Anti-Trends for 2025: Marketing Tactics to Leave in 2024

2025 has a ton of new beginnings this year, and it seems like pretty much everyone in the online business owner space has kind of re-entered the chat. I have seen probably 10 or 12 different online business owners talk about the branding and marketing trends that they are expecting in 2025. Don’t get me wrong – I have combed through pretty much all of them just to see what the overall consensus is, but I’m going to take a little bit of a different approach to the upcoming year in terms of branding and marketing, and we are going to go with some anti-trends today.

What are a few things that we can stop doing in 2025 in order to develop our brands and make marketing a little bit easier for ourselves? Because let’s face it, many of us are solopreneurs and we have to do things all on our own.

What can we leave behind in 2024 as we start our marketing strategies for 2025? Here goes:

Anti-Trend 1: Automation Bots

The use of automation bots had an exponential increase, specifically on Instagram, in 2024. The main software that people use is ManyChat.

ManyChat is being used when you see a reel or static post where it says, “Comment the word [fill in the blank] below and we’ll send you [insert link/freebie].” Those types of calls to action are used for a couple of different reasons, but the main one is to increase the subscribers to an email list.

Bots can be a great resource to use. The tipping point, however, is when it becomes so impersonal that I’m getting messages from people that A) I’ve never actually had a direct conversation with and they are coming in an unsolicited manner. Perhaps I opted in for one thing, but now my information is being used to continue to try and sell me products I am not interested in or have opted into. We don’t want to cross over from helpful to spammy!

Another thing that I’ve noticed with some of the automation bots is that sometimes the automations can be too general. For example, if you ask someone to drop an emoji as the comment to trigger a link being sent to them, but then someone else uses that same emoji on an unrelated post…it can still trigger the automated message/link to be sent when that person was not trying to opt-in. This type of interaction could break the trust with the person commenting because they were genuinely trying to interact with my content, but then received an unsolicited response.

Keep these types of occurrences in mind when you are setting up ManyChat to automate your business. Make sure they are doing your brand a favor and not hurting your brand.

Anti-Trend 2: Being On Every Single Platform

The next anti-trend is being on every single platform.

Being on every platform dilutes your focus. It detracts from the strategy that you have for each individual platform, and, quite honestly, it feels like there are different platforms popping up every single day (looking at you, Threads).

Instead of being omnipresent, I really encourage you to figure out where your ideal client is and meet them where they are.

You don’t have to be on YouTube shorts.
You don’t have to be on TikTok. 
You don’t have to be on Instagram.
…if that’s not where your client is.

I encourage you to find a maximum of three platforms that to be on and start there. Once the strategies are mastered for those three platforms, then you can expand if it’s necessary.

Anti-Trend 3: Perfectionism

This one’s hard for me. This shift away from perfectionism to authenticity is hard for me – not because I am an inauthentic person, but because 99% of the time I don’t have my hair combed or makeup on (three kids, all six and under…!).

Authenticity is the buzzword for 2025. I’ve heard it a lot, in the 2025 trend predictions. People want authentic; they want real; they don’t want the polished perfection.

My question to that is: where does that authenticity end? Meaning – I’m not showing up on Instagram stories in my pajamas, right?

Let’s all agree as we go into 2025, we find the place where authenticity and professionalism coexist.

Anti-Trend 4: AI-Written Copy

In 2024, we all really started to utilize AI. Content creation has grown at an exponential rate and we have relied on AI to repurpose, to recycle, to brainstorm. However, with that influx of content creation consumers have gotten really good at figuring out what is AI and what is a human voice. 

With that being said, there is a way that AI can be used so that it sounds very much like you, but there are some dead giveaways that AI was used and only AI was used. 🚀

As we go into 2025, I would love to see people using AI as a starting point and then building upon that brainstorm that you have created with AI.

Anti-Trend 5: False Scarcity Marketing

Coming from the wedding industry, I have seen this tactic used and overused. The false scarcity tactic is when you make potential clients believe you have less availability than you actually do.

For example, a wedding planner may say they only have two dates left for the year, when in reality…they have ten.

This tactic has never sat well with me. If someone is actually watching your business that closely, they will catch on. It will begin to break down trust between you and the potential client. Today’s consumers value transparency. So instead of igniting that fear, just nurture them and be honest.

Anti-Trend 6: Using Hooks for the Sake of Using Hooks

I see this a lot in Instagram reels – using hooks for the sake of using hooks because we’ve all been told to use hooks because it’s click worthy.

Sometimes when I open Instagram, I feel like I’m back in my teaching days, just constantly reading examples of hooks from middle school essays.
Three ways to boost engagement
How to lose five pounds in a week

They are just overdone. Let’s move past those basic hooks of “three ways to X” because we are in an era now where the emotional connection is huge. “Three ways to grow your email list” has no emotion behind it. Instead, I would love to see “Something like my email list grew by 150 subscribers in a week.”

Another type of hook that I would like to see more of in 2025 are quotes from your clients. They could be client testimonials, or they could be case studies about how you helped your clients in a specific situation.

So let’s use hooks, but not the basic middle school essay hooks!

Anti-Trend 7: Jumping On Every Trend

Let’s leave the confusing messaging or constantly changing messaging in 2024, and let’s create a brand consistent messaging guide. Then stick to it. Constantly changing your message to match the most recent trend can confuse your customers, and ultimately, lead to lower sales.

We want to be specific and consistent in our messaging across all online platforms, including social media, email marketing, blog, and website. We are not chasing trends without aligning them with your brand values first.

Thinking about this takes me back to the very early Instagram Reel days when everyone was dancing on or pointing at texts. There was a lot of pressure to do the dancing, but it just wasn’t aligned for my brand. So although I tried it, it never worked for me!

I encourage you to consistently take that trend that you’re thinking about doing and look at it next to your brand values. Look at it next to your brand’s mission. Look at it next to your brand’s messaging guide. If it doesn’t fit, don’t try to make it fit.

These are my anti-trends for 2025, meaning – things we can leave in the rearview with 2024. Let’s come together to make marketing our businesses more