Hi Reader,
This email is part of my What’s Working Now email series, where I’m bringing in some of my internet friends to share their perspective on what smart service-based business owners are doing in their branding and marketing.
You can check out past emails here, or invite your friends to join the fun here.
This week we’re featuring Sarah Moon. Her Friday newsletter is one of my must-reads each week and I love her simple, practical, no-BS approach to marketing.
Sarah is a Portland, Oregon-based marketing and business strategy consultant who founded Sarah Moon Consulting in 2008. She specializes in helping conscious entrepreneurs and thought leaders increase their online visibility using her proprietary, SEO-fueled Alignthority® System. Her work focuses on data-informed ethical, sustainable, and tailored marketing strategies. When she's not supporting awesome clients doing awesome work, you'll find her practicing dog dancing (yes really), learning Spanish, befriending local crows, or baking sourdough to share with her neighbors. Find her at sarahmoon.com!
Okay, intros done, let’s get to the good stuff!
I was recently asked by a client what I'm seeing working well in marketing right now. Now, while that's a massive question with lots of context needed to personalize this, I have seen a handful of general trends that clients and colleagues (and myself) have seen success with.
Let's be real: What worked in 2023 isn't necessarily working in 2026. In fact, you can’t really compare those two timeframes whatsoever.
Both B2B and B2C buyers are generally more discerning and need longer sales cycles before making a decision. We also see a substantial decrease in conversion rates in general, so that sales page or post that maybe needed 1,000 views in 2023 to meet your goals likely needs quite a bit more visibility now. So, even though what I am going to talk about "works," it's not magic wand stuff—we all need to be able to make the sale, onboard the client or customer, and deliver on our promises.
Unique or Proprietary Methods. In the Post-Keyword Era, there's one thing we know for sure: Unique insights (aka information gain—the technical term) are surfacing in searches, being cited by AI software, and sticking in the memories of overwhelmed buyers. When buyers are faced with choosing from an array of indistinguishable options, the one that's stress-tested and proven to work that they can't get anywhere else does well—if you explain it well. (Gimmicks aren't doing so hot—so don't stray into that territory.)
That "hand-crafted" feeling. From brand design to flyers, assets that feel like they came from a real person are receiving loads of positive feedback and buyers are motivated to purchase from these brands. This has been the case for a while in product-based businesses, but my anecdata (aka my own observations) indicate that this is also the case for services as well. I've definitely found myself saying, "And the company is run by real people who answer emails," more in the last year when recommending a service than I ever have. I definitely see this as a backlash against all the companies, large and small, who've automated their customer relationships to the point that customers feel like they're a problem.
An interesting recent anecdote: One of my SEO consulting clients who leaned hard into the message that real people answer the phone, that the owner is the one who talks to potential clients and quotes their projects, and that the whole team is making sure their clients are taken care of is seeing rapid results from this message.
Anything live, pretty much. Again, following a theme, everyone I know who's offering unique marketing moments in which they show up live and engage with people are thriving. This is not the circa 2020 fluffy, high pressure webinar—this is meaty marketing with sincerity. Honestly, I've seriously considered bringing back my old live "Ask Me Anything" monthly sessions because I'm seeing so many solid results from authentic, live sessions.
Freaking blogging! I have always used my business blog as a core of my business, but it's making a mainstream comeback like I never expected. Long relegated to the niche of people who had something to say beyond social media, blogging is undergoing a fascinating revival. (It was never dead, btw.) It turns out, AI software cites blogs frequently. My hunch is that because blogs are written in more natural language than, say, a sales page, it fits the software's models more. My own business blog gets loads of traffic from Claude and ChatGPT, for example. And some of those clicks become clients.
Design taste. Now hear me out, because this sounds a bit snotty, and that's not my intention. In 2026, we've seen algorithm driven "sameness"—from clothing to websites to logos. Which means watered-down aesthetics and lots of visuals that are indistinguishable from each other. So, if you have an eye for what looks "just right" for you, this is your time to shine! I've said it many times in my newsletter, but my rebrand last year was truly impeccable timing. My brand may not be for everyone (no brand should be, hence the problem of these same-old, same-old brands), but it screams that I have a point of view and specific taste.
Look at the backlash toward AI generated flyers—people don’t just hate them because they’re ugly, they also hate them because they mean nothing. There’s no point of view. There’s no story.
Organic-Tested Paid Campaigns. This is much more tactical than the previous points I've made, but it's really important in this chaotic era of marketing.
To put it succinctly: Paid campaigns work when you've tested their viability with an organic audience first. Have a podcast episode that listeners adore? Use that information to build your paid campaign around. A whole lot of folks are running expensive (because woo-buddy, ads are pricey now) campaigns on Meta, Google, and elsewhere without proof the messaging and offers are appealing to their audience. That means loads of wasted money and a misaligned audience—an even more expensive problem!
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but by now you've probably clocked the overarching theme: Be substantive, be real.
What's working marketing-wise in your world? I'd love to hear from you!
Talk soon,
Sarah
Thank you so much to Sarah for taking over the email this week! To connect with her and say thanks for contributing, you can visit her website, get her newsletter, or follow her on Instagram.
And don't forget to read the past emails in our series here, or share the signup linkwith someone who would enjoy this!
Have a great weekend!
Kristen