WRITTEN BY: CAROLINE REEKIE
Step aside, old school marketing – 2025 is shaking up the playbook with this new marketing cheat sheet. If you’re building a startup or scaling fast, this is your chance to leap past the competition. Forget chasing shiny objects. Instead, go after the trends helping emerging brands spend smarter, wow their niche, and even outmaneuver industry giants. Whether you’re plotting your breakout from a shared workspace or hustling in your kitchen – here’s your high-energy marketing cheat sheet on what’s actually working and which brands are making big strides.
AI: Your Secret Growth Sidekick 🤖
AI once felt far-off, but it’s now your secret weapon for growing and delighting your customer base. Get ready for emails so on-point they feel uncanny, and recommendations that spark repeat purchases without extra effort.
Take Snackly, a UK-based snack subscription startup. Snackly leverages AI-driven personalization to recommend snack boxes to subscribers based on their preferences, order history, and even factors like local weather. This approach not only delights customers but has driven up retention and reduced churn, all without a massive tech team.
How to jump in:
- Automate your emails: Platforms like Klaviyo and Mailchimp handle the heavy lifting.
- Offload FAQs to chatbots so your energy fuels bigger plays.
- Lean into hyper-personalized campaigns (weather, location, or buying signals – get creative).
Influencers: Why Less Is WAY More 🤏
Move over, A-listers. Micro-influencers now drive serious ROI, with smaller, loyal followings ready to take action.
Take Glossier as a playbook star. Rather than shelling out for celebrity faces, this beauty scale-up built its brand on everyday fans and micro-influencers. By sending out samples and collaborating with niche content creators, Glossier transformed real users into loyal brand ambassadors, driving community and credibility.
How to tap in:
- Find niche creators with authentic voices and active communities.
- Co-create, go live together, or launch something new as a team.
(DEPT®, 2025)
More influencer trends – DEPT® | eMarketer | Taboola
Sustainability: Do Good, Show Receipts 📗
Today’s consumers demand proof of purpose. No more surface-level greenwashing – real action gets rewarded.
Check Allbirds, the footwear startup that put sustainability front and center. Their use of natural materials, carbon-neutral goals, and public impact reports have built loyalists who care about the planet and the brand’s story. Their transparency and eco-innovation keep them top of mind (and top of feed).
How to stand out:
- Upgrade your packaging with compostable or recycled options.
- Document your journey – real employees, real footage, real change.
- Make sustainability a year-round value, not a campaign stunt.
(Taboola, 2025)
Short-Form Video: Your 60-Seconds of Fame 📹
How do you grab attention in under a minute? With quick, punchy, and personal content.
Ollie, the dog food subscription startup, nails this with TikTok and Reels – sharing unboxings, behind-the-scenes of their production, and customer pet stories. Ollie’s energetic, bite-sized videos foster authentic connections and viral engagement. Each viral hit brings in new subscribers and cements a loyal community.
Try this:
- Embrace DIY (lo-fi) video – authenticity wins every time.
- Feature team personalities, bloopers, or fan submissions.
- Turn your customers into stars. Fan content is social proof and a viral magnet.
(eMarketer, 2025)
Marketing Cheat Sheet: Scale Up, Stand Out 💭
- AI is your growth sidekick: Personalize everything.
- Micro-influencers make a big splash with the right audience.
- Prove your sustainability story – transparency wins.
- Shorts and Reels keep you top-of-mind (and top-of-feed).
Great brands aren’t built in a quarter. But with these moves and applying the strategies in this marketing cheat sheet, you’ll make the competition sweat – and keep your customers talking. Ready to get started?
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