Marketing trends businesses can’t ignore in 2025

In an era where digital transformation is accelerating faster than ever, businesses face a crucial challenge: adapting to rapidly evolving marketing landscapes while maintaining authentic human connections. As we navigate through 2025, three key trends are reshaping how businesses connect with their audiences:

1. The strategic integration of AI in marketing
2. The evolution of content marketing, and,
3. The rising importance of owned media channels like newsletters.

Whether you’re a small business owner or marketing professional in New Zealand, understanding these trends isn’t just about staying current – it’s about future-proofing your business.

AI in marketing: evolution, not revolution

The AI trend, in particular, has everyone talking – and sometimes panicking. Case in point: my mother.

She called me the other day, freaking out because she heard that artificial intelligence (AI) was going to take over the planet.

Just kidding, but she had heard that AI might be taking over my job and my industry. Like the loving, supportive daughter I am, I let her express her fears and concerns and how she made a huge mistake in letting me do a creative writing degree and go into content marketing. Then, once she was done, I laughed. Like the hilarious, evil daughter I also am. I’m talking, my head thrown back, clutching my stomach while half snorting, kind of laughing.

Like my mum, where people go wrong when it comes to assuming AI can replace writers is that they overestimate AI’s creativity. AI lacks the one thing humans have in great abundance: life experience. We’ve all had days where getting out of bed was as daunting as facing a full inbox after a long holiday, and we’ve all had days where climbing Mount Everest actually felt like an attainable goal. We utilise everything we see, feel, and believe to create new stories with depth, emotion, and authenticity.

AI creates based on patterns – it can only regurgitate what already exists.

That’s why AI-written content is often just filled with corny dad jokes, surface-level stories, and excessive use of words like “transform” and “harness,” which is a massive red flag to discerning audiences. The content feels fake and, in turn, makes the relationship you have with your audience feel cheap. Not what you want.

The real power of AI lies in its ability to augment human creativity and streamline processes. Think of those mind-numbing repetitive tasks that make you want to bang your head against your keyboard: brainstorming ideas, creating content schedules, or analysing data from previous articles. AI handles those while you focus on the creative stuff that actually requires a human brain.

Take this article for example. What used to take several days to complete, I managed to write within a few hours by using AI’s capabilities to my advantage. Instead of spending hours figuring out what I’m going to write and obsessing over structure, AI helped streamline these preliminary tasks, allowing me to focus on crafting the actual content with my personal touch.

The trick is integrating AI into your workflow without letting it take over – think of it as adding a powerful tool to your marketing toolbox, not replacing the whole shed. You wouldn’t use a hammer to paint a wall, and you wouldn’t use AI to create authentic, emotionally resonant content. But for crunching numbers, spotting trends, and automating the boring stuff? That’s where AI shines.

The rise of content marketing

In 2025, content marketing isn’t just a trend – it’s the backbone of modern marketing strategy. Not investing in content marketing today is like using a landline in the age of smartphones. You might get by for some time, but you’re missing out on crucial connections with your audience.

Website content, in particular, has become more important than ever. Why? Well, with AI-generated content flooding the internet, authentic content has become digital gold. Your website isn’t just a digital business card anymore. It’s your chance to show potential clients that there are real humans behind your brand, with real expertise and even a real sense of humour.

At Gilligan Sheppard, we’ve seen firsthand how this works. Our most successful articles aren’t the ones packed with industry jargon, they’re the ones where we break down complex financial concepts into language that is simple and easy to understand, or utilises personal stories. Take Bruce’s Blue Deck Chair series, for example. His stories offer great business advice but also provide a laugh and a good dose of Bruce’s personality.

Now, if we’re talking about content marketing, it’s impossible not to mention video content. Social media has evolved at an unprecedented rate, and I should know since I grew up with it. What started as simple photo sharing has morphed into an ecosystem where short-form video reigns supreme. We’re seeing businesses of all sizes embracing video content to connect with their audience, Gilligan Sheppard included.

One of our most successful initiatives has been repurposing our podcast episodes into short-form video content. Rather than letting a goldmine of information sit in hour-long episodes, we slice and dice them into bite-sized pieces that are perfect for social media consumption.

So why is content marketing so crucial in 2025? In a world where everyone is trying to sell something, people aren’t buying products or services anymore; they’re buying into brands they trust. And trust isn’t built through sales pitches or advertisements; it’s built through consistent, valuable content that shows you know what you’re talking about and, more importantly, that you understand your audience’s needs.

Newsletters are your new insurance policy

The recent 12-hour TikTok shutdown in the United States taught businesses a valuable lesson: social media platforms, despite their power, are rented land. You don’t own your following there, and it can disappear in an instant. That’s pretty damn risky if that’s your only means of communicating with your audience. This is where newsletters become your marketing insurance policy.

They help move your following from social media to a place where you have full ownership and don’t risk losing your database, except for if they choose to leave themselves. But it’s not just protecting your database that newsletters offer they have many other benefits as well:

• Direct ownership of your audience relationships
• Reliable website traffic generation
• Valuable customer retention tools
• Direct market research insights through engagement metrics
• A platform for building trust through consistent value delivery

Building your newsletter database isn’t just about collecting email addresses – it’s about building relationships. They’re personal and direct, and unlike social media, they’re not fighting against an algorithm that is constantly changing. And they’re particularly valuable for professional services firms like Gilligan Sheppard, where trust and expertise are everything.

Embracing the Future

So here we are, at the intersection of AI, content marketing, and newsletter strategies. These three trends aren’t just random coincidences but interconnected pieces of the same puzzle. AI helps us create and distribute content more efficiently, content marketing helps us build authentic connections with our audience, and newsletters help us maintain and own those relationships.

For businesses looking to thrive in 2025, the action steps are clear: embrace AI as your assistant (not your replacement), double down on authentic content creation, and build your email list like your business depends on it (because, increasingly, it does).

And to bring it full circle, remember my mum’s panic about AI taking over? Well, she’s now subscribed to the Gilligan Sheppard newsletter (hi, Mum!), and she’s amazed at how we use AI to make them better, not replace them. The future of marketing isn’t about machines taking over. It’s about humans and technology working together to create something better than either could achieve alone.

After all, AI might be able to analyse data and spot trends, but it can’t tell you about that time it spilled coffee all over its laptop right before a client meeting. That’s what makes us human, and that’s what makes our content worth reading.