This month for our roundup on health IT marketing we decided to round up our marketing experts to tell us what healthcare marketing event, strategy, or concept of 2025 they thought will have the most impact in 2026 marketing? Here is what they had to say.
And check out all our prediction posts looking to 2026.
Chris Althoff, Head of Marketing, emtelligent
LinkedIn: Chris A.
2025 was the year of exploration, when health IT and AI vendors raced to showcase possibility, but as Forrester notes, buyers are growing increasingly skeptical of AI-generated claims. In 2026, we enter the year of evidence, where proof will matter more than promises. The vendors who win will anchor their brand strategy in hard benchmarks, defensible case studies, and demonstrable ROI to earn trust in a far more discerning market.
Jodi Amendola, Strategic Advisor, Supreme Group
LinkedIn: Jodi Amendola
The biggest impacts from 2025 that will affect trade shows in 2026 are budget cuts, delayed buying decisions, and a cautious market. Health tech leaders value conferences for the ability to network, collaborate and partner, but the days of spending money on big fancy booths will be drastically reduced. It is just too inefficient for many small- to mid-sized companies to send 10-20 people to ship a booth, staff it, pay for expensive space, etc. Many of our clients got tremendous value this past year in investing in HLTH Market Connect, and I predict we will see more of that type of activity in 2026. In addition, many companies will opt to host private dinners and cocktail hours for a select group of clients and prospects at shows like HIMSS, HLTH and ViVE.
Nicky Battle, President, Supreme Communications
LinkedIn: Nicky Battle
Healthcare systems expect health IT companies to understand their specific pain points, and how to address them. Marketers who use AI to develop sharper audience targeting and personalized messages will capture higher-quality leads. That time saved is crucial, as 2026 will be a category-defining year in health tech.
Lea Chatham, Director, Enterprise Marketing, Heidi
LinkedIn: Lea Chatham
At this point, if you’ve been paying attention to the buyer research on the healthcare C-suite, you should be doing a brandgen approach to marketing. So if we are all being more targeted in our outreach, more personalized and relevant in our content, and focusing on sharing ROI, testimonials and recorded demos, what’s left? What is the next frontier in health IT marketing if you want to break through the noise? Because let’s face it there is a lot of noise! I think it is getting back to focusing on customer experience and delighting your users. Then, translating that into big wins like CHIME Foundation Firm Partner of the Year or Collaborator of the Year, Best in KLAS, #1 in Black Book or G2. And taking it one step further to partner on third-party vetted ROI and research. No one wants to hear what you have to say about yourself. They want to hear what your customers have to say and it better be good.
Carol Flagg, Managing Partner, Answers Media Network
LinkedIn: Carol Flagg
Host of What’s My Tagline
By all accounts, video is expected to hit 82% of all internet traffic in 2025 with short form video the dominant and driving force, with YouTube throwing its algorithmic weight behind the format. And while I wouldn’t suggest you rush out and stand up a channel on Tik Tok, I would encourage you to embrace YouTube shorts. Companies, maybe even your competitors, are making headway with quick expert clips, product demos or focused content solving one specific problem. Shorts can also be leveraged on LinkedIn (be sure to share it natively) on LinkedIn. So if you’re currently doing short form video, great! Do more. And if you’re not doing short-form video yet, start now.
Beth Friedman, Sr. Partner, FINN Partners
LinkedIn: Beth Friedman, FACHDM
Host of FINN Voices
The 2026 Shift: From Search Engines to Answer Engines in Health IT
The most significant evolution for health IT marketing and PR professionals in 2025 was the unprecedented shift from SEO to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). This new strategy now informs every piece of earned, owned, and paid content.
As search engines have evolved into “answer engines,” we must adjust our tactics to remain visible. I predict that health marketers and PR professionals will adopt a new set of best practices to thrive in this landscape:
Stuart Newsome, CPCO, Vice President, RCM Insights, Infinx Healthcare
LinkedIn: Stuart Newsome
The biggest marketing shift in Health IT during 2025 was simple: AI made it ridiculously easy for everyone to produce content at scale. The upside is that marketing got faster. The downside is that the market got louder. At the same time, delivery methods multiplied, such as webinars, podcasts, short-form video clips, newsletters, LinkedIn thought leadership, nurture streams, and AI-personalized campaigns all firing at once. That created plenty of reach, but it also created real saturation and buyer fatigue. People didn’t stop consuming content in 2025, they just got a lot more selective about what they gave their time to. So, heading into 2026, I think the winners won’t be the teams who publish the most, but the ones people actually trust. AI will help us scale delivery and stay consistent across channels, but credibility will come from practical, peer-level education and proof that something works. And that is measurable outcomes, real stories, real expertise. Health IT buyers don’t need more generic AI hype or copy-paste predictions. They want clarity on impact, risk, compliance, and results, delivered in a way that respects their time. So 2026 becomes the year we shift from content velocity to content authority with fewer empty calories, more substance that earns attention and moves the conversation forward.
Adam Turinas, CEO, Health Launchpad
LinkedIn: Adam Turinas
Host of The Healthtech Marketing Show
One of the biggest issues we hear across the healthcare technology marketing community is how to adapt to the impact of AI on website traffic. Many firms are seeing double-digit declines in SEO-driven traffic. It’s a big problem as healthcare technology buyers are increasingly using Generative AI to research and evaluate vendors. This gives them even greater control over the buying process and makes it harder for vendors to build relationships until buyers are good and ready to reach out. By then, their minds are made up.
In 2026, healthcare technology firms will have to go all in on optimizing their websites and content for Generative AI, building brand familiarity to ensure they are included in short lists and using account-based marketing to identity who is in-market.
