The one thing most, if not all, cultures have in common is celebrating the new year. It’s likely been going on for as long as there have been humans. It’s also likely that people have wanted to know what the new year will bring for just as long. 

Once, people used everything from frogs to tea leaves to cheese to predict the future. Now we are stuck using facts, which isn’t nearly as entertaining. Angelina Eng takes a look into the very near future and lays out the five essential marketing priorities for 2025.

Also, Zac Stucki explains why a lot of what passes for data-driven marketing is just assumptions with numbers glued on. He also tells how to go from this guesswork to real growth.

Constantine von Hoffman
Managing Editor

Digital advertising

5 essential priorities for marketers in 2025

Position your brand for success in 2025 with these marketing priorities, from smarter AI adoption to better data transparency.

Marketing management

From guesswork to growth: How to build a customer-centric marketing strategy

Don't let the 'assumption trap' hold you back. See how real brands used customer interviews to unlock game-changing growth.

Marketing artificial intelligence (AI)

The 13-point roadmap for thriving in the age of AI search

Actionable insights for optimizing your digital presence across search engines, AI platforms and emerging technological ecosystems.

Marketing artificial intelligence (AI)

In 2025, the AI-infused world will require humans bring strategy and judgement

The new marketer is “Position-less” empowered to achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency, execution, and personalization.

MarTech buyer's guides

The key to choosing the right marketing automation platform

Whether you’re exploring marketing automation for the first time or seeking a better solution, this guide provides detailed vendor profiles and insights to help you make the right choice.

MarTechBot

Creating personas for account-based marketing (ABM): Best of the MarTechBot

See how the MarTechBot responds to a prompt and how the prompt can be improved. Today: How to build personas for ABM campaigns.

Marketing technology

Take the 2025 State of Your Stack Survey

Time is running out to participate in our survey in collaboration with Scott Brinker of chiefmartec and MarketingOps.com.

Retail

Best practices for retail web push campaigns

Learn how to create impactful web push campaigns and reach your audience at just the right moment with personalized messages that inspire action.

Customer relationship management (CRM)

5 ways to integrate LinkedIn with your CRM for better sales-marketing collaboration

Connecting the largest online community of businesspeople with your CRM streamlines a number of processes. Here's how you can do it.

Your voice matters

How does your martech stack stack up?

More tools, fewer tools, or the same… how has your martech stack changed? Share your experience in the 2025 State of Your Stack Survey.

Take the survey

What else we're reading

• What will happen with B2B marketing next year.

• AI expert on how the space is developing.

MarTech research

• The 2024 MarTech Replacement survey tracks the replacement of applications in the martech stack yearly. Download the 2024 report (no registration required).

• NEW! Take our 2025 State of Your Stack survey and share your vision for your team’s martech stack. We’ll unveil the findings in 2025 and share them with the community.

What they're saying

• “The future of advertising and marketing lies in a thoughtful, holistic approach that addresses today’s complexities and sets the stage for tomorrow’s growth. The time to act is now. Start small, but think big — because the steps you take today will determine your ability to lead in an increasingly competitive and dynamic industry.” Angelina Eng in 5 essential priorities for marketers in 2025.

• “As marketers, we’ve put a lot of work into fooling ourselves. Our “expertise” is built on a foundation of assumptions (sprinkled with data) as shaky as a house of cards on a diving board. We spend millions creating a marketing mix based on those assumptions. We create content we assume will resonate. Then, we A/B test and build complex funnels that are fundamentally assumption-driven. It’s the marketing equivalent of ‘I don’t know where we’re going, but we’re making great time!’” Zac Stucki in From guesswork to growth: How to build a customer-centric marketing strategy.

From Search Engine Land

• How to fix the ‘Server error (5xx)’ error in Google Search Console
• How to prevent Meta Ads restrictions on health and wellness campaigns
• Google Marketing Live set for May 21
• Google is exploring ads in new AI Mode
• Google to change how Tag Manager works with Google Ads in April