The beginning of a new year always signals an opportunity to reflect on what’s to come, especially from a business marketing perspective. You’ve become so used to utilising different marketing techniques and building on certain ideas, but will the next year see more of the same or some dramatic changes?
Marketing trends alter and evolve all the time, usually based on a combination of modern technological advancements and consumer behaviour. With that in mind, here are some of the biggest marketing trends you’ll see in 2026 and the near future:
GEO Starts To Rival SEO
Generative engine optimisation is the latest digital marketing strategy everyone’s raving about. It’s similar to search engine optimisation in its premise, only there’s a core difference:
- SEO is all about improving visibility in traditional search engines – like Google
- GEO is more about improving visibility in AI platforms – like ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.
At the moment, businesses continue to leverage more of their budget towards SEO because that’s still how most consumers discover businesses. However, with platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini growing at a remarkably fast rate, more and more consumers now turn to AI when they want to find different products or services.
More importantly, consumers will rely on AI platforms when conducting research. It’s much easier to ask ChatGPT how you find the best digital marketing agency for your business than it is to Google it. The AI will do the research for you and present some options. Not only that, but consumers use AI when asking questions about specific things or topics. In any of these cases, GEO comes in to ensure that ChatGPT or Gemini will reference your business.
It makes you more visible in AI-driven searches, but it also helps to build better brand authority. Expect more and more companies to invest in GEO, to the point where it almost rivals SEO in terms of importance.
OOH Advertising Makes A Roaring Comeback
Out-of-home advertising was once the gold standard for every business. When people didn’t spend all of their time online or glued to a phone screen, billboard adverts, bus stop posters and all these other things were the best ways to promote a business.
OOH advertising lost some of its importance over the years, but 2026 could signal its biggest comeback yet. Excite OOH, an out-of-home advertising agency, explains that this particular technique sits at the centre of the consumer journey and reinforces key brand messages. More importantly, it’s evolved beyond what it used to be, thanks to the emergence of DOOH.
Digital out-of-home advertising is a method that blends traditional and modern marketing techniques. It’s a poster or a billboard that people see as they’re walking down the street – and yet it includes some level of digital interaction. Consumers can open their phone cameras and scan QR codes to be taken to special offers. You can incorporate elements of augmented reality to transform a 2D image into something far more interactive.
It’s all about taking this traditional form of marketing and manipulating it for the digital age. DOOH encourages more one-on-one interaction than almost any other form of media, which means it’s also one of the best ways to generate dedicated leads.
AI Content Sees A Downward Trend
When this whole AI trend started, marketers saw it as an opportunity to do more than ever before. It was touted as a revolutionary approach to digital marketing; you could type in a short prompt and generate dozens of blog posts for a marketing campaign in minutes. Or, you could download a specific application and use it to generate video adverts without hiring a film crew, actors, etc.
It seemed like an incredible innovation – until people conducted studies into how human beings perceive AI content. There was recently a scientific study that pulled out a few damning facts:
- Customers avoid services advertised by AI-generated images
- Customers distrust AI-generated images
- Customers reject AI-generated content more than traditional content
You can do your own research and find multiple reports that corroborate these findings as well. People dislike AI marketing content because it seems disingenuous. It looks like the company doesn’t care about the consumer, and most AI content is rubbish anyway.
So, while the use of AI across the marketing landscape will increase, AI content should witness a downward trend in the coming years. Nobody likes it, so why bother using it?
AI Advertising Becomes A Real Thing
Yes, this is the third AI-based trend on this list, and that speaks to how important AI is for marketing, in general. With this particular trend, we expect to see an emergence of advertising opportunities via AI platforms.
OpenAI – the biggest AI company in the world, and the makers of ChatGPT – recently announced that it was trialling advertising on ChatGPT in the US. Effectively, when users submit a prompt, ChatGPT may include some sponsored links to products or websites. The example it uses in the blog shows someone asking for recipe ideas for a Mexican-themed party, which then leads to ChatGPT providing an answer as usual, followed by a sponsored advert for hot sauces and other products related to the prompt.
Given that ChatGPT has over 800 million monthly active users, the emergence of adverts within its platform will send shockwaves throughout the marketing industry. It gives businesses an entirely new platform to advertise through, which could also lead to a decline in Google Ads. There’s still some uncertainty around this, but using subtle adverts via AI prompts could be one of the most conversion-friendly investments for the modern business.
As you’ve seen, much of 2026’s marketing trends will be dominated by artificial intelligence in one way or another. It’s more about focusing on how to use popular AI platforms to your advantage, and less about relying on AI-generated content. All the while, out-of-home advertising looks set to make a roaring comeback by blending the in-person and digital experience for consumers.
Whatever happens, let this list be a wake-up call for you and your marketing teams. You always need to adapt – and you can’t rely on past ideas to still bring the same level of success.
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