As we step into 2025, marketing tactics continue to evolve rapidly. New technology and information distribution trends are emerging left and right. For startup founders, staying informed of marketing trends and adopting new ways to connect with your ideal audience is crucial to competing in an increasingly crowded market.
If you want to grow your audience, engage your customers, and boost sales, you’ll need to adopt new strategies and tools. The good news is, there are professionals (like me) doing this full-time and willing to share some distilled knowledge to get you started. Here are my top 10 marketing tips to help you thrive this year.
1. Use AI to Personalize Customer Experiences
A study by McKinsey found that companies using personalization drive 40% more revenue compared to those that don’t. Personalization is one of the most effective ways to win over clients and customers, and your business is missing out on revenue and new customer relationships if you are overlooking it. In the case of your marketing, what do consumers mean by personalization? According to the same study:
“When asked to define personalization, consumers associate it with positive experiences of being made to feel special. They respond positively when brands demonstrate their investment in the relationship, not just the transaction. Thoughtful touchpoints such as checking in post-purchase, sending a how-to video or asking consumers to write a review generate positive brand perceptions.”
Talk to any old-school business person, and I’m confident they’ll laud these kinds of trust-building activities from personal experience. But how do you leverage AI to create personalization while still protecting your time? Here are some ideas we’ve seen work with our clients:
- Automate Messaging: Leverage AI-powered chatbots to engage with visitors and provide tailored responses. Platforms like Salesloft’s Drift and Intercom can predict user intent, personalize interactions, and learn as they go.
- Test and Optimize: Use AI for A/B testing across your website and marketing campaigns to identify the best-performing messages and offers. AI can quickly analyze data and suggest improvements. Many platforms like MailChimp are already incorporating AI, so it may be worth checking the tools you’re already using to see if they can help!
- Predict Future Behavior: AI tools can forecast customer needs and preferences based on past behaviors, enabling you to offer promotions or content before the customer even searches for it. Invite AI to crunch the data and come up with suggestions for you to try.
All that being said, even if you don’t leverage AI to do the work for you, let this be your reminder to invest thought into the personalization of your customer journey.
2. Consider Experimenting with AI-Generated Content
Like it or not, generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude have made content creation faster and more efficient. Whether you’re working on long-form content like blogs or articles, or fleshing out marketing messaging like product descriptions and value propositions, AI can assist with ideation, drafting, and even just revising existing content.
How to do it effectively:
- Use AI tools to generate rough drafts and content ideas. Take the ideas you genuinely like, and enthusiastically toss what you don’t. I recommend telling your AI tool what you liked and didn’t like, so it can factor that in for future work.
- Review and refine to add emotion, brand personality, and your unique take on the topic. Also, take out any inaccuracies or “fluff”. Again, tell your AI tool what you went with in the end.
- Bonus step: Test different versions of content to see which resonates best with your audience.
Does the idea of using AI to generate your content genuinely make you feel yuck? There’s an opportunity for you now and in the future, too. In Gartner’s annual marketing predictions, they estimate by 2027 20% of brands will differentiate themselves as “AI-free” in their business and products. So feel free to stick to that point of view, and don’t forget to talk about it!
3. Embrace Video Content
Video content continues to dominate social media and digital marketing. Platforms like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts are essential for capturing attention and engaging audiences. I was shocked this year to find LinkedIn making major changes to its platform and algorithm to welcome video format and capitalize on this trend, too. There’s no escaping it – People like to watch and listen, and video tends to have a great ROI.
It’s never been easier to enter the video game, with smartphones and affordable lighting and mic technology at your fingertips. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Create short, engaging videos showcasing your products or behind-the-scenes content.
- Use live streaming for Q&A sessions, product launches, and tutorials.
- Repurpose long-form video content (like webinars or interviews) into bite-sized clips for social media. Use AI tools to help you choose short clips based on the platform you want to use them on, and save yourself time and headache.
4. Focus on First-Party and Zero-Party Data
If you’ve used Google Analytics over the past 5+ years, you’ve become all too familiar with the increasing percentage of Unknowns in the datasets. Although Google’s cookies aren’t going anywhere yet, privacy regulations are tightening, and third-party cookies are becoming less reliable, and tougher if not impossible to track.
Building a first-party (tracking behavior on your own properties) and zero-party (information explicitly provided by your customers) data strategy ensures you can continue learning from your audience without breaching privacy laws.
Building a first-party (tracking behavior on your own properties) and zero-party (information explicitly provided by your customers) data strategy ensures you can continue learning from your audience without breaching privacy laws.
Our favorite ways to collect first-party and zero-party data include:
- Using tools like Agolix to create engaging surveys and questionnaires on a semi-regular basis.
- Collecting data through newsletter sign-ups, email marketing interactions, loyalty programs, and lead magnets (gated content).
- Segmenting your audience as you go, based on their responses and behavior.
5. Prioritize Community Building
People crave connection and a sense of belonging. It is no wonder brands that build and nurture communities around their offerings tend to enjoy stronger loyalty and advocacy and require fewer fancy marketing tactics to get the word out.
To be a community builder in your brand, consider some of the following tactics:
- Create Branded Communities: Launch Facebook groups, LinkedIn communities, or Discord servers where your audience can engage, share feedback, and network.
- Host Events and Webinars: Virtual or in-person events centered around shared interests or industry topics strengthen bonds between your brand and its followers. Check out PartyTrick, another Colorado-based startup, to help plan memorable events.
- Facilitate User-Generated Content: Encourage audience-members to share their experiences, reviews, and creative use of your products within the community.
- Be Responsive: Actively engage in community discussions, answer questions, and reply to folks as they engage! If you find yourself lacking time to stay engaged with your audience, hire it out to a VA or an agency like ours.
Another bonus of building a community? You won’t feel so alone in the ups and downs of your startup journey. Take it from me, the camaraderie has made any of my own efforts in community building feel like 1000% ROI!
6. Master Consistency Across Channels
Consistency across all marketing channels (referred to in the business as “omnichannel consistency”) is key to creating a recognizable, sane, and seamless brand experience. Whether someone visits your website, or social media, or reads your emails, the message and design should feel cohesive.
Some tips to make sure you are staying consistent across channels:
- Use the same brand colors, tone of voice, and messaging across platforms. Tools like a Brand Guideline and Brand Messaging Strategy can help guide different parties in your company to stay on the same page.
- Align your social media, email, and website content, and make adjustments across the board when changes need to occur.
- Regularly audit your marketing channels to ensure consistency. I find this is a fun first task for new team members who have a fresh set of eyes.
7. Tap into Niche Influencers
Influencer marketing isn’t just for big brands. Micro and nano-influencers (with smaller but highly engaged audiences) can drive authentic connections and trust for startups. In a study from Morning Consult, they found that the shares of Gen Zers and millennials who said they trust social media influencers grew from 51% in 2019 to 61% in 2023.
To effectively leverage micro and nano-influencers in your industry, first, identify influencers in your niche with engaged audiences. Once you have a list of potential influencers, invite them to collaborate on product reviews, social media takeovers, or even giveaways.
One important recommendation is to focus on long-term partnerships rather than one-off collaborations if possible. Having a mindset of mutual growth and benefit will create better outcomes on both sides.
8. Repurpose Content Strategically
Maximize your marketing efforts by repurposing long-form content into shorter formats. Not only does this boost ROI, but it also supports omnichannel consistency (you are genuinely saying the same thing in different formats and different lengths across different channels!), and can support greater visibility of the content to your audiences.
Some low-hanging fruit for your consideration:
- Turn blog posts into social media posts
- Convert webinars into podcasts or infographics
- Create blogs from webinar transcripts
- Pull your favorite quotes from long-form content into engaging graphics
9. Optimize your Website for Mobile and Speed
More than half of web traffic comes from mobile devices. A slow-loading site or poor mobile experience can turn customers away and hurt your SEO. This really matters: Google reports that 53% of users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load.
Be sure to use responsive design for your website, and check every page on mobile devices when releasing them in the wild. To improve load time, be sure you’re sizing your images correctly, or using a compressor to get rid of any excess.
You can test your own site’s performance with PageSpeed Insights. We love doing optimization work, so please feel free to reach out to me if you want to talk about ways to optimize your website!
10. Double Down on Email Marketing
Email is a direct line to your audience. Unlike social media, where algorithms control visibility, emails land straight in your customer’s inbox. When personalized and targeted correctly, email marketing can nurture leads, drive conversions, and re-engage dormant users. What’s more, the data you can collect from email marketing can provide important insights into what messages work and don’t work for your goals.
Email marketing continues to deliver one of the highest returns on investment (ROI) across all digital marketing channels. For startups, leveraging email effectively can lead to sustained customer engagement, stronger loyalty, and increased buy-in. In fact, a study by Litmus reveals that email marketing generates the following average returns by industry:
- Media, publishing, events, sports, & entertainment: 32:1
- Software & technology: 36:1
- Marketing, PR, & advertising agency: 42:1
- Retail, ecommerce, & consumer goods: 45:1
To make the most of your email marketing, consider the following strategies:
- Segment Your Audience: Divide your email list into different segments based on user behavior, purchase history, location, or preferences.
- Personalize Content: Use the recipient’s name, recommend products based on past purchases, and tailor email content to reflect the subscriber’s interests. Tools like ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp enable automation of personalized emails at scale.
- Include Interactive Elements: Interactive emails with polls, videos, and clickable carousels can increase engagement.
- Test and Analyze: Run A/B tests on subject lines, call-to-actions (CTAs), and email design to understand what resonates most with your audience. Continuously optimize based on performance metrics.
- Drip Campaigns: Automate sequences of emails that nurture leads over time. For example, a new subscriber might receive a welcome series introducing your brand, followed by educational content, and eventually, targeted offers.
Of course, there are some people who will never open an email. But don’t let that handful of folks stop you from taking advantage of what is still one of the more powerful marketing channels of 2025.
Final Thoughts
Marketing in 2025 is all about leveraging technology (some new, some old), creating personalized experiences, and building authentic and meaningful connections with your audience. By adopting these 10 strategies, your startup will be well-positioned to thrive in the year ahead. Stay curious, experiment often, and remember—change is inevitable, and can be fun if you let it!
As always, we’re here to support you and take any important marketing initiatives for your startup off your plate. Let’s talk!
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