A letter from the CEO of Rinard Media
We are halfway through 2026, and I’m going to say the quiet part out loud:
Most businesses are not struggling because marketing “doesn’t work.”
They are struggling because they are chasing whatever platform is trending this week, or they are still using an old strategy and wondering why leads feel harder to get.
Marketing has changed. Buyer behavior has changed. Search has changed. Social has changed. AI has changed how people discover, compare, and choose businesses.
But the fundamentals have not changed.
People still buy from companies they trust. They still need proof. They still respond to a clear offer. And they still ignore boring, lazy, self-serving marketing.
Here is what we are seeing halfway through 2026.
The Big Changes We’re Seeing in 2026 Marketing
The biggest shift is that one channel no longer does all the work.
The old playbook was simple: run Facebook ads, post on Instagram, maybe do some SEO, and hope leads show up. That is not enough anymore.
The businesses winning right now are using multiple channels together. They have a real website. A clear offer. Search visibility. Paid ads. Video. Retargeting. Reviews. Follow-up. And they measure what happens after the click.
That last part matters.
A click is not a lead. A lead is not a sale. A sale is not a loyal customer.
AI is also changing search. People are not just Googling the way they used to. They are asking AI tools for recommendations. That means your business needs to be findable, credible, and consistent across more places than your own website.
Video is not optional anymore either. People are watching video everywhere: social, YouTube, streaming platforms, websites, and ads. If your business cannot explain what it does clearly on video, you are behind.
And one more thing: organic social by itself is not a marketing plan. It’s a rung of the ladder that you climb to build your marketing.
ChatGPT ads are here and we are testing them.
What’s Working for Service-Based Businesses
For service-based businesses, the winners make three things clear fast:
What do you do? Why should I trust you? How do I take the next step?
That sounds basic because it is. But most service businesses still make people work too hard.
The strongest channels right now are Google Search, Local Services Ads where available, Google Business Profile optimization, review generation, retargeting, and direct-response landing pages.
For local service companies, Google is still the bottom of the funnel. When someone searches “roof repair near me,” “HVAC company Twin Falls,” “family law attorney,” or “emergency plumber,” they are not browsing. They have intent.
That is where your money should go first.
I love to pair a great search campaign with really strong YouTube campaigns. We just find when the brand is well known, their search campaigns perform significantly better.
This strategy can be difficult for startups as it does require more than $1,000/mo to be somewhat successful.
But, this strategy is definitely what growing businesses are using.
Recommended Marketing Spend for Service-Based Businesses
- Small business ($250k- $1 million/year revenue company) – $1k/mo
- Medium business ( $1-$25 million/year) – $3-10k/mo
- Medium business ( $25+ million/year) – $10k/mo+
What’s Working in Healthcare
Healthcare marketing is different because trust matters more.
Nobody wants clever marketing from a clinic, dentist, physical therapist, med spa, or mental health provider if the message feels careless. People want confidence, clarity, and proof they are in good hands.
The best healthcare marketing right now is built on education, reputation, search visibility, and patient experience.
Search is still huge. People search symptoms, providers, treatments, insurance questions, reviews, and “near me” options. Healthcare organizations that publish clear, accurate, helpful content build trust before the patient ever calls.
For healthcare, we are seeing strong performance from local SEO, Google Ads for high-intent services, reputation campaigns, provider profile content, educational video, retargeting, and patient reactivation through email and SMS.
Healthcare businesses should not try to sound like influencers.
They should sound like trusted experts who know how to explain the next step.
That is what works.
Recommended Marketing Spend for Healthcare-Based Businesses
- Small business ($250k- $1 million/year revenue company) – $1k/mo
- Medium business ($1-$25 million/year) – $3-10k/mo
- Large business ($25+ million/year) – $10k/mo+
What’s Working for Government
Government marketing is not about selling in the traditional sense. It is about public trust, awareness, clarity, participation, and behavior change.
And frankly, a lot of government communication is still too complicated.
The public does not want to decode a PDF, dig through a website, or read a 700-word announcement written by a committee. They want to know what is happening, why it matters, who it affects, and what they need to do.
The strongest government campaigns use plain-language messaging, targeted digital ads, short-form video, landing pages, email updates, and community-specific outreach.
Need attendance at a public meeting? Use geo-targeted ads, email, community partners, and short video.
Need applications for a program? Use search ads, landing pages, retargeting, and simple eligibility messaging.
Need to recruit? Treat it like a real hiring campaign, not a job posting buried on a government website.
Government campaigns should be clear, repetitive, and accessible. That does not mean boring. It means the message has to survive contact with real people who are busy, distracted, and not waiting around to read a press release.
Make them laugh, smile, and feel like a human. No one wants to work for a boring government agency. They want to work with people who care and that want to make a difference.
Recommended Marketing Spend for Government
- Small business ($250k- $1 million/year revenue company) – $1k/mo
- Medium business ( $1-$25 million/year) – $3-10k/mo
- Large business ( $25+ million/year) – $10k/mo+
What’s Working for Product and Ecommerce Brands
For ecommerce, the answer is not “just run ads.”
That worked for a while. It does not work the same way now.
Paid social is still useful, but ecommerce brands that depend only on cold Meta ads are playing a dangerous game. Acquisition costs move fast. Creative fatigue is real. Attribution is messy. Competition is not getting cheaper.
The ecommerce brands performing best are building systems, not one-off campaigns.
That means paid social, Google Shopping, email, SMS, creator content, retargeting, conversion rate optimization, and post-purchase flows all working together.
Email and SMS are still two of the most important ecommerce channels because that audience is yours. I would not build an ecommerce brand without welcome flows, abandoned cart flows, post-purchase upsells, review requests, and win-back campaigns.
Influencer marketing has also matured. The better play now is not a random one-off post. It is a longer-term creator partnership where the creator helps build trust, explain the product, and produce content the brand can reuse.
People trust people more than they trust ads.
That has not changed.
Recommended Marketing Spend for E-Commerce or Product
- Small business ($250k- $1 million/year revenue company) – $1k/mo
- Medium business ( $1-$25 million/year) – $3-10k/mo
- Large business ( $25+ million/year) – $10k/mo+
Final Thoughts
The businesses winning in 2026 are not the ones trying to be everywhere.
They are the ones that know where their buyers are, understand what those buyers need to hear, and build a system that turns attention into action.
For service businesses, that means search, reviews, landing pages, and speed-to-lead.
For healthcare, that means trust, education, reputation, and patient-focused content.
For government, that means clarity, accessibility, and campaigns that reach people where they actually are.
For ecommerce, that means paid media, email, SMS, creator content, and conversion optimization working together.
Marketing is not magic. It is not guessing. It is not posting because someone said you “need to be active.”
It is a system.
And when the system is built right, it works.
If you are tired of random marketing, random results, and random advice from people who have never had to make payroll, Rinard Media can help.
We will look at your business, your market, your offer, your competition, your budget, and your goals. Then we will build a marketing plan that actually makes sense.
No fluff. No recycled package. No pretending every business needs the same thing.
Just a real plan built around what is working now.
Let’s build the plan before your competitors do.
