TL;DR
- The biggest digital marketing trends of 2026 are AI-driven.
- Top trends in digital marketing to follow:
- Short-form video content
- Personalization for potential customers
- Greater reliance on first-party data
- Valuing human content
- Midwest businesses that move early have a real window of competitive advantage, but it’s closing fast.
What Online Marketing Trends Should You Keep in Mind in 2026?
It may already be glaringly obvious to you: the pace of change in digital marketing is far too crazy to keep up with sometimes (most times). Platforms are shifting. AI is rewriting how people find businesses. The ol’ reliable playbook that worked for your company in 2023 is getting a serious overhaul.
eMod has been partnering with businesses across Minnesota and the Midwest since 2012. We spend a lot of time tracking what’s coming so our clients don’t have to. We’ve gotten pretty good at picking out what’s a passing trend and what’s evergreen. In all that time, we’ve rarely seen a year where the digital marketing trends looked this consequential.
The businesses that stay informed and work with the right internet marketing agency to act on that information will widen the gap on competitors who are still guessing.
#1: Businesses Need to Optimize For AI Search
People aren’t Googling anymore, they’re asking AI. You’re probably doing this too.
50% of consumers are using AI-powered search. More and more people are starting their research in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Overviews than in organic search results.
What does this latest digital marketing trend mean for your business? Being on page one of Google is still valuable. But if AI tools don’t know your brand exists, you’re invisible to a growing chunk of your market before they ever open a search bar. You need to rely on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): structuring content so AI systems cite you in answers.
How to plan for this:
- Publish content that directly and specifically answers the questions your customers are actually typing into AI tools
- Include original data, expert commentary, and clearly attributed sources (AI systems cite credible, well-structured content)
- Add FAQ sections with proper markup to your most important pages
- Maintain an active, complete Google Business Profile
#2: Short-Form Video Has the Highest ROI
If you’ve been putting off video because it feels complicated or expensive, 2026 is the year to stop waiting. Short-form video (49%), long-form video (29%), and live-streaming video (25%) are the top 3 ROI-driving content formats reported by marketers.
Short-form videos receive 2.5 times higher engagement than long-form content on social platforms.
For MBs, this is more accessible than the image you’ve probably got in your head. You don’t need a production crew or a studio. A 30-second clip showing how your product works, what your team looks like, or how you solve a common customer problem can outperform polished ad creative. Authenticity is doing more work than production value right now.
How to get started:
- Select one platform (Pro tip: Instagram Reels for B2C, LinkedIn video for B2B)
- Commit to a target! How about: About 3 short videos per week for 60 days
- Review what gets traction and double down on it
- Don’t overthink production quality. Vertical framing, good lighting, and clear audio are the actual requirements
#3: Personalization Is Now an Expectation
Do you actually personalize your customer experience? When was the last time you felt like a brand personalized its message to you?
“Personalization” has been thrown about a bunch in the last decade but in 2026, it’s coming with slightly higher stakes. Online marketing trends all single out the same thing: generic messaging is out, and customers can almost intuitively feel the difference between a brand that knows them and one that just doesn’t care.
93% of marketers report that personalization improves leads or purchases.
The good news for SMBs is that you don’t need enterprise-scale software to do this well. Modern email platforms, CRM tools, and ad platform settings allow meaningful segmentation and personalization right now. The gap isn’t technology; it’s actually using what’s already available. Building different messages for different audience segments instead of blasting the same content to your entire list is a meaningful lever most businesses haven’t pulled yet.
#4: First-Party Data Is Now Your Most Important Marketing Asset
Privacy changes have made third-party tracking structurally unreliable.
This is one of the top digital marketing trends that tends to sneak up on businesses until it’s a crisis. If you’ve been relying on third-party audience data to target your ads, your options are narrowing. The businesses building first-party data assets right now — email lists, loyalty programs, customer surveys, interactive content — will have a significant targeting and personalization advantage going forward.
Three practical ways to start building first-party data:
- Gate worthwhile content (your guides, calculators, checklists) behind a simple email opt-in. Don’t make it a 3 page form!
- Ask existing customers directly about their preferences. Most will tell you if you make it easy
- Run a short quiz or assessment relevant to your product or service; people share information when they’re getting something useful in return
#5: Human Content Is More Valuable Because AI Can’t Fake It
As AI-generated content floods every channel, original human perspective is becoming harder to ignore.
When every competitor is publishing AI-drafted content that sounds identical, the business with a real voice, a real story, and genuine expertise in its market stands out immediately. 86% of consumers say authenticity is a pivotal factor in deciding which brands they like and support.
This is great news for businesses with real roots, real expertise, and real relationships. Your 20 years in industrial supply, your deep knowledge of local agriculture, your community reputation: these are things no AI tool or language model can manufacture.
Pro tip: Lead with what’s real. It’s your most defensible competitive advantage right now.
What Digital Marketing Trends Should SMBs Follow?
You don’t need to chase every trend on this list at once. That’s how budgets get wasted and teams burn out. What the smartest businesses are doing is picking two or three that align with where their customers already are, and building genuine capability there before expanding.
A regional B2B manufacturer might focus on GEO, LinkedIn video, and first-party data. A Twin Cities retail brand might focus on short-form video, social commerce, and AI-personalized email. The common thread across all of it is having a strategy before you start spending.
Choose a Partner Who Knows This Market
eMod has been helping businesses across Minnesota and the Midwest navigate digital marketing since 2012. There are some things that are evergreen and others that go by swiftly. You need to capitalize on both. If you want to work with experts so you can focus on the exciting parts of your business, we build strategies and systems designed to reach real customers and support real growth.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to evolve what’s already working, we’d love to talk through what these trends mean for your specific business and market.
Call us: (612) 616-4200
Email: info@e-mod.com
Frequently Asked Questions
For SMBs, the digital marketing trends with the most immediate impact are AI search and GEO (how you’re found), short-form video (how you’re seen), and first-party data (how you target effectively as third-party tracking erodes). Addressing all three (even at a basic level) puts you ahead of most competitors who haven’t started.
Good digital marketing is the best way for small and medium-sized businesses to reach their target audiences and present their products and/or services without the large budgets that you’d require with traditional media. A strong search presence and active socials can generate meaningful leads and conversions without a big-budget advertising cost.
Small and medium-sized businesses fail at their digital marketing efforts because they lack precision and goals. The online space is constantly shifting, and trying to navigate this complex system without the right support can mean they’re funneling precious resources into a black hole. Businesses need the right advice and guidance to consistently succeed at their digital marketing efforts.
