AI in Marketing 2025: Trends of the Past, Present, and Future
- Irene Schouwenaar
It’s December! The holidays are almost here, and I couldn’t resist squeezing in a Scrooge-themed blog post to cap off the year on our blog. But a light-hearted theme doesn’t mean this post will be light on content — it’s packed full of data from our research on AI in marketing and our predictions for what is yet to come in that field in 2025.
AI in Marketing Past
Back in early 2023, we published a blog post on the pros and cons of using AI technology in marketing campaigns. While we acknowledged that automation and AI would increase speed and efficiency for marketers, we had big doubts about AI’s ability to produce original, authentic, high-quality content. Of course, this was all based on anecdotal experience — we clearly needed hard data.
The Data: AI in Marketing Today
Recognizing the need for more hard facts on AI in marketing, our team launched the Humans vs. Robots experiment, in which we compared the quality and performance of blog posts, ebooks, infographics, designs, and social media posts created by our human experts against AI-generated versions. The results were… interesting, to say the least.
But that’s not the only way we gathered data. At the end of August 2023, we changed the CTA for all our blog posts to ask readers how comfortable they were using AI-generated content. And you all had a lot to say about that — response rates jumped substantially over those of previous question CTAs.
What You Told Us About AI in Digital Marketing in 2024
Not comfortable at all.
(I only use content created by human marketers.)
Somewhat comfortable.
(I’m OK with using some AI tools to make life easier, but I still want my marketing human-generated.)
Pretty comfortable.
(Some of my marketing content is AI-generated and/or I’m exploring new AI marketing tools.)
Very comfortable.
(I create a significant percentage of my marketing content using AI tools.)
*Based on 186 unique responses over 14 months
The conclusion was obvious: marketers are overwhelmingly ready to embrace AI in their work — and more than half of you already use it regularly. (Coincidentally, the 65% who expressed mid-range levels of comfort with AI in marketing makes us feel pretty good about the decision to launch TPM’s AI Tech Stack!)
The Future: AI Marketing Trends for 2025
So what does our team foresee for AI in marketing over the next 12 months?
AI Agents Will Transform Customer Journey Optimization
Andrew Kita, Senior Manager, Digital and AI
In 2025, I believe we’ll see AI agents handling a lot more of what marketers used to do. Think audience segmentation, lead scoring, even setting up email sequences. The best AI marketing tools will be smart enough to look at past data and ICPs to sort leads into MQLs and SQLs without us lifting a finger. And it’s not going to stop there. AI will likely get even better at building out ICPs and personas and digging into more targeted audience research. All of this will free us up (or maybe force us) to focus more on the creative side of work, where AI hasn’t quite nailed it yet.
As AI takes over more of the routine tasks we used to fill our days with, the only way marketers will stay relevant is to really hone in on customer emotions, creativity, and strategic thinking — things that go beyond what any algorithm can replicate.
An AI Reality Check for Some Marketing Teams
Irene Schouwenaar, Director, Content and Communications
The enthusiasm for AI in marketing has grown exponentially over the past few years — as our survey data demonstrates. But I think 2025 will be the year when it becomes clear that there are no shortcuts to success with AI. Those magic beans won’t solve all your problems.
I completely agree with Andrew that a lot of marketing tasks that are effectively data analysis and organization will be shifted to AI — which is exactly what the technology was built for. But I think companies that went all-in on the idea that they could effectively replace marketers with AI will scale back their expectations (and investments) in AI as its limitations become more apparent. Using AI to sift through prospect data or summarize your white paper into a one-page PDF? More power to you. Asking ChatGPT to write an original ebook for you? The technology isn’t advancing fast enough to live up to that hype, and 2025 will be the year we start to admit that.
AI in 2025: More of the Same
Dean Ara, TPM Principal
We’ve had AI for years. I’m not referencing Bayesian algorithms or anything that old, and I’m not talking about our friend HAL, who haunts Dave in the brilliant Stanley Kubrick masterpiece 2001: Space Odyssey. (By the way, we all know that the three letters next to HAL in the alphabet are… H-->I, A->B, L-->M, right?)
I’m talking about AI in consumer tech. Like when Google offers you “more like this…” or “you might like…” and things of that nature. It’s been around for years — and now, we have stronger processing that can do more manipulation and generate more realistic artefacts. The big change is that AI is now in the hands of consumers. It’s not solely a tool wielded by corporations.
More accessibility means more use cases. As humans, we have a lot of time and imagination. We’ll keep pushing the bar on new, fun, and creative pursuits. Businesses will still experiment with AI, but only as long as the ROI makes sense. Consumer curiosity goes a lot farther than dollars and cents. So, my prediction is basically business as usual. We’ll keep being curious about AI in our lives, and businesses will keep trying to fold AI into their workflows, products, and service delivery streams — as long as there is a business case for it.
Make TPM a Part of Your AI and Marketing 2025 Plans
This is our last blog post for the year, but we’ll be back in full swing next month, exploring new AI and marketing trends and continuing our quest to deliver innovative marketing campaigns for our clients. In the meantime, we wish you all the best for the holiday season and a happy, healthy new year. See you in 2025!
