Copy and Content Marketing Trends I’m Watching Closely For 2026

Rachel Medlock
6 hours ago
4 min read

If I had to sum up 2025 in one sentence, it would be this: I wrote an unholy amount of words, prevented a solid number of marketing-induced mental breakdowns, and helped a lot of people make very real money (yep, I ain't afraid to flex like that).

On paper, this year looks loud.

Eighty-plus brands interviewed
Fifty-plus brands written for across Australia, New Zealand and the USA
An estimated half a million words written (she’s a writer, not a mathematician)
50-plus editorial stories across industry media
One editor’s letter (still not over that, frankly)
One children’s book now sitting casually on Amazon, Booktopia and Dymocks like WTAF?!
Four masterclasses delivered
One industry award judging role
One industry award partnership
Three podcasts (more of these in 2026, plz)
Approximately eight hundred almond lattes

And underneath all of that: One less parent to see the work unfold.

That part doesn’t need dressing up. It just is, and it sits alongside everything else - the wins, the deadlines, the bylines - because that’s how real life works.

Across all those projects, the same feedback kept coming back:

“This sounds like us.”
“Finally, something that feels real.”
“I feel seen.”
“This doesn’t sound like everyone else.”

Those weren’t accidents. They were signals.

The biggest themes in the work this year were:

Authenticity Not the curated, beige, “authentic” that still sounds like a brand workshop. Actual voice, opinion and perspective.

Connection Words that acknowledge the human on the other side of the screen. The tired clinic owner. The overwhelmed consumer. The brand team trying to stand out without selling their soul.

Relatability I like to say to my salon and clinic owner clients that it's our responsibility to not 'dumb down' industry terminology but to 'human it up'. It makes people feel like, “Oh. This is for me.”

Storytelling Not “once upon a time” fluff. Real stories: why this exists, who it helps, what problem it actually solves and WHY it matters to you reading it.

Sounding like you And just as importantly… sounding unlike everyone else because in a world where everyone now has access to the same tools, templates and AI prompts, sameness is the real risk.

Copy and Content Marketing Trends I’m Watching Closely For 2026

Attention Is Short. Copy Has To Get To The Point.

2025 quietly confirmed something a lot of people are only just realising (that I may or may not have been shouting from a glittery megaphone for years now): Good copy isn’t about being louder. It’s about being clearer.

You either earn it quickly, or you don’t earn it at all.

People are tired. They’re scrolling with one eye. They’re comparing while waiting for their coffee. They do not want to work to understand what you’re offering.

Which means copy in 2026 has one job: clarity, fast.

The brands that will win aren’t the ones trying to sound clever or poetic at every turn.

They’re the ones that can say:

Who it’s for
What it does
Why it matters

...Without burying the lead.

This doesn’t mean personality disappears. It means personality has to work harder - in fewer words, with more intention. Fluff will feel expensive. Directness will feel generous.

Social Is No Longer Just Social (It’s Search, Comparison And Commerce)

Social platforms are experiencing their own millennial identity crisis.

They’re no longer just where people discover you. They’re where people search, compare, and decide, often without ever leaving the app.

Someone sees a reel > They search your name> They read the comment > They scroll your grid > They decide.

All before they click a website.

That means your content can’t just look good, it has to answer real questions. It has to remove doubt. It has to do the work your website used to do alone.

In 2026, brands that understand this will stop posting “for engagement” and start posting with intent. Every caption, carousel and pinned post becomes part of the buying conversation, whether you planned it that way or not.

Funnels Are Having Their Main Character Moment

Collecting emails for the sake of it (aka no funnel in sight) is O-V-A-H, Kim!

Woman in a red and blue top stands in a doorway, looking at someone. Bold text reads "IT'S OVAH! O-V-A-H!" Garden visible outside.

A funnel isn’t about being salesy.

It’s about:

guiding people somewhere
continuing the conversation
telling your brand story
building trust
giving them clarity so that when it's time for them to book or buy, they feel like they already know you

If your funnel doesn’t have a purpose, it becomes digital clutter, and people feel that immediately. The brands doing well won’t have the biggest lists. They’ll have the most intentional ones.

Blogs Are Back (Not That They Ever Left)

There’s a very specific kind of satisfaction in watching people rediscover the value of blogs after declaring them “dead” for the better part of a decade.

Especially when you’ve been talking about their importance for… oh, I don’t know… your entire fkn career.

AI search doesn’t want snippets, it wants substance and in 2026, this is going to be one of the leading content marketing trends.

AI is essentially asking, “Tell me what you know. Show me how you think. Let me use your content in people's Google searches for microneedling in Brunswick.”

And the best place to do that? Long-form content. Blogs give you:

depth
context
expertise
personality

All the things AI needs to understand who you are, what you offer, and who you’re for.

So yes, keep writing your blogs. Not because they’re trendy again, but because they’re finally being valued for what they’ve always been: your clearest expression of authority.

Psst... if this sounds like something you want to do but absolutely CBF juggling your calendar to do, hit me up here