As we step into 2025, the marketing landscape continues to shift beneath our feet.
This isn’t a time for buzzwords or hype. Here, the Solid Water Marketing Agency team breaks down the trends that are shaping the year — not as predictions, but as practical insights to help you make your marketing more effective. Let’s dive in:
1. Extra short attention spans in B2B Marketing

Daria Partas, co-founder of Solid Water marketing agency:
"Modern technology is complicated. SaaS pitches are boring and hard to digest. B2B or B2C, it doesn’t matter — you’re still marketing to a person. Ultimately, when marketers design strategies for B2B or B2C products, they need to remember that behind every ‘B2B lead’ in HubSpot is a real person — possibly doom-scrolling TikTok while sitting at their work laptop.

Some of the B2B marketing practitioners out there seem to think they’ve cracked the code by targeting their ‘B2B audience’ through ‘consumer’ channels.
💡 Case in point: I’m bombarded with ads for AI business tools every time I watch my guilty pleasure— interviews with Selling Sunset cast members on YouTube. Apparently, the algorithm has decided I’m a business owner worth chasing.
But is it working? Quite the opposite. Every time a vendor’s ad interrupts my indulgent Bri Tiesi binge, I’m left humming the “I hate that s**t” tune in my head. Instead of drawing me down their funnel, they’re making me resent their brand.
So, what’s the better play for those selling ‘an AI-driven innovative tool simplifying my business process’ (yawn)?
1️⃣ First off, simplify your messaging. For the love of marketing, drop the jargon and make it human. Imagine you are talking to a friend - how would you describe what you do for living?
2️⃣ Second, resist the urge to unload your entire sales deck all at once. No one wants to sift through a 50-slide PDF at any stage of their buyer’s journey.
Let’s break down your communication into atomised events to determine what is appropriate to say or send to your prospect step-by-step:

👨👨 The intro meeting:
Networking event. You meet someone. “Name, Title, Company”—done. Drop your one-liner about what you do. Share a business card or WhatsApp/LinkedIn QR code and send a quick “hello” message immediately. Don’t wait; otherwise, you’ll both disappear into the void of connections.
🔔 The follow-up direct message (Whatsapp or LinkedIn):
If they seem interested, send a skim-worthy deck—10 slides max. Not your 100-page manifesto.
📞 The follow-up call:
This is where you can walk them through your “About Us” deck (15 slides tops) and explain what you actually do, creds included.
📝 Tailored pitch:
Based on their feedback, send a deck that speaks directly to their industry or problem.
📩 The email:
Keep it simple — a short explainer video (1-3 minutes) and the 10-slide “About Us” deck so they can pass it along to their team and other decision-makers.
This is not rocket science. It’s common sense, which, ironically, isn’t so common. But it does address the challenge with attention spans in B2B marketing.
You are basically breaking your pitch into short messages, depending on the length of the attention span the client is willing to give you at a particular stage of the funnel.
We have been accused of offering our client a list of promotional collateral (which in their words ‘is obvious’ albeit they have so far got zero assets from our list) instead of grand “growth marketing” strategies. But laying this out clearly in a proposal is exactly what good marketing looks like: clear, straightforward communication that respects the buyer’s time.
It’s not about hacking algorithms to shove your ad in someone’s face while they’re watching their favorite podcast. It’s about using B2B channels wisely and speaking to your audience like they’re actual humans.
Because let’s face it: nobody wants to feel like a data point in a CRM. We just want to binge on our favourite TV show.
2. AI Is Reshaping Marketing

Maria Tsarkova, co-founder at Solid Water agency:
"I’d like to separate AI’s influence on marketing into two main categories: ways of working and doing better marketing.
A significant portion of AI-driven change is happening organically, often without marketers actively deciding to adopt new tools. These advancements are quietly reshaping how we deliver better marketing:
Ad algorithms ⚙️
Now they leverage predictive analytics to target ideal customers with hyper-relevant messages, eliminating the need for marketers to manually configure targeting, bidding, and exhaustive A/B tests. I still remember the days when I was setting alarm clocks to change ad bids and choose days and time for my ad to show. Distant memories now :)

Image source: Shutterstock.com
Having said that, most of the campaigns I oversee still do not have automatic placements, I still prefer to choose some of the audience targeting parameters and ad placements. After all, no AI knows my audience better than me.
E-commerce platforms 🛒
E-commerce platforms showcase the most relevant brands and products to consumers in real-time, driven by advanced recommendation engines. For smaller brands on platforms like Etsy or Amazon, having optimised listings with strong keywords, high-quality images, and compelling descriptions ensures they appear in these recommendations even without ad spend or critical mass of history purchases.

Image source: BetterCommerce.com
Pairing this with demand-generation strategies — like viral TikTok videos showcasing product use or influencer collaborations driving traffic through affiliate links — can help these smaller players punch above their weight. Starting out on e-com platforms is often a bit easier than venturing out independently, so after brand reputation is built, it might be easier to segway into building one’s own online shop, and we do love a cheaper and quicker way to prove a product-market fit.
Social media algorithms 📢
Social media algorithms prioritise content based on user interests and queries, rather than simply showing posts from friends or acquaintances. This shift means a brand’s content, if strong enough, can ACTUALLY reach millions.

Image source: digiligo.com
The questions is - do you want to reach millions or do you want the right user to convert? Prioritising the ‘right’ user seeing you rather than many non-target users seeing you is the constant battle many social media departments are fighting at the moment. But that’s a conversation for another newsletter edition.
I can go on.
Then, there’s a second layer: what I call AI collaborator tools. Your Perplexity to help with research, Jasper to write a blog post, MidJourney to brainstorm a compelling visual. These tools make us more efficient, creative, fill in hiring gaps and failing to befriend leaves your team at a competitive disadvantage.

That said, on average I test 3-4 new tools per month and very few of them I have adopted or brought to the team. I would spend more time trying to brief a machine on brand guidelines than giving them to an experienced designer for them to create a performance creative.
So in 2025, the most valuable AI-related skill is, in my opinion, the ability to quickly distinguish between winning tools and half-baked solutions—and to adopt the best ones before your competitors do. Easier said than done, especially in large teams.
This is not a one-off task. You or your team members have to engage in it continuously as the AI tool world is developing so rapidly. But it’s worth it - at Solid Water Marketing Agency, we’ve estimated that Preplexity saves about 20% of time on proposal development and research. Snov.io gives invaluable insights into lead performance and Read AI helps us structure notes from calls and highlights action points."
3. Brand and conversion campaigns must co-exist to drive sustainable growth

Anastasia Dobronravova, Head of Strategic Marketing at Solid Water:
"We constantly find ourselves under strong pressure from our clients (business owners) to show quick results - many struggle with attribution when it comes to brand building exercises. So they want us to focus solely on the ‘simple solutions that work’, i.e. drive immediate sales.
Here is the thing.
People (aka consumers) are overwhelmed with content, and attention spans are shrinking fast. Customers expect instant value but also remember brands that make them feel something.
To stand out, businesses must create emotional connections (brand) while using action-driven creatives to drive purchases (direct acquisition).
Even the biggest brands like Coca-Cola and M&M’s, traditionally known for large emotional brand campaigns, now combine them with digital ads that lead users directly to purchase in online stores.

TV Campaign & Paid Search Ads
Actionable Tip
If you’re not Coca-Cola or Mars (yet), start simple. Begin with a two-pronged approach:
- Use social media content to build your brand and initial following.
- Follow up with retargeting ads or action-driven campaigns to nudge audiences into converting.
💡 For one of our clients (a lingerie brand), we worked on an integrated campaign which followed a simple customer journey: First, they land on the brand's Instagram page which conveys the essence of the brand showcasing the lifestyle of our brand persona - a woman their customers aspired to be. Second, we launch retargeting ads with a clear call to action and a special offer for those who had engaged with the brand’s content but hadn’t yet decided to make a purchase. The result? A significant boost in conversions.
Nothing groundbreaking if I am honest but it does take time to convince a cost-savvy/bootstrapped client to invest in a brand building exercise.
4. The Return of Offline Experiences

Maria Tsarkova, co-founder at Solid Water agency:
"In a surprising twist, offline marketing is making a serious comeback — and it’s not just about screen fatigue (though we’ve all felt it). At its core, this shift taps into something timeless: the human need for genuine connection.
Real-world interactions offer something digital simply can’t replicate — authenticity, trust, and the power of shared experiences. These moments aren’t just about making a sale; they create emotional touchpoints that strengthen brand loyalty. You might be thinking - duh, this is a classic channel for retail, but we are talking about offline experiences for inmtrinsically online products.
Today’s offline strategies are phygital by design, blending the physical and digital to deliver seamless, memorable customer journeys.
Let’s take the example of a fractional real estate investment app. A fully digital platform that helps users invest in properties worldwide. They can host an in-person event designed to demystify & democratize real estate investing and engage their target audience on a deeper level.

Image source:
Here’s how it would work: guests would be invited to an intimate workshop where they could learn the basics of fractional real estate ownership. At the event, attendees would use their smartphones to interact with augmented reality displays, exploring 3D walkthroughs of properties like beachfront villas and urban lofts. On-site QR codes would allow them to sign up for the app instantly, offering an exclusive incentive — say, $150 toward their first investment. The app’s team would be walking people through the platform in real-time, which would allow to simultaneously film the tutorials for social media content.
Key takeaway here is that offline marketing isn’t a nostalgic nod to the past; it’s a competitive edge in a world craving connection.
For brands, especially digital-native ones, creating phygital moments that seamlessly flow into your online funnel is a powerful way to build trust, loyalty, and long-term growth.
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