Marketing is more important than ever in 2026. While a business’s ability to capture the attention of its customers has always been at the very centre of success, today’s world is very different, and you’ll need to implement a plethora of new skills to make your way.
Driving these changes is the increasing dominance of digital platforms. For example, social media sites like Instagram and TikTok are essential for facilitating growth online, and you won’t get very far without paying attention to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and the influence of AI.
If you’re just starting or have recognised that you need to make some changes, this complex landscape can be very confusing. It’s difficult to know where to start and what elements to prioritise – especially if you’re putting money down for specific services.
Of course, everything in business is about balancing risks with rewards, but it’s key to do plenty of research before you actually take any of those risks. In this article, you’ll learn about eight of the most important factors for marketing a business in 2026, so that you can mitigate the mistakes and capitalise on your wins.
- Managing the AI Situation
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that AI has become one of the biggest technologies to come out of the last few years. Since the implementation of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, other tech giants like Apple and Google have thrown their hats into the ring.
Given how it continues to shake up the job market, there’s a lot of fear around AI, but the technology itself isn’t a bad thing. As is the case with any tool, it’s how you use it that matters. For example, the AI functionality added to software like Canva and Photoshop is there to help the creative process, not destroy it entirely. Similarly, AI predictive analytics don’t take jobs away from data analysts – they help them do their work faster.
It’s all about understanding how to make the technology work for you. While there are legitimate threats to dozens of different fields, those who get ahead early can use the technology to their advantage rather than being at its detriment.
- Embracing Short-Form Content
As briefly mentioned, social media has become a major influence on marketing. Gone are the days when Facebook was just about catching up with your friends and Instagram for posting holiday pictures; these platforms have now arguably become the biggest assets for generating customer engagement.
Nearly everyone has a smartphone, and the majority of people have at least one of the main social media apps installed on their device. As they scroll through their personally curated feeds, your job or that of your marketing team is to get them to stop on your content, and the best way to do this is with short-form content.
People’s attention spans have decreased significantly following the smartphone revolution, so short videos of less than a minute have become one of the best forms of advertising available. Working with a videographer who specialises in this area can help propel your products and services to new heights and reach a much wider audience.
- Backlinks and Authority Building
SEO has gone through a lot of changes over the last ten years, with Google’s Helpful Content Update (HCU) altering things considerably.
But while the infrastructure behind SEO is amorphous in nature, that doesn’t mean that the core tenets don’t hold anymore, and it’s still the case that one of the most important strategies is backlinking and authority building.
No matter how much AI influences the way things work or what changes are implemented behind the scenes, SEO is always going to be about pushing your webpages through the rankings to get as close to that top spot as possible, and the best way to do that is by developing yourself as the leading authority in your respective field.
All-in-one managed backlink services are the way to go. They’ll take the keywords you want to rank for and carefully position them within high-authority blogs for maximum impact. While you can do things yourself, you’d likely never be able to achieve the scale you needed to succeed, so it’s best to reach out to the professionals.
- The Importance of Inclusivity in Marketing
Thankfully, today’s society is a much more inclusive one, and so when you’re setting up a brand or revitalising one, being sensitive to this fact is a key requirement.
You have a moral duty to your customers. Consumers now expect businesses to have a deep understanding of cultural identity and diversity, and from images to the style of your copy, this sentiment extends across everything you do. Failing to do so can cause serious harm to your reputation, and you risk alienating your audience and leaving certain people feeling unheard.
Getting a handle on the topic can be difficult at first, so be sure to do plenty of research before launching a campaign. A good book people refer to is Inclusive Marketing: Why Representation Matters to Your Customers and Your Brand by Jerry Daykin. Many have suggested this text to be the blueprint for the topic.
- Making Your Brand’s Image Concrete
Given that every brand now has the power of social media and the modern internet at its fingertips, it’s now easier than ever to ensure your image is clear and concrete.
You’ll need to work to make your products and services tangible at every touchpoint, developing marketing and advertising materials that guarantee customers immediately recognise colours, fonts, and ideas as uniquely yours. Of course, exactly what you do will depend on what you’re selling, but it’s critical to establish a link between your values and your customers and then see how you can bridge the gap.
It’s also important to think beyond what customers see and read: where you can demonstrate the effectiveness or relevance of your product or service in real life, you should do so. Product demos are a great idea, and can be showcased in-person or via videos designed for social media. You could also offer behind-the-scenes content for a deeper look into manufacturing or the design process.
- Investing Time Into Hyper-Personalisation
Hyper-personalisation is the process of understanding a customer’s individual preferences and past behaviours and adapting to them with marketing that’s directly personalised. Great marketing speaks to individuals rather than simply casting a wide net and hoping for the best, and to truly gain a thorough understanding of what people want, you’re going to need to analyse some data.
There are many data analysis platforms out there that can help you understand what your customers are most interested in and how to tap into the elements that matter most. Software like Twilio Segment or Treasure Data is a great bet for detailed analysis, while CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platforms like HubSpot can also work well for many businesses.
Of course, you’ll need to be mindful of balancing any data collection procedures with ethical data practices. Today’s customers demand complete transparency, so make sure you’re crystal clear with the data you’re using and how.
- The Importance of Trust-First Marketing
People today are more distrustful than ever before of businesses trying to sell them things, and it’s easy to see why. The internet isn’t owned by anyone, and while there are plenty of rules and regulations in place to prevent fraudsters and scammers, these problems are ubiquitous.
Most people have been victims of an online scam at least once in their lives, so it’s only natural to be inherently wary of any new company. This is why considering trust-first marketing is important before you think about how you’re going to persuade your potential customers to buy from you – you first want to instil that all-important sense of trust.
Showcasing verified reviews and using real customer case studies is the best way, and building a robust customer support system always goes down well. Just think of what you like to see in the companies you buy from to verify their legitimacy.
- Why Flexibility in Your Approach is Key
And finally, no matter what sort of strategies you implement, it always pays to be flexible. Today’s market is ever-changing, meaning that there’s no guarantee that a given campaign will be relevant halfway through its life-cycle.
You’ll need to learn to adapt and be ready to change something at a moment’s notice, and remain agile in your ability to manage several different channels and formats at once. It’s the businesses that stay on top of things and are always ahead of the curve that reach new levels, so have this at the forefront of your mind at all times.
Wrapping Up
Hopefully, you now feel that you have a better idea of how to execute robust, modern marketing in 2026, and what it takes to raise your business from average to great. The above eight points represent only a handful of important elements, so embrace an ethos of life-long learning, get creative, take your time, and success will be yours for the taking.
