Preparing for digital marketing trends in B2B and healthcare marketing

Preparing for 2026 digital marketing trends in B2B and healthcare marketing

Inevitably, there will be countless articles about what to expect this year in marketing, however, the number of organizations that are actually able to capitalize on the hottest 2026 digital marketing trends and see ROI all in one year are few and far between. Most organizations are not set up to innovate and fail quickly. Which is not necessarily a bad thing since it can take a while to get buy in, set up the proper systems, and align new initiatives with business goals.

This year, rather than making predictions about upcoming marketing trends, we’re focusing on the trends that are already happening and how to translate those into real-world applications that drive business value and solve problems. So, whether you’re marketing in healthcare, retail, hospitality, or running a multi-location marketing team, our aim is to deliver practical guidance for adopting and implementing emerging trends sustainably.

AI and Marketing – Moving beyond just GenAI

We touch on this topic extensively in our next blog post, but it’s worth noting here as well because of the continued importance of AI. AI tools for marketing are not going away, and companies that fail to build guidelines and governance around AI only risk getting left behind. AI in marketing is moving far beyond content creation to extremely useful strategies such as automation, predictive analytics, lead generation, and market intelligence. The guidelines we propose here are more aligned with how to build an overarching AI strategy that drives business value across departments, rather than notes on specific AI tools. To move beyond AI for content marketing, give these tips a try:

Starting by using AI capabilities in existing tools. Every tool has AI capabilities these days, and the great part is that it comes with support and best practices so you can test capabilities and initiatives in a structured environment.
Set up best practices and governance across the organization to prevent security issues, duplicate work, and shadow AI where team members are using AI without others’ knowledge, potentially risking data or security breaches.
Introduce standalone AI products once your organization has a clear direction and choose products that align with business goals.

Privacy-first marketing

We’ve been waiting for cookies to disappear for a while, and while the timeline might keep getting pushed back, the end of cookies can no longer be ignored. This means that organizations need to focus on permission-based relationships with users and potential users. Essentially, the end of cookies means that retargeting campaigns that track users across multiple sites and audience targeting based on third-party data will be less precise. It’s not all bad news though! HIPAA compliance means healthcare providers can’t use certain tracking technologies anyway, so they will be more prepared. For social media advertising, Facebook and even Google already impose additional limitations on healthcare targeting.

So, what’s the way forward? Cookieless marketing gives you the opportunity to double down on brand marketing strategies, email marketing, paid search based on keywords, social media campaigns (both organic and paid), and a stronger SEO content marketing strategy. Essentially, we’re moving from acquisition-focused marketing that constantly seeks new audiences to lifecycle marketing that maximizes value from existing relationships. This doesn’t mean stopping acquisition, but it does mean allocating more resources to retention, reactivation, and service line expansion within your current customer base.

Outcome driven messaging in content marketing trends

Far too often, marketing is focused on features, neglecting the “why” of the customer experience. It’s going to be vital to switch to an outcome-driven strategy as consumers get smarter, have more choices than ever, and standing out in a feature-driven marketplace requires constant vigilance. When you lead with outcomes, you’re speaking to the actual problems keeping your prospects up at night. This is a fundamental reorientation toward customer value that builds trust, shortens sales cycles, and creates messaging that resonates long after the initial touchpoint. Know your differentiators, capitalize on marketing insights, and start delivering more value.

Local influencers and community-led growth

For healthcare practices and local service firms, nano and micro-influencers deliver far better ROI than macro or mega-influencers, and it tends to be much more economical. For example, a mega-influencer usually charges $10,000+ per post, reaching millions of mostly irrelevant people. On the other hand, a local micro-influencer might partner for product value or small payments ($500-1,000) while reaching a highly relevant local audience. At that rate, you could test ten micro-influencer partnerships and calculate reach in a smaller, hyper-targeted community for the price of one post!

With healthcare influencer strategies, generally, patient experiences drive better engagement than focusing on clinical outcomes. Perhaps you have a patient willing to share their experience, delivering an authentic story rather than polished marketing materials. Keep in mind that legal frameworks require very clear disclosures and releases to ensure HIPAA compliance.

The keys to successful community building include outlining a clear value proposition for members, showing a commitment to member success over promotional goals, and consistent moderation and engagement from the business. Keep in mind that communities don’t scale quickly, but engaged communities generate extraordinary loyalty and advocacy.

Optimizing for AI search and “search everywhere”

Welcome to the world of “search everywhere!” Essentially, digital search has moved beyond Google into the realms of social media advertising, AI-powered engines, Amazon, YouTube, and everything in between. Consumers are now in more places than ever, however, the overarching goal of content should always be the same: create authoritative, relevant content that answers questions. It’s where you deliver that content that is shifting.

SEO taught us how to optimize content so that search engines can display the most relevant results to engaged users. AI-powered search engines deliver synthesized responses (with citations) rather than lists of links. This makes it possible for the user to get the information they need without visiting a single website. Ultimately, this requires ensuring that your content is authoritative, contains comprehensive answers to your users’ most commonly asked questions and is structured correctly to allow the AI systems to understand your site’s intent and content: aka schema markup and structured data. In 2026, make it a priority to review content and ensure the schema markup is updated for organization markup, service offerings, reviews and ratings, articles and blog posts with author credentials, FAQ content about services, and ContactPoint information for different departments.

To get in front of social search, healthcare organizations need to understand that younger users are frequenting TikTok and Instagram before Google when searching for providers and services. Try investing in short, relevant video content or even social media advertising trends to make sure your brand is on the map. Videos should show immediate value, have clear and specific titles, and incorporate hashtags to improve visibility.

If you do one thing in 2026, it should be to expand your strategy to incorporate a search everywhere mentality and build out the necessary content. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel each time, repurposing content is perfectly acceptable, and when it works, it further validates the relevancy of the content. A single topic might be expressed as a website article for traditional and AI search, a short video for TikTok search, a detailed YouTube video for video search, a podcast episode for audio content search, and social media posts for platform-specific discovery.

Capitalizing on marketing trends in 2026

The connecting thread with all of these trends is the shift towards people-centric experiences and content. Organizations that deliver genuine value and have built out a framework for testing and experimenting are likely to continue growing market share.

This year, it should be all about implementing strategic trends that strengthen relationships, demonstrate value, and build sustainable competitive advantages. And, as always, if you need more guidance or marketing support, contact the MDG team!