Marketing trends that could make or break your brand in 2025

By Juliette Aiken, CMO, Dotdigital

No one knows how to adapt quite like marketers do, and doing just that is exactly what’s needed to navigate a new landscape in 2025 full of innovative tech tools and shifting regulation. In that environment, it can be challenging for marketing teams to find the right balance between tradition and innovation.

AI and automation

Dotdigital’s CMO Tracker surveyed over 750 marketing leaders in the UK, US, and Australia, revealing that 33% view AI as a significant challenge, and 28% cite a lack of AI knowledge as a top team concern.

Despite one in three leaders seeing AI as a challenge, it’s already changed how most marketing teams operate. According to our report, every leader surveyed currently uses AI in their marketing processes, employing it for diverse tasks including data analysis (32%), marketing automation (32%), and insight generation (26%). 

This universal adoption points toward a future where AI’s impact on marketing will only deepen in 2025, specifically by unlocking more opportunities to personalise customer journeys. For example, augmented reality (AR) has transcended its initial novelty status to become a powerful mobile marketing tool. It enables users to interact seamlessly with digital content in the real world. For example, customers can virtually try on clothes or visualise furniture placement in their homes, or, in the case of Christian Dior Parfums, virtually sample different shades of lipstick. This will become the norm, not the novelty, in 2025.

Conversational AI that sounds like a consumer is talking to a genuine human being is also becoming increasingly prevalent. The era of static websites and impersonal interaction is fading, making room for brands to communicate directly with users. OpenAI have, for example, very recently announced that ChatGPT will be able to make phone calls, that’s a real life example of conversational AI in use. A great example of this is chatbots, which are leading the charge to enable brands to connect on a deeper level. They are a proven way to drive conversions, and ensure excellent customer service and satisfaction across the board. Despite the potential, not enough marketers are taking advantage of conversational AI technology. Dotdigital’s Hitting the Mark report found that only 24% of brands currently feature a chatbot on their website, and a mere 15% offer a live agent chat option. In other words, the vast majority are not taking advantage of its potential. 

Marketing teams, no matter how far along they are in their AI journey, should consider a mix of AI-powered chatbots and live agents. Chatbots can handle FAQs around the clock, whilst more complex issues can be escalated to human representatives. This combination of automation and personal interaction ensures customers receive exactly the right support that they need. One thing is for certain: as AI matures and integrates further into various technologies, software solutions are becoming more capable, furthering the need for marketers to consolidate of these tech tools.

Regulatory compliance through data privacy and trust

With such a rapid evolution in technology, building and maintaining trust is essential with transparent and compliant data handling as the cornerstone of responsible marketing. This approach assures customers that businesses won’t exploit their data. However, our Hitting the Mark report discovered that only 16% of brands around the world effectively communicate the value of data sharing to their customers.

Beyond maintaining consumer trust, data privacy should also be a priority for marketers due to the need for data regulation compliance. Data privacy regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) continue to be a stumbling block for many companies, despite being in effect for six years. In fact, our CMO Tracker showed that 32% of marketers identified regulatory compliance as their teams’ most significant challenge, with nearly half (47%)  feeling unprepared for changes in data regulations expected in the coming years. This shows that in a rapidly evolving landscape, a lot are still struggling with adapting to data privacy laws.

There is so much new technology to be excited by, but marketing leaders won’t realise its benefits without prioritising robust and transparent privacy policies. By embedding privacy practices into their core strategy, marketers can foster consumer trust while also ensuring regulatory compliance – achieving both goals with a single effort.

Start small, end big

As emerging technologies like AI and data analytics redefine consumer behaviours and preferences, marketers must do what they do best and swiftly adapt to stay competitive. Yet many have mounting concerns about feeling unprepared for technological advancements like AI and changes in data regulations. 

By taking manageable steps, such as positioning their data privacy policies front and centre to satisfy customer expectations and gradually integrating AI tools, marketers can set themselves up for success. By the end of 2025, these strategic initiatives can ensure they remain ahead of the curve.