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…And we’re back!
After a challenging period of economic downturn in recent years, things are looking up for the marketing charter, as 75% of marketers surveyed said their budgets are increasing in 2025, according to the new benchmark report released today by Smartly. Additionally, two thirds of marketers said their company is performing better than last year.
Marketers are sharpening their strategic focus and using more channels at different stages, all with a full funnel lens. While 58% of marketing teams didn’t focus on a specific channel in 2024, about half of respondents will in 2025. Savvy brands know that winning on performance takes a data-driven approach. In fact, 80% of marketers agree: enhanced reporting will be even more crucial next year. It will help teams achieve a consolidated view of performance and necessary workflow changes. Marketers are tightening up their processes and leaning into AI to create business efficiency and amazing audiences experiences.
Each year, Smartly gauges the pulse on the ever-evolving trends shaping marketing. The 2025 edition of the Digital Advertising Trends survey highlights key issues on today’s marketers’ minds, including:
- The alignment of brand and performance to refine collaboration and creative ingenuity in service of the customer experience.
- Budget efficiency best practices to optimize performance and support business growth.
- How to harness the latest tools and technologies to innovatively impact audience engagement and the bottom line.
What’s driving change, growth, and customer experience optimizations in 2025?
Generative AI
The survey findings illuminate a genuine optimism for AI and its opportunities to help organizations operate more efficiently, for teams to make greater impact, and the time and cost savings it provides to free teams and individuals up to do more of the creative thinking and strategic work (that only a person can do).
Conversational Commerce
With the new generation of consumers engaging and converting more over messaging, brands are tapping into a more modern way to connect through chat-based ads. A vast majority of marketers (70%) of marketers agree conversational commerce is a focus for next year. Marketers whose budgets are growing in 2025 are 10% more likely to agree.
Is Your Brand Harnessing Strategic and Tech Ingenuity?
The report delves into the topics that matter most to marketers, particularly as they plan for a new year of inspired innovation and application of tools and tech. It offers benchmarks to help digital advertisers build foundational strategies. We cover key areas such as organizational decision-making, team collaboration, applied technologies and workflows. These are the tools that the most sophisticated brand and performance marketers are implementing to enhance the customer experience.
We at Smartly understand the full digital media landscape across a variety of platforms. When we take our knowledge of what we know from our tools and systems, paired with the feedback from a holistic set of marketers, we are very confident that our predictions for the year ahead align with where the industry is moving. With so many shifts in the paid social landscape over the last two years, this benchmark data services the marketing and advertising community to highlight where we're headed, and why, with a perspective informed by tech innovation and industry demands.
Position your teams for success to take on the customer experience charter in 2025. Download the report now.
