relationships over time.

According to Edison Research, approximately 100 million Americans listen to podcasts weekly, with the average adult consuming around eight hours of podcast content each week. Importantly, 46% of weekly podcast listeners have purchased a product or service after hearing about it on a podcast, highlighting the medium’s influence on consumer behavior.

Social Media Channel Priorities

The top social media channels for 2025 are YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, with platform preferences varying between B2B and B2C marketers:

• B2B marketers plan to invest more heavily in LinkedIn
• B2C marketers are focusing more resources on TikTok
• Facebook continues to remain relevant for both sectors

Emerging channels gaining attention include Reddit, Discord, and Threads, with approximately 10% of marketing teams exploring these platforms.

Influencer Marketing Evolution

Influencer marketing continues to deliver results, with both B2B and B2C brands finding the greatest success with micro-influencers (10K-100K followers). This strategy allows brands to:

• Build trust with new audiences
• Access niche, tight-knit communities
• Stretch influencer marketing budgets further

The highest ROI from influencer partnerships comes from Facebook (28%), Instagram (22%), and YouTube (12%). Interestingly, 86% of surveyed leaders believe it’s likely that AI-generated influencers or social media avatars will replace human influencers by the end of 2025.

AI’s Transformative Impact on Marketing

Current AI Applications in Marketing

AI tools have significantly impacted marketing roles, with 92% of respondents reporting that AI has affected their work, and more than a third saying the impact has been “very significant.” The primary AI applications include:

• Content creation (generating copy and images)
• Research and data analysis
• Brainstorming content ideas
• Technical assistance (like debugging code or creating Excel functions)

The AI Learning Curve

Despite the widespread recognition of AI’s importance, there’s still a significant learning curve:

• 54% of marketers feel overwhelmed by the prospect of implementing AI tools
• Only 47% have a clear understanding of how to use AI in their marketing strategy
• Just 47% know how to measure AI’s impact on their marketing efforts

This highlights the need for more education and training as marketers adapt to new responsibilities around data quality, prompt engineering, data privacy, and editing AI-generated content.

AI’s Impact on Search Behavior

Nearly half of marketers have observed that consumer use of AI for search has positively impacted their search traffic. While AI-assisted search hasn’t entirely replaced traditional search methods, 31% of Gen Zers report primarily using AI platforms or chatbots to find information online.

For brands, adapting to these changing search patterns is crucial, with 19% of marketers planning to build SEO strategies specifically for generative AI in search during 2025.

The Personalization Imperative

Personalization has become non-negotiable in the modern marketing landscape. According to the survey, 96% of marketers reported that personalized experiences have increased sales:

• 44% said personalization increases sales significantly
• 44% reported moderate sales increases
• 8% saw slight sales increases
• Only 4% reported no impact on sales

This underscores the critical importance of tailoring marketing experiences to individual preferences and behaviors.

Future of Marketing Teams

The evolving marketing landscape is reshaping team structures and hiring priorities. Marketing leaders are prioritizing recruitment for:

1. Social Media Coordinator (16%)
2. Content Creator (16%)
3. Social Media Strategist (15%)
4. Creative Director (14%)
5. Marketing Data Analyst (13%)

This talent focus reflects the industry’s move toward content-rich, social-driven strategies while maintaining analytical capabilities to measure performance and drive data-informed decisions.

Strategic Recommendations for 2025

1. Invest in AI Education and Implementation

Given the critical role AI now plays in marketing, organizations should prioritize:

• Training marketing teams on AI tools and applications
• Establishing clear processes for implementing AI in workflows
• Developing metrics to measure AI’s impact on marketing performance

2. Prioritize Visual and Audio Content

With audience preferences clearly shifting toward visual and audio formats:

• Allocate more resources to video production (both short and long-form)
• Explore podcast or audio content opportunities
• Use AI tools to repurpose existing text content into visual formats

3. Balance Brand Values with Performance Marketing

The resurgence of brand-led marketing doesn’t mean abandoning performance metrics:

• Develop clear brand guidelines that reflect company values
• Ensure brand messaging is consistent across all channels
• Use AI-powered analytics to measure brand awareness impact alongside direct response metrics

4. Adapt to New Search Paradigms

As AI transforms how consumers search for information:

• Optimize content for AI-powered search
• Maintain traditional SEO practices while exploring AI SEO strategies
• Use AI Search Grader tools to understand brand visibility in LLMs

5. Focus on First-Party Data Quality

With increased privacy concerns and regulations:

• Implement robust data collection and management practices
• Be transparent with customers about data usage
• Use AI tools to improve data quality and derive better insights

Conclusion: The Symbiosis of AI and Human Creativity

The 2025 marketing landscape stands at a unique crossroads where artificial intelligence meets human creativity. As AI tools handle the analytical and operational aspects of marketing, human marketers can focus on creating authentic connections and meaningful brand experiences.

“As marketers, we have an unprecedented opportunity to be smarter, more efficient, and more human in how we connect with our audiences. The tools are here, and the possibilities for creativity are endless,” notes Kieran Flanagan, SVP of Marketing at HubSpot.

The most successful marketing strategies in 2025 won’t be about choosing between AI and authenticity but about leveraging both effectively. Whether developing value-driven B2B content or sharing user-generated B2C stories, marketing success will come from being present where audiences are, speaking to their experiences, and using technology to scale those connections.

In this new era, marketing has become simultaneously more technological and more human—a symbiosis that offers unprecedented opportunities for brands that can master both dimensions.