The Current State of Marketing and Where it's Heading in 2025: Tell Me Anything

Marketing & Content Hub Tips, Tricks & Best Practices
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Hello to all you innovative marketers out there!

I’m Angela DeFranco, and I recently re-joined HubSpot to lead the Marketing Hub product team. I’m reaching out to start a conversation about the current state of marketing and where it’s heading in 2025.

Our team is focused on staying ahead of emerging trends and understanding the real challenges marketers face today. We believe the best insights come directly from professionals like you who are in the trenches every day. We want the real human stories and real examples behind those insights… so don’t hold back.

(My team and I will be actively responding to all comments on Friday April 25 so feel free to ask us questions too!)

Questions we’re curious about:

  • AI Integration: How are you currently using AI in your marketing workflows? What aspects are most helpful, and where do you feel it falls short?
  • Content Creation: What’s changed in your content strategy over the past year? Are you creating more or less content, and how has your approach to distribution evolved?
  • Tech Stack Reality: Beyond the hype, what marketing tools are actually delivering value for your team? Which ones are more trouble than they’re worth? How has your stack changed.
  • HubSpot Updates: Which recent HubSpot updates or features have made the biggest impact on your work? Are there any you’re still trying to figure out how to maximize?
  • Demand Generation: What demand gen tactics are working best for you in today’s market? Which previously reliable methods seem to be losing effectiveness? Where do you sit in relation to sales and closing revenue?
  • Evolving Roles: What new marketing job titles or role specializations are you seeing emerge? How is your team structure changing to adapt to today’s marketing landscape? How do you anticipate it will change?
  • Marketer Wellbeing: Honestly, how are you feeling about marketing as a profession right now? What keeps you up at night, and what gets you excited to start work each day. Remember… be honest :slightly_smiling_face:
  • Skill Development: Which skills do you think will be most crucial for marketers to develop in the next 1-2 years?

Your candid thoughts will not only help fellow marketers but also inform how we develop products and solutions to better support this community.

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@miadef Welcome back to HubSpot! See below for my thoughts :slightly_smiling_face:

AI Integration

I’m currently using AI primarily for content ideation, outlines, and ideating channels for execution. AI helps me scale routine tasks like generating variants and also troubleshooting how to execute items in HubSpot that I may have not done before. It comes close but falls short in creating well designed imagery, landing pages, and capturing authentic brand voice and emotional nuance—our team still needs to edit AI outputs to make them feel genuine. I also feel across the board there are so many options and limited time to try everything, so having an AI lab-type group that you can see how others use AI is the best way to learn! At Smartbug, we have a Slack channel dedicated to testing and learning AI. My coworker @PattiMyers just launched an awesome AI Agent to help uncover economic impact intelligence for businesses so you can have conversations about how to best support clients business needs during turbulent times - check it out here: https://agent.ai/agent/oxbxa7zghlo38xni

Content Creation

Our content strategy has shifted toward quality over quantity this past year. We’re focusing on creating fewer but more comprehensive pieces, focusing on evergreen content that delivers lasting value. Distribution has evolved to emphasize owned channels first, particularly email newsletters and community forums where engagement rates remain strong. We’ve also seen success with repurposing core content (assisted by AI) into multiple formats (podcasts, infographics, short videos) rather than creating entirely new topics.

Tech Stack Reality

The tools delivering the most value are simple: our CRM, email marketing platform, and analytics suite. What I am seeing across the board is a nice slow down to later speed up method, where folks are realizing Marketing Operations and a clean CRM set up is going to provide the best results. For those that are doing it smart, I am seeing less “hurry up and just get this CRM running” without intention.

HubSpot Updates

The AI-powered content assistant has made an impact on our efficiency, though we’re still figuring out how to best implement it within our workflow.

Evolving Roles

We’re seeing the emergence of specialized roles an niches. Team structures are becoming less siloed, with more cross-functional pods organized around customer journeys rather than marketing channels. I anticipate we’ll see further integration between marketing and customer success teams, with roles focused on the entire customer lifecycle rather than just acquisition.

Marketer Wellbeing

It’s exciting but a somewhat exhausting time to be in marketing, it’s all moving so fast and furious, you have to adapt and move quick. Those that are curious and have drive to innovate will make it through these wild times, those that have no interest will be stuck executing campaigns like it’s 2023 :face_with_tongue: What keeps me up is wondering if we’re focusing on the right priorities amid so much change. What gets me excited is the opportunity to solve time-consuming processes with AI.

Skill Development

Right now, the most crucial skills for marketers to develop include data literacy and AI prompt engineering. Technical skills will remain important, but the ability to interpret data, ask the right questions of AI tools, and deeply understand human decision-making will separate exceptional marketers from the rest. Strategic thinking and the ability to connect marketing activities to business outcomes will be more valuable than ever.

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Hi HKoch thank you so much for this response! This is all spot on and aligns with what we’re seeing/hearing. I think the feeling of “exhausted excitement” needs to have a name because it is so prevelant.

On the team structures, I definitely feel the pull to “collapse” the team structure further and I love the idea that you’re seeing folks align around different journeys. If you have any examples of what this looks like in practice I’d love to learn more. Thanks a lot for the response!

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It might be particular to healthcare tech, but on the AI side, I’m seeing more use in recycling and atomizing content, but less on the creation end. I’ve watched a couple of projects fall flat and a few tools get abandoned for more manual content creation, at least early in the game. I’m also getting more pushback on it’s use, with some companies having AI bans and others being wary of assistants popping up in unexpected places.
In terms of skill development, I think listening, in the sense of market research and empathy will be critical as problems become more complex, audience attention spans shorten and the need for genuinely useful content increases.

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Hi MeganWilliams, thanks so much for the response, I agree. We are seeing/hearing/feeling a lot more success from teams who are repurposing and "remix"ing content rather than using it to pump out a ton more. As the AI gets better and more attuned to brand voice and acts as a true thought partner, I do wonder if almost all content will be AI-assisted but for now, I’m okay with having humans in the loop focusing on quality!

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Hi @adefranco,

We appreciate you hosting this session! We’d love to hear from our community members and encourage them to share their thoughts and insights.

Hi @Lucila-Andimol, @Gilempert, @ajubete, @JuanGomez0818, @LautaroDelPlato, @milcapeguero, hope you’re having a good week!

Just a heads-up that @adefranco and the team will be actively engaging with your comments on Friday, April 25th.

Thanks for considering this opportunity. Wishing you a wonderful day!

Best,
Diana

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What’s the timetable for providing support for Facebook Reels? Specifically the ability to measure campaign performance and attribute sales to certain posts, like you can for IG Reels and other platforms. I’m not here to troll anybody, but it’s a serious miss to not have that functionality given the platform’s size and direct influence on commercial strategy for businesses like ours. Same thing with TikTok. What should my expectations be for a change there? Thanks for your insight.

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Thank you for the questions.

For me am new to all of this and I haven’t started integrating any to my business.

Maybe when I have understand them better I will.

Thank you so much.

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Rosie4 - no problem - I’m curious what is top of mind for you as you start your business in general. Thanks for the response!

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Thanks for the conversation. Here are some of my thoughts:

AI Integration: We’re primarily using AI for content generation, ideation, and building efficiencies into recurring tasks. We’re also integrating chat bots into our websites to support lead conversion and customer service/retention.

Tech Stack: We are doing a lot of evolving of our tech stack, with a major focus on integration between platforms. That was one of the primary reasons for us to bring on the Marketing Hub Enterprise. We’re optimistic it will be a game changer for our lead nurturing, conversion rates, more automated/personalized communication, and more insightful data to drive decision making.

HubSpot Updates: We just launched the platform so we’re still getting familiar with the basics, but we have a long list of things we’d like to explore further. Our initial priority has been working around the limtiations of the business unit structure. We were convinced that was the right format for our multi-brand company in the sales process, but it has presented a lot of challenges for us from a permissions/visibility and reporting/analytics standpoint. I’m hoping HubSpot will be taking a closer look at that structure soon as I’m presented specific feedback to my HubSpot CSM.

Evolving Roles: I think marketing and technical roles are continuing to find more and more overlap, particularly with the speed of technological changes.
Skillsets: I’d defer to the obvious answer here - understanding AI tools and the strategies to get the most out of them (i.e. effective prompting); also being able to recognize an effective tech stack that brings systems together and reduces redundancies.

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AngelaP - this is an amazing answer. Thank you so much for the thoughtful response. I hear you on the Business Units challenge and I can assure you it’s one our team is thinking about. At Fall Spotlight we recently released Multi-Account Management into a beta - your CSM will tell you more but it is just the beginning for that problem area so stay tuned. And thanks again for your feedback!

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Thank you for the response! Glad to hear the Business Unit challenge is
under discussion and look forward to hearing more about the Multi-Account
Management beta.

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Love this initiative. Sharing from a revenue-focused marketing perspective rather than pure top-of-funnel.

AI integration
AI is now embedded in daily workflows, but mostly as an accelerator. We use it for drafting emails, repurposing content, summarizing sales calls, improving lead scoring, and cleaning CRM data. The biggest insight is that AI only works well if your underlying data is clean and structured. This is where HubSpot has been strong. Having AI directly inside Marketing Hub and Sales Hub, connected to real contact, deal, and engagement data, makes it far more practical than standalone AI tools
Content creation
We’re producing slightly less content but with more intention. There’s a bigger focus on bottom-of-funnel assets, case studies, and sales enablement content. Distribution is more multi-channel, with LinkedIn, email, and paid working together. Tools like SEMrush help validate demand before we create content, and Canva speeds up creative production, but HubSpot is where we measure whether any of it actually influences pipeline.

Tech stack reality
The tools delivering value are the ones that integrate tightly. HubSpot is the core system because it connects marketing, sales, and service in one place. Zapier is critical for stitching together niche apps and automating edge cases. For outreach and faster follow-up, having calling integrated into the CRM is key. We use CloudTalk to help sales respond quickly and log activity back into HubSpot automatically. For scheduling, tools like Calendly remove friction and sync meetings straight into contact records. And when it comes to enrichment, Clearbit adds helpful firmographic data directly into HubSpot so segmentation is more precise.

HubSpot updates
The AI content tools and improvements in workflows and lead scoring have had the biggest impact. But the real strength is still the unified data model. When marketing and sales operate from the same lifecycle stages, properties, and reporting, alignment improves significantly.

Demand generation
Outbound is tougher and paid channels are more expensive. What’s working is tighter alignment with sales and immediate follow-up. Speed to lead matters more than ever. Automated workflows that assign, notify, and trigger outreach within minutes make a measurable difference.

Evolving roles
There’s a clear rise in RevOps and marketing ops roles. Fewer siloed specialists, more hybrid operators who understand automation, attribution, AI, and CRM architecture. Modern marketers need to think in systems.

Marketer wellbeing
It’s a demanding time. Expectations are high and performance pressure is real. At the same time, the tooling is more powerful than ever. When HubSpot is implemented strategically, marketing can directly influence revenue in a very visible way.

Skills for the next 1 to 2 years
CRM mastery, automation strategy, AI applied in context, and revenue attribution. Marketers who understand how to design and optimize the full customer journey inside a platform like HubSpot will have a major advantage.