Some industries change slowly. Digital marketing is not one of them.
New platforms, features and rules appear every year, and some of last year’s advice no longer holds. This guide covers ten strategies that are worth your time in 2026, with practical notes for Australian small and medium businesses.
Online marketing is now used by almost every kind of business, from national brands to a sole-trader dog groomer a few streets away. That makes it crowded. The businesses that do well tend to pick a few sensible strategies and do them consistently, rather than chasing every new idea.
If you want a broader view of what is changing this year, our article on the top digital marketing trends is a good companion to this one.
1. Work With Smaller, Relevant Influencers
Influencers do not need to be famous. For most local businesses, a respected person in your niche or your area, with a modest but engaged following, is a better fit than a celebrity.
Choose people whose audience matches your customers, and agree in writing what you expect. Paid or gifted posts must be clearly disclosed. The ACCC and the advertising industry’s own code both expect this, so check the current guidance before you start.
Health businesses need extra care. Ahpra’s advertising rules ban testimonials for regulated health services, which limits how influencers can talk about treatments.
2. Make Social Content That Earns Attention
People scroll quickly and skip anything that looks like an ad. Content that works on social media tends to be useful, local or human.
Show the work behind the scenes. Answer a question customers often ask. Introduce a team member. Simple stories told well usually beat polished promotional posts.
3. Choose the Right Social Channels, Not All of Them
Older advice said to be on every platform. For most small businesses, that spreads time and budget too thin.
Pick the one or two platforms your customers actually use and post there consistently. A trades business may find Facebook and Instagram useful, while a professional services firm may do better on LinkedIn. Our social media marketing page explains how we approach this.
4. Show Experience, Expertise and Trust
Google’s guidance for its search quality raters uses the term E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. It is not a single ranking factor, but it describes the kind of content Google wants to reward.
In practice, that means:
- Writing from real, first-hand knowledge of your work.
- Showing who is behind the business, with names, qualifications and licences where relevant.
- Keeping contact details, ABN and business address easy to find.
- Citing reputable sources when you make claims.
This is a core part of good SEO, and it matters more as AI tools summarise search results.
5. Respond Quickly, Including With Chat
People expect fast answers. Live chat, messaging through your Google Business Profile or Facebook, and automated replies can all help.
AI chatbots are now common and can handle simple questions well. Keep them on a short lead. Give them accurate information about your services, make it easy to reach a person and check the conversations regularly. A wrong answer from a bot can cost more than a slow answer from a person.
6. Add Interactive Tools That Help Buyers Decide
Interactive content keeps people on your site and moves them closer to an enquiry. A digital catalogue that people can browse and buy from is one example.
For service businesses, simple tools often work better. Think of a quote estimator, a booking calendar, a product finder or a short quiz that points people to the right service. Each one should make the next step easier.
7. Publish Short Videos
Short vertical video now appears across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. It is quick to make and suits phones.
You do not need a film crew. A clear, well-lit clip shot on a phone, with captions, is enough for most businesses. Many people watch with the sound off, so captions matter. Our article on video marketing for small businesses has more ideas.
8. Try Live Streaming
Live video lets people ask questions and see your business in real time. It suits product demonstrations, workshops, open homes, launches and question-and-answer sessions.
Plan the topic, test your connection and promote the session in advance. Save the recording, because it can be cut into shorter clips afterwards. Some platforms also support selling during a live stream, so check what is currently available on the one you use.
9. Write for Conversational and AI Search
People now search in full questions. They type them, speak them to voice assistants or ask AI tools, and Google shows AI-generated summaries above many results.
Content that answers real questions clearly is better placed for all of these. Use the words your customers use. Put a direct answer near the top of each section, then add the detail. Keep your Google Business Profile complete and current, since it feeds many local results. Our article on voice search for local businesses covers this in more depth.
10. Personalise With Care
Personalisation goes well beyond adding a first name to an email. Examples include follow-up emails based on what someone viewed, offers based on stated preferences and product suggestions based on past purchases.
Done well, this feels helpful. Done badly, it feels intrusive. Only collect data you need, explain how you use it and make it easy to opt out. Australia’s Spam Act and Privacy Act both apply here, and privacy rules are being updated, so check your obligations or ask for advice. Good email marketing is often the simplest place to start.
Where to Start
You do not need all ten. Pick two or three that suit your customers and your capacity, and give them a fair trial over a few months.
Measure what matters to you, such as enquiries, bookings or sales, rather than likes or views. Then keep what works and drop what does not.
Talk to Us
SLINKY is a Perth digital agency, founded in 1998. We help businesses with SEO, Google Ads, social media, email marketing and websites, and you deal directly with senior people with no lock-in contracts.
If you would like to talk through which of these strategies suits your business, get in touch.
