6 Ways Acquisition Marketing Has Evolved in 6 Years
I recently had an interesting conversation with a very successful entrepreneur about scaling businesses and how AI is changing acquisition marketing and lead generation.
My point was that the acquisition marketing tactics I used just six years ago in one of my previous marketing roles are now completely outdated.
Consumer behavior has shifted. Privacy changes have reshaped digital advertising. AI has transformed acquisition marketing execution. What worked in 2019 is obsolete in 2025.
1️⃣ 2019: We ‘Shouted’ at Consumers → 2025: We Ask, Listen, and Personalise
🔹 2019: We talked “at” our customers with product promotions and features, one-way messages with strong call to action. “Click here”
🔹 2025: We can ask our customers for feedback, understand their needs and opinions and validate our ideas. This allows us to tailor our messaging and product development before investing huge budgets. Ask them what they want and then give it to them (no endless focus groups).
2️⃣ 2019: Focus on Cost per Click → 2025: Content Drives Engagement, Retention, and Loyalty
🔹2019: We relied on Cost per Click (CPC) as a success metric
🔹2025: We create relevant content that builds relationships and provides value, through data-driven insights. When we use AI data correctly - personalised marketing messages are less likely to become wallpaper and drive higher customer retention and reduce churn.
3️⃣ 2019: Broad Media and Messaging → 2025: Data-Driven Audience Strategy.
🔹 2019: Mass-Acquisition media tactics - generic messaging used across multiple platforms
🔹 2025: Now we personalise and segment audiences based on behavioural data and a more sophisticated understanding of the customer buying journey. With AI - we have no excuses to get this wrong. We can provide value and instantly iterate our messaging and media channels.
4️⃣ 2019: Static Content Formats → 2025: Interactive, Responsive Experiences
🔹 2019: Static, one-way posts and carousel ads (usually) created for Facebook formats like basic image posts and standard carousel ads.
🔹 2025: Two-way engagement through interactive content formats - quizzes, dynamic video, AI chatbots, conversational interfaces, and personalised recommendation tools that adapt based on user responses, encouraging active engagement and generating higher-quality leads who have already signalled clear interest, making it much easier to move freemium customers to paid. No more “virtual cold calling”
5️⃣ 2019: Linear Funnels → 2025: Predictive, AI-Driven Conversion Journeys
🔹 2019: We used fixed, linear lead-nurturing acquisition funnel sequences, assuming that customers go through a straight line of behaviour from awareness to conversion.
🔹 2025: With AI and predictive analytics, we now know that the customer purchase journey takes many different turns from platform to platform to search to reviews to blogs to websites to podcasts. Our job is to use AI to help us anticipate and adapt to this buyer behavior. Meet them where they are.
🔹🔹🔹Look up the Google Research Report called “The Messy Middle” for more on this. I’ll do a post on this soon.
6️⃣ 2019: Cheaper Ad Spend → 2025: AI-Optimised Acquisition Strategies
🔹 2019: Paid acquisition was relatively affordable - low-cost CPC campaigns worked. Admittedly, this depended on the product and the category.
🔹 2025: Rising ad costs, privacy updates, and ad fatigue demand smarter strategies. Acknowledging the non-linear customer buying journey, it’s much more difficult to calculate Cost Per Acquisition - we have to take so many more touch point account - and not all of them are paid media. AI-driven budget allocation and predictive analytics calculate the most efficient segmentation and retargeting.