Have you ever planned your marketing for the month, only to feel like everything changed before you even got started? That feeling is becoming increasingly common because change is happening more quickly than ever.
People are changing how they search, who they trust and the content they want to see. It can feel like a lot, but if you know what’s coming, there’s a chance to get ahead of the competition.
Here’s what 2026 is likely to look like…
AI Will Continue to Grow - and Become Embedded in Everyday Marketing
AI is already part of most marketing toolboxes, but next year it’ll help you personalise emails, plan customer journeys and tweak campaigns with even less effort. It’ll make your life easier and free up your time.
But there’s something important to keep in mind.
When everyone uses the same tools, their content can start sounding the same, too, and that’s when brands risk losing their personality.
The businesses that will stand out are those that utilise AI to assist with the heavy lifting while maintaining a strong human voice. People want personality, warmth, humour, honesty, and those are things that can’t get easily automated. Creativity will matter more, not less, to blend AI with your own voice.
Trust Will Decline - Making Email More Important Than Ever
People are becoming more cautious online, and rightly so. We’re all seeing more AI-generated posts, influencers promoting products they’re paid to endorse, and brand messages that sometimes feel too polished to be believable. All this makes it 10x harder to earn people’s trust.
Audiences are moving towards voices that feel relatable and real, they don’t want to be victims of fake content. They want stories that sound human, and they want brands that deliver regular and consistent messaging, not just when they’re selling something.
This is where email fits perfectly. When someone signs up to your mailing list, they’re giving you a place in their inbox, and that’s way more personal than a generic post on their social feed. Plus, your owned audience channels you control yourself, such as your website, app or newsletters, will outperform rented channels because there’s no algorithm blocking your message or deciding whether it gets seen.
Email is stable, personal and ideal for building long-term relationships, and that’s why it will become more valuable for your marketing campaigns in 2026. You show up, your subscribers see it, and over time, they build trust in you.
GEO/AI Search Will Transform How People Find Information
How people search is evolving. Instead of typing short keyword phrases, people are asking full questions. It’s almost like they’re talking to a real person, and with AI summaries becoming common at the top of search engines, people get the answers they’re looking for without clicking through to multiple websites.
Because of this, brands need to focus less on optimising for keywords and more on being genuinely helpful. Think less SEO (search engine optimisation), and more GEO (generative engine optimisation). This means writing your content to boost its visibility in AI-generated results, because if you want your business to be in that summary, you have to answer proper questions clearly and demonstrate that you know your stuff.
Email helps here, too. The content of the newsletters you send to your subscribers can become blogs, social media posts or guides that can bring you new subscribers.
Short-Form Content Will Continue to Dominate Socials
Quick videos won’t be going anywhere. TikToks, Reels and Shorts still hold people’s attention more than long posts. Why? They’re easier to watch, quicker to share and often feel more personal.
But short-form content rarely builds deep trust on its own. It introduces people to you and gives them a sense of your brand, which gets them curious, but alone, it doesn’t build a deeper connection.
That’s why next year, businesses that use short-form content as a doorway to something more will prosper.
A bit like fishing, you catch someone’s attention on social media with something enticing, reel them into your email list, and that’s your opportunity to net them. Short-form gets the attention. Email keeps it. And using your email content in social clips is a great way to get people to bite.
Email Will Remain the Highest-ROI Marketing Channel
Despite predictions every year that something else will replace it, email marketing continues to bring brands a glorious return. The current ROI is around 40:1. Email might sound old-fashioned, but it works. And the reason is simple: it’s direct, personal, and fully yours.
The key benefits of email include:
- You don’t pay for reach.
- You’re not fighting algorithms.
- You don’t lose your audience when a social platform changes direction.
- You decide what you send, when you send it, and how you want to communicate.
For many businesses, email won’t just be “part” of their marketing in 2026; it will be the foundation on which everything else is built.
Make 2026 Your Best Marketing Year Yet
To thrive in 2026, you need your marketing strategy to make use of the best of all the tools available. AI isn’t going anywhere, but people are losing trust in it when it’s used to sell things. Often, what you see isn’t what you get, and that’s not something you want your business to be associated with.
Use AI while keeping your own personality. Show up on social media, but be authentic.
And most importantly…
Build an email strategy that helps build trust with your audience.If you want help to prepare your marketing for 2026 and develop an email approach that works long-term, book a call back with me, Nathan Littleton, via my online calendar for a time and date that suits your availability.
