The Biggest Content Marketing Trend in 2025 and Beyond
Business is shifting in a big way—a HUGE way—and I think most of us can feel it even if we can’t quite put our finger on exactly what’s happening.
Finding work is getting more difficult. Freelancing just ain’t what it used to be. Landing work today is way harder than it was when I started copywriting from my little apartment a decade ago, but finding a “traditional” job is no walk in the park either. It isn’t unheard of to apply to hundreds of jobs before finally landing one.
AI has us sitting on the edge of our seats. Are robot overlords going to make work easier, or are they going to take our jobs?
Meanwhile, more and more of the brands we grew up with are declaring bankruptcy. JoAnn Fabrics. Party City. Hooters is considering bankruptcy. Even the promise of buxom babes just isn’t getting it done like it used to.
The way we do business is changing. The way we shop is changing. If you have a business, no matter how big or small, there’s one thing you need to know about content marketing in 2025 and beyond if you want to ride the wave instead of getting pulled under.
You can no longer hide behind your product or service
Once upon a time, not too long ago, we were all content to sell the thing or offer the service, and that was good enough. It was enough to build your brand on a feeling or a look. It was enough to demonstrate how your product or service solves an important problem. It was enough to put your customer or client at the center of your content so they could envision a better, more fashionable, less stressful life for themselves. It was enough to dig into their pain points and demonstrate with irrefutable proof and logic that they are experiencing a problem that you can solve.
This kind of content marketing didn’t require any vulnerability. No one needed to know the face behind the brand in order to make a decision. There was no need for life lessons or potentially prickly opinions. Doing business was utterly professional from start to finish. I need something and you have what I need so I’m going to hire you to give it to me. Easy-peasy!
The biggest content marketing trend is flipping traditional content marketing strategies on its head. You can no longer hide behind your product or service and rely on it to bring in customers and clients.
If you don’t want to just survive but thrive in 2025 and beyond, you’ve got to step into the spotlight.
You’ve got to start making authentic content
Traditional content marketing was very much brain-based. It was a lot of logic and customer funnels and persuasive arguments and intellectual facts and figures.
Authentic content marketing is heart-based. It's transparent and genuine. It isn't extractive or coercive or manipulative. It's you, showing up just as you are.
It’s still entertaining and educational, which traditional content marketing can be, but it’s also honest. It dives into thoughts, concepts, and positions that go beyond your product or service. It allows all of us to connect with another person’s humanity, which we are all craving in a digital and political landscape that is threatening to tear us apart.
But perhaps the most important thing to understand about authentic content marketing is that
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It’s no longer about deciding whether a product or service is the right fit. It’s about deciding if the person or organization offering the product or service is the right fit.
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Authentic content marketing sounds simple on the surface, but it can be surprisingly difficult to do. Some of us are more private than others. Some of us are prone to oversharing, which is definitely not a good strategy. Some of us work with social media marketers and copywriters and have no idea how we’re supposed to seem authentic without creating all our content ourselves.
Have no fear! Here are five tips that will help you create more authentic content marketing in 2025 and beyond.
5 ways to create a more authentic content marketing strategy
Before we dive in, let’s take a moment and realize that authentic content marketing will look different for everyone. I mean, if it all looked the same, it wouldn’t be authentic, would it?
So, don’t feel like you have to follow these tips perfectly. Instead, let them percolate. Let them inspire you over the coming days, weeks, and months to create content that’s uniquely you.
Okay, without further ado, here are my tips for creating more authentic content:
● Know your audience
● Take a nap
● Don't overshare
● Create content that focuses on "we" and "us"
● Embrace changes in personal self-development
Know your audience
Listen. I’m not a big fan of having an external focus when deciding what your business is about or what you’re going to write. It’s a recipe for burnout. It feels a lot like the nerdy kid trying to figure out how to dress in order to be more popular.
But… I also think there’s value in knowing your audience. Not because it automatically will tell you what to do, but because it can inform what you’re doing and who you want to reach.
For example, if your audience is seniors and their families who are trying to find assisted living for their parents, having a potty mouth probably isn’t going to be productive. Then again, if you really want to niche down, people with potty mouths have parents who might need assisted living. Maybe it could work out if you’re targeting former bikers, Navy vets, and over-opinionated grannies.
So, the point isn’t to know your audience and then follow the rules that are dictated by that audience. The point is to know your BROAD audience, figure out the rules for SUBSETS of that audience, and decide what subset your style of writing jives with the best. Then, you can focus on creating content that serves them.
Here are a couple of examples, since examples oftentimes illuminate a concept better than explaining it can:
● Say you’re targeting brides. Using up-to-date lingo will attract younger brides, while deeper, with-age-comes-wisdom-type content is likely to attract older brides.
● How about the personal development crowd? Keeping things super profesh will likely attract businesses and business professionals, which can be lucrative. Purposefully taking a contrary stance on common topics will attract naysayers, but it will also get you a lot of attention quickly.
● How about real estate agents? Strait-laced agents will geek out if you love diving into the latest facts and figures. Offbeat real estate agents will get lost in your content if you love talking about the beauty of old architecture.
Think about the most authentic version of your online content and who it would connect with the most. That way you’re able to be yourself and serve a target audience that’s right for you.
Take a nap
This section is where I was originally going to talk about creating a content tree, but you know what? Authentic content is inspired content, and I gotta be honest, I’ve never been inspired by creating a content tree.
The fact is, figuring out what to write about really isn’t all that difficult. The harder you try, the more difficult it seems. That’s how people end up writing about the stuff they think they SHOULD talk about and not the stuff they actually WANT to talk about.
So you know what I want you to do instead? I want you to go take a nap.
Not a napping kind of person? Gaze out the window and daydream. Take a walk. Go find one of those in-between spaces where creative ideas from the ether have a chance to seep through into the material world so you can snatch them up.
Then, simply make a list of all the ideas that pop into your head. Have a list on your phone, in a notebook, and on your Kindle. Write your ideas on sticky notes and start piling them up on your desk. Email them to yourself.
The point is to start creating a database of the ideas that pop into your head. You’ll always have meaningful ideas to pick from when it’s time to write, and they will also be things you actually want to write about. When you write about what you want, it will automatically come across as more authentic.
Don’t overshare
Being authentic doesn’t mean you have to share everything about your life. It doesn’t mean everyone has to know what your partner looks like, if you have kids, and what your workout routine is like.
That can be hard because as you develop a following, people online might like to know those things about you. And you’re already doing those things, so they don’t require any kind of prep or forethought. It’s tempting to record your morning routine or a date night out with your significant other because it doesn’t take any planning .
But easy isn’t always a good thing. Oversharing means letting strangers into the intimate areas of your life, which can feel violating and just plain sad. Our lives were never meant for public consumption. It’s why famous people fight so hard against the paparazzi.
That said, it’s also important to mention that there are no hard and fast rules. Some people feel more comfortable sharing intimate details of their lives online than others. The trick is to find that sweet spot for you. And luckily, there’s an easy way to do this.
Create a piece of content, then sit on it for at least 24 hours. Let the idea of posting it sink in a bit and pay attention to how you feel. Are you still excited to post it, or is there something about it that doesn’t sit right? If you feel uncomfortable at the thought of posting it, chop it and make a mental note that it’s a boundary you don’t want to cross with your content.
As you continue to do this with your content, you will discover what areas of your life you feel comfortable authentically sharing and which ones you don’t. It’s totally okay to have boundaries around certain areas of your life and show up wholeheartedly in others. For example, you aren’t likely to catch me talking about my family or posting pictures of my bedroom online, but I will talk about how I REALLY feel about the status quo, especially in regards to the challenges faced by solopreneurs and small businesses.
Create content that focuses on “we” and “us”
Trying to prove you’re an expert is a slippery slope of I-centric content. It’s about your qualifications, your history, your experience, what you have to offer. That doesn’t leave any room for authentic connections. Not to mention, if you aren’t careful, it can end up making you sound pompous. We’re all just wingin’ it, and to act like you’re not makes you seem like a know-it-all.
That doesn’t mean you can’t showcase your knowledge. I just want you to try taking a “we” and “us” approach instead.
The idea is to demonstrate that you know exactly where your audience is coming from because you’ve been there. Heck! Maybe you’re still there figuring it out right there with them.
If you're having trouble, imagine talking to your audience in a circle around a campfire instead of on stage. Go back and read the intro to this article and notice how I used "us" and "we" instead of trying to tell you how you feel.
When what you write makes it sound like we’re all in this together, it will come across as more authentic and attract a more invested audience.
Embrace changes in personal self-development
Being an entrepreneur or a personality-based business is hard because it’s more difficult to remain static. Larger brands can settle on an image and stick with it, but human beings aren’t meant to be that way. We’re supposed to change, grow, and learn.
Don’t fight against it when you’re making content. It’s okay if what you’re writing today comes from a different perspective than what you wrote last year. It’s okay if you’ve decided to focus your writing on a new topic, your style changes, or you want to try a new platform.
Embrace your personal growth and encourage others to share in your journey. You’ll feel less pressure, and it will keep your content more interesting.
Authenticity is the one content marketing trend I want you to follow
Normally I’m all about bucking trends and doing whatever is right for you when it comes to content marketing. I still feel that way, but the one content marketing trend I can get behind is authenticity, and I encourage you to do the same. Not only does it make writing easier and promote human connections, but it’s also the only way you’re going to be able to differentiate yourself from all the boring AI content that’s making its way on the internet.
Be authentic. Be weird. Have fun and the RIGHT people will notice.