Marketing in 2025: Trends, challenges and how to keep up.

As we move into 2025, business owners are navigating an increasingly complex marketing landscape. The rapid evolution of technology, shifting consumer behaviors, and rising competition make staying ahead more challenging than ever. 

Here are the top trends and challenges shaping marketing in 2025—and how you can leverage technology to stay competitive.

Key Trends in Marketing for 2025

1. AI-Powered Personalization – Customers expect tailored experiences. AI tools like ChatGPT can help create hyper-personalized emails, social media posts, and ad campaigns.
2. Voice and Visual Search – More consumers are using voice assistants and image-based search. Optimizing for voice SEO and using high-quality visuals is crucial.
3. Short-Form Video Domination – Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts continue to drive engagement. Small businesses must prioritize video content.
4. Privacy-First Marketing – With stricter data regulations, businesses must balance personalization with transparency in data collection and usage.

Challenges for Business Owners

• Keeping Up with Technology – Rapid advancements in AI and automation make it tough to stay updated.
• Time Constraints – Managing marketing while running a business is overwhelming.
• Budget Limitations – Competing with larger brands on ad spend is challenging.

How to Keep Up and Stay Competitive

• Leverage AI tools like ChatGPT for content creation, customer support, and data insights.
• Automate marketing tasks using platforms like HubSpot, Mailchimp, and Hootsuite.
• Invest in short-form video with simple, engaging content.
• Stay adaptable by continuously learning and experimenting with new marketing strategies.

By embracing technology and staying agile, businesses can thrive in 2025’s fast-changing marketing world. 🚀

COVID-19 Changes Business Behaviour

We are in Normal.  There is no 'new normal' and we are certainly not going 'back to normal'.  COVID-19 has changed business behaviour.

That's the hard truth. The business owners I've spoken to over the past year have worked hard to adjust.  The most successful ones adjusted quickly...in some cases, pivoting completely away from their core business system in order to survive.  They quickly reset their normal.  

What do business owners need to focus on in this pandemic? 

1. Cashflow:  Know your revenue in and expenses out.  Pay a very close eye on your forecast sales, look for risks;  Know what your fixed and variable expenses are with a focus on what you can cut and what you must have.  
2. Response:  Run multiple scenarios on revenue and expenses.  Do the 'worst-case' scenario exercise. Act quickly.
3. Reserve:  Set up and keep a reserve cash fund to use to fund your business for a period of time...the longer the better.
4. Adapt:  To your business situation;  To your employees;  To your customers.

These are things every business owner should do pandemic or not.  But driven by the rapid changes in buyer behaviour, it is even more urgent!

This Infographic cites US data but it applies to Canadian consumers as well.  We are all anxious about our inability to forecast and predict confidently.  We are in survival mode. We all feel caged.  Yes, COVID-19 has changed our behaviour...for good!

Until next time...

Old Volvos Never Die. They Pass On

'Old Volvos never die.  They Pass On'

That headline from 1980 proves the adage that some things are timeless.

Back then the world was recovering from a second oil crisis and even though Volvos were powered by 4 cylinder engines, the fuel economy numbers as mandated by the EPA were going to be bad.  Volvo decided to go another direction and talk about their durability.  Specifically, how long their cars lasted. 

Clever.  And on point for the brand.

This campaign didn't appeal to everyone.  Again, that's the point.  They knew who their customers were and spoke directly to them.

I confess that I'm Volvo enthusiast.  Between my wife and I, we've owned 5 Volvos.  Currently we run a 14 year old V50 and a 10 year old XC60.  We maintain them well but the darn things run well and feel as tightly screwed together as when they were new.  I hope I haven't jinxed them!

When the brand delivers as promised, that's the mark of great advertising!

Until next time...

Chris

What is Canada's Premium Beer?

"Hey Google...What is Canada's premium Beer?"

That question posed in backlit billboard splendor caught my attention while I was out running early one morning last week. Most of the time I am barely aware of anything other than my breathing and footsteps.  After seeing this message, all I thought about for the rest of my run was how smart Steam Whistle was in coming up with that campaign.

Advertising works when the message resonates with its target audience. This is great advertising! The people who put this campaign together deserve kudos for developing and executing this campaign. I'm sure they have data to rationalize their work but emotionally it just feels right.  And that's the magic that really caught my attention:  An advertising campaign that speaks directly to the customer emotionally.  

Good going Steam Whistle...and all your marketing and advertising partners.

Until next time...

Chris

2020 Renaissance Time

The dictionary defines a 'Renaissance' individual as '...a person with genuine competence in and understanding of multiple different fields, all of which complement one another to make her/him a more talented and productive person...'. 

What the world needs now are these renaissance-minded people!  

My belief in this is rooted in my own business experience.  I have an eclectic background with varied work experience. I started as a Radio Announcer before transitioning into Sales. The Radio business taught me how to tell stories quickly. And as a commission sales person, I learned the difference between features and benefits:  people like features but they buy benefits! I still hold that tenet close.

From radio and sales I moved into Advertising Agency world.  It was the last gasp of the Mad Man era in Toronto back in those days. I still miss expense accounts! In Advertising I learned how to ask better questions. And not to stop until I'd found a key insight that solved a consumer need in a unique way.

Along the way I moved between Advertising Agencies and Client roles in Fast Food. These experiences taught me how to look at the Marketing business in a more holistic way. 

I've always been media agnostic and this became even more useful as digital and social media exploded on the media scene. Working for myself and then with some national brands reminded me that 'the medium is still the message'.  Working with these brands taught me that the basics still mattered:  What's the objective;  What strategies make the most sense;  How do the tactics work together most effectively.

Up next?  People with with genuine competence in and understanding of multiple different fields, all of which complement one another...Renaissance Women and Men!

Until next time...

 

Lessons from the Renaissance

The original Renaissance was an exciting time.  Scary for a lot of people with new ideas that upturned the status quo.  And at a rapid pace that kept everyone on edge.  This is what we are going through right now and there are lessons we can learn:

Until next time...

The Marketing Mix in 2020

As we emerge from the COVID Pandemic, now's the time to re-visit the marketing basics:

1. What is your core product or service?  Does it satisfy a real consumer need?  Will people pay for it?
2. What's your price?  Does it provide value?
3. How do you create awareness, consideration and preference?  Online has been the flavour-of-the months for the past 15 years but there are other ways to reach people
4. How will your place stand out, online and/or in the physical world.

These are deep questions and you may need to talk to specialists.  Use the marketing mix template below to frame the conversation...and ask better questions:

Until next time...

Marketing Tips For Small Business

It's challenging to market your business while running your business.  I know...I've tried!  Through trial and error, I found that my particular secret sauce centred on product/service promotion.  I created a limited-time offer (not always price) and used  Facebook Ads to get the word out.  I also sent emails on a regular basis to the database I had built up over time.  These two tactics proved most effective for me.  For more tips on how to market your small business, check out this infographic:

Until next time...

Chris Morales

Crisis Preparation for Small Business

The last thing small business owners think of is being prepared for a crisis.  "I don't have the time";  "I don't have the money";  "It'll never happen to me".  When a crisis hits, most small business owners are not prepared...many don't survive.

A recent guest speaker at the Small Business Course I teach at George Brown College shared his strategy for dealing with crisis in his 30 year old prosperous small business:

• Be on top of your cash flow.  The most important thing for a small business owner and even more critical in a crisis when revenue slows but expenses don't
• Have a contingency.  Cash is best.  Build up a reserve that allows for 3 - 6 months of operation without any revenue coming in
• Analyze your receivables.  Collect as much as you can now;  make deals with those you can't;  plan for write offs

Other strategies to build up your crisis preparation are in the infographic below:

Until next time...

Chris Morales

Upside Down On Your Car Loan

I'm angry with the auto industry!  Not with the vehicles but with this specific selling practice:  Burying old loan balance into a 'new' loan.  This practice is used when a customer has an outstanding balance on a vehicle loan and wants to purchase a new vehicle.  It's called being 'Upside Down'.  Both the customer and Dealer/Finance company are at fault in this crazy transaction:  The customer for not paying off one vehicle before purchasing a new one;  The Dealer/finance company for actually writing the loan agreement!  The end result is that the customer pays way more and for a longer period of time!  

Here's a real example:  An associate just buried $20,000 into a new vehicle lease on a new vehicle that had a capital cost of $50,000.  Total indebtedness:  $70,000 on a vehicle worth $50,000!  She has the same monthly payments as before due to a longer lease term.  But hey...she got floor mats and an extended warranty thrown in for 'Free'!

This should be criminal!  It breaks one cardinal rule of sales:  There is no customer benefit.  I can already hear the howls of protest:  'But the customer wanted it and she gets to drive a shiny new vehicle'.  No comment!

Come one people...put on your big boy pants!  Don't buy something you can't afford especially when it depreciates faster than you can pay it!

If you are upside down, here's how to get out from under it:  Facts about underwater car loans.

Until next time...

Adapt to Succeed

Change is all around.  Climate, technology, economic, business. The pace has quickened.  What used to change in 18 months now can change in 18 weeks.  It is daunting but doesn't have to be overwhelming.  Here are 7 things a small business owner can keep in mind to keep up with the changing times:

Until next time...

Crisis Crazy

Are you going crazy yet?  If you're any business owner, you've got one thing on your mind 24/7:  Cash flow!  As sales dry up whether your essential or non-essential, your cash flow has gone negative.  And it looks to stay that way for quite some time...even after we get the all clear and start spending again.  

I've been mulling this over the past couple of weeks.  I've talked to a number of small business owners who are coping so far.  One is able to continue business at a reduced level with all his people working from home.  Another had to close her two retail locations;  So far she has managed to keep her staff on the payroll and with the recently announced Federal wage subsidy program is optimistic she can ride this out for the next 6 weeks.  Finally, a small manufacturer pivoted from his main business into providing a COVID-19 product in high demand.  What these business owners all have in common is a calm head.  They've all been able to rise above the noise, get above the 'crazy'.  

The outcome of this crisis is that we will all learn how to be better at what we do.  We'll learn how to cut out the noise and focus on what's really important.  Both to our businesses and to ourselves.  I'm optimistic that what the world looks like after this crisis has passed will be better.

Until next time...

Stuff Happens!

Stuff happens!  If nothing else, COVID 19 is teaching us that harsh lesson.  

I've been talking a lot recently with family, friends and business associates.  All of our conversations begin with how we are individually dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. All of us are still working;  all of us are working from home.  We are social however so we are all getting antsy.  Using our cell phones to make calls reminds us that they are 'telephones'!  And ZOOM has become our friend both for business and personal.  

It strikes me that some of the topics we discuss revolve around how to help each other cope through this crisis.  Below are some of the thoughts I shared in my latest book, 'Growing Up:  Canadian Jamaican'.  Some of them apply as we all grapple with new normal:

• Don't be a D! Consider that we, our community, city, country, continent, planet, are in this together! 
• Help another when you can.
• You are special...to someone! If you are lucky you will have a number of special people in your life. Cherish them! Stop what you are doing to help them.
• Stuff happens. It will happen multiple times. Some will be your fault...don't make those mistakes again. Some will not be your fault...so what, it's still stuff! Get on with it!
• When you have setbacks, assess and move on.
• Seek out advice...remember that you don't;t have to act on everything. Assess advice and make your own decisions.
• Personal strength is being able to keep going when the tide is against you.
• Optimism is essential! If you are pessimistic about the future, what's the point in going on?
• Don't take things too seriously. Seriously!
• Find the humour in everything. Yes, everything!
• When the road runs out, stop the car and start walking.
• Don't let the bastards get you down! This one from a very good friend.
• Never ever give up!

 Until next time...

Do The Right Thing

"Do the right thing".  That's my advice to business owners small and large as we all deal with the COVID-19 Global Pandemic.  No one at any level is immune to the effects of schools closing, airlines cancelling flights, restaurants offering delivery only, grocery stores with empty shelves.  It's easy to say '14 day self isolation' to an employee who 'may' have been exposed to the virus.  It's not so easy for that employee to face unpaid time off dependent on unemployment or personal savings to survive.  As more businesses close, the domino effect across the entire economy will increase.  The time is now to do the right thing!  

Do the right thing:

1. Government leaders:  Close the country down for the next 2 weeks.  Let's kill this bastard virus once and for all!
2. Business leaders:  Support your employees.  They are with you in good times, now be with them in these bad times! Pay them to stay home!
3. People:  Take your heads out of the sand!  This is not a rehearsal...this is the real thing.  Self isolation means exactly that:  No group contact!

What does this have to do with marketing?  The companies that do the right thing, even though it may be painful in the short term, will make it out of this stronger.  Their employees will thank them for their support;  their customers will remember that they did the right thing for all!

Do the right thing.  Now!

Until next time...

The Eyes of the Automotive World

Despite the absence of Mercedes Benz and Volvo, two iconic and aspirational brands, the 2020 Toronto International Auto Show was a hit with me.  It's always a thrill to get up and close with the latest and shiniest new models and this year was just as exciting.  Here are some takeaways:

• Trucks and SUV's really do rule the roads.  Wow...nobody produces cars anymore.  Seriously!  Other than the Toyota Camry and some VW models, cars were not the stars of the show.
• Why do so many vehicles have an iPad stuck awkwardly on the dash.  Oops...my bad...that's the interactive display.  Can't the vehicle manufacturers figure out how to integrate these yet?
• Trucks are ridiculous for most people.  Unless you have a serious work need, a pickup truck with an exposed bed is just plain stupid.  Buy an SUV instead.

Some of the vehicles I loved:

• The VW Arteon.  Weird name, fabulous vehicle!  Thinly disguised Audi fastback at a fraction of the price.
• Subaru Impreza.  Sitting behind the wheel just felt right!
• Toyota Camry.  Nice vehicle.  Love the overall appearance.  Loose the two-tone paint job though.

The biggest surprise for me was Hyundai.  It was the busiest booth by a large margin on the Saturday morning we visited.  The bad old days are way behind them...most of the Hyundai cars and SUV's look fabulous!  And they are priced well!  I even, dare I admit it, lusted after a couple of models!  What...?  Has Hyundai become an aspirational brand?

One final observation:  I love the variety of the headlight designs.  Wild and crazy!

Until next time...

Maggie Dog - Morning Routine

Oh to be a Maltese living in our home!  Our Maggie Dog has been with us over 2 years.  She turned 12 years old last December 25 (yes, we celebrate on Christmas Day).  She is super protective of her 'Mommy' but is pleasant, cheerful and loyal to Sally and I.  And she loves her morning routine!!

Just another day in paradise!

MaggieDog

What happens in an Internet Minute

In an Internet minute, all 60 seconds of it, a lot goes on.  I expected huge numbers for activities like facebook, Google Searches and Social Media.  But the Netflix statistic is mind blowing:  In one Internet Minute, 694,444 hours of content are watched!  Have fun with these other stats:

 

Until next time...

Chris Morales

Sports Fans Love Social Media

Sports fans love Social Media!  Before and after...and especially during!  Once their favourite event is underway, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are close at hand.  Sports event promoters have taken note and provide loads of content to comment on and share!  That insight plus these four others highlight why it is important to have a tight Social Media strategy for your next event:

Until next time...
Chris Morales

Taking the Scare out of 2020 Marketing Trends

As a small business owner, keeping the doors open is a big challenge.  Prospecting for new business while delivering service to current customers is an important balancing act.  In all the courses I teach at George Brown College, we talk about this a lot.  And in my Fundamental Skills Workshop, learning how to sell benefits versus features is a key learning takeaway.  

Predicting the future is always a mugs game.  What I can say with some certainty is that the pace of change will continue to speed up.  That presents an extra challenge for small business owners who have to decide on what to spend tight resources on.  As always it depends...

One piece of advice I give to myself and my clients is 'Focus':  You can't be all things to all customers and neither can you do all the things that are available.  In the list below of the upcoming digital marketing trends in 2020 the one that stands out is 'Going Live'.  The top Social Media Channels now make it easier than ever to 'go live':  Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and of course YouTube all have 'live' features.  All are optimized for smartphones that have become the primary we all access and communicate with each other...and companies we want to do business with.

Until next time...
Chris Morales

What it really is like inside an Advertising Agency

What's it really like inside an Advertising Agency?  Well...drinking for starters.  That was my first impression at my first Agency when 10 minutes into my interview, the VP asked if I wanted a drink.  And he wasn't offering water!

The truth about what goes on inside an Advertising Agency is somewhat more mundane.  It's a business first:  It produces advertising at a cost (communication marketing 'stuff') and sells at a markup with enough profit to keep the shareholders happy.  On the surface it looks glamorous.  Until you're 3 days into a location shoot with costs spiraling and the client is freaking out. 

Back in the day 'The Agency' was the keeper of the Strategy.  We asked the questions, analyzed the data from both quantitative and qualitative research, came up with brand positioning and developed marketing, communication and advertising plans.  And of course the advertising.  Even within the world of 'Digital', not much has changed.  Maybe the players have but the song remains the same...

Until next time...
Chris Morales