Grow by balancing spend and scale with out-of-the-box channels.
There’s no doubt about it: Today’s marketing landscape is filled with endless channels and opportunities to help your business reach your target audience. But with so many options, how do you know which ones are right for your marketing mix in 2025?
It’s all about balance. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Not necessarily.
It’s easy to stick with (and double down on) the platforms you know well. And while you should continue to use the channels that are proven to work for your brand, there’s value in branching out. After all, new customers won’t acquire themselves.
The marketing world is changing fast. In 2025, marketers are taking a long, hard look at their strategies to learn what’s working, what isn’t, and what’s next. The goal? Balancing ad spend with scale (AKA getting ready to grow and find new customers without breaking the bank).
The question remains: With all of your growth and budgeting goals in mind, how do you know which channels to prioritize in your marketing mix this year? We asked, and marketing leaders answered.
Marketing Brew and Tatari teamed up to dig into insights from 200+ marketing leaders and decision-makers across several industries and business sizes. Here’s a sneak peek at the breakdown of respondents. To name just a few industries, these marketers came from:
- marketing + communications
- media + entertainment
- technology
- financial services
- retail + hospitality
- manufacturing
There’s a wide representation of budgets, too. Over a third of respondents’ budgets ranged from $500k–$1m, with nearly another third at $1m–$5m. Another 12% and 19% represented budgets of $5m–$10m and >$10m, respectively.
Two-thirds of respondents self-identified as either managers/supervisors or directors + VPs. Another 18% represented SVPs, EVPs, C-level execs, and business owners/entrepreneurs.
With all that data, we learned what’s shaping marketers’ strategies for the year ahead. From channels they’re prioritizing and new channels they’re testing to AI adoption and evolving budgets, here’s what we learned.
Acquisition + brand awareness = marketing magic
Marketers are rethinking their approach in 2025. While performance marketing has long been their primary focus, brands are realizing they can’t rely on it alone to deliver results.
A majority of respondents in our survey are prioritizing a balance of brand awareness and customer acquisition, recognizing that long-term growth requires both. This shift reflects an industry-wide trend: Building a strong brand fuels sustained performance, making it just as critical as direct response efforts.
With both acquisition and growth taking the lead in 2025, marketers are willing to spend to get results. But to justify the spend, it’s gotta be measurable. Return on ad spend (ROAS) is the #1 metric used to measure marketing spend this year, with customer acquisition cost (CAC) coming in a close second. Marketers often default to their comfort zone, leaning on familiar, high-performing channels to hit these metrics.
So, what’s the problem with leaning on the same channels over and over again? Well, your growth can plateau. If you’ve successfully reached and retained your target audience via one channel, it’s time to expand into the next channel. Let’s talk $$$.
Budgets
When we asked respondents how they planned to allocate their budgets in 2025, a majority reported prioritizing paid social media ads and paid search (87% and 84%, respectively). To put it simply, people are sticking with what they know best—but a change is coming.
Marketers are starting to branch out and try new channels, and the name of the game is diversification. After all, you don’t want to hinge your entire strategy on one channel. Marketers know and trust paid social and paid search for a reason: It pays off (pun intended). But paid social + search are facing some new challenges, including rising CPMs, platform and algorithm issues, and health and wellness restrictions, to name a few.
Remember, this year is all about fiscally responsible customer acquisition. Marketers are looking for sustainable ways to expand existing channels and explore new ones to broaden their brand’s reach. In the survey, we found that TV campaigns are on a par with influencer marketing, with both receiving similar budget allocations in 2025. This may stem from excitement about new ad-supported platforms, but more on that later.
Marketing decision-makers expected moderate budget increases, with over half of respondents planning to increase their budgets in 2025. That’s a win for marketers because it means they can scale their strategies to match company growth.
But despite higher budgets, the focus is still on cost efficiency. Let’s talk about how marketers are testing new channels and tools to drive efficiency.
TV’s momentum boost
Now let’s turn to television. TV is gaining momentum among marketers, joining other digital and paid media channels in their 2025 strategies. While marketers have historically struggled to target their audiences and measure the ROI of TV advertising, this channel has changed for the better. And it’s clear that TV is increasingly becoming an integral part of the overall marketing mix, with nearly two-thirds of respondents indicating that they currently advertise on television.
We’re living in a highly connected world, and TV has helped marketers reach customers in new ways. 51% of the US still watches traditional broadcast and cable, and 49% tune in to streaming platforms.
TV is often perceived as a channel that can’t help drive performance, only boost brand awareness. The reality is that TV now blends the best of brand and performance marketing, enabling full-funnel results. Brands advertising on TV can also see an immediate rise in branded search, along with improved performance on other digital channels.
Yet, misconceptions linger. According to the survey, 58% of marketers cited measuring ROI as their biggest challenge with TV, while 37% struggled with targeting and 33% pointed to high CPMs. But the landscape has changed.
Spoiler alert: TV is measurable. TV ad platforms like Tatari offer sophisticated closed-loop measurement tools that go beyond impressions. Marketers can track and drive real business outcomes, from purchases to app installs to site visits. Then, you can compare the results with your paid search and social campaigns.
The ability to target and retarget audiences on the big screen has also advanced, yet half of non-TV advertisers in the survey didn’t know TV can be used for retargeting. And while high CPMs remain a concern for some, linear TV often has lower CPMs than digital channels, offering a cost-efficient way to scale reach.
And excitement is growing about the advancements in TV. Marketers are interested in how TV advertising can be used to retarget website visitors, how it’s integrated into streaming services, and how AI is improving ad buying.
Retargeting website visitors on TV is a game changer. It’s as easy to set up as your other digital campaigns, and you’re reaching your target audience on the biggest screens in their homes.
Another common perception about TV ad buying is that it requires deep media buying expertise and manual planning. That’s why 32% of marketers are excited about AI-powered buying. Thanks to tools like Tatari’s AI-backed Planning Engine, you can take the guesswork out of launching TV campaigns. Just input your campaign parameters, set your goals, and let advanced AI predict the outcomes using historical performance data from thousands of TV campaigns. And since TV is more accessible than ever, brands can now launch a campaign with as little as $5k.
The result? Smarter, more efficient TV buying—no expertise needed. Ready to learn how it works? Visit tatari.tv to get started.
AI innovations
Ready to talk about AI? We know you’re constantly inundated with new AI tools and news, but it’s a hot topic for a reason. Respondents showed the most excitement about the potential of chatbots and conversational AI in 2025, and marketers are already using AI in their day-to-day tasks.
From writing ad copy to analyzing campaigns, 38% of marketing teams use AI to assist their campaigns. This signals a shift toward personalized, data-driven advertising across the board. Data talks, and having a balanced strategy that relies on a variety of channels that provide actionable insights is the goal.
To make a long story short (and a whole lotta data simplified), you can balance customer acquisition and brand awareness without breaking the bank. It’s all about creating the right marketing mix for your business. Lean on your tried-and-true channels, but it’s also time to explore something new. After all, it’s hard to grow from inside the box.