4 Marketing Trends & Strategies That Might Not Survive in 2025 [New Research]

Keywords, SEO, blogging — the list of tactics that marketing soothsayers have declared dead is long and not exactly accurate. But potentially dying marketing trends are something to watch out for.

As marketers, we are at the mercy of the world around us. Our strategies need to align with customer behavior and what they care about and talk about, and frankly, that seems to change with every refresh of the research page.

If we want to stay effective, we have to stay up-to-date – which brings us to today’s obituary.

Friends, we have gathered here today to discuss four outdated marketing trends that, according to new data from 2025 State of Marketingmay not survive 2025.

Okay — maybe this is a dark phrase, but these tactics certainly won’t stay with our current approaches. Let’s unpack what they are and how to turn.

Marketing trends that may not survive 2025

1. Mass marketing

If you sell to everyone, you sell to no one. Marketers have known this for years, but we as consumers need to take it more seriously they require a personalized touch from brands.

I mean, admit it. It’s kind of nice to open an email or app and get a message that no one else has received. It feels special – even exclusive – and most people agree on that.

Twilio state of personalization report found that 49% of consumers say they are likely to become repeat customers after a personalized shopping experience with a retail brand.

(I know I get a little giddy when I see my name in things like my Spotify Wrapped.)

What’s more, Zendesk discovered it 70% of customers expect to everyone they interact with in the company so that they have the full context of their previous engagement and actions.

So they don’t mess around.

In addition, mass marketing – that is, marketing without a specific target audience, general messages and a “one size fits all” experience – should be abandoned.

Successful marketing in 2025 will require a greater emphasis on personalization and community engagement.

Last year, this was the number one area marketers reported focusing on, and this year, our research found that 85% of marketers consider their strategy somewhat or highly personalized. On top of that, only about 94% said that personalization had an impact on sales.

Recently, Grace Kaohead of global business marketing at Spotify, discussed the importance of creating emotionally resonant experiences connected to users’ personal moments as a brand.

She said: “It’s about the value you actually bring to your customers. For us at Spotify, what we’re really trying to bring is a kind of personal element.”

“It’s ‘Oh, wow! Thank you for providing something that speaks specifically to me.’ That’s what keeps users coming back, makes them feel like their moments matter.”

How can you turn around in 2025?

Learn all you can about it personalizing your marketing and brand experiences. This might look like this:

• Addressing your customer via name in emails
• Making product recommendations based on past purchases on your website.
• Sending emails with content suggestions based on purchases or past behavior (ie, pages they’ve visited or offers they’ve taken.)
• Check and proactively contact you with support or help with recent purchases.
• Asking for feedback

And don’t forget: AI can help scale all of this. More about it here:

2. Building links

For more than a decade, successful content marketing has mostly focused on creating keyword-rich website/blog content and earning traffic and links to their websites.

However, marketers in our survey rated visual formats like short videos, images and live streaming higher than those like blogging (though still in the top five), customer behavior increasingly favors social media and AI chatbots, and Google’s EEAT regulations don’t budge.

With all these factors, it is clear that traditional search tactics alone will no longer work.

Kevin Indig of Toast predicted that traditional SEO tactics, such as link building, will decline in importance and that brand mention, authority and reputation will become more important in the competitive search landscape moving forward.

He explained, “In my worldview, the idea of ​​links is moving a little more to mentions — In other words, in what context and how often is our brand mentioned? The more often your brand is mentioned on the web, the more people potentially hear about it.”

In this context, Indig is not only referring to discovery through search engines, but also through mentions and discussions on social media, in the press and ultimately by AI assistants.

“There’s something to be said for training data,” he continued. “Essentially, you want to grow the area where this is possible LLM [large language model] finds your brand in a certain feeling.”

“When the New York Times, for example, writes about HubSpot as the most successful B2B company, that obviously carries a different weight than when someone on Reddit says, ‘Oh, you know, Salesforce is better than HubSpot.’

“We don’t yet know the exact impact on your visibility in Generative AI or LLM based on those mentions, but we can assume there’s probably a pretty strong connection.”

How can you turn around in 2025?

Indig continued, “I see the link building space moving much more towards web traffic or exposure – public relations (PR) is another name for it — just basically presenting your brand in a positive mood and on the most authoritative sites possible.”

This can take many different forms, but some examples may include:

All of these tactics aim to expand your reach and get you in front of new audiences outside of your owned media.

3. Podcasts

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time we’ve predicted doom for podcasts and audio content like chat rooms (Remember Clubhouse?). They made our list last year as well.

This year, only about 13% of marketers plan to increase their investment in the medium — less than short-form video, user-generated content, images and live streaming.

But why so few when it is believed that there are more 500 million podcast listeners around the world?

Our survey found that most retailers don’t believe podcasts are one of their biggest ROI drivers. In fact, only about 13% reported it as one of their top three.

Mixture Head of Marketing, Dan Stillgoe dug deeper into this for us, saying, “It’s true that you can’t directly attribute leads or revenue to a podcast, but that’s not its purpose.”

Fellow HubSpotter Caroline Forsey added, “I also imagine some marketers feel the barrier to entry is a little high. Creating a full, high-quality podcast episode takes time and resources.”

“It takes more effort than, say, posting an Instagram Reel, and the ROI is harder to track. But while it’s not easy, it’s worth considering if most of your consumers are podcast listeners.”

How can you turn around in 2025?

Your podcasts don’t have to disappear, especially if you have a good listener base, but you may need to rethink your goals and expectations of the medium.

Stillgoe explained, “Podcasts are a long-term brand-building channel that can improve affinity and connection with your brand like no other channel. When you understand the long-term and surrounding benefits, podcasting becomes a clear and obvious investment.”

He adds: “Podcasting is the perfect way to create engaging and authentic content – something customers crave in this era of artificial intelligence.”

So instead of turning to podcasting as an avenue for leads or traffic, turn to it for community building.

Read: Podcasting in 2025: What you need + 9 steps to get started

4. Mega-influencer marketing

It’s no secret: consumers love influencers.

69% of consumers say they believe the influencer’s opinion, while 49% actually do to depend to them for recommendations. But that doesn’t mean any old influencer will do.

Consumers love the influencers and content creators they find related and reliable. As Drum in other words, they opt for those who “can offer connection, companionship and aspiration”.

However, as “influencer” becomes more of a real profession and the number of followers reaches the millions, it becomes more and more difficult to achieve the sense of connection that consumers crave.

This is why more niche influencers are proving to be more effective for brands.

Our survey found that nearly 45% of marketers reported that they have had the most success with micro-influencers, the largest of all groups, followed by macro and nano-influencers. Megainfluencers (those with over a million) came in last.

Some of the reported benefits of smaller influencers included more trust from their followers, access to tight-knit communities, and greater accessibility.

Calvin Goncalvesmarketing associate at New Balance, also noted that smaller influencers offer more authenticity than their larger counterparts.

“Today, getting the most popular person is like ‘okay, cool’. This person has 15 million followers on TikTok, but do they fit into what you want to do? People are very smart and you don’t want someone to think of something as a money grab. “

How can you turn around in 2025?

Marketers must be selective. Choose influencers that really fit your brand, product and audience; people with credibility and insight into what you do, not just a big presence.

For example, if you’re a payment software company, it might be cool for Mr. Beast is promoting your brand in one of his videos, but will that actually help you reach an audience that will buy from you? That is questionable.

See our article. “How to identify and work with the best influencers for your company” for more guidance on how to find the right influencer niches to achieve your goals.

Keep your marketing alive

As the marketing environment continues to evolve, sticking to outdated strategies can diminish your brand’s growth potential.

The trends listed here serve as reminders that what worked yesterday may not produce results tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean you have to throw them out completely.

This is a call for development and innovation. By embracing personalization, prioritizing authentic connections, leveraging artificial intelligence, and collaborating with niche influencers, you can create strategies that will resonate with your 2025 audience and achieve your goals.

Every new year is a turning point – one that allows us to rethink, refine and reinvent. The key to success in this next era of marketing? Stay adaptable, stay curious and always put your audience first.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2022 and is updated annually to include new, exclusive HubSpot data and expert insights.