How Marketers are Spending Their Money in 2026

Key Concepts

• Adaptability is paramount: Marketing budgets and strategies must be flexible and responsive to evolving trends, particularly the impact of AI.
• ROI & Conversion Focus: Prioritizing channels and tactics that deliver measurable returns and drive conversions is critical.
• AI as a Catalyst: AI is transforming marketing through personalization, automation, and accelerated testing, but human strategy remains essential.
• First-Party Data & Community: Building direct relationships with customers through first-party data collection and community engagement is increasingly valuable.
• Omnichannel Approach: Recognizing the multi-touchpoint customer journey and maintaining a presence across multiple channels is vital for visibility and impact.

Marketing Spend & Strategy for 2026

This analysis, based on data from thousands of companies and a survey of over 9,000 individuals, outlines key trends and recommendations for marketing budget allocation and strategic priorities in 2026. The overarching theme is the need for adaptability in a rapidly changing landscape driven by AI and shifting consumer behavior.

Overall Budget Trends & Economic Factors

Despite economic uncertainties and rising media costs, overall marketing budgets are generally increasing. More brands are actively planning to increase budgets in 2026 compared to 2025, fueled by factors like decreasing interest rates. However, the where of that spend is undergoing a dramatic shift, with a strong emphasis on ROI. Marketers are prioritizing maintaining or improving ROI over simply pursuing revenue growth.

Channel-Specific Budget Shifts (2025-2026)

Significant budget shifts are occurring across various channels:

• SEO: Budgets are expected to rebound sharply (44% in 2025 to 61% in 2026) due to increased comfort with AI tools and the continued impact of traditional SEO on Large Language Models (LLMs). Nearly 100% of brands plan to increase investment in AI-powered SEO tools.
• CRO/UX: Budgets remain stable, with 52% of brands planning to increase spending, recognizing the importance of maximizing traffic conversion. Rising bounce rates necessitate creative optimization strategies.
• Content Creation: While content volume is expected to increase (driven by AI lowering production costs), budget increases are slower, shifting the focus to quality over quantity due to content saturation. User-Generated Content (UGC) should be distributed across multiple channels, including websites, to maximize impact.
• Organic Social Media: Facing a significant pullback (64% of brands decreasing budgets) due to AI-driven content creation lowering costs and difficulty tracking direct ROI.
• Email & Lifestyle: Budgets are stable, with a slight increase from some brands, demonstrating its continued resilience as a high-ROI channel.
• Paid Media:
  • Google Ads: Expected to see a 62% increase in spend.
  • Bing Ads: Experiencing a significant increase (66% increase in budget).
  • Paid Social: Budgets are shifting away from Facebook and towards Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and X.
• Influencer Marketing: Experiencing substantial growth (78% increase in spend) due to its ability to build trust and credibility.
• OTT/Connected TV: Projected 74% increase in spend.
• Podcast Advertising: Moderate increase (32%).
• Banner Advertising: Remains largely unchanged.

Emerging Strategies & Technologies

Several key strategies and technologies are gaining prominence:

• AI-Powered Personalization: Static lifecycle flows are insufficient. Dynamic AI is crucial for personalizing messaging across channels (email, SMS, website) and enabling faster iteration of marketing programs. AI facilitates real-time messaging sequences and dynamic content assembly.
• Gamification: Techniques like progress bars, notification popups, quizzes, and badges can incrementally increase conversion rates on landing pages and in emails.
• Community Building: 69% of brands intend to increase investment in community building (e.g., Kora, Reddit) to foster organic conversations and brand engagement, representing a shift towards owning the customer relationship.
• First-Party Data Utilization: First-party data is increasingly valuable for consistent message delivery and personalization across the funnel.
• AI-Assisted Testing: Tools like Unbounce utilize AI to generate and dynamically switch landing page modules, accelerating testing and data collection.

The Changing Landscape of Organic Traffic & Search

The rise of AI-powered search (zero-click search) is negatively impacting organic traffic, particularly for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs). This is driving a shift towards paid media, with budgets of $2,000-$10,000/month potentially yielding significant results. Branded search is a key indicator of AI exposure and brand recall, and while not a perfect correlation, increased AI mentions should lead to increased branded search over time.

Budget Management & Adaptability

Marketing budgets should be flexible and adaptable, with a framework for reallocating funds from underperforming areas. The importance of visibility is highlighted, as 94.4% of customers interact with multiple touchpoints before purchasing, meaning that brand awareness is as important as direct clicks.

Conclusion

The data clearly indicates that 2026 will be a year of strategic adaptation for marketers. Success will hinge on prioritizing ROI, embracing AI-powered tools and personalization, building direct relationships with customers through first-party data and community engagement, and maintaining a flexible budget that can be reallocated based on performance. The shift towards a more data-driven, AI-assisted, and customer-centric approach is no longer optional – it’s essential for navigating the evolving marketing landscape.