Marketer's Guide: Four New Year's Resolutions to Embrace in 2025
Drew Gerber, head honcho of Wasabi Publicity, Inc., aims to shake up the world with his dialogues.
January marks the time when everyone aims to get fit. A fresh start of a year is filled with fresh opportunities. Most individuals embrace this spirit by returning to what nourishes their body and soul. Interestingly, improving fitness, improving mental health, and losing weight were among the top four New Year's resolutions for 2024.
Why not apply this concept to the realm of modern marketing? Let's give this industry a much-needed makeover by returning it to principles that not only yield results but also foster public good.
So, how do we do this? By making bold commitments and finding practical ways to implement them. After decades of consulting and collaborating in the fields of marketing and public relations, I hope everyone in our industry makes these four New Year's resolutions in 2025.
1. It's Time to Hold Our Industry Accountable
The marketing industry is all about results. Conversions. Impressions. Click-throughs. However, it's a less talked about fact that 21% of our marketing budgets are squandered due to poor data quality.
What's wrong with this picture? The marketing industry isn't perfect. It's riddled with waste and excess. It seems to deliberately tap into our darkest impulses. And in some cases, it's just smoke and mirrors. It's time to acknowledge this and seek a better path forward.
If fitness is one of your New Year's resolutions, you won't go very far if you don't start by being truthful with yourself. How often do you exercise? What are you eating? How responsible are you for your current fitness level, and what changes do you need to make this year? The marketing industry needs to start asking itself these kinds of tough questions.
Action step: The next time you begin drafting a campaign, ask difficult questions: Where will waste be created? How does the messaging impact public interest? What quantifiable results am I expecting?
2. Let's Celebrate Honest and Authentic Marketing
Why do some marketers create deceptive marketing campaigns that play on our emotions? Because such campaigns often work, and we've been told they work for decades. However, there are other forms of messaging that get the job done, and dishonest marketing has consequences. It's not part of the norm for marketing in 2025:
• Consumers are 131% more likely to make a purchase after experiencing educational content.
• Eighty percent of consumers believe there's a serious issue with misinformation in digital media.
• Nine out of 10 customers say they would buy a product from a company they trust.
Honesty and authenticity don't have to be considered a daring alternative. These principles can drive successful marketing campaigns, and the marketing industry needs to loudly sing their praises.
The latest research on honest behavior suggests it's more than just "not lying." Honest behavior also means understanding your environment, such as how your actions impact others and how your words are perceived by your audience. This is the kind of honesty the marketing world needs.
Action step: When brainstorming the core ideas behind a new marketing campaign, add one more step to the process: Ask the team how honest, authentic, or educational they consider the final concepts. You might be surprised by their responses.
3. Embrace the Power of Anti-Marketing
When it comes to content, the marketing industry is insatiable—and for good reason. Content is a pillar of modern marketing, and U.S. media consumption is forecasted to reach 478 minutes per day in 2025. Unfortunately, most organizations can't produce high-quality marketing content quickly enough to regularly contribute to the conversation. This makes it even more tempting to be loud and misleading when you want to be heard.
This is why I think anti-marketing needs more limelight in 2025. These marketing efforts focus on community and co-creation, shunning the time, money, and lack of authenticity that have become synonymous with traditional content marketing. For example, Nike's "Nike by You" initiative allows customers to design their own sneakers. Consequently, there are countless images of co-created Nike shoes on digital channels, all born from genuine interaction.
Action step: The next time you need a lot of content, ask yourself how you can involve the community. Then, ask yourself how doing so would make it even more authentic.
4. Never Stop Bringing Your Values to Work
Mother Teresa once said, "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to make many ripples." If you're an honest marketer, this part of your work deserves celebration. If it doesn't, don't let that deter you from bringing your values to our shared industry. If enough honest stones get thrown into the water, the ripples might reach across the entire lake.
As professionals, it's essential that we can serve clients who don't align with us on every level. At the same time, it's crucial not to remove our values from the discussion entirely. That breeds dishonesty and undermines authenticity.
Action step: Sit down and make a brief list of your unwavering principles. Make a conscious effort to incorporate them into every conversation.
It's time to focus on fitness, especially in the marketing sphere. So, what adjustments should marketers make in their careers to stay relevant in 2025? Which diet and workout regimen ought to they follow as a marketer? I'd recommend prioritizing these 4 resolutions in every marketer's plan.
Exclusive Marketing Leaders Collective is an exclusive, invite-only group for leading professionals in public relations, media tactics planning, creative, and promotional agencies. Am I eligible?
- Drew Gerber, the head honcho of Wasabi Publicity, Inc., shares the same sentiments about the marketing industry as the author, advocating for an honest and accountable approach.
- In the Exclusive Marketing Leaders Collective, Drew Gerber, with his reputation for promoting integrity in the marketing industry, could be an invaluable resource for practical implementations of the four New Year's resolutions.
