Key Trends Shaping Performance Marketing in 2025

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Marketing

Artificial Intelligence (short. AI) has improved the overall marketing approach by creating a much deeper understanding, more insights, enhanced efficiency, and bigger levels of personalization. By harnessing AI we can greatly improve multiple fields in marketing and increase our knowledge of advertisement and the overall performance of any ads on any platform.

The Rise of Machine Learning for Targeting

Another subset of AI is Machine Learning, which is currently being used by companies such as Google, Microsoft, Meta, and others. This branch of AI offers a better understanding of multiple fields, and researching them manually is inefficient or simply impossible. These include, for example:

1. Predictive Analysis: Research of the customer data behavior based on historical data to improve ad effectiveness.
2. Programmatic Advertisement: Buying and placing ads in real time while targeting the right audience with the correct message and relevant content.
3. Customer Segmentation: Grouping audiences dynamically into brackets depending on their behavior, preferences, demographics, etc.

Importance of Personalization at Scale

By using AI we can not only get better results from our ads the simple way but also leverage it for Personalization, which can be scaled over time. By using advanced algorithms that make AI we can:

1. Tailored or User-Generated Content (short UGC ): AI-generated email marketing templates, automatically change product data – titles, descriptions, images, get more ideas for UGC content, etc.
2. Customer Journey: Website layout overhaul, product display ideas, pop-up windows, etc.
3. Deeper Connection with Customers: Increase customer retention by engaging with personalized content recommendations.

Voice Search Optimization

Impact of Voice Technology on Consumer Behavior

Voice assistants are today found in a plethora of households. Other than helping with everyday life, they also offer things like product search, recommendations, and similar services. If you don’t own an assistant like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, remember that you also have them in your phones (Apple Siri, for example).

💡Recent studies see a brutal increase in voice search (voice commerce) YoY, as Business Dasher writes. During the years 2021-2023, voice commerce has increased by 321%.

Strategies for Optimizing for Voice Search

Voice commerce is becoming one of the fastest-growing marketing trends, and everyone should start preparing for it. This does not mean redoing your whole business, but rather improving it. Here are a few tips on how to improve your business to offer more immersive experiences:

1. Natural Language and Long-Tail Keywords: Optimize your products for phrases that people often use. Include question-based keywords in product descriptions such as “how, what, where, when, etc.”.
2. Optimize for Mobile Devices: Most voice searches are made on mobile devices, so optimizing your website to be more responsive is a must.
3. Create FAQ Pages: People are using voice search not only to search for products but also to ask questions about them. By having an FAQ page you answer those questions and gain leverage over your competitors that don’t use this feature.

Shift Towards Zero and First-Party Data

As we all can see, privacy regulations are tightening year over year, and it is of utmost importance for us as marketers and business owners to adapt to this change and start improving ways we gather customer data.

Defining Zero-Party and First-Party Data

• Zero-Party Data—Data shared proactively by customers. These can represent surveys, interactive content, pop-ups, etc.

• First-Party Data—Data collected from customers based on their interactions with the website. These can represent transactional data, behavioral data, CRM insights, etc.

Implications of Privacy Regulations

Regulatory changes like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and other global policy laws are the main driving force behind the shift away from Third-Party Data. As we can see in the EU, data laws are becoming exponentially severe since the EU emphasizes consumer rights.

Some major implications represent:

1. End of Third-Party Cookies: We must adapt to the “cookieless” business and shift our data collection toward Zero-Party and First-Party Data.
2. Focus on Transparency: Customers are grateful when they know in advance how their data is being processed and used.
3. Better Ad Strategies: Without Third-Party Data businesses must focus more on consumer behavior, utilize contextual targeting (ads appear on pages that have highly relevant content to your products or services), and use First-Party Data mainly on Performance Marketing Campaigns

Techniques for Collecting First-Party Data

The best way to collect First-Party Data is by various activities that happen on your website. We are living in a privacy-conscious age and trust me, consumers know that when their data is being collected. Nonetheless, there are multiple ways to ensure safe data collection without loss of customers:

1. Interactive content: You can always use pop-ups, polls, quizzes, and surveys to collect data from visitors.
2. Loyalty programs: Offer rewards to customers for sharing preferences or purchases.
3. Customer feedback: Leverage feedback through reviews, surveys, and testimonials to gain a preview of customer or user satisfaction.
4. Events: Organise live events, webinars, or workshops to engage with your customers or users directly and collect data through registration forms.
5. Social Media: Follow interactions, comments, and messages to grasp your customer interests better.

The Growth of Social Commerce

As we all already know, social media marketing achieved a boost during the last decade. Almost every business advertises on Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, etc. Social platforms are quite important since they bring higher engagement than any other performance marketing ads, boost authenticity, and target potential customers who are open to personalized ads, whether it’s an e-commerce product or a service.

Engaging Consumers through Social Media Platforms

To achieve success on social media platforms, you need to create as authentic and interactive content as possible. This content should resonate well with your target audience and provide a better customer experience even outside your business website.

📱Social networks offer multiple features on top of just sales. You can leverage formats like Q&A, polls, shoppable posts, etc., for even higher engagement. These features can transcend your brand to the next level and bring even more traffic and conversions to your business.

Strategies for Effective Social Commerce Campaigns

The goal of every business on social media networks should be not only to sell as much as possible but also to build brand awareness. Opting for “just selling” is a short-term goal that often ends its lifespan prematurely.

On the other hand, making your brand visible and recognizable is a goal that is rather a long-term dedication and can yield way more than having multiple short-term goals. To achieve this, you can leverage generative AI for content or utilize AI-driven recommendations.

There are multiple different ways that you can get to the “success point” that you want to achieve, but if you don’t know where to begin try:

1. Influencer and/or User-Generated Content (UGC)—collaborate with local influencers to serve customized content or create your content from customer photos, and reviews to further social proof your business posts.
2. Personalization and AI—Use AI recommendations based on customer or visitor behavior. Leverage discounts, exclusive deals, and targeted ads to boost sales.
3. Engagement with audience—Visit local fares to meet your customers and offer tester products or trials for services. Respond to comments, messages, and reviews to build a stronger relationship and improve word of mouth.
4. Gamification—Implement interactive elements like scratch your discount, quizzes, challenges, and giveaways to drive not only engagement but also gather data and score more conversions.

Immersive Content and User Experience

One of the key practices to future-proof your business is leveraging immersive content and improving the user experience (UX) of your website. UX is already a well-established term and represents the experience of the visitor of your website. This experience should be streamlined and perfect so that it ends with the conversion.

ℹ️On the other hand, immersive content is something that is being sought after these recent years and can further improve the conversion rate. Immersive content closely implies using Augmented Reality (AR) on your website to bring your product closer to the customer.

The Rise of Video Marketing

Video marketing is something that not many people talk about. We mostly focus too much on performance marketing and disregard video content until it’s not needed. This is quite unfair and should be corrected as soon as possible. Video marketing can further move your content creation to new highs and bring you more visitors to your website.

Video marketing is not only brand awareness! It can, of course, drive visitors to your website but also bring new conversions from platforms that you don’t use or use but not to their full potential. There are multiple ways to start leveraging video marketing to your advantage, but here are a few strategies to start with:

1. 360° Video Content—create surround videos that provide better product exploration possibilities for your audience.
2. Engaging and High-Quality Content—Optimize content creation to hook your audience in the first few seconds of the video. Use subtitles or captions to improve accessibility + optimize descriptions, titles, tags, and SEO.
3. Video Ads & Retargeting—You can easily create videos with AI for Meta, YouTube, TikTok and more. Retargeting is a logical next step that can be easily implemented to reach customers who have already interacted with your content.

Utilizing Augmented Reality in Advertising

AR can be a really useful feature that you can implement with ease. Imagine you are selling interior paint, and your customers can upload a photo of their living room while changing colors from your portfolio. Those things will sell themselves!

This is just one example of AR being used in real-time. You can use AR for virtual try-ons for any fashion or beauty store. Are you selling furniture?

📣Check how IKEA uses AR to bring their designer pieces to your homes for free.

Not an e-commerce company? Use AR to create engaging narratives that can boost your brand awareness – you can use those online or even offline. Not everything has to be serious, check how Pepsi Max captured the attention of audiences via AR bus stop AR videos.



Evolution of Programmatic Advertising

Most businesses have never heard those two words before, Programmatic Advertising, yet it’s of utmost importance that they understand what Programmatic Advertising means. It represents automated buying and selling of digital advertising placements, which is being done by AI and real-time bidding (RTB). This platform makes data-driven decisions and targets relevant audiences across multiple channels, thus delivering clicks, impressions, and conversions.

💡When compared to Google Ads or Meta, RTB serves a different purpose. Ads that we place through RTB networks consist of banners, videos, and audio content.

Enhancements in Ad Placement Precision

RTB as such existed for more than 10 years, and in that time this platform brought many new possibilities to advertisers. It’s primary function is to further advertise elements that build your brand awareness, but it can also be used for prospecting or even retargeting.

Key Enhancements in RTB Ad Placement Precision:

1. Optimization—RTB uses AI algorithms to analyze audience behavior, interests, and past interactions and uses that to place ads with high relevance. Machine learning just moves that to another level by constantly refining strategies based on real-time data.
2. Targeting—All ads are placed depending on page content and meaning. This ensures brand safety and further improves ad relevance.
3. First-Party Data—RTB utilizes first-party data instead of third-party cookies. You can use CRM data, conversion history, and any other behavioral signals to jumpstart the targeting on this interesting platform.

The Role of Advanced Analytics in Programmatic Ads

Advanced Analytics plays a crucial role when it comes to advertising through RTB platforms. When advertising through this platform, you gain multiple tools that you can use to further improve your overall performance and brand awareness. By leveraging the possibilities that RTB offers, you gain higher ad relevance, better performance, and greater overall return on investment (ROI).

The Need for a Holistic Omnichannel Approach

When talking about the Omnichannel Approach, the one big thing to remember is that doing only online advertising is fine, but not a long-term solution. Most businesses invest too much in online marketing and disregard offline. This has long-term consequences that can impact businesses in many negative ways.

💡You should always combine both advertising worlds and advertise offline as much as you can. This does not mean doing just one thing like billboards, but a combination of “offline channels.”.

Integrating Online and Offline Marketing Strategies

I work mainly with clients that advertise online, but whenever able to, I advise them on what to do with offline marketing as well. I find that even though we understand the possibilities and significance of both sides of the world, we always put too much emphasis on one and less on the other. How to improve on that?

1. Unify the Customer Experience – Customers often start searching for products on their mobile phones, research further on desktops, and finally buy in physical stores. By inclining towards this way of thinking you can only gain more customers.
2. Communication Across Channels – Using consistent content online and offline makes you more recognizable, and customers can easily reference the product to the store.
3. Customer-Centric Strategy – Focus more on convenience, allowing your customers to engage with your brand or products on their preferred platforms.

Benefits of a Unified Customer Experience

Implementing customer experience strategies can benefit your business immensely. By having seamless interaction across multiple channels, you can enhance engagement, improve satisfaction, and bring long-term loyal customers.

Creative Testing and Performance Measurement

🔎Test, test, and test—The most important thing to do in performance advertising. In Winston Bros, we mostly deal with performance marketing, where constant tests and innovation drive our client’s advertisement to better performance. To properly test strategies and ads, the correct measurement or tracking is necessary.

Methods for A/B Testing in Marketing

When advertising on Google or Microsoft, we use multiple A/B testing methods. At the end of the day, it all comes down to having more data and making future data-driven decisions to optimize ads.

A/B testing can be applied in a variety of ways. When it comes to emails, you can split the control group of customers into two and send them different templates to optimize towards response rate. Website-wise, you can optimize elements, pop-ups, etc. A few A/B testing strategies to try out include:

1. Standard A/B Testing—comparison of two versions of identical things (ads, emails, etc) with a slight variable change.
2. Multivariate Testing—simultaneous test of multiple variants (for example multiple headlines or descriptions).
3. Sequential Testing—before and after testing (for example performance month before and after)

Leveraging Data Analytics for Campaign Optimization

Any marketer will tell you, that data plays the most important role in the whole marketing. By providing insights through which we can improve targeting or engagement, we can further improve conversion rates.

A few ways you can use Analytics to your advantage:

1. Audience Segmentation – analyze your audience and split them depending on demographics, behavior, location, etc.
2. A/B Testing – check which variants work well with your audience segments
3. Bidding Optimization – using bidding optimization leverages AI to adjust CPC bids based on real-time data, thus improving your conversion rate.
4. Customer Lifetime Value – predict how much revenue can a customer generate over time + split the customers into brackets from lower to higher revenue.
5. Brand Perception – Create surveys, and brand lift campaigns to check if people know about your brand. This determines how much you should invest in Brand Awareness.
6. Market Trends & Competitor Analysis – Always know up front what trends are popping in, and leverage that data to sell your products. Keep track of your competitors, and fill in the blank spaces of advertising where they are not present.

Conclusion

Performance marketing is evolving not year to year, but day to day. This is something that you should always be aware of! The future of performance marketing is happening as we work, dine, and sleep, so you should surely start doing a few things if you want to succeed in it.

The first step to keeping up with the times is implementing AI-driven innovations, personalized marketing strategies, and data-driven decision-making. This can fully reshape how you connect with consumers and transform your business into a future-proof ecosystem.

Of course, new challenges might arise, and you should find time to research things you are not proficient enough in. The way to start is with RTB platforms and Performance Marketing Automation.

💡Don’t forget that widely available strategies can work, but every e-shop is different, and they might just not work for you. Don’t be afraid to test certain changes on your own or with the help of a specialist, you might just hit the bingo on that one.

Data plays a crucial role in everything! If you are relying on third-party data now is the perfect time to start improving on that and implementing changes, that can bring you “pure” customer data. Utilize the solutions we previously discussed to gain control over your business.

Last, but not least, combine multiple technologies to achieve long-term growth, improve your brand image, gain returning customers, and, at the end of the day, better revenue from both online and offline.

Frequently Asked Question