1. The utility of AI might disguise it’s potential damage – here’s an example;
If you’re running a marketing effort for your business or artist, you need to be aware of how AI operate in 2025. If AI ‘asked you’ whether you’d like to maximise your return on ad spend. Would you do it?
I.e. would you like to maximise the amount of money your business earned, per dollar spent?
Chances are 99% of us would do it, because at first it seems like a no-brainer. We should all be aware of in 2025, that these ads platforms often have these kinds of settings in-built even.
However, counter-intuitively it might better for you to earn less money per dollar spent. This is where in my experience we can run into trouble with AI, we sometimes don’t actually know what we want. This applies to all elements of business where we use a tool like this, allowing AI to disguise it’s potential damage.
Would you actually prefer to spend $10 and make $50 with a 5x return, than spend $1 and make $10 with 10x return? Well it depends entirely on your business setup. The second is maximising return on ad spend. The audience of users that you can get a 10x return on, maybe much smaller than those you can get a 5x return on.
Looking Beyond the Obvious: AI’s Impact on Business
This is nuanced example that obviously can be debated and considered from many angles. However, I simply pose that things that seem ‘obvious’ can unintentionally be extremely dangerous to our business. Which is why when we use AI tools for our operations, especially in marketing efforts, we have to have a human eye and consideration to the business impact to avoid critical pitfalls (and there are many).
Use AI tools, as you likely won’t be able to compete soon without at least having some of them on your side. But be extra aware in 2025 as their adoption becomes more commonplace in your organisations, that AI might disguise it’s potential damage.
2. Emails are different now – Email marketing has gone through regulatory changes
Any business who sends emails should be aware that in 2025 they will need to make sure their domains are verified. They must also have the correct DNS settings which prove that the origins of the email is indeed from your companies domain. While this will help reduce a huge amount of spam and fraud (a good thing!), for those who are not aware and do not update their domain and mailbox settings may find their emails hitting spam & promotions folders (dangerous to your business) which can be seriously problematic. 2024 saw lots of regulatory changes, and things will continue on their current trajectory in 2025.
Also note your analytics for open rates on IOS devices may not be accurate anymore Learn More
3. Pixel data will probably become ineffective in 2025.
We have been talking about this for some time, but if you’re selling things online, chances are you’re using browser based pixels like a ‘Facebook/Meta Pixel’. Sadly, this technique for tracking user events on your site, and typically observing purchase-conversion data is already being choked/blocked by devices and we should be aware that 2025 may be the year where it truly becomes ineffective.
In our experience over 50% of your website data does not track to your ad accounts using pixels as of writing this. However, this trend is set to accelerate in 2025, with it being very likely pixels will be almost useless by the end of this year. Companies like Meta have been asking business owners to setup the next system for tracking user interactions called CAPI, which recovers this lost data and increases the effectiveness of online ads. Speak to an expert if you need any help with how to setup CAPI.
4. The law on data collection and uses is rapidly evolving
We spoke about this also in 2024, but this is another accelerating issue. While we are not lawyers, and cannot advice on legal matters, companies must be aware that depending on where they are based, data law is changing. Regulations aim to put a halt to the frequent selling or exchanging of 3rd party data without the consent of users and your company may potentially be doing this without you being aware of it. These regulations impart the important of companies having updated and correct privacy policies, and to focus on the setup of 1st party data analytics. I am very happy to see these regulations get more focused on the protection of user data, I found this article from google quite helpful to understand more about this topic.
5. CRM systems will become even more important than they already are
Algorithmic changes in social platforms have been irritating users now for years.
Investing in audience growth on a platform that you don’t fundamentally own, proves time and time again to not be without risk. While organic and paid social channel growth isn’t going away anytime soon, I would advise all businesses to have some element of a centralised database of their leads and customers that is owned themselves. A good Customer Relationship Manager solves this problem. Whether something simple like Mailchimp, or a more advanced system like Braze – these tools can be the defining factor between a business winning or losing.
TOP TIP: Make sure to take backups of your CRM data at least once every quarter.
These systems are becoming more and more important, especially with examples like the potential ban of TikTok in the United States. Own your own data, and try to minimise any reliance you have on social channels, you never know when they may change in efficacy to your goals, or disappear entirely.
Expand, Diversify, and Build Long-Term Value
Open up your efforts across new platforms, and diversify your risk and opportunity. For example, I personally see podcast advertising being a big opportunity in 2025 if you’re not already using it. Wherever you spend $1, try to use lead capture where possible, so you’re coming away with lifetime value in data that you own as long as the person consents to marketing, as opposed to just engaging people online.
So;
Whether you’re working with the TDS team, or you’re subscribed to our content in general, many companies may not be aware of these changes, or they may take a long time to react. Getting ahead of the curve and adapting around these changes can put some distance ahead of your competition, and there are lots of resources online, or on our website to help. Feel free to respond to this email if you have any questions, and good luck for 2025!
