2025's Lingering Questions

By lbrowning@hubspot.com (Laura M. Browning)

Lingering Questions is one of my favorite parts of the Masters in Marketing newsletter, because it’s an opportunity for marketers to talk directly to one another.

This year, a few clear themes emerged: yes, AI can help you be a better and more efficient marketer, but human connection is more important than ever; authenticity, even if it means you’re a bit unpolished, is preferable to perfection; and consumers across all industries are hungry for community.

We’ve rounded up all the questions marketers asked each other in the last 12 months:

April Sunshine Hawkins, Marketing and communications leader

“What warm memory comes to mind when you hear these three words: creative, curious, courageous?”

Irina Novoselsky, CEO of Hootsuite

“I’ve spent the last year focused on building meaningful relationships on LinkedIn — sharing personal and professional experiences to create genuine connections. Each of these words have shaped this journey: staying curious about what my audience cares about and wants to learn from me, experimenting with creative ways to share my experience and engage with others, and embracing the courage it took to get started and be vulnerable.

“As the CEO of a social company, I recognize the transformative power of social media. It drives pipeline, builds connections, and ensures your voice shapes conversations that are happening with or without you. But what’s even more powerful is the impact the relationships built through social can have outside of the digital world.

“A memory that stands out is the first ‘IRL’ dinner I had with a marketing leader I connected with on LinkedIn, after months of engaging with each other‘s content. What started as a digital connection has since grown into a genuine friendship (and many double dates with our husbands!) — and it’s all thanks to social.

“To any marketers reading this that may be hesitant to get started, let this be your sign: Make the leap into posting. You don’t know what new friendships you may be missing out on.”

Novoselsky asked, “How do you approach your personal brand on social media? Has social created meaningful opportunities or opened doors for you professionally and personally?”