4 trends marketers must follow in 2026

Last year was exhausting for many people for many reasons. It’s not just job and family stress, or changes in our industry. But as the book title says, it’s everything, everywhere, all at once. It felt like I was constantly cartwheeling from one thing to another, from the news to the stock market, the impact of tariffs and so much more. There’s always one more thing to deal with.

That led many of us to cut back or cut off our news consumption. Unfortunately, that’s a luxury marketers can’t afford. Following the news helps you see how today’s developments could translate into business opportunities or casualties. Last year was another year spent learning how to pivot and adapt our plans to cope with swiftly changing conditions in the ways we do business and market to our customers.

The business acumen we honed during the COVID years has been put to good use this year! However, I’m also seeing promising developments that point to a light at the end of the tunnel, which isn’t necessarily from an oncoming train.

1. 2026 could become the technology replacement year — at last.

I don’t do predictions for the coming business year. I prefer to suggest trends people should watch for and offer guidance so they can understand what’s happening in our industry and where it may go over the next 12 months.

In 2024, I predicted that top retail companies would end their collective pause on new technology. I expected companies that had not invested in martech upgrades would come out of their shells and spend their budgets. 

So, what happened? A lot of tire-kicking — questions and conversations, but not conversions across the martech landscape. This was surprising because many contracts with ESPs and other vendors that began in the post-COVID martech shift should have come up for review or renewal by now.  

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Now I wonder if we will see the martech change mindset emerge in 2026 as contracts reach expiration dates. Or will companies be satisfied with what they’re doing now, even though technology is advancing at warp speed?

This could lead to more acquisitions and even a contraction in the space with vendors. Or, it could breed a new level of innovation for vendors trying to compete. If anything, vendors have had two years to focus on their own platforms and to grow their AI.

I will be watching to see whether innovation continues or stagnates. Make no mistake – a change cycle is on the horizon. How soon is anyone’s guess. This is why I hate to predict, given all the unknowns and variables in our industry!

That change cycle will begin when people finally understand how technology has progressed over the last three years. It will also depend on whether marketers and their corporate purse-string holders believe the economy and their companies’ financial health are stable enough to support the risk-taking associated with technological change.

I am watching to see whether companies that jumped into AI and CDPs before everyone else lick their wounds and come back to the field with the realization that being the early adopter is not always advantageous.

Don’t get me wrong: CDPs and AI in their first generation were game-changers. But they haven’t changed the game enough to meet company expectations. 

2. AI takes off the training wheels

I might have misjudged how actively companies would replace their martech services, but I was right that AI continued to evolve in 2025.

In my own workday, AI has evolved rapidly from an intern performing tasks like basic copywriting to a valued partner (nicknamed Dean) assisting me with high-level work in reporting, analysis, and research. It also keeps me up to date on trends by synthesizing all the information I consume across the web. 

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Last year, my agency, RPE Origin, produced several well-received white papers showing marketers how they can use the AI capabilities we have now to catapult their work to the next level, like this:

• Marketers can use it to quickly generate insights from data without waiting for data science teams and then apply those insights wherever they are needed. 
• AI can remove friction from creating segmentation plans or propensity-based strategies. 
• We can use deep data science to develop winning strategies that take our products to market faster.

This is the work AI was meant to do! 

In 2026, I hope that companies invest in AI tools and training, enabling marketers to perform advanced data analysis using closed systems that protect privacy and confidential information. 

In turn, marketers must break away from everyday AI and develop a strategic mindset. Don’t ask, “What can AI do?” Ask, “How can AI help me meet my goals?” 

Seek help in structuring AI in your company. Luckily, we have that knowledge now. Folks who have spent time and money learning AI and using it strategically are now ready to pass on what they have learned, just as we did back in the early days of email.

I’m optimistic that 2026 could be a banner year in unlocking that knowledge, particularly for email marketers but also for marketers across the board.

When applied right — and by “right” I mean “strategically” — AI can transform your business. I can finish projects on my lunch break instead of taking hours or days. I didn’t lay anybody off or cut back on other processes, either. I just gained insights that help everyone work better, from our employees to our clients.

I can’t be any clearer. AI is your friend. In 2026, we’ll see vendors finally giving us the “easy” button we’ve been asking for. Start paying 20 bucks a month to learn and experiment with AI-driven tools to do your everyday job better.

3. The inbox is mutating

Oh, you’ll still have an inbox. But it’s not the inbox you got to know back in the day when AOL, Eudora, and Hotmail ruled the email universe.

My next column will have the details. For now, I’ll say I have been watching the inbox shift, bit by bit, from a static collection of from names, subject lines, preheaders, and dates into a virtual assistant that wants to help you manage your daily life. 

Those changes are now seeping through email clients, as providers like Gmail and Yahoo! Mail introduce AI-extracted message summaries and prioritization. The email that you so lovingly crafted with a custom from name, an A/B-tested subject line, and a strategically written preheader could be unrecognizable when your recipients see it. If they see it, that is.

4. The chaos continues

I wish I could tell you 2026 will be a breather year for marketers who are being buffeted daily by whipsaw changes in the economy, the supply chain, social unrest, market fluctuations, and everything that keeps our business interesting. 

But we couldn’t even get through the holiday break without more chaos. We can also look forward to government-driven socioeconomic changes, an anticipated Supreme Court ruling that could impact tariffs and their effect on key economic sectors and political uncertainties from major midterm and statehouse elections.

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Yes, folks. You’re going to have to find a reliable source of news and watch it every day. Doesn’t matter what your political alliances are or what role you play in your company. You need to follow the markets and understand how these shifts can impact your supply chain, revenue, and even your workforce.

Pivoting, changing, and adapting will still be skills you must master to help your company navigate these potentially choppy waters.

What did you learn in 2025?

Amidst all the uncertainty we had to cope with in 2025, we should have learned valuable lessons about our processes, including what worked and what didn’t, that we can apply to 2026.

Take a couple of minutes to answer these questions:

1. What did you learn this year?
2. What did you have to change unexpectedly?
3. What did you do differently with your technology? 
4. What did your testing program tell you? 
5. What segments can you rerun in 2026, and how can you improve on them?

Even if you have already wrapped up your 2026 plan, your answers here can become notes you could use as the year spins out. Thinking about it now can save you time and stress down the road.

The coming year will be fun — and I’m not being entirely sarcastic. It’s easy to be all doom and gloom when things don’t go as planned. 

What will help you manage through what’s to come is having a solid grasp of operations, customers, goals, prospects and the wider world, and adapting before change is thrust upon us.