It’s not as relaxing as sipping a cocktail under a hot Caribbean sun, but it’s still a great way to gain a new perspective. This time I spent a large part of the return trip thinking about everything that 2025 has brought me professionally and personally.
This year has been tumultuous across all sectors of the industry. Here are three developments that defined our industry this year.
1. Martech spending remained sluggish
As in 2024, spending on marketing technology remained at neutral levels in 2025. It reminds me of the early years under COVID-19, when companies remained in a standstill and focused on keeping the lights on rather than pursuing innovation or expanding martech spend.
During those stagnant years, many companies discovered that their tech stacks were outdated or unable to keep up with the changes those stressful years required. They solved their problems by updating their martech stacks, which increased spending. However, that revival did not last. In 2024, the market saw a decline in spending, a trend that continued into 2025.
Based on market behavior, some companies are unwilling to spend money. Others have upgraded in recent years and are still implementing their new technologies or happy with their decisions. It’s hard to figure out which is which without extensive industry research. But one factor that sets 2025 apart is that we saw more tires kicked this year.
Dig deeper: why your martech still feels like an expense – and how AI is changing that
Companies are exploring new technologies, integrations and strategies, but aren’t getting close enough to pull the trigger. Hesitation around capital expenditure continues to haunt the market. It’s not surprising, but it’s affecting spending in email technology, SEO and the broader B2B industry. That’s troubling because it goes beyond the tech stack. It reflects the structure and sophistication of your program. Even if people don’t switch platforms or add new tools, we don’t see many asking for help either.
That’s worrying, because we all need it. In my 27 years in the industry – working with one- and two-person teams at Fortune 500 companies – I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t benefit from a knowledgeable third party. That’s not bragging. It highlights the benefit that an outside perspective can bring.
Something to think about for 2026 – when was the last time you asked for help or an objective opinion, one that wasn’t mired in interdepartmental politics or gamesmanship? External resources can accelerate your innovation and program refinement. Your company may not be open to capital investment, but you can still seek help from skilled outside leadership.
2. Expansion of AI beyond basic content creation
Generative AI has attracted attention, but it is only part of the story. AI can do much more. We’ll learn how it highlights the trends and behaviors that impact email performance and helps us make better decisions about scheduling and resource management.
It gives email marketers something we’ve wanted for years: cutting-edge technology we can use in our daily work. We can use AI to analyze and optimize cadence, understand why subscribers disengage and how to retain and re-engage them, and produce informative, insightful reports in less time.
This last step is important, especially if you don’t have easy access to your data. AI provides email marketers with advanced technology that we can use at scale, whether it’s synthesizing data into easy-to-understand dashboards for insights and analysis, or tracking bot traffic that can hinder email performance.
We’re also seeing an increase in ethical AI marketing guidelines and conversations at top companies. It’s not just about creating a prompt. It’s about the ethics behind that prompt and whether it crosses an ethical line. This conversation will continue because we need more education about marketing ethics.
Dig deeper: build AI agents that go from conversation to conversion
Email technology vendors are embracing leadership in expanding AI beyond genAI. Zeta Global’s recent user conference demonstrated real leadership in this area. The rollout of Athena could transform the space and accessibility of AI for marketers as its voice-activated prompts shift the process from question-based decision-making to conversational interactions. This embrace of the expanded use of AI will bring a number of exciting possibilities in 2026.
At the same time, we must recognize that AI is not everything. It’s still in its infancy and it won’t solve all our problems. We need to see this kind of AI leadership from other platforms and vendors. We cannot allow one or two vendors to dominate and define the use and priorities of AI. Companies that don’t have a clear vision or practical roadmap for developing tools that drive AI adoption among marketers will quickly fall behind.
3. Marketers struggled with uncertainty and instability
If there’s one thing people across the political spectrum could agree on, it would be this: 2025 has been one big mess for a year. Rates went on, off, up and down. Inventory management issues and supply chain challenges contributed to uncertainty around consumer spending and overall positioning. Consumer confidence, like rates, oscillated between optimism and pessimism.
It’s no surprise that I’m getting post-COVID vibes again. Once again, we had to learn how to market in times of uncertainty. We had to deal with it by juggling activities within our own companies. In addition, we had to work with a changing customer base that was sensitive to unstable prices. Some consumers continued to spend freely, while others turned to deeply discounted options.
Dig Deeper: How to Lead Marketing Through Economic Uncertainty
In the post-COVID years, marketers dealt with everyday uncertainty and instability by embracing authenticity and consumer education. A new unified approach, based on that consumer-centric perspective, could show us the path we need in these tumultuous times. After all, we can’t change the world. But we can change the part of the world we live in. Uniting our teams around a shared direction can move us forward.
This requires more than a directive from leadership. It starts with your team. That’s why I always recommend taking time away from work to bond over social activities like drinks or dinner and celebrate the people who keep things going.
Encouraging creativity is also essential, whether it’s coming up with a new email automation or building a new testing program; celebrating success is also essential. It’s easy to fixate on failures, but we must also recognize the victories.
Finding clarity after a chaotic 2025
Yes, 2025 was a challenging year. 2026 will be the same. We are in a new reality for many reasons, from the growing impact of AI to socio-economic and political changes. The marketer’s job is to unify a company’s goals into communications that serve the end user.
We must continue to tap into authenticity, not just because customers expect it and respond to it, but because it supports our potential for success. We also need more sophistication or we risk devaluing our channel by falling back on the same old approach: send more email, not better email.
Our email channel will be successful if we embrace the need for change. This may be through new technology, new practices, a willingness to seek and accept help, and many other avenues. No matter what anyone says, marketing is hard. We have to work hard to succeed.
As we head into 2026, our mission should be to make the email experience different, better, and more meaningful for everyone, including our customers. Email marketing is one of the best jobs there is. No one can tell our story better than us. We are the ambassadors. Let’s wear the badge with pride.
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Contributing authors are invited to create content for MarTech and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the martech community. Our contributors work under the supervision of the editors and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. MarTech is owned by Semrush. The contributor was not asked to make any direct or indirect mentions of it Semrush. The opinions they express are their own.
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