7 Tips and Predictions for 2025

In today’s blog, I’m going to share some insights, tips and predictions for 2025 that I’ve gleamed from interviews, workshops and a review of 2024 across our customers.

So much has changed over the last decade and quite a bit actually.

After the new year, I’ve been catching up with some business mentors and coaches across the market to understand what more we can do for small businesses in 2025. Every coach that I’ve met over the last 3 weeks has been excited, motivated and passionate about supporting businesses globally as well as just the UK. We shared what has gone well for our clients, what hasn’t gone well, what external conditions has impacted growth either positively or negatively and what the potential impacts and opportunities will be present in 2025.

From our collective discussions we’ve created some exciting collaborations, new content and offers to help businesses grow and thrive in 2025.

Through my conversations I’ve also uncovered their top tips for navigating 2025 with success for you and your business.

1. On the other side of fear is growth 

Face your fears for growth in 2025. Overcoming fears, like putting yourself and your business out there, public speaking, doing something you’ve always done a certain way in a new, more efficient way, is vital for personal and business growth. Business owners who faced their fear, found that it helped them engage with customers and staff better and they enjoyed connecting with them.

Doing things differently can seem scary but doing the same thing again and again will get you the same results as you’ve got in the past. Markets change, customers change, their thoughts change, their views change, governments change, economic situations changes. We know this, history tells us this is true and we can’t control it, we have to face this fact. However, we can control how we react to these changes.

Make 2025 the year of personal growth through choosing to face your fears, don’t let what you perceive what other will think or say because trust me the vast majority of people don’t care enough to form an opinion on something and if its negative then who cares really? You should only really care if it’s constructive, this means they care enough about you and what you’re doing to make it better. Negative comments online or in real life are good for anyone other than the person saying them so disregard these, they’re not helpful to anyone.

I could go on for hours talking about the benefits of facing your fears and the common fears we see in business leaders but I’m sure you get the drift and you’ll understand from your own personal circumstance what fears are holding you back. We may do something on this separately and expand this out more, if you’d like that then please do let us know.

Confront your fears, step out of your comfort zone and embrace opportunities for growth. 

2. Create 6* experiences for your customers

Experiences — whether digital or physical — set businesses apart. Successful businesses in 2025 created customer experiences that set them apart from their competition. Not only did they see an increase in sales and customer retention but they also saw higher profits because they could charge more for their products and services because their customer saw more value in what they were buying and who they were buying it from.

The best and smartest businesses not only did this but they also managed to do it with very little cost increases which meant even more profits at the back end of it.

Consider in your business, and be honest, what is your customer experience of your business? Is it enough to get them coming back and not going somewhere else that offers what you do but cheaper.

The concept of a 6* experience is simple, what you do now as a 5* experience, what could you do above and beyond what you’re doing now to get that to a 6* experience that your customers want.

Don’t make the simple mistake of assuming you know what your customers want. Ask them. What would make you a life-time customer buying your product or service? From this you will get a gauge on what they would like to see, you will inevitably get the odd few who will ask for the world but the vast majority will be honest, some may not even know because the experience has always been that way.

Do not just look at what you’re competitors are doing and match it because you need to see that as a 5* experience or less, you need to take what they’re doing and improve and supercharge it to a 6* level.

Mix digital and physical experiences, you may own a shop or store, don’t just leave your customer experience when they leave the property follow it up with calls, emails, gifts, offers, personalised to your customer to show them you’re thinking about them and what they care about. If you’re a bridle boutique, your client comes into store to try dresses on, you give them a great experience from the minute they walk in the door. A warm welcome using their name, constant eye contact, building rapport with them to get a good understanding of what they like, who they are as a person, where they’re getting married, get to know the grooms name and use this in your chat with with the client, offer them a drink, make them comfortable, etc. This would be a great 5* experience, most bridal stores do this.  My wife shared this with me when she was shopping for her dress back in 2019. So, what could you do to make this a 6* experience in this market?

An idea could be, capturing their email address and phone number before or during their visit. If they don’t decide on a dress on the first visit, I’ve assuming this is true as my wife went to a couple of the stores about 4 times each to view and try on dresses, then message them if you find something new they would be interested in based on what you found out about them when they visited you. Personalise your communication with them, use their name and the grooms name, potentially any people who went to the store with them. Send them an email, text message or call with something like…

“Hi Caroline, hope you and Mick are ok and getting everything sorted for the wedding. Exiting! I’ve just had a few new dresses come into the store and there’s a couple I think you may like. Here are the pictures for you to have a Quick Look at. If they peak your interest let me know and we can arrange for you to see them in person. I look forward to hearing from you, take care.”

This type of improvement will see you make increased sales, retain more customers, increase your profits and see you get even more referrals, multiplying the new sales you get.

Regardless of whether you have an online business only or a physical bricks and mortar business, you can always create a 6* experience. If you do then you will see increased sales, higher retention rates and higher profits if you adjust your prices to reflect the experience that your customers are willing to pay for. Think about your business, how could you put this into how your customer experience you as a business? This could move the dial for you massively in 2025, this is a biggy!

3. Build emotional connections through your brand 

This one is simple. Solve real problems for your audience and foster a community around your mission. Authenticity creates meaningful connections, really care about helping your customers, no matter what business you’re in and you’ll create an emotional connections between your customer and your business/brand.

Not only do you need to give this experience when you’re engaging with your customers but let everyone know, share your stories of how you’ve really helped a customer or an experience they’ve had with your business. Show how you authentically care about them or the issues they have, this will build you a community behind your brand and business.

Share your 6* customer experiences from your customers view point, what is it about that 6* experience that was great for them that could be great for others.

Align your brand with your audience’s values and focus on authentic storytelling to stand out in 2025.

4. Embrace AI strategically

AI has hit the work by storm, it’s become part of our every day lives whether we know it or not so it would be a big mistake to ignore it totally. Not doing anything with it won’t hurt you in 2025 but you will also miss an opportunity to make you life easier and your business better.

AI is a game-changer for small businesses but start small – automate one task or use it to personalise your marketing. The businesses that thrive will experiment and integrate AI strategically.

I’m not going to go into this in massive detail because there are so many tools out there around AI that this could consume this entire piece of content for you. The areas that we found businesses benefited the most from AI are as follows…

Marketing: Content Creation, Image Creation, Ad Optimisation, Translation Services, Content Distribution (StoryChief, ChatGPT, Dall-E, Jasper AI, Grammarly, Speechify)

Project Management: Idea Generation, Workflow Optimisation, Progress Tracking, Simplification (ClickUp AI, Trello AI, Asana AI)

Personal Assistant: Text Generation, Creating Agendas, Creating Professional Documents, Proof Reading (Speechify, Grammarly, ChatGPT)

Task Management: Document Summaries, Translations, Answering Queries, Idea Generation, Prioritisation, Simplification, Streamlining Tasks (ClickUP, Asana AI)

Customer Services: Translation Services, Answering Queries, Text Generation (Perplexity AI, Jasper AI, ChatGPT)

Also, explore the AI features in your current tools and leverage them to solve real business challenges.

5. Favour genuine content over AI overload 

In a world flooded with AI-generated content, standing out will require originality and a human touch. While AI has its place for helping improve efficiency in content generation, overusing it could alienate both search engines and your customers.

There have been a lot of predictions around how AI is going to change the world of SEO and content marketing, such as:

“AI is going to remove the need for writers”

“You’re going to be able to produce 10X the content with AI”

“Search is going to become so much more competitive because companies will be able to churn out 100s of blog posts in the amount of time it takes a human to produce 1 blog post”

“Keyword strategy won’t be important because you can produce so much content that you’ll be able to rank for any keyword you want to target”

“Writers will become prompt engineers – all you need to be good at is telling AI what to write for you”

AI will always lack is the human touch, a genuine voice and an emotional depth that customers can relate to. It finds tone of voice difficult, it can't replicate a lived experience, it doesn't have an opinion of its own and it's unable to produce authentic content.

Use AI in your business as a tool, not a crutch. Balance efficiency with authentic, high-quality content created the old-fashioned way.

6. Employee-generated content will dominate 

Employee-generated content (also known as EGC) is set to go mainstream in 2025. Customers crave authenticity, and EGC humanises your brand, building trust like no polished campaign can. Employees are becoming online influencers in their own right, employees across industries are stepping into the spotlight to be the creators behind their employer's social media accounts — from fit checks to day-in-the-life videos, employees are taking centre stage. Employee as the influencer-style content, or more commonly referred to as employee-generated content (ECG) is the newest style of content sweeping the internet. No longer confined to traditional professional networks like LinkedIn, EGC is now capturing attention on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

EGC Builds Trust & Authenticity: EGC is more than just silly TikTok dances and pranking-the-boss videos. It looks into your team's daily lives and experiences, building trust and fostering stronger connections with your audience. With 81% of consumers considering trust essential when making purchasing decisions, EGC gives a transparent view of the people behind the brands they support. From office fit checks to lunchtime chats – the content offers a behind-the-scenes look at the people who work at the brands their followers love. Often, the content has nothing to do with the actual product. EGC builds trust – all in a format that viewers recognise. After all, 86% of brands use user-generated content as part of their marketing strategy. When you show the real people behind your brand, you create a human connection that traditional influencer marketing can't replicate.

EGC Is Cost-Effective: On average in 2024, small businesses spent £30,000 on influencer marketing, while 15% spend over £200,000. These investments are substantial for both small and large businesses. EGC style content leverages employees as the content creators, saving on costs. Unlike professional content created by external agencies or high-end production teams, EGC typically involves minimal expenses. Another cost-benefit of using EGC is the ease of streamlining the content creation process. Employees already know your brand's voice and values, so less time is spent on briefing and revisions. They can quickly produce content that aligns with your brand's messaging and goals, eliminating the need for revisions and reshoots.

EGC Helps Positively Improve Brand Reputation: A strong social media reputation is crucial in today’s digital landscape. EGC offers brands a swift and effective way to cultivate a positive reputation. When business showcases their organisation through the lens of happy, fulfilled, and satisfied employees, they also position their brand as one that consumers are eager to support.

Get your team involved in content creation. It’s time to showcase the real people behind your brand! 

7. Leverage TikTok Shop and influencer power 

TikTok Shop will explode in 2025! Brands like Luxegen are already combining employee and influencer content to dominate on socials.

Creating an experience of trusted content, from voices in your own businesses along with the support of an influencer working in your market whilst streamlining the distance between understanding your product and being able to purchase it within a few clicks of the content.

TikTok makes it easy for users to shop directly through the platform without leaving the app. This seamless experience mirrors the convenience Amazon shoppers expect and ensures that your customer's needs are being met effectively.

• TikTok has a huge user base

• Short-from video is trending right now and will grow in 2025

• Consumers are more familiar with social commerce and therefore more comfortable

• Easy to set-up and integrations are available

• Offers a seamless shopping experience

Get your brand on TikTok Shop and collaborate with creators for maximum impact.

Got a burning question? Reach out on our social channels or email michael@purpleyak.co.uk

Thank you so much for reading.

Take care.