By Vicky Sidler | Published 28 June 2025 at 20:30 GMT

We’re halfway through the year, and if your business still feels like a juggling act on a moving treadmill—you’re not alone.

The good news? 2025 has shown us what’s working. The better news? There’s still time to adjust your strategy before Q4 slaps you in the budget.

HoneyBook has revealed the five trends reshaping small business this year—what’s worth keeping, what’s worth ditching, and what you should actually do next.

TL;DR

We’re not doing shiny trends—we’re doing practical ones. The small businesses winning in 2025 are focused on:

• Flexibility in pricing and income streams

• Smart, small-scale AI adoption

• Customer experiences that feel human

• Marketing that tells the truth

• Relationships that drive repeat revenue

If your messaging’s still stuck in 2023, grab the 5-Minute Marketing Fix and start from there.

1. Flexible Systems Are Saving Businesses:

If 2025 had a catchphrase, it’d be: “Just kidding, try again.”

This year alone we’ve seen:

• Social media bans

• Supply chain weirdness

• Customers ghosting and reappearing like it’s a group chat

The winners? They built systems that flex. That means:

• Flexible pricing: Tiered services that scale up or down with your client’s budget (without wrecking yours).

• Multiple income streams: Think online courses, workshops, or even product subscriptions. Anything that spreads risk is a win.

• Faster decisions: Stop waiting for “the right moment.” In 2025, fast feedback loops beat perfect plans every time.

💡 Pro tip: You don’t need to be everywhere—just set up your business so it can bend instead of break when something changes.

2. AI Isn’t Replacing You—It’s Giving You Back Your Time:

Most small business owners aren’t trying to become tech bros. They just want a calendar that doesn’t look like a panic attack.

This year, we’ve seen a massive shift: AI is moving from “scary and expensive” to “oh, this saves me 5 hours a week.”

The smart moves:

• Use AI for email responses, appointment scheduling, lead filtering, or even content drafts.

• Keep control of your voice—but outsource the grunt work.

• Let AI create the margin you need to build deeper customer relationships or, I don’t know, take a proper lunch break.

💡 The mindset shift: AI’s not magic. It’s just a decent assistant who doesn’t need coffee breaks or small talk.

3. Your Customers Want a Feeling—Not Just a Service:

In 2025, delivering a good product is table stakes. The question is: does it feel good to buy from you?

Immersive customer experiences don’t have to mean VR headsets or jazz hands. It’s about thoughtful details:

• Websites that reflect your tone and values

• Booking flows that make people smile (or at least don’t annoy them)

• Behind-the-scenes posts that show how you actually work

💡 Rule of thumb: If someone can feel your personality and process in how you work, you’re doing it right.

4. Authentic Marketing Is Outperforming AI Spam:

We’ve officially reached AI-content fatigue.

Everyone’s tired of the same recycled LinkedIn carousel. What’s working instead:

• Storytelling that’s honest and a little messy

• Founder posts that feel human (and not written by your intern’s chatbot)

• Real-time commentary, process videos, or case studies that actually show your work

If it sounds like marketing, people scroll. If it sounds like a person, they read.

💡 Don’t fake vulnerability: Just speak like a person with a point of view. The robots impressed (and scared) us all when they first launched. But people really do want to connect with other people—not with ChatGPT.

5. Retention Is the New Growth Strategy:

New leads are expensive. Repeat clients are profitable. That’s not a trend—that’s just math.

But the way we keep clients in 2025 is shifting:

• Loyalty programs that go beyond discounts

• Personal touches like thank-you notes, milestone messages, or even quick “thinking of you” check-ins

• Ongoing content or updates that help old clients stay connected (and keep referring you)

💡 Your old clients don’t owe you loyalty: But they’ll give it if you keep showing up like a real human being. (Noticing a trend…?)

Not Sure Where to Start?

As a Duct Tape Marketing Strategist and StoryBrand Certified Guide, I help businesses navigate trends like these every day.

You don’t need to change everything. But if your message isn’t clear, it won’t matter how many trends you try.

Start with the 5-Minute Marketing Fix—a free, dead-simple tool that helps you explain what you do in a way people actually understand (and want to buy).

👉 Grab your free 5-Minute Marketing Fix

Because it doesn’t matter how “immersive” your brand is if your homepage still sounds like a legal disclaimer.