Despite broader economic unease, small businesses are not pulling back on marketing. In fact, many seem to be increasing their spending.

According to the LocaliQ Small Business Marketing Trends Report, which surveyed over 300 small business owners, the mood remains cautiously aggressive. The overwhelming response was that, despite recent struggles, most small businesses are keeping their marketing spend steady in 2026. In fact, some are even increasing it. Only 8% of respondents plan to cut spending this year, while 40% expect to increase it. The remaining respondents say they’ll keep budgets the same. Despite that, the existing numbers tell of doing a lot with a little.

Here are some key statistics from the report:

  • > 50% of small business owners said they operate on less than $1,000 per month.
  • Half of small business owners do not have a dedicated marketing employee.

All of the above details are notable, particularly the 40% of owners expecting to increase marketing spend, considering two-thirds of small business owners now expect economic uncertainty to be a challenge this year, up sharply year over year. This sentiment is most notably driven by inflation and tariffs.

With that in mind, small businesses are continuing to rely on low-cost channels, such as organic social media. In terms of social media, Facebook is still the top channel. Following organic social is paid social media, SEO, and email marketing. However, social media and online listings rank relatively low in satisfaction, suggesting they may not be delivering the results that businesses expect. On the other hand, video marketing and investing in reputation management seem to be outperforming expectations. This result is despite fewer small businesses investing in TikTok, down to 22% from 34% last year.

The Cost of Visibility and the Rise of AI

Despite the numbers, it appears that the cost of these potentially more effective marketing techniques is holding small businesses back. In fact, it seems cost is driving a shift away from search ads towards social ads, as the latter has overtaken the former in popularity. All that said, all signs point to video as the biggest marketing growth area for at least the near future. And, of course, AI continues its growth as an allegedly practical tool, with about 60% of businesses using it for content creation. However, quality must be weighed against quantity when considering this approach.

In the end, marketing comes down to preference as it always has, but that preference is increasingly divided between what works, what’s easy, and what costs.