How will Digital Marketing Look like in 2025

The future of digital marketing is diverse, and its potential is vast. Technology is a driving force in today’s digital marketing landscape for businesses and consumers alike.

Social media today has become the platform for businesses to communicate and get to know their consumer market in various ways.

With millions of people looking at their electronic screens daily, how can businesses prepare themselves for the future? There’s little to no tolerance for poor digital experiences anymore.

By 2025, Gartner expects 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers to occur in digital channels.

COVID-19 has been a huge driver of transformation over the 2 years, allowing deployment of more advanced digital experiences. 

#1 Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI is a heavily talked about topic, and in recent years the usage of AI has ramped up in businesses.

The need for smarter, quicker and more intelligent analysis of information led to the growth of AI and machine learning technology. You might be thinking AI is just a trendy word, but it is being used everywhere.

Businesses must remember that AI isn’t a bad thing; AI is here to assist us, to sift through the data to bring about better decision making. AI technology is growing in multiple areas, one of which is using AI to create original content.

AI software may soon be able to better identify key influencers who could be potential brand ambassadors. AI can analyse more data, quicker than we do as humans.

Programmatic Advertising is taking place, providing dynamic modes of advertising to simplify digital ad campaigns.

AI-enabled B2B customer experiences are set to increase with data and sales tech tools enabling automated, algorithmic decisions. Buyers are looking for seamless experiences with instantaneous results.

Source: The Future of Sales in 2025 – A Gartner Trend Insight Report

#2 Hyper-personalisation Experience

For B2B marketers looking to boost their results, impress their potential buyers, especially in a crowded market, weaving personalisation throughout your strategy is a must.

Businesses are steering away from the one-size-fits-all strategy and utilising the immense customer data that they have gotten through digital.

Hyper-personalisation, also referred to as one-to-one marketing, involves leveraging on AI and machine-learning paving the way forward, it is becoming a reality to drive impactful customer journeys through various marketing touchpoints.

Businesses are just beginning to realise the ability to really know their own operations, know their customers and understand their needs. As technology continues to improve, these will become more seamless.

Making sure your audience receives the right content at the right time and place will be crucial to engagement in an oversaturated landscape.

Tailor your content not just to the platform, consider their location and cultural backgrounds. Because the consumers viewing your campaign from different touch points will be enticed by different content, at different times, in different ways. 

#3 Social Media is Here to Stay

Social media for interaction, branding and marketing. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and various social channels providing videos, podcasts, and popular social media advertising platforms will boost sales. When a product or service is advertised in any of the above platforms, customer views will increase, visibility increases.

Businesses and consumers alike are taking a more open approach to social media, becoming accepting towards various forms of content. This in turn leads to marketing a product brand easier due to the mass reach that these platforms occur.

Influencers that excel on social media will be a go-to as there’s a fit for every business. From mega-influencers with a million followers down to nano-influencers with only a thousand followers, business can look to approach influencers that are the right market fit on their target social media platform.

User generated content (UGC), Tik Tok effects, Instagram filters, branded hashtags are just a few ways that businesses are engaging in. The popularity of such is set to rise as they drive engagement and raise awareness for businesses.

Amazon SG did such an amazing as the medium, with its branded hashtag challenge #UnboxAmazonPrimeSG, with a branded effect. The outcome? Amazon SG reached out to 909,000 people through its #UnboxAmazonPrimeSG Branded Hashtag Challenge, driving over 3.6 million total unique video views with more than 9,100 total videos created for the challenge. 

#4 Into the Metaverse with Experiential Marketing

Businesses are looking at new ways to offer more interactive, engaging and personal experiences to their customers. Augmented reality now has a common place through our phones. Virtual reality, a long-time player is now seeing an uptick in its usage. It is emerging as the most efficient and competent solution.

Through using VR as a storytelling platform, it enables users to connect with a company or brand with an emotional experience that is unimaginable when compared to traditional models of marketing.

As per , the virtual reality market is estimated at USD 6.1 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 20.9 by 2025.

Meta is taking the forefront with a big push to the Metaverse, looking to create such immersive experiences. AR and VR are becoming more accessible, businesses can expect to add this technology to their marketing strategy.

#5 Content Remains King. Quality & Originality Matters

Content marketing remains critical to the success of a business, merely writing posts to generate leads and traffic may not be sufficient. Businesses need to start looking towards creating content hubs and applying multiple content strategies to stay relevant.

Content needs to provide high-quality information to your buyers’ interest. Video content remains a top performer, with short-form video content seeing a serious uptick in popularity due to its efficiency, and overtaking infographics and blog posts. Short form videos’ rapid growth aligns well with the fast-paced attention span of online audiences in various demographics.

Aim for variety of content with video, white papers, and other rich media to engage your target audience. Generating and investing in a well organised content hub allows your SEO strategy to grow and compete in the long game. 

Wrapping up: Digital Marketing holds a Bright Future

The marketing world moves at the speed of light. These digital marketing trends are hard to ignore and keeping on top of these trends will be the best way to stay competitive, grow and secure customer loyalty.

Businesses need to stay relevant and start thinking ahead about what the best approach will be when adapting to the digital scene. How to nurture their own talent pool of staff to succeed in the fast-paced marketing world and maintain a sense of relevance to your audience.

Increase engagement and brand trust continuously throughout your digital marketing campaigns and automate work to focus on content and strategy to keep up with the ever-growing marketing landscape.

Start by learning how to . Now, let’s look at how we can tackle the topic of SEO and up your gameplan with the MAC framework.

Written by:

Malcolm Yam, Lecturer
Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Malcolm has been lecturing in Ngee Ann Polytechnic for 6 years, delving in immersive media, web technologies and digital marketing scene.