Why your 2025 marketing strategy is obsolete (and how to pivot)
Let’s be honest: the marketing strategy you meticulously crafted at the end of 2024 is likely already gathering digital dust. We always talk about how you can’t just create your strategy and set it and forget it. It should shift as everything around your shifts. Your customers change, technology changes, and even your brand and business will both change. Your marketing strategy needs to reflect all of these changes so you can see successful and sustained growth.
If your engagement is dipping or your revenues are plateaued or decreasing, your strategy isn't just "underperforming." It’s obsolete. Here is why the old ways are failing and how we are pivoting our clients for success in the 2026 landscape.
1: The death of status quo SEO
For years, SEO was about keywords and backlinks. But with the rise of SGE (Search Generative Experience) and AI-driven answers, users aren't always clicking through to websites anymore. They are getting their answers directly on the search results page. We have shifted to Generative Engine Optimization.
The Problem: Low-value, "how-to" blog posts are losing traffic because AI can summarize them in three bullets.
The Pivot: Focus on information gain. Create content that includes proprietary data, unique case studies, or strong editorial opinions – things an AI cannot hallucinate or scrape from a generic source. Focus on optimizing for answers, not just rankings. Also consider content that AI can pull from for generated overviews.
2: The shift from "followers" to "communities"
The era of the "Mega-Influencer" is waning. Audiences are exhausted by polished, high-production ads disguised as lifestyle content – they have been for a long while. High follower counts no longer guarantee high conversion, nor does it mean higher engagement.
The Problem: Algorithms are prioritizing "interest-based" feeds (like TikTok and Reels) over "follower-based" feeds. Your followers might not even see your posts.
The Pivot: Invest in Micro-Communities and Dark Social. This means nurturing Discord servers, Slack channels, or specialized email segments. Move the conversation from mass public channels to the private living room where trust is higher. This is where you’ll be able to build highly engaged communities.
3: AI is the floor, not the ceiling
If you are using AI just to churn out more social media captions, you’re missing the point. Everyone has access to the same LLMs; "more content" is now a commodity with zero barrier to entry.
The Problem: The internet is being flooded with "average" AI content. To the consumer, it all looks and sounds like noise.
The Pivot: Use AI for hyper-personalization and prediction. Use it to analyze your data to predict when a customer is about to churn, or to personalize landing pages in real-time based on a user’s specific pain points. It’s also a great tool for brainstorming if you’re working with a small team – or alone. Don’t use AI for the final product.
How to audit your current strategy
Not sure if you need a total overhaul? Ask your team these three questions:
Question
If the answer is "Yes..."
Are we still prioritizing quantity over quality?
Pivot: Cut your content output by 50% and double the research/design budget for what remains.
Is our data still stuck in silos?
Pivot: Implement a unified Customer Data Platform (CDP) to track the actual journey across platforms.
Are we ignoring "Zero-Click" content?
Pivot: Start creating content designed to provide value on the platform (e.g., LinkedIn carousels) rather than just driving links.
In 2026 it all comes down to…
This year needs to be about authenticity and technical agility. If your brand feels like a faceless corporation using last year's templates, your audience will find someone who feels human.
You don’t have to have the biggest budget to have a successful marketing strategy, but you do need to be strategic with how you allocate the budget you have and make sure you can adapt fairly quickly as things shift.
Wondering how you can set yourself up for success in marketing this year? Book a free consultation with me and we’ll chat.