The 8 Counter-Trends in Marketing for 2026: What to Stop Doing?

In an increasingly AI-influenced landscape shaped by automation and new consumption models, knowing the trends for the coming year is important; however, understanding what no longer works may be the key to ensuring greater efficiency, relevance, and, above all, customer trust.

“The evolution of Artificial Intelligence is a mystery, as no one knows where it will lead us or what behaviors and results may be achieved. Therefore, knowing the anti-trends is a competitive advantage in a scenario of uncertainties and new discoveries,” states Rodrigo Bidinoto, Global Sales Director at ActiveCampaign.

Bidinoto lists the eight main marketing anti-trends for 2026:

1 – Adopting AI without a strategy

Using AI without expertise or technical knowledge does not generate innovation; it amplifies errors and compromises critical decisions. Advanced tools require governance, clear objectives, and integration with the business. Without this, AI becomes just another operational noise.

“AI will lead new marketing strategies in the coming years; however, the major challenge today is knowing when not to use it,” he emphasizes.

2 – Simplistic view of omnichannel

This is a recurring mistake, treating all channels as if they had the same function and ignoring their distinct natures. The conversion channel cannot be treated as the support channel, just as relationship channels require different dynamics from transactional channels. According to ActiveCampaign’s Global Sales Director, “ignoring these differences results in fragmented experiences, low operational efficiency, and strain on consumer relationships, compromising long-term loyalty.”

3 – Maintaining data in silos 

The lack of communication between marketing, sales, and service information compromises the view of the customer journey and hinders loyalty actions. When data remains isolated in non-integrated systems, the company loses the ability to understand behaviors, anticipate needs, and offer personalized experiences.

“In digital marketing, this fragmentation leads to disconnected campaigns, repetitive approaches, and an inconsistent experience, which weakens relationships with recurring customers and reduces the potential for retention and sustainable growth,” he states.

4 – SEO is no longer sufficient 

In the field of content discovery, the purely keyword-based logic is losing ground as content discovery is mediated by Large Language Models (LLMs). Consequently, the focus shifts from keywords to the relevance assigned by the AIs themselves. According to Bidinoto, “It is no longer about ranking well, but about being understood, cited, and recommended by intelligent systems. This movement gives rise to GEO [Generative Engine Optimization], i.e., content optimization focused on new generative mechanisms.”

5 – Non-interactive and data-deficient marketing

Ignoring data or using it superficially directly compromises the effectiveness of digital marketing. Without consistent analysis of behavior, performance, and customer journey, decisions become based on assumptions rather than evidence.

This scenario prevents real-time adjustments, reduces personalization capabilities, and causes brands to fail to meet current expectations for continuous dialogue and real-time personalization, creating unnecessary friction throughout the consumer experience. “More than adopting trends, the challenge for 2026 lies in avoiding practices that no longer make sense,” explains the executive.

6 – Vanity metrics

Focusing exclusively on metrics such as likes, views, and number of followers creates a false sense of success. In digital marketing, these indicators do not necessarily reflect qualified engagement, revenue generation, or customer retention.

“When strategic decisions are based on vanity metrics, campaigns may appear successful in the short term but fail in conversion and real business impact,” he notes.

7 – Automation without segmentation

Automation is one of the pillars of digital marketing, but it completely loses its effectiveness when applied generically.

“Mass blasts, standardized flows, and non-personalized messages result in low open rates, unsubscribes, brand erosion, and worsened email deliverability. Without segmentation based on behavior, profile, and journey stage, automation fails to scale results and instead amplifies errors,” warns the company’s Global Sales Director.

8 – Growth hacking focused solely on growth

Finally, growth hacking disconnected from strategy and sustainability prioritizes quick numbers at the expense of value building. Growing just for the sake of growth, without considering retention, customer experience, and base quality, leads to high churn and operational strain.

“In digital marketing, healthy growth is directly linked to loyalty, lifetime value, and the consistency of the experience delivered over time,” he concludes.