The secret sauce for B2B marketers in 2026? Brand

From the impact of generative AI on discovery to evolving content formats and the demand for new capabilities, there's a lot for B2B marketers to keep tabs on as we move into 2026.

We spoke to a number of leaders with their finger on the pulse to find out what they think will define the year ahead. Some distinct themes emerged - including the need for cross-disciplinary skills in the age of AI; the importance of storytelling; and why even in B2B, brand is still paramount as marketers balance the 'long' and the 'short'.

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Data literacy and analytical skills are in high demand, as marketers need to interpret complex data and turn it into actionable insights. Strategic thinking and creativity remain essential, but the gap often lies in technical expertise, particularly around marketing automation and AI-driven tools.

Marketing teams also need to upskill in ABM and storytelling, which are crucial skills for delivering targeted communications that cut through the increasingly noisy landscape.

The skills most in demand are in data interpretation and brand measurement, because marketers need to connect campaigns to long-term outcomes. What's often missing is the ability to translate those insights into simple, compelling narratives that resonate with leadership teams. The gap isn't technical; it is communication-based.

Teams need people who understand how AI systems surface information, how to build trusted content ecosystems, and how to orchestrate creators, partners, and publishers. What's missing today is the ability to connect these capabilities.

Many organisations have experts in AI, content, or partnerships, but few have leaders who can integrate them into a unified approach that shapes influence across the entire customer journey.

The expertise required to optimise for [the generative engines currently revolutionising discovery] simply doesn't exist at scale yet. A blend of prompt engineering, content strategy, data literacy, and a deep understanding of how model training influences outputs will enable teams to thrive in this ambiguity, but very few hold all of these capabilities today.

The ability to interpret AI behaviour, test hypotheses rigorously, and iterate at speed will become essential, but this type of analytical-creative hybrid skills will remain rare without the required investment in workforce training and development.

There is arguably too much focus on honing AI readiness and not enough talk about a skill that's set to be increasingly crucial as adoption accelerates: human creativity.

AI tools have already started playing an integral part in enhancing efficiency and scaling content generation, and their role is set to keep growing. But this will also mean that nuanced human emotional intelligence and understanding become all the more important. Cutting through the noise will depend on the ability to produce compelling and authentic brand stories that resonate with savvy consumers.

This precious skill will also prove the most missed if it isn't properly nurtured, especially as machine-made content is established as the new basic media standard.

The most in-demand skill for 2026 will be mastering AI-infused marketing across every specialism: defining your busy work, experimenting with agent-ification, and optimising time for the irreplaceable human work of strategy, creative, and customer context.

It's not about using the most AI; it's about knowing when to blend AI acceleration with human storytelling and emotional intelligence. The teams that crack this balance will thrive.

The unavoidable big trend is AI's impact on search. With AI platforms becoming the first port of call for consumers seeking answers and information, organic traffic and visibility are seeing significant declines.

As zero-click activity grows, brands will face the challenge of finding ways to boost reach and "rank" in AI engine outputs, while having less data about where audiences click and what draws their attention.

This means we can expect a greater shift from behavioural data to content-based strategies. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is already the buzzword; the next step is for marketers to understand how to integrate it into their strategies as brands strive to determine content that will help rankings on LLM, as well as cultivate industry authority reviews.

GEO is the quiet but undeniable elephant in the room for B2B marketers. Online search and discovery are shifting fast, and AI increasingly relies on signals from trusted, high-quality … content when generating recommendations and surfacing relevant brands.

It makes sense that the most in-demand skills are centred around thoughtful storytelling and the ability to create data-led content that earns genuine authority in respected publications, ultimately fuelling the credible information that AI models draw from.

A strong communications strategy in 2026 will embed brands within respected sources via earned media, not only shaping reputation but also providing the foundation for effective GEO. Put simply, earned PR becomes the engine that drives third-party credibility, and that credibility will be instrumental to future growth.

The journey a customer makes from discovery to conversion, from "I like this" to "Let's buy it" is no longer linear. Each step of the funnel has collapsed to a few interactions, often moving quicker than marketers can keep up with.

Adding to this is the messy middle - a complex web of influence in the funnel where most consumers make that crucial decision of purchasing: a true test of marketing effectiveness. While marketers wait until the point of conversion, most of the heavy lifting has already happened long before a buyer ever lands in the funnel - intent is formed, opinions established.

Going into the next year, as customer journeys become harder to track, brands that curate relevance and develop full-funnel strategies will outperform those still chasing volume. Showing up early and often, through suitability, context, and audience intent will deliver growth that lasts.

We need to stop pretending that virality is a strategy. Chasing "the next viral moment" distracts from the real lever of influence: high-quality, high-trust commerce content produced consistently across many partners.

The key focus for next year should be building a diverse, durable content ecosystem of creators, expert reviewers, commerce publishers, communities, and affiliates, because these are the inputs AI relies on to make recommendations. The brands investing in long-term content authority, not short-term spikes, will be the ones AI continues to surface.

CMOs must climb out of the efficiency trap. While efficiency has increased over the last few years, a decline in effectiveness shows we're not actually achieving more with less; we're doing less with less.

The short-termist focus on chasing ROI is keeping budgets on track, but it isn't driving growth. There needs to be more focus on structured experimentation that enables CMOs to find the best way of combining brand and performance so they can scale up the activity that drives profitable growth.

Budgets are being scrutinised more closely, with pressure to prove ROI. But the smartest teams are shifting spend toward brand-building activity that compounds over time rather than chasing immediate clicks. Ways of working are becoming leaner and more collaborative, with cross-functional teams aligning around shared mid-funnel goals.

The elephant in the room is that 95% of B2B buyers are not actively in-market at any given time. Yet campaigns are still judged by short-term performance metrics. The real measure of success is how brands shift awareness, consideration, and preference over time, because that's what drives growth when buyers eventually enter the market.

The challenge, as ever, is balancing long-term brand building with short-term performance-focussed tactics.

Today, the expectation is that every pound spent should show a clear link to pipeline generation or revenue, yet B2B marketers have switched on to the need to think about the long AND the short of it - just as important in B2B as it is for consumer marketers.

The challenge of maintaining an emphasis on brand building is only amplified by the continued economic uncertainty and low growth environment we are operating in.

There's so much noise out there and people don't have time to sift through it all. Brands need to meet people where they are and follow a 'show don't tell' philosophy.

As B2B brands look to stand out in a competitive market and connect with end users, the lines between traditional B2B marketing and consumer marketing will continue to blur. Especially in the software space - brands are not just going to trade shows, but also investing in experiential pop-ups and influencer marketing partnerships, which traditionally have been in the realm of lifestyle brands.

Creating meaningful customer engagements, nurturing community, and building advocacy through these channels will be critical to getting valuable feedback and building brand trust.

In 2026 … [b]rands will move beyond blunt exclusions and start embracing the positive spaces, communities and conversations that help them build trust. AI will play a critical role in reading tone and sentiment with far greater nuance, helping advertisers understand not just where they should not appear, but where they should be present to drive relevance and performance.

We will also see a correction to years of over-blocking. When brands avoid too much, they lose reach, diversity and cultural connection. Suitability brings that balance back … The brands that lean into it will safeguard their image while also strengthening it by showing up intentionally in the places that matter.

B2B loyalty is becoming less about "nurture tracks" and more about trusted advisors and shared outcomes. As buying committees grow and cycles lengthen, decision-makers rely heavily on independent experts, peer recommendations, partner insights, and high-quality educational content.

B2B marketers are shifting from transactional campaigns to ecosystem-led relationships, where partners, creators, analysts, and customers themselves play an active role in building trust at scale.

The content formats that deliver the best results are those that build credibility and trust, such as thought leadership articles, podcasts, and long-form interviews. They don't just sell, they shape perception.

Marketers should pay more attention to consistent storytelling across formats, ensuring brand associations are reinforced wherever audiences encounter them.

Video remains an important format as B2B audiences increasingly consume content influenced by the evolving algorithms of platforms like LinkedIn, as well as channels traditionally associated with consumer marketing such as TikTok and Instagram.

Marketers need to think about using a mix of formats and finding ways to repurpose and stretch assets across multiple channels to get the biggest bang for their buck. High-quality long-form content still has an important role to play, and podcasts continue to gain popularity as a trusted medium for thought leadership.

The safe bet: Hyper-personalisation becomes the baseline.

This is a trend that is already in motion and will only accelerate due to the integration of data and AI.

Buyer expectations for consumer-grade experiences (tailored, instant, relevant) are already high, and the technology to deliver this at scale (AI, predictive models) is now widely available. Generic outreach will become a clear signal of irrelevance and low effort.

The outrageous prediction: The "autonomous agent-to-agent" sale.

B2B marketing teams will need to focus less on human-to-human conversion copy and more on "Agent-Engine Optimisation (AEO)", ensuring their product data, pricing structures, and API documentation are perfectly structured and transparent for AI agents to easily "read," qualify, and transact with. This could force … B2B sellers to engage in agent-led quote negotiations within the next few years.

My safe bet is that by 2026, more B2B marketers will finally accept that brand lift is the most reliable measure of campaign impact.

My outrageous prediction is that performance metrics will be relegated to a supporting role, with boardrooms prioritising mid-funnel KPIs like consideration and preference as the true indicators of growth.