The squeeze is on

The economy’s flat, your CPCs aren’t, and the board wants “efficiency.” Welcome to 2025; where marketing ambition meets economic gravity.

Marketing managers across e-commerce are expected to deliver growth with less money, less data, and a less forgiving customer base. But there’s a catch: cut too deep, and the machine stops learning. Without data flow, optimisation collapses.

When every click counts

The instinct in a downturn is retreat. Cancel the tests, pause the content, rely on “organic.” But starvation isn’t a strategy. When you stop spending, you stop seeing. Data dries up, and decisions drift into guesswork.

The answer lies in smarter automation; not the sort that spits out generic ad copy, but the kind that analyses, prioritises, and reallocates at speed. When budgets tighten, intelligence becomes your most valuable asset.

Automation that thinks, not just executes

At SearchUp, we’ve built what we call “insight automation.” It’s less about saving money and more about saving focus. AI-driven models can predict campaign ROI before you spend a penny. They can flag where ad fatigue is likely, or which audience segments are slipping in value.

This allows teams to focus on strategy, not spreadsheets. The technology does the triage; marketers do the thinking.

Lean times demand clarity

Economic slowdowns have a way of clarifying priorities. Vanity metrics fall away. What remains are the levers that actually move the business: customer lifetime value, margin contribution, repeat rate.

So, yes, it’s tough. But recessions (not that we’re officially in one, but I don’t think we need to be told that times are tough) also reward discipline. If 2025 is lean, let it also be precise. Invest in intelligence, not improvisation.

Fewer campaigns. Sharper measurement. No panic.

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