Marketing conversations heading into 2026 are loud. Every new tool promises scale. Every platform claims urgency. Every headline suggests you are already behind.

But when you step back and look at what is actually working, a different picture comes into focus. One that is quieter. More human. More grounded in real behavior than prediction or hype.

Signal-driven marketing is about paying attention to patterns that repeat, not trends that spike. It is about noticing what buyers respond to over time, where trust builds, and which strategies continue to perform even when conditions change. These six trends are not guesses about the future. They are signals already shaping how people discover brands, decide who to trust, and choose where to invest their attention.

For years, marketing visibility followed a familiar playbook: rank well, polish your pages, optimize for keywords, repeat.
That playbook is breaking.

As generative AI becomes the front door for discovery, buyers are no longer scanning search results. They’re asking questions and trusting the answers they receive. And AI systems are making judgment calls about which voices are credible enough to quote, summarize, and surface.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth many brands are bumping into right now: AI doesn’t reward the most polished content. It rewards the most useful content.

Elf on the Shelf didn’t become a cultural phenomenon because of aggressive advertising or a high-budget campaign. It became a phenomenon because it was built on a set of principles that most brands struggle to get right: storytelling, participation, identity, and community. In other words, it didn’t just sell a product. It created a behavior.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this quirky holiday tradition is one of the clearest examples of brilliant marketing strategy I’ve seen in years. Not because it is flashy, but because it is disciplined. Not because it is loud, but because it is deeply human.

Below are the core lessons modern marketing leaders and founders can take from this holiday classic.

In a world where every scroll surfaces a new reel, story, livestream or immersive experience, the real challenge isn’t producing content. It’s choosing the creative formats that actually break through. With attention more fragmented than ever, brands must decide not only what to make, but where to show up—and why.

That’s the focus of my latest Forbes Communications Council feature, “How To Choose The Right Creative Formats To Cut Through Content Overload,” where communication leaders explore how to evaluate new formats, avoid trend-chasing, and ultimately invest in creative choices that generate meaningful ROI.

Even when you’ve got the right parts — a great product, a passionate team, a clear audience — one ingredient out of balance can ruin the result.

When marketing feels hard, it’s rarely a creativity problem. It’s a strategy and positioning problem.

Marketing isn’t one secret ingredient. It’s how all the ingredients work together. The classic 4Ps — Product, Price, Place, and Promotion — plus the one most teams forget, Positioning, are like the essentials in a great recipe. Each one matters, but it’s the combination that makes people come back for more.

Here’s how to know which part of your recipe might need adjusting.

Truth has never been harder to protect. Between deepfakes, synthetic media, and AI-generated everything, brands are navigating a landscape where misinformation can spread faster than the facts themselves.

That’s the focus of my latest feature in Forbes Communications Council, “20 Ways To Combat Misinformation Amid More And More Synthetic Media,” where I joined other communication leaders to share how brands can stay credible in a world where reality is increasingly negotiable.

Here’s what I contributed:

Be transparent about your AI usage.

When brands label AI-generated content and clarify where and how automation shows up in their work, they create a foundation of trust. Transparency signals confidence. It shows you are willing to reveal your process, not just the polished output. In an environment where misinformation thrives in the shadows, openness becomes a strategic advantage.

Search isn’t what it used to be.

Five years ago, being “discoverable” meant optimizing your website and publishing consistent blog content. Today, visibility has shifted from keywords to context.

AI-powered engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini don’t return long lists of links, they return answers. Those answers are informed by millions of data points: websites, articles, interviews, podcasts, and yes — social media.

That means your digital footprint is no longer just about SEO. It’s about semantic equity, the cumulative weight of your ideas across platforms.

So, does social media help your brand show up in AI searches? Absolutely.

But only if you treat it as the training ground for your ideas, not just a place to post.

Here’s how to make social media work for you in the age of AI discovery.

Breaking into marketing today takes more than talent — it takes visibility.

That’s the focus of my latest feature in Forbes Communications Council, “19 Smart Strategies for Standing Out in a Competitive Marketing Field,” where I joined 18 other marketing leaders to share advice for early-career professionals navigating one of the fastest-changing industries in business.

I spent a lot of this week horizontal, thanks to the inevitable daycare germs that make their seasonal rounds. Between the cough drops, tea, and Netflix haze, my laptop sat unopened while the world kept spinning: emails piling up, Slack pings unanswered, and that creeping guilt that comes from being completely out of rhythm.

But somewhere between sniffles, I reflected on how this happens to marketing strategies too.

No matter how organized your plans are, there will be weeks, quarters, or seasons when momentum dips. Campaigns lose steam. Energy fades. The message that once felt electric suddenly feels tired.

That doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It just means your marketing, like you, might need a resurrection.

Attention is getting harder to earn—and even harder to keep.

That’s the focus of my latest Forbes feature, “Marketing in the Age of Digital Distraction: Five Strategies to Capture Attention,” where I joined other marketing leaders to share how brands can rise above the noise and build lasting engagement.

Here’s what I contributed:

Share proprietary data in a recurring thought leadership series.
When you deliver insights your audience can’t find anywhere else—and do it consistently—you build more than awareness. You create anticipation. Over time, that rhythm of relevance turns into trust, credibility, and a loyal audience that returns to see what you’ll uncover next.

I talk a lot about efficiency, about using AI and automation to work smarter, to scale faster, and to free up time for deep, strategic thinking. And it’s true: those tools have changed the game for how I run Grounded Growth Studio and support clients.

But there are parts of marketing that technology can’t replicate.

Great content requires more than the right keywords or data points. It needs intuition, empathy, and context — an understanding of tone, timing, and storytelling that only comes from people who live and breathe communication.

That’s why, even as I double down on automation and productivity, I knew it was time to bring in extraordinary creative partners — people who could elevate how we tell stories, design experiences, and connect brands to the audiences that matter most.

Enter Grounded Growth Studio’s new content powerhouse: Dennis and Haley.

October is Women’s Small Business Month—a time to celebrate women who’ve built something from the ground up. But if I’m honest, celebration isn’t always what this month feels like. Some days it feels like survival.

Running a small business while raising a family is hard. Not “busy” hard. Not “stressful” hard. The kind of hard that lives in the quiet spaces between client calls and bedtime routines. The kind that keeps you awake at night, wondering if you gave enough—to your work, to your family, to yourself.

When I started Grounded Growth Studio, I wasn’t chasing freedom in the cliché sense. I wanted to build something sustainable that fit my life, not the other way around. I wanted to be present for my kids and create work that mattered. But I quickly learned that entrepreneurship doesn’t automatically equal flexibility. It can easily become the opposite if you don’t draw hard lines.

At Grounded Growth Studio, I’ve always believed in a balanced approach to marketing. Paid, earned, shared, and owned channels each bring unique value, and when they work together, they can create powerful momentum. But working with one of my clients, Fit Minded, has given me a renewed appreciation for something marketers often overlook: the sheer power of organic channels and well-crafted cold outreach, when the message truly resonates.

This is a story about Fit Minded’s growth over the past few months, what made it successful, and the lessons I’ve taken away that might be useful for other founders and marketers.

Authenticity is one of the most overused words in leadership—but when it’s real, people can feel it.

That’s the theme of my latest Forbes feature, “17 Methods To Balance Personal Authenticity With Corporate Positioning,” where I joined other communications leaders to discuss how executives can share their true voice while still representing their organizations with clarity and credibility.

Conversations about well-being at work aren’t just nice to have—they’re essential to building teams that last.

That’s the focus of my latest Forbes feature, “17 Ways Internal Comms Can Normalize Conversations Around Well-Being,” where I joined other leaders to share how communication teams can help make wellness a visible, ongoing part of company culture.

Here’s what I contributed:

Weave well-being into regular updates.
Normalize well-being by weaving it into regular updates, not just crisis moments. Internal comms pros can share leadership messages that openly acknowledge stress, spotlight resources, and model balance. Consistency signals that well-being is part of the culture, not a side note.

I’ll be the first to admit it: I am a very data-driven person. Data is one of the pillars of how I built Grounded Growth Studio, and it’s how I help founders make smarter marketing decisions. Numbers matter. They give us insight, accountability, and direction.

But here’s the nuance: being data-driven isn’t the same as being data-overloaded.

I’ve advised plenty of super-analytical founders who believed the answer to their marketing challenges was “track more.” They built dashboards filled with CTRs, bounce rates, follower counts, time-on-site—convinced that if they just measured everything, clarity would emerge.

But instead of clarity, they got chaos. Every metric seemed to point in a different direction, leading to second-guessing, delays, and paralysis. It’s like standing in front of a firehose: there’s no shortage of water, but it’s impossible to drink.

The best presentations don’t just inform—they stick.

That’s the focus of my latest Forbes feature, “19 Expert Tips To Make Your Presentation Unforgettable,” where I joined other thought leaders to share how we turn ideas into moments people actually remember.

Here’s what I contributed:

Anchor your talk around a single big idea.
People forget data points, but they remember stories. When you frame insights through a simple, human story tied to your core message, the content sticks emotionally and intellectually. That clarity makes your presentation memorable and actionable.

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to sit down with Brian Lofrumento for his Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Podcast. What struck me right away is how intentional Brian is about drawing out the real stories behind the work, not just the highlight reel.

If you’ve ever wondered how to cut through the noise, focus on what really moves the needle, and build marketing that actually drives revenue, I think you’ll enjoy this episode.

The best marketing campaigns aren’t the ones with the most moving parts, they’re the ones with the clearest message.

That’s the perspective I shared in my latest Forbes feature, where I joined other communications leaders to reflect on what really makes a campaign resonate.

One of the biggest fears leaders have when they hand off writing is that their brand’s authenticity will get lost in translation. And I get it. Now that I’m a founder, I know firsthand how personal your brand can feel. You’ve poured yourself into it. Your voice isn’t just about tone, it’s about trust. Every word shapes how customers perceive you, and if something suddenly feels “off,” your audience notices.

I remember the first time I asked someone else to draft content for my brand. I opened the doc with my heart in my throat. Would it sound like me? Would it capture the balance I wanted between being approachable and authoritative? That nervousness is real, and it’s why so many leaders hold on too tightly to the writing.

But here’s the truth: you don’t have to write every email, post, or article yourself to protect your voice. What you do need are systems that preserve consistency without bottlenecking your growth.