Future of Marketing: Market Insights You Need to Know for 2025 and Beyond

In Q4 2024, over 300 frequent viewers of the monthly Market Pulse webinar offered by Equifax, provided insights into how their organizations are approaching growth marketing in 2025. The survey offers a fascinating glimpse into how organizations are using data in their marketing strategy and how they anticipate it changing with fluctuations in the market.

The survey encompassed a diverse group of respondents from a range of industries, with 27% from Credit Unions, 27% from banking, 21% from fintech, 15% from mortgage and housing, 6% from auto, and 4% from telecommunications. The respondent pool was nearly evenly split between positions as business stakeholders (52%) and data users/experts (48%).

The survey revealed the following key trends about marketing priorities, and strategic use of data to support growth:

Strategic Priorities for 2025: Customer Experience Leads the Way

One of the clearest insights from the survey was the continued clear focus on delivering a seamless and personalized customer experience. A significant 37% of respondents identified this as their organization's top strategic priority for 2025, surpassing all other options. Moreover, 28% ranked it as their second priority, further solidifying its importance. 

Also revealing was the cautious stance when it comes to customer growth. The vast majority - 86% of respondents -  are actively seeking growth opportunities while carefully managing risk. Only 12% are prioritizing growth, even if it means taking on more risk. This reflects wider market uncertainties.

Economic Impact on Marketing and Customer Engagement

The current economic environment is significantly impacting marketing and customer engagement strategies. A majority of respondents indicated that an increasing focus on customer retention and loyalty is the most significant effect. Specifically, 38% cited it as the greatest impact, and 52% said it’s having some impact. This reflects the need for businesses to drive customer growth cost effectively by looking for opportunities within their current customer base..

An emphasis on value proposition and ROI was another notable shift, with 36% identifying it as the greatest impact and 52% as having some impact.

Although not the top concern, impact on marketing budgets was also a major factor with 71% of respondents overall saying it was impacting their strategies in some way.  Finally, 70% of respondents reported a shift towards digital marketing channels.

Data and Analytics Tactics for Personalization

As mentioned earlier, personalizing marketing efforts and improving customer experience are key objectives for many organizations. The survey revealed that customer segmentation and targeting are the most widely used data and analytic tactic, with 64% of respondents pursuing it. 

Other popular tactics included customized content and recommendations (48%), marketing automation and campaign optimization (46%), and customer journey mapping and analysis (37%). These findings underscore the prevalent use of technology and data to personalize interactions and enhance the customer journey.

Opportunities to Enhance Customer Growth Marketing 

The survey reveals some timely insights into how organizations use data to enhance and optimize their marketing and targeting tactics to boost growth.

Curious about how your business can enhance your marketing strategy and drive growth amid tightened budgets and market fluctuations? 

Whether through a quick one hour consultation or a full day deep dive, we’re helping guide organizations on how to make best use of data to drive strategy and decisions in a rapidly changing environment through complimentary personalized Market Pulse Advisory sessions with one of our experts. Sign up for yours today.

Keep Your Business Goals Within Sight

We hope you will join us for our June 2025 Market Pulse webinar, where our talented and dynamic expert panel will discuss current sentiments around economic uncertainty. To ask questions in real time and gain deeper insights before anyone else, you must be there. Don’t miss it!

Find our monthly Small Business Insights, National Consumer Credit Trends reports, the Market Pulse podcast, and more at our Market Pulse hub. 

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