Marketing is constantly evolving. There will be algorithm changes guiding search results and SEO until the end of time, AI has made a swift and impactful entrance, and design trends change faster than you can say peppermint foam cold brew. If only there were a team of highly-experienced marketing professionals that could guide you through all of the top marketing trends of 2025… (spoiler: there is; it’s us). The expert team at the Marketing Department prides ourselves on staying ahead of the trends, so our clients don’t have to.
2025 Social Media Trends
TMD’s very own social media maven, Pauline Duda, shares her insights about 2025’s marketing trends. “Overall, it’s looking like real content and engagement is going to win this year, which means a lot more work for the people behind your social,” she says. “Teams are going to need to create more content, and spend more time engaging and social listening in order to stay ahead.”
REALness is Back
Long gone are the days of hyper-calculated content or sales-y fluff coming from brands. People want to see what’s really happening behind the scenes— they want to see how you’re overcoming challenges, your small imperfections, and your blooper reels. We see so much of the same content get repeated over and over because it was successful for a handful of creators, alongside cookie-cutter templates and AI-generated content, but doing what everyone else is doing is lazy. Lazy content isn’t going to be enough to stop the scroll, let alone drive a conversion.
AI isn’t Quite the Time-Saving Panacea You Might Think it Is
AI is everywhere, and it has the capability to generate a ton of content, which feels like a big win when it comes to social content creation. The thing is, we’re also seeing humans push back on this artificial content. On social media, AI can be perceived as icky, lazy, and lacking humanity because the whole point of social media is to build community and learn from each other. This could mean that in 2025, we’ll see more ‘uglier’, a.k.a. less designed and curated content, and more videos and images showcasing the real side of things. Personality, real ideas, and knowledge of your niche (community!) will get people to listen and engage.
Engagement, Engagement, Engagement
Brands have already caught on that being active in comment sections does wonders for building trust and awareness, and this means actively engaging (liking, commenting, sharing) on other people’s content with a real human behind the wheel will continue to be important. While AI automation tools are super useful for those of us who have to manage the comments on multiple brand accounts, ensuring that we do so sparingly (or maybe more strategically with a very specific, human tone) is important. People can tell when it’s an automated response, and I think in 2025, that’s gonna be even more of a red flag if an account has too many identifiable automated responses. Regardless, social algorithms will continue to reward creators who engage and not those who just post and ghost.
Learn more about The Marketing Dept.’s Social Media Services
2025 Trends in Web Development
The Marketing Dept.’s web development expert, Muhammad Shoaib shares that 2025 is sure to bring some exciting new trends in web. “To compete in 2025, websites will need to have killer UI, impeccable functionality, and speed and responsiveness across all devices,” he said. Here are some tools developers need to stay on top of in order to deliver exceptional websites, according to Muhammad.
AI-Powered Development
Top-tier developers are leveraging AI tools that use artificial intelligence to analyze source code to identify vulnerabilities, bugs, or errors, reducing the amount of time needed for manual code review and problem solving. These innovations allow developers to build websites faster and more efficiently.
Headless CMS Platforms
Headless CMS platforms are becoming increasingly popular because they separate the backend from the frontend, offering greater flexibility. For example, WordPress can serve as the backend of a website, while modern frontend technologies like React.js, Angular.js, or Vue.js can handle the user interface. By using these technologies, we can create faster and more aesthetic and functional websites.
API-First Development
An API-first approach to development enables developers to create seamless integrations between websites and various services and devices. For instance, animation and micro-interactions are becoming more immersive with the help of advanced CSS, JavaScript libraries, and WebGL and voice and chat interfaces are being integrated into websites for enhanced customer support.
Learn more about The Marketing Department Colorado’s Web Development Services
2025 Graphic Design Trends
The Marketing Department’s Chief Creative Officer, Laura Sanders, shares her expert insight on what’s happening in the world of graphic design in 2025. “Design trends are tricky; on one hand, you want evergreen design that can last through the ages; on the other hand, you want to stay relevant. But, the line between relevant and trendy is a fine one,” said Laura
Minimalism
The biggest shift I’m seeing for 2025 is a push into minimalism. Many brands are shifting from highly-designed, intricate aesthetics to a more minimalist ‘less is more’ approach. One example of how we have incorporated this philosophy into our work at The Marketing Dept. is with the redesign of the Kellin Communications logo. We took an outdated logo and freshened it up by subtracting busy design elements and honing in on the elements that were effective. We also modernized the font and color palette.
AI Tools—For Better and Worse
The way AI is impacting our world is astonishing. I’m seeing way more AI-generated images and integration in our design software. On one hand, the tools we have to do our work make our jobs so much faster than they’ve ever been before. On the other, these tools allow people without training to sidestep the professional design process. Remember: professional designers are highly-skilled individuals who have in-depth understanding of concepts like color selection, fonts, and content hierarchy. While it’s awesome that a busy mom can create a flyer for her bake sale in Canva, most companies don’t look professional when a novice uses these tools.
Stick to Your Principles
Trends change very fast these days and it’s easy to become antiquated doing what you’ve always done, but don’t get caught up in trends or fads. As a designer, it’s important to stick to your principles. Experienced designers know how to strike the right balance, and the core principles of good design are timeless. Just like with home design or fashion, trends come and go, but a strong aesthetic should always be the foundation. We recently updated the branding for Kellin Communications and this project was a perfect example of balancing timeless design principles with modern relevance. I replaced an outdated logo with a minimalist approach that feels fresh and relevant.
Learn more about The Marketing Dept.’s graphic design services
2025 SEO Trends
Our Chief Strategy Officer and SEO expert, Rachael DeRossi, shares what she’s seeing when it comes to getting your website to rank in 2025. “Just like all other departments, AI is driving innovation in SEO. With the advent of AI overviews (AIO) and Google algorithm changes, brands need to dig deeper to create strategies that are going to move the needle,” she said.
Aligning Efforts Across Departments
We’re seeing content rank that hasn’t ever before. That means your ad, social, and SEO team all need to be on the same page when it comes to goals, buyer journey, KPIs and keywords. Take social posts for example, social media has historically been more peripheral to SEO because these platforms produce nofollow links. But, we’re starting to see social content in search rankings, which is huge for brands in terms of brand signaling—a major indicator for Domain Authority. Aligning PPC campaigns with SEO efforts with keywords and strategic landing pages can help brands catch consumers at the right point of their sales journey.
Integrate AI + Human Elements
While AI tools are making content creation simpler, Google is staying firm in their assertion that content needs to be helpful and people-first. This means their search algorithm is prioritizing content that is created by humans for humans. That doesn’t mean that AI tools are useless though, just that businesses need to find the right way to integrate AI and human elements into their content. At TMD, we utilize AI tools for research and data analysis efficiency and leave the content creation to the humans.
Even Greater Emphasis on E.E.A.T
AI allows anyone to generate informative content about any topic, which opens up access to information, but also reduces checks around accuracy and integrity. That’s why search engines continue to emphasize Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E.E.A.T). The way to create content that people trust is to tap into expert opinions—consider, what is your company an expert on, and how can you prove that to both your customers and Google. Think about it this way— a fourteen year old boy could generate several blog articles on dentistry using AI, or a board-certified dentist could write one in-depth article based on their experience and expertise—whose content would you trust more? With the spread of AI tools, content built around E.E.A.T is more important than ever.
Learn more about The Marketing Department Colorado’s SEO services
Watch our Chief Strategy & Growth Officer, Rachael DeRossi chat through the top SEO trends of 2025. Subscribe to get notified every time a new video drops.
