As the year is flying by, let’s reflect on emerging marketing trends that have been capturing the 2025 year. Whether you are a business owner, influencer, college student, experienced professional, or someone intrigued by the world, everything that is trending impacts you in some way. Keep reading to learn what is taking over right now and what you have to look out for.
What is a Trend and How Does it Take Off?
An emerging marketing trend in the media world is defined as being the subject of many posts on a social media site or application within a short period of time. Viral content, on the other hand, is when content suddenly appears out of nowhere and gets a lot of engagement. Viral is singular, trending is plural. A trend occurs when a combination of factors fit together in perfect harmony. So, while content that has gone viral can turn into a trend, this article will focus on topics that are trending and that have more potential to impact you.
What is Trending So Far
Can emerging marketing trends take your marketing to the next level? The beauty of marketing is that there are a variety of ways to accomplish the same thing with no right answer. However, the following tools of this strategic playbook, in no specific order, are guaranteed to boost your digital marketing strategy.
Artificial Intelligence
You probably already guessed that one of the most prominent emerging marketing trends of 2025 thus far is artificial intelligence. It feels like it has taken the world by storm, and honestly, it has. While AI has been in the works for a long time, its new launches have been a rapid game changer. Artificial Intelligence encompasses a large range of applications, but in the digital marketing world specifically, AI-driven personalization is taking over. Customers crave personalized attention to them in their purchase process and overall user experience. To adapt your business to this growing desire, consider how you can use AI to speed up your processes and allow more time to be focused on the client. At Fix & Form, a main tool we use is Otter.ai, which allows us to have notes and summaries generated of every meeting. This is key in allowing us to double-check that we catch every important detail and spend more time focusing on our next step and not going backwards to remind ourselves what the meetings were about. There are a plethora of tools out there now that will boost your business. Take the time to research and experiment!
Voice Search Optimization
Voice search optimization is a form of AI, but we want to highlight this as its own section because of how important it is. The marketing automation tool of voice search optimization comes in many forms. Perhaps the most common examples are Siri, Alexa, Amazon Echo, or Apple CarPlay. Further, you may have noticed that your Apple CarPlay now pops up with suggestions and knows exactly where you are going when you hop into your car. To some, this might seem like a great addition, having suggestions like “you are tired today, do you want me to direct you to the nearest coffee shop?” But for others, this emerging technology may seem hyper-invasive, raising ethical questions. At what point is the data being collected and used to further the user experience too much? As technology continues to increase at a rapid rate, it is important to take a step back as a user and evaluate what limits you want to set for brand transparency and what ethical dilemmas are non-negotiable for you.
Short-Form Video Dominance
While this might not be a surprise, short-form media has taken over in the digital marketing sector. Especially for younger generations, the attention span of users is dwindling, making capturing your audience increasingly difficult. Marketing analytics has become a key player in learning each user’s needs and tailoring specific content to them. The TikTok ban in January sent millions of users and creators spiraling, leaving a lot in the air about where the future of short-form content was going. Even though TikTok is back in the United States, the temporary ban was a reminder to many how quickly the media world can change and why consistently being on your toes and willing to adapt is the way to survive in the market. Even at Fix & Form, we have experimented with short-form media and what content would potentially look like on different platforms such as TikTok, and how that would change based on the audience we were targeting. Instagram Reels have become a similar approach to dive into that is competing with TikTok ,especially during the ban. Even though TikTok is back, many users have left the app, leaving rising competitors an opportunity to further change the short-form content world.
Interactive Content
Interactive content is exactly what it sounds like–any form of content that users can interact with such as virtual reality, livestream, quizzes, live product testing, and more. For example, brands such as Function of Beauty have excelled using interactive content as a marketing automation tool, creating a hair quiz that users can take to be provided with optimal hair product recommendations. Another brand with a unique approach is Nove Bikes. They provide the opportunity for customers to build their dream bike through an interactive tool. Creating interactive content serves as a competitive advantage for many businesses in the digital marketing sector.
Sustainable, Ethical, and Purpose-Driven Branding
The younger generation has not been quiet about their desire for brand transparency. The days are gone where businesses can easily get away with unethical practices. There is still a long way to go for true transparency to be reached and sustainable initiatives to be accomplished, but the future holds promising values. Consumers want the brands they follow to have a genuine purpose, strong values, and transparent motives.
What You Can Expect in the Future
Digital Marketing is taking over. The question is, will you adapt with it? What is trending now may not be in a couple of months, hence why they are just trends. However, evaluating emerging marketing trends is important in gaining insight into where the market is going and how you can be proactive in preparing your business and digital marketing strategy in the best way. It is important to be ahead of the trends, or a “trendsetter,” rather than being behind the trends as a follower. While rapid change can be difficult, we hope you are just as excited as we are in using marketing automation tools to be ahead of the times, leveraging tools and insights to improve your human-centered brand with full brand transparency. Let’s connect, and build a digital marketing strategy that is right for you!
