Psst..We're Letting You in on Some Great Tips: Best Marketing Tactics for 2025
Ever feel like marketing is a whirlwind of trends, tools, and tactics that change faster than you can say 'algorithm update'? You’re not alone. In a world where attention spans are shrinking and competition is growing, finding strategies that actually work can feel overwhelming. That’s why we’re cutting through the noise and serving up real-world marketing tactics you can use. Think of this as your cheat sheet to navigate 2025’s marketing landscape with confidence—and maybe even have a little fun along the way!
Hey Everyone, it’s James from Twin Creek Media, today we’re talking about the best marketing strategies for 2025. So, if you run or manage a business in the range of $2M to $20M in revenue annually, this video is for you. Our marketing agency works with a ton of different companies varying in size, across different industries, and our upcoming recommendations are based on real results. They’ve literally added millions of dollars to our clients’ companies' bottom line, and we’ve watched that happen every day.
So, I asked our team to brainstorm and come up with their favourite marketing tactics that add growth to companies and, well, without further ado, here they are!
Stories
Teresa (Account Manager): Stories!
James: In this context, what’s a story?
Teresa: It’s the part of your company’s message that people remember.
James: That’s true, and what’s the big idea behind stories?
Teresa: Your company’s story ties together everything that’s important: your values, your offers, your people, and why people should choose you.
James: What’s changed?
Teresa: Stories used to be spoken. Then they were in books. Then movies. Now they are everywhere and used by every successful business.
James: So stories are a way of really connecting with people, but in a more emotional way - beyond the facts, figures, and numbers.
Teresa: You got it.
James: Any To-Do’s for a company when it comes to stories?
Teresa: First, get your story straight! Then elaborate and share it—with words, pictures, and video. Long stories, short stories, personal stories, educational stories—online, offline, in-person… every business needs to become a storyteller.
James: Awesome, thanks, Teresa.
Websites
Kevin (Website Developer): Websites!
James: Tell me about websites…
Kevin: A website is your digital homebase that everything online connects to. It’s often the first point of contact a new person has with your company.
James: What’s the Big Idea?
Kevin: Your website plays a massive role in your company’s growth. We always say you should treat it as one of your best employees - give it the love, attention and salary it deserves because it funnels millions of dollars into your business.
James: So, what’s changed these days?
Kevin: These days, websites are alive. It’s not 2005. You shouldn’t just build it and forget about it for 5 years.
James: Yeah, if we continue the website-as-an-employee metaphor, you wouldn’t hire a great person and lock them in the closet with no contact with anyone.
Kevin: That’s right. So think about adding pages and content to educate your customers (and to impress Google!). Keep things new and fresh. And check the code under the hood - you need to check all the technical boxes to stay on Google’s good side.
James: Yeah, and in addition to that, what should a company put on their To-Do list?
Kevin: A website audit is a good place to start. Get a professional to evaluate your website's strengths and weaknesses.
James: The difference between good and great could be worth $100,000s to your company.
Kevin: For sure.
James: Great. Thanks, Kevin.
Google Search Ads
Jocelyn (Account Manager): Google Search Ads!
James: What is it?
Jocelyn: Also known as PPC (Pay per Click), these are little ads or sponsored results that show up on Google when someone searches for something.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads are these ‘sponsored’ ads in the image that pop up for the search term: ‘Calgary accountant’
James: What’s the big Idea behind these ads?
Jocelyn: Ultimately, Google Search Ads are about getting in front of potential customers at the right time, in the right place, and with the right message. We routinely see ROI in the 5 to 20x range.
James: So Google Ads are great for short-term results vs. SEO to rank organically is best for long-term results.
Jocelyn: Exactly - They work great together.
James: In the world of Google ads, what’s changed?
Jocelyn: Search ads keep getting more expensive to run each year so watch your budget. Google still dominates but I’d say consider Bing ads too because they’re cheaper.
James: What would you put on a company’s To-Do list?
Jocelyn: Four things. Test, measure, adjust, repeat. Think of Google Search Ads as that science experiment from high school that never ends. The data is there, you just need to know what it means and turn that into dollars.
James: In some way, Google Ads are a necessary evil, but for most businesses, they’re still a big money-maker.
Jocelyn: You bet.
James: Great. Thanks, Jocelyn.
Alannah (Marketing Coordinator): Email!
James: What is it?
Alannah: What’s email?!
James: *laughs* Let’s skip that question. But what’s the big idea?
Alannah: People think that email is old and boring. Gen Z barely checks it, they probably have loads of unread emails sitting in their inboxes. But hey, in business, it’s crazy effective.
James: That’s right. Year after year, email marketing is listed as one of the highest ROI tactics for business. Don’t think email is dead. It’s just the opposite.
James: What’s changed these days?
Alannah: So, I like to say it's the trifecta of anything and everything you need in today’s digital world and that’s: AI, automation, personalization… email keeps getting smarter, faster, and closer to the heart of what customers care about. Once you’ve got the basics covered, it’s time to go deeper.
James: So, what should be on a company’s To-Do list?
Alannah: Use tools to become more efficient. Cold email is effective for B2B, and drip campaigns and automation work well. In both B2B and B2C, permission-based email marketing is a cost-effective way to keep in touch with customers.
James: Great. Thanks, Alannah.
Search Engine Optimization
Thomas (Founder/Technical Director): Search Engine Optimation!
James: What is it?
Thomas: Search Engine Optimization, known by the acronym SEO, boils down to if Google likes your website, and if you rank well.
James: Yeah, and what’s the Big Idea?
Thomas: Well, too many businesses only rank well for their own business name. The goal is to be found online by people looking for your products or services
James: Right, and when more people find your company, you get more leads, emails, phone calls, and web forms submitted.
Thomas: Or If you have a storefront, more people walk through your door.
James: What’s changed?
Thomas: Businesses need to be found everywhere - go beyond Google, and think about social media, Youtube, and business listings.
James: And what would you put on a company’s To-Do list for SEO?
Thomas: Optimize for efforts for text, voice, image - search is evolving.
James: Right, and if you don’t know how, then hire experts - it’s tech-y, design-y, and copywriter-y.
Thomas: You’ll need more than one person, that’s for sure. Like other areas of marketing, SEO is more multi-disciplined than it used to be. It's a team effort.
James: Perfect. Thanks, Thomas.
Performance Reporting
Ariel (Data Analyst): Performance Reporting!
James: What is it?
Ariel: A report card for your marketing efforts - what’s working and what’s not.
James: What’s the Big Idea?
Ariel: If you’re not measuring results, you can’t improve. If you don’t know which tactic is failing, and which one is winning, you can’t optimize your marketing efforts and you’re going to waste 1000s (maybe millions, you never know) of dollars.
James: What’s changed?
Ariel: The complexity of measuring things. Technology keeps changing and developing over time, and advertisers like META and Google keep changing the rules.
James: that’s right, things are harder, so with that in mind, any To-Do’s?
Ariel: The biggest to-do is just to start, that’s the biggest item. Start measuring your marketing efforts. You’ll likely need special software and people with the skills to gather and interpret the data.
James: But the bottom line, is there’s no need to guess if you’re wasting money on something.
Ariel: Right. When you have good information, you can make good decisions.
James: Great. Thanks, Ariel.
Branding
Erica (Account Manager): Branding!
James: What is it?
Erica: Branding boils down to your company’s essence or reputation.
James: And what’s the big idea?
Erica: Think beyond the logo! It’s every touchpoint your company has with customers. Online and offline, managing your brand is crucial to long-term success.
James: What’s changed?
Erica: Nothing. Branding has been the same since time began, but it’s a lot messier now. It’s easy to lose consistency across all your marketing & advertising channels and confuse your customers. It takes more effort to guide the conversation now.
James: So what would you put on a company’s To-Do list?
Erica: Take a hard look at all your branding assets. Is the image and message consistent? Are you in front of your ideal customers 24/7? Do you stand out from the crowd?
James: So it’s about clarity and consistency.
Erica: Exactly. It’s called brand management. It never stops!
James: Great. Thanks, Erica.
Video
Colby (Senior Graphic Designer & Videographer): Video!
James: What is it?
Colby: Video for business is related to branding and storytelling mentioned above. In the context of marketing, we’re generally talking about short-form content that’s under 5 minutes.
James: What’s the Big Idea?
Colby: If pictures are worth 1000 words, video is worth a lot more! With the exception of 1:1 conversations, nothing gets a message across faster, with more feeling, than video.
James: What’s changed with video?
Colby: Video is on fire right now. Your customers want it. It’s easier than ever to create and distribute videos to promote your business. Video used to be only for that box that sat in your living room. Now, video is everywhere, and it’s connected.
James: Meaning people can interact with video, click, comment, share, or buy something. It’s more powerful now. It’s a better tool for marketers now.
Colby: Exactly.
James: Any To-Do’s?
Colby: Video takes more effort, time and money to create than other things that are text and images, so you need to think about leveraging it in lots of different ways. We get 37 uses out of every video - check out our Video Playbook to see how (make sure you are using a Google account to be able to make a copy of the document).
James: Perfect. Thanks, Colby.
Social Media
Shana (Social Media Manager): Social Media!
James: What is it?
Shana: Online communication platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok.
James: What’s the Big Idea?
Shana: Two-way conversations! Social media is SOCIAL! It wasn’t invented for marketing and advertising purposes, so remember to share things that your audience cares about and tell a story.
James: These days everything is changing so fast, so in social media what’s changed, what are the most important things to know?
Shana: Social search is now a big deal. People are searching on social media and skipping Google. They— especially younger generations—want information all in one place, they want to be able to look for something while talking to their friends, while also complaining on socials, so it’s very important to keep these shifts in behaviour in mind while planning your marketing strategy.
James: And stay on top of trends and how each platform is different. Test ads and messages, types of content like video vs. text vs. image vs. slideshow. Measure results, make sure they’re optimized per platform, and do more of what’s working.
Shana: Yes, exactly.
James: Any To-Do’s?
Shana: Get organized by creating a publishing calendar for all blog content, whitepapers, case studies, customer testimonials, email newsletters and social media posts.
We use Loomly— an extremely helpful tool for planning your monthly social calendar!
James: So, plan ahead?
Shana: Yes, and boost your content with small amounts of money to get better brand awareness ($10-$50), find out what the algorithm likes. Then invest more into what’s working the best.
James: Yeah, so once you understand what works well, you continue that strategy to get more results. Great advice. Thanks, Shana.
Wondering what kind of content performs best on social media? We’ve got two whole episodes covering it! Check out Part 1 and Part 2 to learn more.
Marketing + Sales
James (Founder/Creative Director, guest): Marketing + Sales!
James (host): Whoa! Wasn’t expecting you…. So, what do you mean by “Marketing & Sales”?
James (guest): Marketing generates attention, trust, and leads for a company. Sales is more about relationships, education, and… well, selling.
James (host): Okay, and what’s the big idea for a business?
James (guest): Marketing and Sales go together like a high five. It’s really hard to high-five with one hand.
*Both attempt very awkward high fives*
James (host): And what’s changed?
James (guest): Technology. AI. Tools. Automation. Software and more software. Speed, personalization, efficiency. But the end goal is the same… lead people down the sales funnel from awareness to purchase and then keep in touch.
James (host): Good stuff. Thanks, James.
James (guest): No worries, James.
James (host): And there you go! That’s 10 of our favourite marketing tactics for 2025. And if you need a team to help, we’re here. Let’s talk.
Check out our previous episode: What Kind of Content Will Perform The Best on Social Media? (Part 2)
“Between Two Creeks” is Twin Creek Media’s weekly podcast series. You can find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Spotify. If you enjoy listening to the latest and wonkiest in marketing every week, don’t forget to hit that subscribe button! If you want us to amp up your marketing, contact us and let’s chat!