2026 Creative Small Business Marketing Trends

Whether you are taking a slow and steady approach to the new year or diving head first into goals/intentions/planning… you may be wondering what’s in store for marketing and online business this year. 

No matter what business you’re in or how big your business might be, in 2026 your biggest competition is trust. 

Today our digital reality is, well, fake. 

Or at least a lot of it can be. AI slop and deep fake videos, even audio, are everywhere. Literally anything, even pages long documents, can be written in a matter of minutes if not seconds with the help of a chatbot. 

As your planning your marketing for the new year, here are a few questions to reflect on: 

• How are you earning the trust of your potential customers and clients? 

• How are you proving your humanness? 

I had an amazing conversation (as I always do) with my good friend and fave podcast hostess Amelia Hruby on this subject and other small business marketing trends for the new year on Off the Grid this week. 

We talked about trust and why it underpins every trend we’re forecasting for 2026 - from online businesses going analog to done-for-you services making a comeback.

Tune in right here or wherever you get your podcasts:

You can also listen back to our 2025 forecast and our follow-up end of year conversation!

And visit offthegrid.fun to learn more about Amelia and follow the pod.