Your Branding Playbook for 2026
Whether you're growing your personal or your business brand, 2026 will require a more fine grained focus for you to thrive. The bleak economy of 2025 is narrowing the playing field for a lot of brands. Organic reach and SEO are changing as AI-enabled SEO (generative search) takes a larger share of the market; big brands are batting down the hatches with layoffs and restructuring for a tough year where business suffers the outcomes from the Trump tariffs; and most importantly, consumer behaviors are changing faster than before. This mini-playbook is not customized for your brand or your business, but it can serve as a handy tool that can help you ask better questions and build your own custom playbook. If you would like to get personal help from LED Queens on how to refine your branding strategy, please check out our consulting services section to inquire and book a compatibility session. Let's get started
Get Smart About GEO, Don't Forget SEO
According to Gartner Research, traditional search engine volume will drop by as much as 25 percent in 2026. That is not just a sobering projection, it's a call to action for you and your brand. A lot of consultants and agencies will try to sell you bloated services to teach you how to prepare for this shift into generative search, but keep in mind that the guiding principle of internet discoverability hasn't changed: your brand must publish content that is satisfying and relevant to your audience or customer. In other words, your web sites for your brand must have thoughtful, relevant content, not fluff. And more than anything, avoid cliches and disingenuous messaging. What people want from you is good writing and good video, with a strong point of view. And at this time, content that is primarily made by humans (and not LLMs) will also keep your site from being flagged as a generator of AI slop.
Playbook Tip: Create an editorial calendar for your web sites and stick to it. It's okay to use AI chatbots for initial brainstorms, content outlines or strategy, but when it comes to the actual writing, write it yourself, or get a human team member to do it. Yes, copy editing and some refining is also okay with AI tools. But keep the core of your content bountiful, interesting, and written natively by your human team.
Play Smart in a Marketing Landscape that Remains Fractured
Because so much of Internet publishing and content consumption remains dependent on feed algorithms like the ones found in Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Linkedin and X, we have to be okay with accepting the fact that all individuals receive news and content in a tight, compartmentalized echo chamber. The feeds' algorithms don't actually deliver relevant content to you. What they do is try to keep the user glued to the feed so they can serve you more targeted ads. This is not the ideal way of running the internet, because it eliminates the human activity of browsing and discovery. It also leads to narrow but effective channels of disinformation and bias.
We can't overturn this dynamic in 2026, so we must play it smart. Learn how to master your marketing channels that do exist within a feed: social networks, paid ads, etc. But make sure to also nurture marketing channels that give you wider reach. Those include in-person events, email marketing (which is algorithm-free), as well as your media placements. Make sure you have a media kit for your brand, and even if you are a small brand or personal brand, learn how to engage with journalists and podcasters. Their reach often bypasses the narrow compartments that are offered by social networks, and you must put your efforts into diversifying your portfolio of channels.
Playbook Tip: Start distancing yourself from depending on feed-based social networks for your marketing. Maintain your strategy in those feeds, but in 2026, challenge yourself to think more widely about your messaging, and go to spaces that are more welcoming to browsing, discovery, and human interaction. Don't be afraid to shut the doors on social networks that no longer serve you.
Grow Your Niche Without Greed or Desperation
As AI continues to help us more efficient by taking away mundane tasks via automation, we are also continuing to move further into this era where everyone, and I mean everyone, is a publisher. There is no barrier anymore for any brand to create relevant, high quality content that connects with their audience. But the challenge for all brands, from personal brands through Fortune 100 brands, is that growth is going to slow down. Everyone is trying to grab a user's attention. And that means that for any brand, the previous anxiety and pressure to achieve social growth at speed is no longer an effective strategy.
Users are smart, and they are burned out on marketing messaging and especially corporate greed and brands that don't align to their values. What this means for your brand is that you must nurture your niche the way a gardener tends to a plant: with love, patience, and without a specific expectation of massive growth. Don't let agencies or consultants fool you. Growth is much, much tougher now in this media and cultural landscape. And the answer for your growth is to serve your niche well, and give your audience relevant solutions and content.
Not every brand is meant to scale in their niche. If you do plan to break into a larger scale or into a brand new niche, that is okay, but take into account the fact that the whole landscape of the internet is changing. Don't be seduced by the massive growth we saw in the COVID era. The online world is more crowded now, and the Internet also doesn't feel safe for a lot of consumers. You have to find a niche that is not just right for you and your brand, but you must stay focused on people, not things.
Playbook Tip: Spend time really defining your niche. Review your analytics if you have them, audit your content, and yes, use AI tools like Claude or Chat GPT to help you draft a written definition of what your niche actually is. Don't be afraid of what you find. Instead, be proud of this niche you are part of, and treat with respect and love. Why? Because niche is another word for community.
Got a reaction to this post? Send us a note.