The more things change, the more the fundamentals matter.
For now, content marketers should stay nimble, focus on quality and embrace AI (carefully!).

No doubt, 2025 has been a year of seismic change — and we’re not even halfway through it.

We’ve seen a roller coaster in the markets that’s put budgets at risk. The media frontier is more diverse than ever. And can we talk about AI? 

The Pros & Content Summit 2025 brought these topics to some of the top content marketing minds in the nation, gathered in our Dotdash Meredith offices in downtown Manhattan. If the day had one takeaway, it was both simple and reassuring. Yeah, it’s a lot. But you got this. 

Everyone’s scrambling to catch up. No one has a lock on the best way forward — yet. But by staying up-to-date on the latest tech, prioritizing innovation, and localizing it to your brand’s needs, you can grow and succeed in this topsy-turvy landscape.

Here are some of our biggest takeaways from the day:

As you evolve, it’s OK to be wrong sometimes

This is a time for big swings. That can mean more than a few misses. But according to Stacey Gaine, a Managing Director from Merrill Lynch, the occasional stumble is all part of being a good marketer. “It’s your job to be wrong,” she says. 

In a time of new inputs, it’s better to try and evolve, even if that means a few flubs. And that’s especially true of the biggest disrupter: the use of AI in marketing. 

“AI has fundamentally changed what’s possible,” said Brian O’Kelley, Co-Founder and CEO of Scope3. “The technology is changing so quickly that the people who were innovators in AI a year ago are now almost out of date. We’re all wrong and we’re all behind because every day a new model comes out.”

The fundamentals still apply

The world and the technology we use may swerve. But the core tenets of our jobs remain the same: laser focus on your brand mission and your audience. “There are things that never change,” said Micky Onvural, Chief Marketing and Communications officer at TIAA. 

So keep on creating trusted, interesting, and tactical content. “Whether your audience is human or machine, for content to be successful today, it has to be high quality,” said George Baer, Senior Vice President at DDM Content Solutions (DDMCS). AI in particular might change the means of how that shapes up, “but our brands and editorial voices will always guide and gut-check how AI is used,” he says.

Beware “shiny object syndrome”

According to several of the day’s speakers, marketers are under constant pressure to use the newest technology — even when it might not be the right  fit. This, unfortunately, can lead to solutions in search of a problem. “Shiny object syndrome is real,” said Ben Levine, Head of Marketing at Zillow Rentals.

Yes, new marketing tech can help extend the reach and imagination of your team. “But don’t fall in love with the shiny tactics of AI,” said Tariq Hassan, former Chief Marketing Officer at McDonalds. “Fall in love with the problems that you’re trying to solve.”

It’s an AI + humans future

Good news: AI probably won’t come for your job. But from here on out, all jobs will require a smart, skillful mastery of AI — especially in marketing, where the new technology is transforming both the analytic and creative sides of the field.

Robin Riddle, Chief Strategy Officer at DDMCS, presented a case study showing an AI-driven approach to a marketing pain point. Using a proprietary platform, Content Acclaim, the team at DDMCS worked with Goldfish Swim Schools to assess blog content. 

The process seamlessly melded human strategic thinking with AI analysis, resulting in a thorough critique of the existing blog — plus recommendations for improvement that would drive better outcomes. “We knew what got us here wasn’t going to get us there,” said Shana Krisan, Goldfish’s Chief Marketing Officer.

When it comes to AI, craft counts

Not surprisingly, there’s a lot of buzz around AI taking away jobs. But most participants found that, without creative expertise, AI output isn’t worth much. “It is 100% garbage in and garbage out,” said Nick McLain, a Strategic Advisor with McLain Associates. “Having some craft, having some experience is a really important piece.” 

This resonated with the audience. Mike Steele, a strategic Marketing Leader with Citi, put it this way. “As someone who spent two decades as an editor, I can direct the AI quite well, because I treat it like I used to treat writers. Maybe learning how to engineer a prompt might take you a few days. But having good judgment — understanding what copy works, what’s a good idea, what’s a bad idea — that takes a lot of time in the workplace to master.” 

This gets to the biggest takeaway of the day: You’ve got this. Time and again, the experts at Pros & Content shared that they’d been been through decades of marketing challenges — including more than one “everything is changing” crisis. All of that comes into play when you meet a time of flux. 

The muscles you need to pivot, plan and reinvent yourself for 2025 are already there. The skills you’ve mastered are the ones that will pull you through.