B2B marketers preparing for 2026 face a reality where buyers want personalized experiences, regulators keep adding compliance hurdles, and AI touches everything. According to one survey, 67% of B2B marketers already use AI, and that number will hit 80% next year.
Yet technology alone won’t put you ahead of the pack if your strategy falls flat. Effective companies focus on three principles:
- They build trust with real data and honest content instead of churning out generic campaigns.
- They pick AI tools that solve specific problems rather than chasing every shiny object.
- They get sales and marketing teams working toward the same revenue targets.
The marketing trends below to watch for in 2026 show you where to place your bets related to the above. Each one forces hard choices about budgets, people and priorities. Make the right calls, and you’ll build lasting, tangible and sustainable momentum.
Trend 1: AI Does the Heavy Lifting (But You Still Need Humans)
Most B2B marketing teams already run AI tools for personalization and predictive analytics. Adoption keeps climbing, and generative AI offers measurable improvements in efficiency and personalization.
However, Forrester urges caution and warns that ungoverned AI could cost companies billions. What’s more, buyers still seek expert validation from humans.
The solution is to use AI for data analysis and initial content generation while maintaining human oversight for ethical decisions and strategic thinking. In practice, that could mean having AI crunch data to generate first drafts, while humans guide outputs toward responsible outcomes through strategy, quality control and relationship building. Set clear guidelines for AI usage and review everything before it goes live.
As the Content Marketing Institute’s “2026 B2B Content and Marketing Trends Report” notes, winning teams “build stronger muscles in marketing fundamentals, then let AI breathe more creative life” into those efforts.
Trend 2: Data-Driven Personalization and Privacy
While AI handles the mechanics, you still need quality data to fuel personalization. Third-party cookies are dying, so B2B marketers must collect their own data directly from customers and prospects. Research shows 91% of B2B companies gather first-party data, but most either struggle to use it effectively or are still learning how to do so.
Rather than hoarding massive datasets, focus on clean, permission-based information from CRM interactions, content downloads and events. Among the reported payoffs from first-party data collection include improved targeting and personalization (52%).
Having said that, there’s a catch: you need strict data governance. Create clear standards for data quality and privacy compliance. Track what you collect, why you collect it, and how you transparently communicate its use.
This shift demands respect for boundaries. When personaliz-ation is built on trust rather than pressure, it strengthens relationships instead of straining them. Your campaigns should feel helpful, not invasive. Buyers appreciate relevance but hate feeling stalked.
Get the balance right by making transparency your foundation, and personalization will become your competitive edge in 2026 and beyond.
Trend 3: Unified Sales–Marketing Alignment and ABX
Good data and smart personalization mean nothing if sales and marketing operate in silos. Only 35% of organizations achieve full alignment between these teams, yet those who do see leads convert at higher rates.
Account-Based Experience (ABX) strategies change the game by creating a shared language between teams. Marketing runs LinkedIn ads for target accounts while sales follows up with personalized outreach, and email campaigns support both efforts. Everyone works toward shared revenue goals, turning competing departments into partners who influence outcomes together through practical collaboration.
You’ll see results fast. Sales cycles shrink when marketing warms up accounts before sales ever makes contact. Deal sizes grow because both teams focus on the same high-value targets with aligned expectations about what success looks like. ROI jumps when you stop wasting resources on misaligned efforts.
ABX works because it forces accountability through genuine collaboration. Both teams share credit for wins and blame for losses. That shared pressure breaks down the old finger-pointing culture and builds teams that speak the same language, expect the same outcomes, and multiply their influence by working as a unit.
Trend 4: Brand Trust, Influencers and Thought Leadership
Teams that work together build credibility, but you still need buyers to believe what you’re selling.
Today’s buyers respond to credible insights, honest messaging, and authentic expertise because these elements actually shape their confidence in meaningful ways.
B2B buyers tune out generic pitches and seek trusted voices instead. Forrester reports that 75% of enterprise B2B firms will increase influencer and analyst relations budgets next year because buyers want expert validation.
Companies are taking notice. Nearly half plan brand refreshes or complete repositioning for 2026. Savvy marketers push thought leadership, publish case studies, and put subject matter experts front and center. Customer testimonials provide third-party validation that prospects trust more than marketing speak.
Brand trust directly impacts revenue and customer acquisition. Human voices carry your message further than any campaign. Industry influencers, customer champions and your own experts build the trust that turns prospects into buyers.
Without that credibility, even perfect alignment and great data won’t close deals.
Trend 5: Experiential, Video and Human-Centric Marketing
Trust grows faster when people meet face to face. Over 75% of B2B companies now budget for events and experiences, moving beyond purely digital outreach. Live workshops, product demos and hybrid conferences generate connections that emails never will.
Innovative teams treat every event as a content goldmine. They capture sessions for video libraries, stream keynotes to expand reach, and follow up with targeted campaigns based on booth conversations.
Video matters everywhere now. Hubspot found that 83% of B2B brands see their best results from short-form video, with the majority reporting higher ROI, better engagement and more leads than any other format.
Short explainer clips, customer success stories and recorded demos close gaps between touchpoints. Yet in-person interactions still build trust more effectively than digital touchpoints. A genuine conversation at a trade show or an honest exchange during a webinar carries more weight than months of automated campaigns.
Such momentum toward live and video-based engagement proves what matters most: real dialogue and relationships to create lasting business impact. Technology should support human connections without replacing face-to-face interaction.
How to Capitalize on These Trends
These five trends mean nothing if you don’t act on them. Here’s what you can do starting today to get a jump on the new year:
Govern AI usage. Let AI handle content drafts and lead scoring, but keep humans in charge of strategy and quality control. Train your team on what AI does well (data crunching) and what it doesn’t (understanding context), then set clear rules to keep outputs on brand.
Build first-party data. Stop renting access to your audience from third parties. Build your own database through gated content, CRM captures and opt-in campaigns. Clean data beats big data every time, so audit your sources quarterly and refresh permissions regularly.
Get sales and marketing in the same room. Create shared scorecards and revenue targets that both teams own. Launch ABX programs where marketing warms up accounts and sales close them using the same framework. Weekly syncs beat quarterly reviews for keeping everyone aligned.
Develop thought leadership. Put your star people on camera, at podiums and in print. Publish whitepapers that solve real problems, host webinars that teach practical skills, and get customer champions telling their success stories. Every piece of content should sound like it came from experts and thought leaders.
Connect the digital and physical dots. Follow trade show meetings with targeted email campaigns. Transform webinar attendees into sales meetings. Record live demos for your video library. The best campaigns feel like ongoing conversations because they connect every touchpoint into one coherent experience.
What Matters Most for 2026.
The above insights and trends boil down to doing the basics better. AI speeds up your work, but someone still needs to check if the output makes sense. First-party data beats third-party cookies, but only if you keep it clean and get permission first. Sales and marketing alignment sounds obvious, yet most companies still struggle with it.
Most B2B companies will claim to adopt AI and personalization next year. Yet most will likely fail because they’ll automate bad processes rather than fixing them first. They’ll collect mountains of data without knowing which metrics drive revenue. They’ll host expensive events without following up appropriately.
You know your organization better than anyone — and likely know what needs fixing. These trends give you cover to finally do it. Select two or three changes based on your priorities, allocate appropriate resources and measure outcomes consistently. Everything else is noise.
