Marketing Like It's 2025 - The Best Strategies for the Next Era of Digital Growth

Marketing Like It's 2025

I've been thinking about how crazy the marketing world has gotten lately. You blink and there's some brand new trend, a new AI tool, or a platform everyone's suddenly obsessed with. It's like the moment you finally understand what worked last year, the rules get flipped upside down, again. But here's the thing: 2025 will be one of those years where you either adapt fast, or risk falling behind. I don't mean that in a fearful kind of way, but more like, hey, things are moving fast, and we've gotta stay on our toes. Let's talk about it, I will walk you through everything you need to know to stay on top of your game.

Why Everything is Changing and Why That's Actually Exciting

Let’s just start with the obvious, AI. It’s not going anywhere. And no, it’s not just writing blogs and generating emails, that’s nothing new. What AI is doing now is way more interesting, it is actually helping marketers optimize entire strategies in real time. Not just helping you create content, but figuring out what content works, when it works, and who it works best for. Imagine having a little robot on your team, constantly improving your marketing to get better results while you’re off drinking your third cup of coffee. That’s what tools like ChatGPT, HubSpot’s Breeze, or Jasper are essentially doing right now. You can see this in action in campaigns like those we covered in Cluely's viral growth strategy, where new tools completely changed the trajectory of growth. You won’t believe this, but brands that are leaning into AI are seriously cutting down costs and ramping up results. Meanwhile, marketers who aren’t using it? They’re burning more hours, spending more, and struggling to keep up. And I totally get it, change is scary. But resisting it? That might be the bigger risk. Here’s what I think: try a few new approaches. Write a blog post or a few email subject lines that break from your usual style. Test them against what you normally send and let the data speak. And even better? Track the patterns yourself, the times your audience shows up most, the subject lines that get the most attention, the posts that actually drive conversions. Patterns are there if you watch closely, and they reveal what really works and what doesn’t. Make viral.app the place that catches those patterns for you, turns them into clear actions, and makes every new post more effective than the last.

Attention Spans Are a Myth

Everyone's saying “people have no attention span anymore,” but that’s not totally true. People will pay attention, if you hook them fast and give them something worth watching. That’s where short form video comes in, and wow, has it taken over. I mean, TikToks, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, they’re everywhere. Short form videos are officially the best performing content format for businesses right now. Why? Because people love it. It’s fast, fun, and doesn’t waste your time. You scroll, you get something valuable or entertaining in 15 seconds, maybe 30, and move on. And if they like it, they stay. Social platforms are basically obsessed with this kind of content. They're literally rewarding creators and brands who keep people engaged. So if you're not playing around with short form videos yet, now's the time. If you want a step by step framework for this, check out how to build a TikTok creator network. Let me tell you about The Hustle (the media brand owned by HubSpot). They launched this YouTube channel full of long form storytelling, really well produced stuff, and it started blowing up. We’re talking over 400,000 monthly views, and the comments? People simply love it. But here’s the clever part, they take clips from those videos and remix them into Shorts, Reels, and even blog posts. It’s one story, told in ten different ways. You can totally do that too. One great piece of content can fuel your socials for days. Just track your engagement, look at watch time, comments, shares. That’s what the goal is, remember: short form gets attention, but long form builds trust.

People Don't Trust Ads Anymore

Let me tell you the hard truth, people are kinda over brands shouting at them. They see a sponsored post and immediately scroll past. Ads are getting more expensive, cookies are going away, and building trust, that's the challenge. That's why examples like Tea's social media strategy stand out so much, they show how credibility can replace brute-force advertising. You can also see this in Retro App's community-first approach. Here’s the twist: trust isn’t dead, it’s basically just shifting. And that’s where first party data comes in. Think email subscribers, loyalty programs, community platforms. These are the things you own, and in 2025, owning your audience is everything. You can’t rely on algorithms or cookies anymore, you need direct lines to your people. What works? Well, freebies still do wonders, cheat sheets, templates, exclusive videos. Also, just being honest. Like, “Hey, give us your email and we’ll send you something cool, we promise not to spam you.” People respect that. And once you’ve got that trust? Personalize, personalize, personalize. Use what you know to make better offers, better content, and better experiences.

Content is King, But Personality is Queen

Another take: consumers in 2025 are obsessed with people, not brands. They trust creators way more than companies with logos and slick branding. And honestly? I totally get it. That's why 92% of marketers are shifting their ad budgets toward brand led content. Think less "SALE NOW!" and more "Hey, here's something interesting I learned this week." Educate and entertain your future customers. Talk to them like they are your friends. If you want to go deeper into managing these partnerships, check out how Cluely built their creator army or learn how to start your own social media agency. And the real ones? Micro-influencers. Not the big ones with millions of followers, but the ones with small, niche, loyal audiences. They feel authentic, they convert like crazy, and they cost a lot less to work with. Jaguar actually did this beautifully, yes, the luxury car brand. They went all in on social storytelling. Reels, TikToks, behind-the-scenes, lifestyle content. They partnered with younger creators and basically said, “Let’s stop selling cars and start showing the lifestyle around them.” It worked, and it will work for you. So ask yourself, what’s your brand’s personality? If it were a person, how would it talk? What would it care about?

Ads, But Smarter

Now don't get me wrong, ads still work. But the old way of doing ads? No. That’s getting expensive and inefficient. This is where AI comes back into the picture (yes, again).

AI powered advertising tools like Meta’s Advantage+ or Google’s Performance Max are a game changer. They auto optimize in real time. They test your ads, audiences, placements, and shift budget to what’s working best. Basically, they run your campaigns better than most of us ever could manually.

And if you’re still doing all your targeting and testing manually? Try running a side by side test. One campaign with AI optimization, one without. You might be surprised how much better the AI performs (and how much less you spend).

Meet Your New Secret Weapon: viral.app

Okay, so I’ve been talking a lot about patterns, testing, and finding out what really works in your marketing. But here’s the truth, doing all of that manually simply takes too much time. That’s where viral.app steps in.

Think of it like your marketing co-pilot. It takes all the guesswork out of figuring out what’s actually hitting with your audience. Instead of running 10 different spreadsheets, scrolling through analytics, or trying to piece together which post worked and why, viral.app does the heavy lifting for you. Here’s the cool part: it doesn’t just give you numbers, it gives you clear, actionable insights. Imagine, “Hey, your audience loves when you post around lunchtime” or “These subject lines are crushing it, do more like that.” It’s like having a built-in pattern detector that translates data into next steps. The best way to use it? Run your experiments, try new formats, play with ideas, and let viral.app show you the best ones. Then, double down on what’s working and cut what’s not. It’s fast, simple, and makes your marketing sharper without the headache. Tools like viral.app are how you stay ahead of the curve without burning out.

Social Search Is the New Google

Did you know Gen Z is searching more on TikTok and Instagram than on Google? It’s crazy, right? Google even confirmed it. People are literally typing stuff like “best mascara” or “how to start freelancing” into the TikTok search bar instead of Googling it. Your content needs to be searchable, on social media. That means adding keywords into your captions, using hashtags strategically, and putting searchable text right in your videos. Here's a trick: go to TikTok, type in your niche topic, and see what autofills. Those are trending keywords, you need to use them. It's not just about going viral anymore, it's about being found. You want to master that side of things? Learn from successful examples like Tea's viral growth or Retro App's success story.

What Now

Let me say so much: Marketing in 2025 is chaotic, exciting, fast moving, and full of opportunity. It’s a lot. But it’s also a playground if you lean into the change instead of hiding from it. Start small, test AI tools, play with short form videos. Be more human in your content. Build your own audience working with creators. And make sure your content shows up where people are actually searching. No one’s got it all figured out, but if you stay curious and keep experimenting, you’ll be way ahead of the game. What do you think? Ready to dive in?