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January 27, 2026

Rethinking B2B Marketing in 2026: Insights from Industry Leaders

Team Demand Shop

From community-driven marketing to intellectual transparency, here are the trends shaping the B2B industry in 2026, and beyond.

We asked Demand Shop’s network of B2B marketing leaders to weigh in on their biggest bets for 2026: how they see AI changing workflows and strategy, skills that marketers need to prioritize, and the type of content that will resonate most with audiences.

Their responses were incisive and honest — and there were key themes that were crystal clear throughout. Here’s what we found, along with our own insights:

AI agents are on the rise

AI’s role in marketing has drastically shifted from being an add-on feature that generates copy or images. In 2026, it has become an integral part of many marketing operating systems, impacting every workflow. 

There has been a lot of buzz around AI agents, with more of them being implemented across B2B teams to manage inbound, outbound, execution, and personalization — but humans will still seal the deal.

“By 2026, most inbound will be handled primarily by AI. There’s no reason for humans to send templated follow-ups tied to campaigns, content, or events,” says Jay Tuel, Chief Evangelist of Sales of Demandbase. The ABM platform has started to test AI agents with their enterprise customers.

“AI agents will manage those initial touchpoints, while humans focus on deeper, ongoing nurturing and real conversations that actually move deals forward.”

Alex Choi, Founder of the RevOps consultancy Techog and Sr. Manager of RevOps at HockeyStack, notes AI’s more advanced targeting and personalization, while also returning to the importance of human agents further down the buyer journey:

“AI-led outbound won't be just “more sequences” and become a signal-driven system that decides who to contact, why, and when. AI will continuously build and refresh target account lists, detect buying intent from first-party and third-party signals, generate hyper-specific messaging tied to real triggers, and automatically launch multi-step plays — then route only the best-ready conversations to humans.”

Which leads us to our next 2026 trend…

Humans are focusing on what AI can’t replace

While AI has led to hyper-personalization at scale and streamlined marketing workflows, this has created a strong demand for skills it ultimately can’t replace: strategic thinking and human judgment.

As Kash Miah, Growth Leader, says:

“Every company will have access to these tools. The differentiator will not be having the outputs, it will be knowing which outputs are actually good. AI can produce infinite options. Taste determines which ones should see the light of day.”

‍Cristy Ziegler, Senior Account Based Manager of the agentic AI company WEKA, has similar thoughts:

“As LLMs become mainstream, the real skill B2B marketers will need to prioritize is judgment. AI can move fast and generate a lot, but knowing what actually makes sense for a real customer, a real deal, and a real moment is what separates useful output from noise. Ultimately, marketers will decide what’s good enough to ship, what needs human refinement, and what’s truly customer-ready.”

Cutting through the digital noise with skills rooted in human connection like empathy, creative problem-solving, and authentic relationship-building will be what moves the needle. In particular, Christa Watson, Director of Marketing of the WebOps platform Pantheon, notes that in-person events, referrals, and high-value communities will become even more vital.

Daniel Almeida, Co-Founder and Head of Growth at Demand Shop, also highlights the importance of empathy while navigating the current economy, noting that both consumers and businesses are undergoing challenges:

“Personal spending is tight, as are organizational budgets in most industries. Really putting yourself in the shoes of your buyers, customers, and also colleagues, can go a long way to delivering the work that needs to be done.”

We’re craving intellectual transparency

AI’s ability to generate instant, polished results has created a new demand for behind-the-scenes content that shows the complexities of the reasoning process. As Kash says, audiences want to see the “why” behind the “what.”

Here are some examples he shared:

  • A marketer sharing the exact decision matrix they used to choose a new ICP
  • A VP Demand walking through a campaign that failed and why
  • A founder showing their messy whiteboard sketches
  • A strategist narrating how they rewrote a landing page
  • Teams publishing “reasoning docs” alongside product updates”

In an AI-saturated world of growing distrust, human-made content that shows intellectual transparency will be how your company paves the way.

Daniel at Demand Shop has noticed that companies using AI-generated videos are getting called out by the very communities they’re trying to target: “I think content that's genuine, entertaining, made by humans, and functionally useful or helpful will resonate most.”

Similarly, Jay at Demandbase says: 

“Community-driven content, especially user groups where customers and prospects learn from each other. In the age of AI, people want to see what’s actually working for peers and bring those ideas into their own workflows. That’s what buyers are craving, and we hear it constantly from customers.”

The takeaway for B2B leaders

AI will continue to scale, optimize, and transform marketing workflows — but its widespread adoption means that transparency, empathy, and human-led strategy are your company’s key differentiators that will break through the noise.

Tools and tech will always evolve, but the foundation of successful marketing remains the same: human connection, grounded in a deep understanding of your customers and their entire journey, from the big picture down to its most intricate details.

The experts behind the thinking

Thank you to the B2B marketing leaders who generously shared their perspectives, experiences, and predictions to help shape this piece:

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