I asked HubSpot marketers last week what really worked for them in 2025 — and what they left behind.
Six HubSpotters have some of their own “Why didn’t I do this sooner?” Moments from the past 12 months, from rethinking how they use AI to support untapped stakes.
If you could go back in time to January 2025, what would you tell yourself to stop the most?
Adam Buddelicombe, Lead Marketer, AI Media Strategist
“Stop killing the AI. It’s exciting, easily the biggest technological change of my lifetime, but many of the use cases are still experimental and not consistently accurate.
“The real win comes from keeping it simple. Smaller tasks, smaller workflow opportunities.
“These little building blocks have made me more productive, organized and efficient at work.”
Rory Hope, Senior Manager, Ann Nemo
“I would have said to myself how AI is impacting top of the funnel search marketing, and it’s because We’ve seen this year how the search community has evolved to focus on optimizing for AI exposure.. We now have AI exposure monitoring tools, proven AEO tactics, and clear EEO reporting KPIs.
“In January 2025, route forwards were uncertain, but we have thankfully been able to navigate that uncertainty and establish a new AEO process that is increasing AI exposure for HubSpot.”
What’s the smallest change you’ve made in 2025 that had the biggest impact on your results?
Norel Canlas, Senior Marketer, HubSpot Media
“My biggest win came from a simple mindset shift. I stopped thinking I needed a playbook for everything And began treating each challenge as best I could. Once I got the hang of it, my work went faster and the results got better.
Amanda Coppin, Manager, Marketing
“One small change I made in H1 2025 that had an outsized impact on H2 results was holding a 15-minute meeting every month to update my team on AI developments. The lack of AI reviews, model updates, and organic traffic was very nerve wracking—especially for people with an SEO background. But. Spending time consolidating knowledge across industry lessons empowers my team to use AI in their work every day..
“Now in December, they are bringing me news and insights and sharing with each other. Our efficiency and creativity have improved, which has led to increased demand in terms of AI.”
This Year You Finally Ignored Marketing Advice – And Why Was It The Right Call?
Amy Marino, Senior Director, Brand & Social
“The narrative that AI will replace the need for creative strategies is deeply flawed.
“We integrated AI into our social content creation this year, and the opposite proved true: AI made creative strategy and flavor more valuable, not less. Now anyone can create content. But knowing what’s viral vs. forgettable, culturally fluid vs. cringe, and what keeps our voice up vs. what sounds like generic AI because of what actually makes content work.
“AI is cool, interesting and bad at being differentand I’m not sure that’s something that can be implied.
What marketing metric did you finally stop obsessing over — and what happened when you let it go?
Jonathan McKenzie, head of brand paid media
“This year I left with the idea that if you can’t measure it, you shouldn’t do it. We supported out-of-home in a region where awareness had stagnated, even though it didn’t map to a neat LTV story. It worked. Not everything that makes a brand appear in a weekly dashboard.“
