Data from over 1700 global marketers

If you’re like me, you probably wish you had more time and resources to do your work, think about groundbreaking ideas, brush up on digital marketing industry trends, and deliver unforgettable brand experiences to your audience.

I understand it. That’s why I’ve put together this overview of the top marketing trends for 2025. I’ll share some of my favorite highlights from HubSpot’s recent survey of more than 1,700 B2B and B2C marketers and explore the key trends, tools, and challenges that today’s marketing professionals are most focused on.

Plus, read on to hear from executives at OpenAI, Asana, Adobe, Bitly, and more.

Top digital marketing trends in 2025

1. AI helps marketers keep up with increasing content demands.

In 2024, AI usage among marketers skyrocketed. And while there are countless AI tools available to help with a variety of marketing needs, today’s marketers report that they have been particularly focused on using AI content creation tools to keep up with their increasing content demands to keep.

Interestingly, different marketers use AI to create content in different ways. While some report AI being used to develop entire designs from scratch, one of the most common AI use cases has been converting content from one format to another.

For example, I found that marketers may use AI tools to convert a blog post into a video script or a video clip into a social media post. AI has enabled many marketing teams to increase their content output without having to hire more people.

Digging a little deeper, here are the top AI use cases identified by our survey respondents:

1. Content creation (using generative AI to write text, create images, collect ideas, etc.) (43%)
2. Research (using generative AI for market research to find datasets, summarize articles, etc.) (34%)
3. Brainstorming (using generative AI to brainstorm content ideas) (27%)
4. Learning how to do things (learning an Excel function using generative AI, debugging SQL code, etc.) (40%)
5. Data analysis/reporting (using generative AI to analyze or manipulate marketing data) (35%)
6. Take notes or summarize meetings (27%)

When it comes to the types of content marketers have created using generative AI, I’ve found social media posts, emails, blog posts, etc. Topic ideasImages and product descriptions are the most common.

In addition, many marketers use tools like HubSpot’s content marketing software to convert existing blog posts into social posts, newsletter content, audio files, and other forms of content in just minutes.

Are you curious about using AI for content creation? HubSpot’s free AI content creator is a great starting point.

It is also important to clarify that while many of our respondents were focused on using AI to generate content, AI is poised to expand beyond content generation into a number of related areas.

As head of strategic marketing at OpenAI Dane Vahey states: “Marketers have scratched the surface of AI, but until now it has been mostly reserved for content generation. We expect marketers to take the leap in 2025 to use AI for creative ideation, data-driven decision making, workflow automation and strategic brainstorming.”

2. Many marketers find it difficult to integrate AI into their workflows.

Despite the growing popularity of AI content creation tools, our survey found that many marketers still struggle to learn how to use these tools effectively and integrate them into their workflows.

As Briana Rogers, Vice President of Marketing Miroshared: “Marketers must learn to integrate AI into their work.”

She continued: “The space is changing so quickly and we need to experiment with everything… from the more established use cases – like using machine learning to improve ad buying or building predictive customer value models – to newer areas like pattern recognition .” in user research and data, supporting creative development and building complete client campaigns powered by AI.”

Our survey found that while marketers are increasingly investing in AI, many are still not confident about their ability to leverage these tools.

More precisely, simple 47% strongly or somewhat agreed that they have a clear understanding of how to use AI in their marketing strategyand 48% strongly or somewhat agreed that they have a clear understanding of how to measure the impact of AI in their marketing strategy.

Additionally, ethically integrating these tools can be challenging even for marketers who understand the basics of AI implementation.

As Dr. Rebecca HindsHead of Asana’s Work Innovation Lab, warns: “Gen Z is sounding the alarm: They are more concerned than any other demographic about whether their companies can trust generative AI providers to maintain responsible AI practices.”

She continues: “Vendors must lead with transparency, clear AI principles and a commitment to ethical innovation to win the support of Generation Z in 2025” – and this can be quite difficult for many marketers.

3. AI has a big impact – but it shouldn’t replace humans.

While many content marketers (myself included) have expressed concerns about the potential for AI tools to replace human content creators, our recent data suggests that this is unlikely.

Previous HubSpot survey data shows that the vast majority of marketers are still editing content generated by AI, suggesting that AI tools are acting more like assistants than full-fledged, human content developers.

Additionally, neither customers nor search engines are likely to reward over-reliance on AI-generated content.

For example, a recent post by Curtis del Principe, senior marketing manager at HubSpot, highlighted the penalty imposed on an agency after it manipulated thousands of posts using AI in a so-called “SEO heist.”

Other research has highlighted the risk of plagiarism when using AI-generated content Google’s twins (formerly Bard) actually allows you to double-check its output by providing links to sources that confirm the information provided.

In other words, AI is definitely having a big impact on the world of content generation – but I don’t think it will completely replace human marketers.

4. Social media is the marketing channel with the highest ROI.

In 2025, the top positions marketers are recruiting for in their companies are content-related, with a particular emphasis on social content.

What’s notable is that this trend extends across all organizational hierarchies, with an increased focus on social media for everyone, from the individual contributors responsible for creating posts to managers and directors responsible for content creation. strategy are responsible.

When we asked marketers to pick the top three marketing positions they think will be the highest priority to fill in 2025, they named the following positions:

1. Content creators (15%)
2. Social Media Coordinator (13%)
3. Social media strategist (13%)
4. Creative assistant (13%)
5. Creative Director (12%)

It’s clear that social media remains a huge priority for today’s marketers. But what is driving this continued focus on the social?

Our 2024 Consumer Trends Survey found that social media is actually the preferred product discovery channel for Gen Z and Millennials, with Gen X and Baby Boomers also quickly adopting it. In fact, 64% of Gen Z respondents, 59% of Millennials, and 47% of Gen X respondents said they discovered a product on social media in the last three months.

This survey also found that 17% of social media users said they had purchased a product on the app in the last three months, one in four made a purchase based on an influencer’s recommendation, and 19% sent a DM (direct message). the customer service.

Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook allow marketers to set up virtual stores where users can shop without ever leaving the app. From brand recognition to influencer recommendations to in-app purchases and customer service via DMs, social media can become a one-stop shop for the entire customer journey.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that marketers are quickly adopting social selling. Our recent social selling survey found that 87% of marketers say this approach is effective and 59% report that they are generating more social sales than in previous years.

5. Facebook is still proving to be a powerful platform for marketers.

So social media is clearly the place to be. But which platforms actually offer the most benefit to marketers?

Despite what you may have heard about Facebook being “dead,” it is still the most popular platform for marketers. 58% of survey respondents said they use the platform as part of their marketing strategy.

Marketers also report that Facebook delivered the highest ROI of any social media platform last year. 40% of respondents said the platform is among the top three ROI drivers.

Therefore, I was not surprised that more than two out of three marketers plan to maintain the same level of investment or increase their investment in their Facebook marketing efforts in 2025.

6. The showdown between Threads and X continues.

As Facebook continues to lead the social media marketing space, the showdown between its Threads platform and X (formerly Twitter) continues.

This is what our latest survey data shows 68% of marketers plan to continue or expand their investments in X in 2025while 59% plan to continue or expand their investment in Threads. Additionally, 8% of marketers plan to try Threads for the first time in 2025, and only 18% of marketers name X as one of the three ROI-boosting social media platforms.

To learn more about X versus Threads – and how you can leverage these competing platforms in your own marketing strategy – take a look at some of these in-depth insights:

7. Visual storytelling is on the rise.

While an effective content strategy typically leverages a range of platforms, our latest survey data suggests that visual formats such as short videos, images and live streaming videos are particularly popular.

These forms of visual storytelling were among the most widely used content formats in 2024, and in 2025, marketers plan to increase their investment in all three formats more than any other format.

That doesn’t surprise me. Finally, all three of these visually focused formats were among the highest ROI formats in 2024, and social media platforms that focus on visual content (like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok) also saw increased investment prices higher in 2025 than other channels.

In fact, our blog team has been predicting a short-video renaissance since the rise of TikTok during the pandemic, and today there is little competition.

Short videos are now the number one content marketing format. Most marketers say it offers them a higher ROI than any other format.

Specifically, when asked about the formats they use most, marketers listed the following (I bolded the visual formats to illustrate how widespread they have become):

• Short video (29%)
• Images (29%)
• Interviews (22%)
• Blog posts (19%)
• Live streaming video (19%)

When asked which formats deliver the highest ROI, they highlighted the following:

• Short video (21%)
• Images (19%)
• Live streaming video (16%)
• Interviews (15%)
• Blog posts (15%)

This is not just about where last year’s marketing dollars were spent, but it is also a trend that is reflected in marketers’ plans for the future. When asked where they want to go increase Investments in 2025, respondents said:

• Short video (17%)
• Images (15%)
• UGC (14%)
• Live streaming (14%)
• Podcasts or other audio content (13%)

And in the area of ​​social media, respondents also reported that there will be increased investment in the following social formats in 2025:

• YouTube (30%)
• Instagram (29%)
• TikTok (28%)
• LinkedIn (26%)
• Facebook (26%)

Priya GillVP and Global Head of Marketing at SurveyMonkey, has achieved significant success with visual marketing.

She explains: “Short videos, images and user-generated content are powerful because they align with the way today’s audience consumes and interacts with content – quickly, visually and authentically. These formats grab attention in seconds and enable companies to tell compelling stories that resonate.”

This also applies to us at HubSpot – our own blog team tests Short videos to promote content. That’s because marketers have realized that video-centric social media platforms are the most effective and offer the best ROI.

8. Niche influencers are becoming an important channel.

While Influencer marketing has been an important marketing channel for some time, our current survey highlights the growing role of niche influencers in particular.

In 2024, marketers reported using and benefiting from smaller influencers – influencers with fewer than 100,000 followers – more than larger influencers.

Our respondents found that despite their relatively small number of followers, these niche influencers offered access to audiences with strong brand loyalty and trust, making them particularly valuable.

Parimal DeshpandeSenior Director of Product Marketing at Adobe Express, agrees that working with a content creator who resonates with your audience can be incredibly valuable, arguing: “The key to successful marketing is building authenticity and trust. “

He continues: “Personality-driven content delivered across creators and channels that resonates with audiences is integral to achieving this.”

So it makes sense that nearly one in four respondents cited influencer marketing as a top trend for 2024, with 68% saying they partnered with a niche influencer in the last year.

In contrast, only one in four survey respondents reported working with an influencer who had between 100,000 and one million followers, and only 7% worked with influencers with an audience of over one million.

To learn more about how real marketers work with influencers, we asked Bitly’s CMO Tara Robertson to shed some light on your organization’s recent experiences with influencer marketing.

She shared: “In the second half of 2024, we launched an influencer pilot program on Instagram to better understand how established personalities and communities can further drive content, conversation and awareness beyond Bitly’s own channel.”

And what happened?

Robertson reports: “The results were convincing. Compared to our average Instagram performance, We saw 5x higher impressions and video views, 6x higher engagement, and 82% growth in followers. As a result, working with influencers will become a larger part of our overall marketing strategy to expand our reach, connect with our audiences more effectively and deliver measurable results while maintaining trust and authenticity.”

When we asked respondents more specifically about the benefits of working with these smaller influencers and creators, the main reason they cited was that their followers or subscribers have more trust in these niche influencers.

Additionally, respondents also said that smaller influencers give them access to narrower, niche communities and are generally much cheaper than influencers with larger audiences.

In other words: the number of followers is not everything. Our recent Social Media Trends report found that most marketers say “quality of content” is the most important factor when deciding which influencers to work with, not just how many followers or subscribers an influencer has.

Actually, how Aaron CortHead of Marketing, Growth and GTM at Craft Ventures, emphasizes: “The demands on what people do these days are very high for both companies and consumers.”

In this environment, “influencers help bridge this gap by making a concerted effort to first build positive brand affinity and word of mouth.”

9. Data protection changes remain a challenge.

From iOS changes to GDPR and Google’s plans to phase out third-party cookies, I’ve seen firsthand that increasing privacy regulations have posed a significant hurdle to the growth of the marketing industry in recent years.

As a marketer myself, I know these changes can be frustrating – but with 84% of respondents in our recent Consumer Trends survey saying they believe privacy is a human right, public opinion is definitely shifting towards more protections for personal data.

So it’s understandable that nearly nine in ten marketers (88%) reported that privacy changes like GDPR, iOS, and Google’s phaseout of third-party cookies last year impacted their overall marketing strategy.

The good news is that today there are many tools and strategies that companies adopt to balance effective marketing with adequate protection of people’s data.

To learn more about these alternatives, I recommend you check out this blog post that explores various solutions in detail.

10. Personalization is essential.

According to our latest survey results, 86% of marketers say their customers have a somewhat or very personalized experience with their brand. What’s even more impressive is that a whopping 94% report that providing a personalized customer experience impacts their company’s revenue.

In other words, the data shows that providing a highly personalized experience is more important than ever.

At the same time, studies show that most marketers lack crucial information about their target audience. Only 65% ​​say they have high-quality data on their audience.

When we asked marketers what they knew about their audience, less than half said they knew where they consume content, their basic demographic information, or their interests and hobbies, let alone what types of products they care about or what insights they have into their shopping habits.

To address these challenges, I have found Marketing analytics from HubSpot Tools can be incredibly valuable. This tool provides helpful insights into customer behavior, preferences, and interaction patterns, helping marketers create more personalized and effective campaigns.

Learn more about personalization with HubSpot CRM.

11. Marketers still struggle with disconnected data and silos.

To effectively personalize your marketing efforts, you need a single source of truth. Unfortunately, our data suggests that this continues to be a challenge, with many marketers reporting that they struggle with disparate data sources, corporate silos, and the lack of a centralized and accessible source of information about their customers.

Actually simple One in five marketers said their marketing data is fully integrated into the tools they useand 30% shared that interactions between the different tools they used in their marketing role were either easy or very disjointed.

Likewise, 28% of respondents felt it was somewhat or very difficult to get the data they needed from other teams in their company, while 34% felt it was somewhat or very difficult to share their own data with other teams to share in your company. These issues create a “crisis of disconnect,” which can result in marketing teams not getting a holistic view of their data and the quality of that data declining.

Anna JamesWork Innovation Analytics Lead in Asana’s Work Innovation Lab speaks eloquently about the risks of this crisis and shares, “Marketers are facing extremely high levels of digital burnout due to the use of fragmented tools and systems.”

Therefore, she argues, “In 2025, success will come not from adding more technology, but from refining and streamlining technology, allowing marketers to focus on creativity and higher quality impact.”

And James is not alone in this perspective. Today’s marketers recognize the power of a single source of truth to overcome the challenges of siled data and siled teams: We found that 82% of respondents believe that a single source of truth for their marketing data is easily, somewhat or very beneficial to their organization .

A single source of truth directly addresses the biggest challenges that arise when teams are misaligned: lack of effective communication, sales and marketing teams using different tools, and difficulty sharing data between teams. This is probably why 69% of marketers say their CRM is somewhat or very important to the success of their overall marketing strategy.

One of my favorite ways to gain access to a single source of truth is through implementation a CRM like HubSpot. HubSpot’s CRM integrates data with tools, breaking down silos and driving alignment across teams.

12. Being data-driven is no longer a nice-to-have.

While the importance of data is far from new, this year’s survey responses demonstrate how important it has become to ensure your marketing organization is truly data-driven.

Effective use of data helps marketers understand the performance of their various strategies, which in turn helps them prove the ROI of their efforts and supports their decision-making for future strategies.

At the same time, we have found that the use of data to acquire and engage customers has become less important in the minds of today’s marketers, at least in part because the data landscape has become more sophisticated due to increasing privacy and security requirements.

When we also asked respondents to identify the biggest challenges they encountered in understanding and collecting data from their audience, 21% said consumers are less trusting of their personal data, 19% pointed to poor data quality, and 18% said indicates that stricter data protection regulations restrict access to personal data.

Nevertheless, our research shows that despite these challenges, data-driven work is no longer a “nice-to-have”. In today’s landscape, aligning a brand’s marketing initiatives with its customers’ values ​​depends on maintaining access to accurate and timely data about those customers.

That’s probably why, when asked about the biggest changes in the marketing industry in the last year, 29% emphasized the importance of using data to inform their marketing strategy, and 26% emphasized the importance of using data to demonstrate the ROI and business value of their marketing efforts.

In fact, the biggest benefits of developing a data-driven marketing strategy, according to our respondents, were understanding which marketing strategies are most effective (cited by 31% of respondents), increasing the ROI of their marketing efforts (30%), and reaching their target audience more effectively ( 27%).

As Priya Gill of SurveyMonkey explains: “We find success using data (surveys and surveys) to understand what matters most to our audiences by keeping content short and succinct, showing authenticity, and testing and iterating our ideas.”

Using data effectively can be quite a challenge – but succeeding in today’s business environment is something marketers can’t afford not be data driven.

What’s Next in Marketing Industry Trends?

When it comes to the trends that are driving the current marketing industry, the list above is just the tip of the iceberg. As I compiled this list, I was continually struck by how complex and challenging the modern marketing landscape has become.

That’s why insight into today’s top marketing trends is so important. Although this article contains many of my top trends, I would definitely recommend checking out our 2025 State of Marketing Report for a detailed list of the top tactics, opportunities, challenges, channels, and content marketers in 2025.

Because when it comes to marketing, I’ve learned that it’s important to stay current. So don’t be afraid to dive into the data!