Predictions for 2025: How Smart Marketers Will Succeed With Tight Budgets

1. Economic headwinds and stagnant marketing budgets will force marketers to be more strategic in 2025.

The UK economy is expected to grow by only 1.7% in 2025, following a lackluster performance in late 2024[1]. Global advertising spend is forecast to reach $772.4 billion in 2024, with growth slowing to 5.9% in 2025[7].

Marketers face increasing difficulty in understanding the impact of their activities:

• 32% of marketers expect retail media ad spend to rise in 2025[3]
• 59.5% of total ad spend in 2024 is estimated to be algorithmically enabled, rising to 79.0% by 2027[7]
• Privacy regulations and siloed channels complicate attribution & understanding what works

 2. To navigate these challenges, marketers are turning to sophisticated measurement techniques - helping to understand the true impact of all channels:

Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) and econometrics are gaining importance, these methods help attribute media impact vs. other promotions and optimise budget allocation and channel performance

• Brands can no longer rely on media reports to understand what is working and why
• They can also no longer afford to guess at the impact of known users, promotions, sales or seasonality
• AI-driven attribution is expected to become more prevalent, offering nuanced insights into customer behaviour [5]
• Marketers need to embrace this opportunity

3. As in-house data management becomes more complex, there's a rise in demand for agile, external support:

• 41% of B2B professionals expect their marketing budgets to increase in 2025, while 25% expect them to remain flat[10]
• Martech is projected to be a top area of marketing spend for 54% of companies in 2025[10]
• External partners can provide incremental support to validate impact and optimise spend
• Flexible, agile support will and is becoming more common, providing deep expertise than can complement in house knowledge and supplement existing relationships

By embracing these trends, marketers can make smarter decisions and drive growth despite economic challenges in 2025.

[1] https://www.cityam.com/uk-economy-to-stage-welcome-recovery-thanks-to-consumer-rebound/

[2] https://kpmg.com/uk/en/home/media/press-releases/2025/01/uk-economy-in-2025.html

[3] https://internetretailing.net/a-third-of-marketers-expect-retail-media-ad-spend-to-rise-in-2025/

[4] https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/uk-economic-growth-may-lag-expectations-in-2025

[5] https://leadsrx.com/resources/blog/the-future-of-marketing-attribution-trends-and-predictions-for-2025/

[6] https://am.jpmorgan.com/us/en/asset-management/adv/insights/market-insights/guide-to-the-markets/economic-and-market-update/

[7] https://www.dentsu.com/news-releases/global-ad-spend-forecasts-2025

[8] https://www.ppc.org/cross-channel-attribution-in-2025-why-smart-marketers-are-tracking-less-data/

[9] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/marketing-predictions-2025-go-backwards-forward-saul-colt-rbfoc

[10] https://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2024/52103/b2b-marketing-budgets-spend-and-priority-trends

[11] https://kpmg.com/uk/en/home/insights/2018/09/uk-economic-outlook.html