- SEO? Just stuff a bunch of keywords. Even if they made no sense, watch the traffic grow on your website
- Cold emails? Scrape a list, blast generic messages and somehow still get responses
- Websites? Filled with awkward stock images of people shaking hands 😂
- Influencers? People actually believed what they said without questioning
When I started as a marketer, expectations were lower.
Customers didn’t demand much.
Outreach was straightforward, content was textbook, and communication was one-way.
But marketing, like everything else, evolves.
And today’s marketing is unrecognizable compared to a decade ago.
Customers expect more – better experiences, transparency, and genuine human connection.
My Pointers on Some Major Shifts in Marketing
🚀 From corporate tone → To personal approach
Customers don’t want to hear from a faceless brand. They prefer hearing from real people with authentic voices.
Which one is more popular? Tesla or Volkswagen? Probably you will just say Tesla because you know the Elon Musk 🙂
🗣️ From one-way messaging → To two-way conversations
Marketing was once about broadcasting messages. Now, it’s about engaging in real discussions—especially on social media.
Every company wants their social handles to be like Swiggy, Zomato, Wendy’s!
❄️ From cold outbound → To relationship-building
Spraying and praying doesn’t work anymore. Marketing now focuses on nurturing long-term relationships.
Instead of spamming inboxes, you need to connect prospects, understand their pain points and deliver customized offerings.
😐 From bland professionalism → To humor & personality
Even billion-dollar B2B brands are now embracing humor, memes, and a conversational tone to stay relatable.
Meme marketing, humor and witty content! That’s what all we see these days 🙂
🎥 From high-budget content → To authenticity over production
Overly polished videos and graphics are taking a backseat. The more human your brand feels, the better.
Raw videos on Reels seem to catch attention easily these days. RazorPay has been doing nicely in their ads.
🎓 From aggressive selling → To educating first
Customers don’t want to be sold to. They want to be informed before making a decision.
See Ahrefs and SEMrush creating extremely high quality content? Just 1 tool and every single content piece revolves around the use cases in simplest possible words.
❤️ From ‘we do this’ → To ‘why we do this’
Brand values, mission, and authenticity matter more than just listing services.
Apple’s marketing isn’t just about selling devices. It keeps on talking about privacy and a seamless ecosystem, which builds strong brand loyalty.
🤖 From perfect messaging → To embracing imperfections
A polished, robotic message feels inauthentic. Being real—even with small flaws—makes brands more relatable.
Like Zoom recently had security issues and they addressed them head-on. They got massive support from its users. We all make mistakes and people understand that. Brands don’t need to shy away.
The Lesson?
Staying on top of trends and customer behavior isn’t just an advantage – it’s a necessity.
But learning in marketing isn’t about knowing latest fancy tools. It’s about learning psychology and behavior of people.