Five predictions for 2026 that will probably age terribly

It’s that time of year again. Everyone’s dusting off their crystal balls and pretending they know what’s coming next.

Feel free to take these with a pinch of salt because, let’s be honest, nobody really knows what’s going to happen. But it’s fun to throw your hat in the ring and take a wild guess. 

So what’s coming in 2026? Some trends we think are worth watching, some mistakes worth avoiding, and at least one thing that’ll make you roll your eyes so hard you’ll see your brain.

Let’s get into it.

1. SEO strategies become AI feeding programmes 

Google’s AI Overviews are eating organic clicks for breakfast. If you’re still solely optimising for traditional search rankings, you’re playing yesterday’s game.

Optimising for search engines will mean optimising for AI answers. And that means content strategy needs to pivot from “rank on page one” to “get cited in the AI overview.”

Everyone’s still figuring out how to do this properly. The frameworks don’t exist yet. The best practices are being written in real-time. But here’s what we do know: specificity and clarity are now survival requirements.

2.  LinkedIn becomes unusable (but you’ll still have to use it)

The algorithm is already prioritising engagement bait over substance. This year, LinkedIn threatens to become a pure noise machine of AI-generated thought leadership that says nothing, backed by a chorus of bots commenting “Great post!” on posts that aren’t great.

B2B marketers will hate every minute of it. But they’ll have no choice, because LinkedIn is still where buyers are. It’s still where deals get made, and it’s still the least-bad option for B2B social.

3. B2B marketers embrace brainrot content and regret it

B2B marketing sometimes feels like the uncool parent trying to get down with the kids. In 2026, that desperation will reach new lows.

Consumer brands are getting millions of views with “6-7” hand gestures and Italian brainrot memes (if you don’t know what these are, congratulations on having a life). B2B marketers are watching this happen and thinking: “Why can’t we do that?”

It might get impressions, but those evaluating a product aren’t looking for the brand that knows the latest meme. 

4. Podcasts becomes short-form video with extra steps

Launch a podcast: business legitimacy achieved. Chop it into clips: social engagement secured. Actual podcast listeners: optional.

In 2026, expect every brand to perfect this bait-and-switch. The podcast feed itself becomes a formality – something that technically exists so you can say you have a podcast. But the real work happens in post-production, when you figure out which ten seconds are punchy enough to stop someone from scrolling.

It’s content marketing’s version of shooting a feature film just to make the trailer. 

5. Marketing morphs into ‘revenue operations’ to survive

CMO tenures are falling while Chief Revenue Officer roles are rising. The writing’s on the wall.

By 2026, expect this existential crisis to bleed into every function. Marketing becomes “Revenue Operations.” Demand gen becomes “Pipeline Acceleration.” Content teams become “Revenue Enablement.”  

It’s the same work, same challenges, same attribution black holes – just repackaged in language that sounds more accountable.

Place your bets where they matter

AI will keep evolving faster than our ability to use it properly. LinkedIn will get worse before it (maybe) gets better. And someone, somewhere, will absolutely try to make a brainrot meme work in an enterprise SaaS campaign.

But the thing about noisy trends is they make the fundamentals more valuable. 

Clear thinking beats clever tactics. Understanding your customer beats chasing algorithms. And actually having something worth saying beats gaming whatever platform is hot this quarter.

The noise gets louder every year. That just makes clarity more valuable.

While everyone’s launching podcasts and chasing AI citations…

We’re still here doing the unfashionable work of actually understanding what your customers care about and helping you say it clearly.

If you need marketing that cuts through the noise instead of adding to it, get in touch.