Welcome back to the Health Marketing Collective, where strong leadership meets marketing excellence.

On today’s episode, Sara Payne guides us through the rapidly changing landscape of health marketing and offers her bold predictions for 2026. But don’t expect another superficial look at the “latest AI shortcuts” or a list of emerging digital platforms—this episode is about something deeper and more lasting. Sara highlights a fundamental shift that’s transforming the very core of health marketing: the move from technological novelty to meaningful human connection, influence, and leadership.

Drawing on daily conversations with marketing leaders, founders, and executives—not just on industry reports—Sara Payne lays out six essential trends that will separate the leaders from the followers in health marketing over the next two years. These aren’t just predictions, but deliberate decisions and approaches. Sara challenges us to see that the brands that win will be the ones that move closer, not louder, focusing on real relationships, trust, and authentic influence.

Thanks for being a part of the Health Marketing Collective. The future of healthcare depends on it.

Key Takeaways:

1. Human Connection Becomes the Strategy: In an era where AI is making “mediocre marketing incredibly efficient,” true value now lies in creating fewer, more meaningful conversations. Sara stresses that human connection is no longer the “soft stuff”—it’s the strategic moat. Success will come to brands that invest in deeper relationships, invite-only roundtables, intentional follow-ups, and authentic presence, rather than just producing more content.
2. From Earned Media to Earned Influence: The definition of earned media is evolving. With shrinking newsrooms and fragmented attention, Sara explains that the new currency is “earned influence:” it’s not about where you show up, but who trusts and engages with you. PR strategies that chase only exposure will fall short; brands must now focus on building relationships, credibility, and trust within their communities and among peers.
3. Metrics Will Get Smaller and More Honest: The era of vanity metrics is ending. Sara predicts that brands will shift to measuring trust, depth of conversation, and quality of relationships—even if those numbers are less flashy. One trusted connection can outperform a thousand passive impressions. Successful brands will be those brave enough to prioritize and report these more intimate, honest metrics.
4. Executive Social Media as Leadership, Not Amplification: Simply sharing pre-written posts won’t cut it. In 2026, executive presence on social platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram must be deeper and more meaningful. People want access to how leaders think, not just what the marketing team writes for them. True executive social presence is about sharing genuine viewpoints, engaging in real dialogue, and showing curiosity, conviction, and humanity.
5. Customer-First Mindset is No Longer Optional: Centering on the customer is now the bare minimum. Self-centered messaging about a brand’s solution or roadmap will no longer be tolerated by audiences. Marketing must be grounded in genuine customer needs and real-world impact. Those who try to fake empathy or customer orientation “will be rejected.”

The question for every brand should move from “Does this scale?” to “Does this matter?” Personal, authentic moments—regardless of their size—will define brands in 2026. The future belongs to those who show up, engage genuinely, and lead with intent.

Thank you for joining the Health Marketing Collective. Stay tuned as we bring more leaders and innovators who are building the future of healthcare marketing from the inside out. If you have thoughts or predictions about what's to come, join the conversation and help us shape what’s next.

Welcome back to the Health Marketing Collective, where strong leadership meets marketing excellence. I'm your host, Sara Payne, and this is our 2026 prediction episode. Let me say this up front. If you're looking for a 2026 trend episode about new platforms or tools or the next AI shortcut, this isn't that episode. Because the biggest shift coming in 2026 isn't technological, it's relational. And whether health brands are ready or not, the shift is already happening. And I want you to know where this is coming from.

These trends aren't pulled from a report or a prediction deck. They're coming from what I'm seeing every day. Which marketing leaders with founders, with executives, people coming on this show who are trying to lead in an environment that's louder, faster and more automated than ever. And what I'm seeing is this. The brands that are winning right now aren't chasing more, they're choosing closer. So these aren't what's shiny predictions for 2026, their decisions. And the brands that make them early will have an edge the rest won't be able to catch up to. Let's get right into it.

Trend number one is human connection becomes the strategy, not the soft stuff. Here's the uncomfortable truth that nobody wants to say out loud. AI is making mediocre marketing incredibly efficient. And that's the problem. Because when everything is faster, cheaper and easier to produce, meaning becomes scarce. So in 2026, people will crave fewer messages, better conversations, brands that feel present and not automated. And let me be clear, this isn't about rejecting AI. Clearly, it's here to stay and we need to embrace it.

Rather, it's about refusing to let AI replace the part of marketing that build trust. The brands that win won't be the ones pumping out more content. They'll be the ones investing in smaller rooms, longer conversations, real relationships with customers, clinicians, partners and peers. Think. Fewer webinars and more invite only roundtables. Less mass content, more thoughtful follow ups, less automation, more intention. Human connection isn't a tactic in 2026. It's the strategic moat.

Trend number two, earned media will evolve into earned influence. Let me explain what that means. Earned media isn't dying, but the old definition of it is. We all know it. Earned media is facing a lot of disruption. Media outlets are smaller, newsrooms are leaner, and attention is more fragmented than ever. So in 2026, earned media becomes something much bigger. And that something is earned influence.

It's not just where you show up, it's who trusts you. It's who returns your call or your email, who invites you into the conversation, who wants to collaborate with you when it matters. Earned influence lives at the intersection of media community, relationships and credibility. And yes, traditional earned media still matters, especially because it's shaping what AI surfaces invalidates in people's everyday searches as that volume continues to go up. But if your PR strategy still stops at coverage, you don't have influence. You have exposure. Trend number three for 2026 metrics will get smaller and more honest Let me explain what I mean here. This one makes leaders nervous because in the age of earned influence, the numbers don't look flashy.

You're no longer reporting thousands of impressions, endless clips and vanity reach. You're measuring new relationships, started conversations that have deepened. And you're measuring trust built over time. And yes, those numbers are going to be smaller, but they're real. One trusted relationship with the right person will always outperform a thousand passive impressions. In 2026, the brands that grow will be brave enough to say, we're done hiding behind volume. Trend number four, Executive social isn't amplification anymore, it's leadership. If your executive social strategy is, let's post what marketing writes and then move on, that's not leadership.

That's performative. That's theater. In 2026, executive presence on social media becomes non negotiable. I've said this a million times, but it needs to get even more meaningful and deeper. Not because it's trendy, but because people want access to how leaders think. That means sharing a real point of view, engaging in conversations, not just posting or reposting. Showing curiosity, conviction and humanity. In terms of channels, it's not surprising.

Obviously LinkedIn is critical, but depending on your audience, don't overlook the power of YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. The channel matters less than the behavior itself because people don't follow brands, they follow people who lead. Trend number five the customer is the North Star. And this is really the final warning on this one. It isn't new, but it's more urgent than ever. Audiences are done with brands that center on themselves. If your messaging is still about your solution, your innovation, your roadmap, without grounding it in real customer needs, people are going to push back. It's not just that they won't engage with your content, they're actually going to push back.

So in 2026, customer first isn't a positioning statement or a thing that we say. It's table stakes. And you can't fake it because the Brands that do what? Be rejected. My last Trend prediction for 2026. Welcome to the age of yes. This one is my favorite. I think we're entering a moment where brands stop asking, does this scale? And start asking, does this matter? In the age of human connection, in the age of trust, in the age of authenticity, the moments that define your brand won't always be big. They'll be personal.

It might be your CEO responding to a single piece of customer feedback, your brand showing up quietly for somebody who needed it, or saying yes to something that maybe historically felt too small to matter. Those yeses become your story. Not because they went viral, but because they were real. So before you say no in 2026, ask yourself, how could we make this happen? How could we lean in and say yes and make this happen? Because the brands that rise won't be the loudest. They'll be the most human. If there's one thing that I want you to take into 2026, it's this. The future of health marketing isn't louder, it's closer. And the brands that understand that they won't just survive what's coming, they'll lead it.

And we're going to explore more of that together on this show in 2026. I'll be bringing on guests who don't just talk about these trends, but they're actually building inside of them. Leaders who are rethinking influence and what meaningful marketing really looks like. But I don't want this to be a one way conversation. If you've got a perspective on what's coming next in health marketing, put it out there. Share your own 2026 predictions, challenge mine and tag me when you do, please. Because that's how these conversations grow. And that's where I'm finding future guests.

Because the future doesn't belong to the loudest voices. It belongs to the ones who are willing to show up and engage. Lastly, before we wrap, I want to pause for a moment of gratitude. The show isn't about me. It's about you. It's about the collective of health marketing leaders who believe marketing is more than promotion. Its business strategy, it's customer experience. And it's a force for real change in the industry.

The conversations, the impact and even the recognition that this show has received is a reflection of the collective wisdom of this community. And I'm incredibly grateful for that and to continue to learn from you and to build this together with you. Thanks for joining me. I hope you had an awesome 2025 and I'm looking forward to to an even more amazing 2026. We'll see you next.