5 Marketing Changes I'm Making In 2026

Look, you're smart, so I am not going to bullshit you about marketing in 2026 you already know what used to work. No longer does you already know that times are changing. Right now we are in a big shift, and you already know that following the same tired, generic, AI generated playbook that everyone else is using is the fastest way to get lost in the noise and become obsolete. What you need are real strategies, simple, quick and easy to implement that give you real results. And that is exactly why you're watching this video, right? See, I knew you were smart. Today, I'm going to share with you the five major changes that I'm making to my marketing right now. And if you pay close attention to this entire video, it could literally transform your business this year. Whether you are just getting started or have been at it for years, you are in the right place, by the way, if you're new here, I'm Alex, an award winning copywriter and marketing expert with over 17 years of experience, and I am your host of this YouTube channel. So if you want to learn more actionable copywriting, marketing and branding strategies that actually work today, subscribe to my channel below. And hey, throw me a thumbs up and let me know you're here and that you are, in fact, a real human being. I put a lot of love into my videos every single week, and it's really nice to know that I am not talking into a dead Internet of AI agents and bots and trolls. You know what I mean, right? So before we get into it, let me ask you a few quick questions. When's the last time you bought something from a cold email from someone you have never even heard of before. And when was the last time you paid money to a total Rando that slid into your DMS promising you the secret formula to closing more clients, right? And when was the last time you clicked on an ad that felt like it was made by a robot, right? Exactly? The Internet is literally drowning in bad marketing from people trying to get other people's attention and money, and 99% of them are using terrible templated scripts, automations and AI generated content as a way to save time and be more productive. But honestly, for all that time people are supposedly saving, I am just not seeing the payoff. In fact, I think it is working completely against us. Consumers are exhausted, skeptical and frankly, completely over being sold to left, right and center by people they don't even know, which means the only way to stand out right now is to do something different while everyone else out there is chasing shiny automations and trying to AI hack their way to success. I am focusing on what's actually working for me right now, starting with change number one, creating trust offers so one of the biggest changes I am making in 2026 is doubling down on low ticket offers, or what I am now calling trust offers. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, consumer trust is at an all time low. You have heard me talk about this before, and on top of that, 32. 8% of global shoppers right now say they are financially worse off than they were last year, and 73% of those consumers cite the rising cost of living pressures as the reason. Now, do not get me wrong, people are still spending money. In fact, they are spending a lot of it, but they are no longer buying high ticket items or things they perceive as expensive at the drop of a hat, unless, and that is a big unless, they first are spending time to get to know the brand. Consumers need to be sure they can trust you before they're going to invest a large amount of money with you. I mean, that makes perfect sense, right? So what should you do as a business owner or marketer? Lower the bar of entry, make it ridiculously easy for new leads to say yes to spending money with you, even if it's a small amount, and the best way to do that is with a valuable low ticket offer. Now this could be a low price course that solves a big problem, or if you're a service provider, start thinking about easy trust offers that you can create to make it so easy for your client to say yes to you before deciding to go all in. So think audits, critiques, a 30 minute Strategy Session, something like that. This is one of my best performing low ticket funnels right now. So you can see we have several free offers or lead magnets at the top of the funnel, a subject line split test report, an email marketing calendar, a list building guide and an email storytelling workshop, which then all lead to a low Ticket Trust offer, which is my $27 email marketing mini course. In the past six months alone, this funnel has brought in nearly 7000 new leads over. 500 new customers, and has made

me $188,000 not just because those leads went on to purchase that $27 mini course, but because, after they purchased that low Ticket Trust offer, they went on to purchase other higher ticket programs and memberships from me. Now this low ticket funnel works so well at converting new leads into customers quickly that in 2026 I am focusing on building more low Ticket Trust funnels like this. Now, obviously, once you have new leads in the door, you need to absolutely wow them with value, or this just isn't going to work. In fact, it'll work in reverse. In order to build trust, you need to deliver the results that you promise. That is how you keep customers coming back to spend more and more money with you over the long term. And that brings me to the second change I'm making in 2026 playing the long game. 2026 is all about playing the long game, baby. I mean long term and long form, while everyone else is focused on using AI to optimize, optimize, streamline, templatize it, make it faster, easier, less work. I'm intentionally slowing things down, especially when it comes to my content. Now, don't get me wrong, while there are some absolutely amazing ways that you can use AI in your business, I do not think content creation should be one of them. There is a reason why long form content platforms like substack and YouTube are blowing up right now. Our customers are exhausted by quick, generic tips, especially ones that we can just go get from chat, GPT or Claude, right while short form content is great for getting eyeballs and attention, I think as marketers, we really need to start thinking about the type of attention we actually want to prioritize, because there is a big difference between a view on, say, this YouTube video versus a view on a short form video that some eye glazed Doom scroller saw for like half a second. Our customers are not craving more information faster. They are craving real insights, perspectives and points of view from thought leaders they can trust, but it takes time and repeated exposure to gain someone's trust. To be more specific, it takes on average, 20 to 30 touch points before a cold lead develops enough trust with your brand before they become a customer, and as a result, we are seeing much, much longer buying cycles, as people take more time to really weigh their options and, frankly, suss you out and make sure you're legit. That period of time before a customer's first touch point with you and their first purchase with you is what Google calls the messy middle. Once a new lead first discovers you or your brand, you better believe they spend a lot of time exploring and evaluating you. They are looking at all the options before they decide to engage, buy or go find something or someone else. Now, direct response marketers hate the messy middle because it is nearly impossible to quantify and track, but this is where all of the marketing magic is quietly happening right now in the background, before you ever know it's working at all. And this is why we really have to drop the notion that if we don't immediately see results, then what we're doing must not be working. Or if we don't go viral, then we're absolutely failing. I will say it again. We have to be willing to play the long game if we want to win. Now for you, this might look like personally checking in with past clients, right ones you haven't heard from in a while, following up consistently, even when it feels a little awkward, and taking the time to create longer form content that shares your values, insights and perspectives. This is not sexy. It's not glamorous. It's not go viral and make money overnight, right? It is time consuming, but it works better than anything else when it comes to building real trust and loyalty, which is exactly what we need in order to win in 2026 moving on to change number three, I'm prioritizing scrappy over perfection, So repeat after me, scrappy beats perfect every single time, and I'm about to prove it to you with a story that'll probably make you rethink everything you're doing on social media right now. So a few weeks ago, I posted a rant on Instagram. This was a video that I recorded. It took me literally, maybe two to three minutes to whip up. I was feeling feisty about something. I recorded a video, no fancy graphics, no script, no editing, just me sharing my candid thoughts in the moment. Now, was this real perfect? Obviously, not, right? It was well over the recommended 30 to 62nd length that experts say your short form video contents should be I'm ranting, which means I'm repeating myself a few times. But here's the thing, it worked, and it worked far better than many of my other reels. Why? For the exact reasons I already mentioned, people are craving real, authentic connection over pixel perfect posts, in fact, Forbes and link. LinkedIn have

both recently published pieces showing that authenticity, relatability and visibility are becoming bigger trust signals than polish and perfection. And I love this quote from Forbes, personal branding has always been about authenticity. In the age of AI, that foundation is even more important. AI can manufacture the perfect headshot create a clone of you who can stand in for you in virtual meetings and write articles that sound like they came from Maya angelou's pen. But that's not what creates emotional connection with others. Being real will perfect is forgettable, but scrappy. Scrappy feels real, right? And believe it or not, scrappy actually converts better than perfect. So stop trying to be perfect and just start being human. And good news for you. You already are human, which means less effort and less time on your part. And that is a total win, win, all right. Now I think you might be surprised by this next one change number four, delivering transformation over courses. So you may have heard the internet screaming lately that courses are dead, and honestly, anytime anyone says anything is dead in marketing, I eye roll so hard my eyeballs almost fall out of my head, and it also tells me that they haven't been around for very long. I have been in this industry for nearly two decades, and I'm here to tell you that nothing truly ever dies, it just shifts forms as times change. And if you need proof, people said that teleseminars are dead, but what do you call podcasts? People said that blogs substack people even said that email marketing was dead when social media blew up. Well, we all know that is absolutely not true, so we have got to stop confusing the medium with the message, okay, courses are not dead. That's like saying education is dead. As long as people will pay for solutions to their problems, courses will continue to sell. But here is the major, major shift that we all need to be paying attention to right now, if your course is nothing but generic advice or information that someone can get from one minute searching, chat, GPT, well, yeah, then I think you need to go back to the drawing board and maybe rethink that course, because people are no longer buying information. Information is dirt cheap, but people will always buy solutions, skills and transformation. There is a massive difference here. So the old way of creating a course went something like this, how much information or stuff Can I include in this course to make it seem as valuable as possible? More content equals more value. That's the old way. The new way of creating a course goes a little something like this, what can I offer my students that they cannot get anywhere else, and offer a personalized approach to solving their biggest problem as quickly as possible? Faster results equals more value. That is the new way, and that is why every single one of my programs is so much more than just content or information. I always offer real examples from my own business, private swipe files, behind the scenes, data and insights over the shoulder, coaching, personalized support, critiques, accountability and insider access unavailable to anyone else, because I know that is exactly what my students need to get results faster and easier than if they were to go anywhere else on the internet. Now there is one other thing you need if you want to sell anything, including courses in 2026 and it is a big one change. Number five, I am going all in on my personal brand. Yes, in 2026 I am making my personal brand absolutely number one, I have been talking about the rising importance of having a personal brand for years now, but in 2026 this is a non negotiable because of the growing mistrust and skepticism online, it has never been more important to show your customers not only what you do, but who you are. We are all craving connection with real, authentic humans, people we can relate to and with whom we share values. And again, I just loved the way this Forbes article says it. Personal Branding is not and has never been about you. It's about how you connect with and deliver value to others. Being willing to show your flaws and vulnerability and acknowledging that you have a lot to learn will connect you with stakeholders, aka customers, followers and subscribers, in addition to the flaws and all approach to visibility effective personal branding requires empathy. Personal Branding without empathy is egotism. Trust and connection are not built on perfection or ego. They're built on being real and focusing on others. Your audience wants to understand the impact you created, the lessons you learned, the mistakes you made, and how you supported others alongside your success stories, share your challenges. So for me, this means that I'll be creating a lot more long form content that shares my totally unfiltered thoughts. Thoughts about life and business and

mindset and creativity and leadership in the age of AI. So stay tuned for more on that. Now for you, building your personal brand might look a little bit different, but one thing is 1,000% for sure. Right now, in a world that is full of AI and automation, being genuinely human is your biggest competitive advantage, and you cannot afford to hide in 2026 authenticity used to be a marketing buzzword, and now it is, collectively our number one biggest green flag, thanks to the rise of fake literally everything when you focus on your personal brand, everything else that I talked about today gets so much freaking easier. Now, if the idea of starting or building your personal brand terrifies you, you are not alone. I hear this a lot, and that is why I put together my Personal Brand Bootcamp. Truly, it's everything I wish I had when I was first starting my business and showing up online feeling awkward and unsure of what to say or do or post. We're talking step by step, lessons on positioning yourself as the trusted expert, showing up consistently without burning out, and the four types of stories that build real trust and authority, many of my students have seen a massive boost in their engagement after implementing just a few of the lessons from this bootcamp, even as complete beginners and others have said that it made them feel way more comfortable about showing up online, which honestly is the hardest part, right? So if you are ready to start building your personal brand so you can attract premium clients without needing to post every single day or document every moment of your private life on the internet, I promise it is not about that, then check out my Personal Brand Bootcamp. It is only $24. The link is in the description box below, or just scan this QR code to learn more. Now, let me know in the comments, which change hit home the most for you, what will you be trying in 2026 I will see you next week with a brand new video. Until then, I'm Alex Ciao for now. Before you go, if you like that video, make sure to check out this one next Listen up, because I'm about to give you 10 years of brutally honest business advice in 10 minutes and the marketing playbook that you need to win in 2026 so if you feel frustrated by all the bad bro tastic advice out there if you don't vibe with the way most people teach marketing online, if you're exhausted, exhausted by all the quick hacks and superficial tactics that don't actually get results and.