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The Future of Marketing: 6 Trends and Predictions for 2025
Generative AI is radically reshaping the future of marketing
As marketing leaders brace for a future powered by AI, successful CMOs will deliver on the innovation, investments and initiatives that enable them to capitalize on opportunities and prepare their organizations for disruption.
Discover future-ready marketing strategies.
Elevate search marketing tactics.
Integrate AI into mobile applications for personalized customer experiences.
Anticipate and adapt to shifts in consumer behavior towards.
Prepare for an evolving landscape with insights that drive innovation and strategic planning.
Tools and resources to focus your priorities in 2025
Dive into the six marketing predictions that will guide you in how to prepare and respond in an AI-driven landscape.
- 2025 Marketing Predictions
- Strategy and Innovation
- Resources and Tools
Get expert perspectives on the future of marketing, from search to staffing.
The future of marketing is powered by AI — dramatically impacting social media and search, creative work, brand positioning and even perceptions of truth.
Six marketing predictions from Gartner experts guide CMOs in preparing for the disruptions created by social media’s decay, an AI-free approach to communicating brand value, and the multiple ways GenAI will change the marketing landscape.
Prediction No. 1: CMOs will build AI experimentation into their mobile app roadmap
The impact: Mobile app development costs will decrease for brands that don’t overrely on app-driven revenue. Other brands may feel a severe impact as users increasingly turn to AI assistants for services, resulting in the loss of first-party data collection and reach.
Prediction No. 2: CMOs will invest in talent and content to adapt for GenAI-powered search
The impact: To adapt for the future of search and continue to drive growth and impact, CMOs will need to adjust content strategy to keep up with evolving search algorithms. This will require investing in or upskilling talent in SEO fundamentals and GenAI utilization.
Prediction No. 3: CMOs will shift 30% of their budget to subscription-based social platforms
The impact: Subscription-based channels like Substack, Patreon and Discord already report healthy usage rates, with indications of growth. Popular content creators are expanding to these platforms, and consumers will be soon to follow.
Prediction No. 4: CMOs will build brand trust by embracing uniform pricing
The impact: Marketing leaders who embrace dynamic pricing will see benefits to the bottom line in the short term, but those gains will come with increased risk to long-term brand reputation.
Prediction No. 5: CMOs will increase offline investment to support new content consumption patterns
The impact: New content consumption patterns will require CMOs to develop more adaptable marketing strategies and rethink investment decisions to reach their most valuable customers through omnichannel versus solely digital experiences.
Prediction No. 6: CMOs will prepare data for automated interactions led by AI agents
The impact: GenAI agents will proliferate faster than human-led product organizations can track their performance, safety and appropriate use without AI help. Marketers will need to determine when and how they can trust AI agents to take action on behalf of the brand and customers across key areas.
Plan and prepare for change
Marketing strategies should set a clear direction of travel, but be responsive to the changing nature of the marketing environment.
An increasingly AI-enabled marketing function will continue to drive changes and ways of working within marketing and across traditional functional silos.
The planning cycle is long. But like our predictions indicate, a lot can happen in 18 to 36 months. Be sure to keep the following in mind throughout the planning cycle:
Changing macroenvironmental factors — external factors that are outside the control of the organization. Examples include economic shifts (changes in inflation and interest rates), social or cultural changes (desire for more sustainable products or services) or technological shifts (adoption of AI).
Changes in microenvironmental factors — external factors that are within the control of the organization. Examples include changes in the competitive landscape (new competitors entering the market), shifts in customer behavior (shifting from shopping in-store to online) or changes in channels (a once-valuable distribution channel closes).
Changes to commercial strategy — AI necessitating changes to commercial strategies. To help orchestrate these changes, define and prioritize critical use cases, make the case for resources and strengthen marketing’s ability to coordinate across functions.
Internal factors — factors inside the organization that impact expected performance. Examples include changes in the available marketing budget (requirements for cost optimization), organizational shifts (new CEO joins the business) or capability changes (key talent leaves the business).
Enable faster, smarter decisions and stronger performance on your mission-critical marketing priorities
Gartner’s suite of tools will help accelerate your initiatives and drive impactful business outcomes.
Gartner Marketing Score
The Gartner Marketing Score is a strategic planning tool for both B2B and B2C marketing leaders that evaluates the maturity of your marketing function using objective, peer-based performance standards.
Gartner BuySmart™
Streamline your team’s path to better technology purchasing decisions — fueled by industry-leading Gartner experts and peer insights.
Gartner Digital IQ Index
Benchmark your digital marketing performance against peers and leaders within their specific industry subset.
Attend a Conference
Join Gartner experts and your peers to accelerate growth
Join CMOs and marketing executives to learn how to navigate emerging trends and challenges. From peer-led sessions to analyst one-on-ones, you'll leave ready to tackle your mission-critical priorities.
8 – 10 Jun 2026
Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo™
Denver, CO
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