The marketing industry has evolved and examining what’s changed is an important part of building strategies that work today. What worked even a few years ago doesn’t always hold up, and many teams are still operating on outdated assumptions.
In this article, we asked members of our team the biggest changes they’ve experienced during their time in the marketing industry. We have a wide range of experiences, so you’ll get a mix of hot takes, hard-earned lessons and a few “how did we get here?” moments.
As expected, AI was a part of almost every response. Our project manager Adriana said it best, “Everything has become AI. Graphics, video, copy...” This isn’t a surprising take; many companies are racing to figure out how they can take advantage of new tools and software. But not everyone is convinced that it’s worth using.
The use of artificial intelligence in marketing is highly divisive, with many people holding strong opinions either for or against it. A few of our team members were concerned on the optics of marketers using AI and how that impacts customer trust. As our graphic designer Megan points out, “Consumers want full transparency. In a world of so much ‘AI slop,’ it can feel suffocating for users who crave authenticity.”
This begs the question, even if AI can make things faster to produce, is it worth using if you lose the trust of your audience?
Another shift in the industry is more intentional. In the past, many marketers were focused on volume over quality of leads and customers. It was important to get as many eyes as possible on your marketing, and to some extent, obviously still is, but that’s shifted.
As our Digital Marketing Specialist Sharla puts it, “It used to be about reaching as many people as possible, but now people are overwhelmed and more selective. It’s about getting the right message in front of the right person at the right time.”
That shift shows up in more than just content strategy, it’s a reaction to how saturated everything has become. Attention isn’t just limited anymore, it’s actively guarded.
Our content specialist Zac agrees stating, “The attention economy has a major impact across all forms of marketing. We’re all being sold to 24/7, so if you don’t want people to scroll past, focus on creating content and messaging that catches people in that very moment that they see it.”
It’s important to understand how attention spans are shortening and adapt your strategies accordingly.
With how frequently AI and automation came up in our team’s response, there was also a also a clear undercurrent in the responses: the more automated things become, the more valuable “real” human content feels.
Our VP/CCO Jesse said, “I think we’ll see a pendulum swing back from everything being automated… to a more traditional, handmade approach being valued again.” This is a very interesting take, and one that is starting to see momentum.
Our Digital Marketing Specialist Riley pointed out that brands are increasingly leaning this style of content. Testimonial-style content and real customer experiences, things like unboxings, reviews and user-generated content. Brands that lean into authentic and human content, are seeing the benefits.
As Riley explained, “Utilizing real people and their experiences directly helps earn trust in those who may be considering your offer.”
The common thread here is simple: the more automated and produced marketing becomes, the more people look for signals that something is real.
Marketers have more access to data and reporting tools now than ever before. As one of our team members pointed out, “It’s so much more measurable and predictable. Everything lives online.”
On the surface that’s a win, and in many ways it is. We can track performance, attribute conversions and see results in ways that weren’t possible a decade ago.
This new level of visibility has also created new challenges. More data doesn’t always mean more clarity.
When everything is measurable, it becomes harder to decide what matters. What metrics are driving real growth? Which numbers are just noise? And when you’re pulling reports from multiple platforms that don’t always align, even when they’re measuring similar things, it raises an even bigger question: what do you trust?
Without a clear strategy behind what you’re measuring and why, it’s easy to mistake activity for progress. Tracking more doesn’t automatically mean you’re seeing the full picture.
There’s a clear pattern across all the responses from our team. Marketing hasn’t just changed because of new tools, platforms or AI. It’s changed because expectations are starting to shift drastically.
AI may have increased the speed at which you can create but has raised serious concerns about trust. The way you utilize AI can either make or break how people perceive your brand. One wrong move can isolate you from your audience for good. So make sure you’re really strategizing how and if you use it.
The amount of content and ads that are everywhere is exhausting audiences. Nobody has any attention left for anything that doesn’t provide them value or engage them in the very moment they encounter it. It’s no longer a game of volume, it’s one of quality.
With this, authentic and human led marketing is more valued now than it ever has been. Several of our team members foresee this becoming more of a factor in the coming years as AI continues to see an increased usage rate.
Having clear and focused dashboards for your reporting is essential to understanding what’s going on with your marketing. It can get confusing if you don’t have a focused strategy for it.
Each shift points to the same underlying reality: marketing is easier to execute, but harder to get right.
Marketing isn’t broken, and AI isn’t the end all be all it’s cracked up to be. We’re now operating in a more complex environment than in the past.
The challenge now isn’t keeping up with every new tool, trend or tactic.
It’s knowing what matters and having the discipline to ignore what doesn’t.
And based on the responses from our team, that might be the real shift happening underneath everything else.