Hello and happy new year!
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:
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.
And stay tuned for a follow-up episode about the future of courses, memberships and podcasting in 2026 in the wake of Amy Porterhouse and Jenna Kutcher’s announcements this week that they are retiring their offers. 👀
The news came across our feeds literally right after we recorded and after swapping a few voice notes we decided this warrants a pod convo!
Until then, go slow and stay steady.
Amanda Laird
Growth Marketing Strategist
Founder, Slow & Steady Studio
PS: What’s one way you’re being human in your marketing and business this year? For me, you might see a few more typos in the marketing emails just to prove I’m a real live person and not a computer!