8 marketing insights for small businesses to utilise in 2026

It’s officially that time of the year, when you step back from your business and ask yourself - are we going in the right strategic direction? 

You’ve probably reviewed your financials, operations, and of course, your marketing too. Unlike the first two considerations, marketing can sometimes feel like an impossible environment to compete in as a small business. 

So many new tools are being developed, people adapt to shifting tactics online, strategies change between offline and online dominance, and what the hell is happening to traditional search engine results? 

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when marketing isn’t your priority every day. But luckily, it is for us! That’s why we’re giving you 8 solid marketing insights for small businesses that you can champion in 2026. 

1. Micro-communities dominate the socials landscape

With the sheer volume of content online, people are clinging on more than ever to authentic interactions.

We’re seeing more than ever the development of “content villages” on social media platforms. You might have come across certain communities already, like:

• BookTok (a TikTok group that predominantly discusses fiction)

• Fitness (non-platform-specific, personal trainers, fitness influencers, and businesses like gyms connect via their passion for fitness).

• Mukbang (one subsect of the foodie community can be found doing mukbangs, videos where people eat excessive amounts of food).

• Rise and Grind (the entrepreneur community is prolific at sharing investment advice, 9-5 routines, and general grind culture.

  
  

Largely made up of individuals, businesses are also ‘allowed’ to share the space, but there are conditions; they must stay true to their values. These groups are becoming wise to pure-AI-generated content and businesses that don’t hold on to their authenticity, especially in an oversaturated online environment.

The goal is to build trust, long-term relationships, and establish your business as a source of authority within the space you operate in.

2. Adopt creative testing as part of your culture

Test. Fail. Test again. It’s not enough to say you’re agile if you aren’t embedding that into your marketing processes.

Yes, failing feels scary, but it’s necessary. No business gets it perfect from day one, and if you don’t allow yourself to try new things or be bold, you’ll end up piling resources into a strategy that just isn’t working.

You can utilise creative testing in all aspects of marketing, including:

• Social media posting (try a different tone of voice or visuals)

• Email marketing (try fun or interesting emails as part of your flow)

• Website (try bold copy or video content)

• Ads (try new hooks or messaging angles)

  
  

Below is an example of an ad process from Admanage, where creative testing is kept at the core. 

Creative testing becomes second-nature when you integrate it as part of your company culture. You can do this in a few ways, like celebrating when someone thinks out of the box to encourage new thinking, hosting brainstorming sessions and learning sessions, or implementing a more systematic approach like the ad testing above. 

3. Track your AI ecosystem before it gets messy 

AI tools are becoming part and parcel for many marketing teams and businesses. We get why; they can be effective in terms of cost and speed.

But with so many options on the market, it’s easy for you to lose track of what digital tools you’ve either signed up for or are even paying for - this goes for any tools you use, in fact.

Don’t get overenthusiastic with tools if you don’t have:

1. Someone to champion them and do the necessary internal training on them

2. Someone to manage and use them

   
   

To avoid this, build a visual tool ecosystem, which helps you keep track of the tools you’ve signed up for. Or you can create a simple Google Sheets document that highlights tools you’re investigating, trialing, and actively using. 

4. Quality beats quantity... most of the time

We always champion quality at BlackCat Content. However, we’re also realists. Small teams don’t have the benefit of extensive resources, including time and budget. 

Finding the balance between being a perfectionist and publishing bad content can be difficult. For example, you might be mid-campaign and know that your connections expect to see a LinkedIn post about XYZ, something you’ve already promised last week - you don’t want to look inconsistent or untrustworthy. 

Equally, different platforms reward different types of behaviour, for example, on TikTok and Pinterest, quantity helps boost reach more than LinkedIn. 

The more ambitious your marketing plans are, the quicker you’ll find where your boundaries are for quantity of work - obviously, if you work with an experienced team or agency, they’ll be able to guide you.

5. Influencer content needs to keep authenticity at the core

The online community has grown wise to bad influencer partnerships. If you want to retain trust, utilise influencer connections carefully and thoughtfully.

Make sure you’re working with people or groups that reflect your own brand, are safe (non-controversial, if that’s necessary for your business), and are easy to work with. 

As we mentioned above, authenticity is key. 

While that might sound like an obvious statement to make, it’s not so simple to implement.

What tends to happen is that businesses identify "authenticity" as a key value at the beginning of their year, highlighted in a polished strategy deck, but six months later, they’re looking at content which has been stripped of all their personality, individualism, and they ask - what’s gone wrong?

It’s important to note that you can only be authentic if you know who you are.

If the answer to that question is, I’m not sure - let’s talk. 

6. Online visibility now relies on search engines and LLMs

Organic search (your online visibility) is changing quickly. Even marketing professionals working in the space every day are still getting to grips with the impact LLMs like Gemini and ChatGPT are having on traditional search engine rankings. 

We get that it can be frustrating, you might have only just gotten your head around how SEO works, and now everyone’s making huge claims about how none of that matters anymore. 

Don’t panic, while search is changing, the principles of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and AIO (Artificial Intelligence Optimisation) remain the same. Make sure your content shows Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

What’s important is not to get carried away by the LLMs referral wave - despite the loud opinions on social media. 

7. Product marketing becomes more important than ever 

So, you want to invest in marketing but don’t know exactly what function you might need. Social media marketing? Content marking? Paid? Organic? Email? There are a lot of roles that sit under the umbrella. 

For teams that don’t have the luxury of expansive marketing teams with lots of experts, it’s worth thinking about investing in a role that can bring your wider company functions together, including product, sales, and customer success. 

This is well represented by SalesLoft’s diagram below. 

Product marketing aligns your internal operations, ensuring customers understand, want, and buy your product. 

8. Don’t forget about offline marketing 

Think flyers, business cards, and promotional objects are long gone? Think again. 

We’re not saying that the digital environment isn’t important - in fact, it’s crucial. What we’re saying is don’t neglect the offline environment. It can still be an effective way to increase your business visibility, connect with potential customers, and convert sales. 

One benefit is that it’s much less crowded than online; this can make it easier to stand out. When’s the last time you got a business flyer in your post box? It certainly happens much less than it used to. 

You can use this as an opportunity to stand out from your competition and execute a creative marketing campaign that makes people look twice.