AI has hijacked the advertising and marketing dialog. It’s the headline, the panel matter, the silver bullet everybody swears they’re loading. If you happen to believed the hype, you’d assume all the things else in advertising and marketing had been pushed to the margins.
However lots is going on in B2B content material and advertising and marketing that isn’t AI — and people shifts matter simply as a lot as AI — as CMI’s B2B Content material and Advertising and marketing Tendencies: Insights for 2026 report exhibits.
The headlining takeaway from the survey of 1,015 B2B entrepreneurs, carried out with MarketingProfs and sponsored by Storyblok, reads:
Groups profitable in 2026 aren’t taking part in with prompts, churning out extra content material, or managing to the algorithms. They’re constructing stronger muscle mass in advertising and marketing fundamentals, then letting AI breathe extra artistic life into these efforts.
This yr, we modified our method to the B2B analysis. As an alternative of slicing entrepreneurs by budgets or reporting traces, we segmented them by how properly they’re aligning to tendencies shaping the subsequent few years.
The result’s a wealthy set of takeaways. Use this desk of contents to navigate to the sections most related to you.
We outline the levels of entrepreneurs throughout survey classes as follows:
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Exploratory: Preliminary implementation with preliminary outcomes being gathered
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Creating: Fundamental implementation with combined early outcomes
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Established: Constant implementation with measurable outcomes
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Superior: Optimized implementation with sturdy ROI
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Main: Business-leading implementation with distinctive measurable outcomes
All through this report, you may see the time period “pacesetters.” These entrepreneurs price themselves within the established, superior, or main levels of adoption in that respective class.
The 2026 story is not who shouts “AI” the loudest. It’s who can breathe with it — the groups which have constructed the lungs for endurance, not simply the hype for headlines. AI could also be oxygen, however oxygen with out lungs is ineffective.
Let’s get into it.
1. Advertising and marketing effectiveness is respectable, however underinvestment in needle movers exists
How do entrepreneurs price their effectiveness during the last 12 months? Right here’s what the analysis finds:
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12% say they’re extremely efficient (exceeded objectives).
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47% say they’re considerably efficient (met most objectives).
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31% say they’re impartial (combined outcomes).
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7% say they’re considerably ineffective (fell wanting most objectives).
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3% say they’re extremely ineffective (failed to fulfill objectives).
Over half (59%) of entrepreneurs assume their efforts are not less than “considerably efficient.” That’s encouraging. Nevertheless it additionally means practically half are caught in impartial or struggling.
Right here’s the attention-grabbing twist: When requested what moved the needle, greater than half of the efficient groups level to content material relevance and high quality (65%) and workforce abilities and capabilities (53%), adopted by:
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Alignment with gross sales (45%)
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Expertise and instruments (43%)
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Buyer understanding and segmentation (40%)
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Measurement and reporting (40%)
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Channel choice and optimization (36%)
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Aggressive positioning (33%)
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Knowledge high quality and analytics capabilities (27%)
The 2 commonest responses emphasize individuals, not finances, not market circumstances, not even expertise.
I’ll cowl extra on that later on this report, however know that entrepreneurs rank new headcount, coaching, and workforce improvement among the many lowest 2026 finances priorities.
For all of the discuss tech stacks and instruments, most enhancements got here from groups getting higher at their work. They’ve grown their abilities, cross-functional muscle mass, and skill to adapt.
In different phrases, effectiveness is much less about what you purchased and extra about what your individuals can do with it. AI received’t magically repair a scarcity of functionality. If something, it makes functionality gaps extra apparent.
Nowhere is that dilemma extra seen than in content material technique itself.
2. Content material technique effectiveness is up, due to tech and individuals
Final yr, entrepreneurs have been “meh” about their content material methods — a variety of common, a variety of stability, not a lot motion.
This yr? A unique story. Ninety-seven % of entrepreneurs advised us they’ve a content material technique (solely 3% don’t). Amongst these with a technique:
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13% say it considerably improved (clear progress in outcomes and ROI).
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48% say it considerably improved (modest positive aspects in effectiveness).
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30% say it remained steady (constant efficiency with minimal change).
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8% say it considerably declined (noticeable lower in effectiveness).
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1% say it considerably declined (main discount in outcomes and ROI).
That’s 61% of entrepreneurs who report enchancment. Sure, new expertise performed a task (51% credited new expertise implementation), however look nearer. The most important driver of enchancment is people-related, with 74% pointing to technique refinement. As well as, 40% cite workforce restructuring and useful resource modifications (one other individuals issue), adopted by measurement capabilities (26%), finances changes (16%), market circumstances (14%), aggressive panorama shifts (13%), and viewers conduct modifications (10%).
In different phrases, expertise helped, however human choices sharpened the strategy that moved the needle. That is the payoff of getting intentional.
Entrepreneurs lastly moved past the stage of “will we also have a technique?” and improved on the one they’ve bought. Two factors stand out:
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Technique beats scale. The most important driver of enchancment wasn’t extra finances; it was refining the plan. Translation: fewer random acts of content material, extra coordinated course.
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Tech is simply half the story. Sure, 51% credited new instruments (AI, automation, and so on.) as a contributing issue, however that alternative lagged behind good old style strategic refinement. Instruments don’t create technique; they amplify it.
The irony? The entrepreneurs who upgraded their technique now have a combating probability of getting ROI out of their tech. With out that strategic spine, even the flashiest AI device is simply lipstick on a PDF.
Success in advertising and marketing isn’t about expertise or expertise. It’s about expertise and expertise. Groups should maintain tempo with innovation whereas celebrating and empowering professionals who’re daring, intelligent, artistic, and dynamic, bringing distinctive work and power to all the things they do.
— Bria Bell, vice chairman, business engagement advertising and marketing, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Challenges entrepreneurs nonetheless can’t shake
Progress apart, hurdles nonetheless exist. When requested to pick out their high three content material advertising and marketing challenges, B2B entrepreneurs say:
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Creating content material that prompts a desired motion — e.g., conversion (40%)
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Useful resource constraints — time, individuals, finances (39%)
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Measuring content material effectiveness (33%)
Different challenges embody creating sufficient high quality content material to fulfill our organizational wants (28%), differentiating content material from rivals (24%), aligning content material with the client’s journey (23%), cross-department collaboration (21%), understanding viewers informational wants (20%), creating a content material technique and plan (16%), aligning with gross sales goals (15%), expertise integration (8%), and content material governance and compliance (6%).
What jumps out in these outcomes is their sheer familiarity. The most typical challenges are the identical as these recognized in final yr’s survey. That tells me two issues:
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Instruments don’t erase fundamentals. Entrepreneurs are drowning in AI and automation demos, however the largest barrier continues to be human: How do you make content that somebody desires to click on, learn, or act on?
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Measurement is the canary within the coal mine. A 3rd of entrepreneurs admit they wrestle with measuring effectiveness. If you happen to can’t measure, you possibly can’t show worth. And in the event you can’t show worth, you’ll all the time be first in line for finances cuts.
Right here’s the kicker: Useful resource constraints and measurement aren’t separate challenges — they’re the identical downside. Groups with out clear measurement frameworks appear like they’re doing “loads” with out displaying “sufficient.” Cue the CFO tightening the purse strings.
That brings me to the primary new development. It’s the one which guarantees to resolve all the things or virtually all the things: AI.
3. AI is making advertising and marketing sooner. However is it higher or simply weirder?
AI isn’t simply within the room anymore. It is the room. Based on our analysis, 95% of B2B entrepreneurs say their organizations use AI-powered functions. Right here’s the place their implementation stands:
OK, up to now, no shock. Most entrepreneurs are exploring or developing their AI approach. So, what are they utilizing?
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Content material creation instruments for producing or optimizing advertising and marketing copy/written content material (89%)
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Inventive asset instruments for producing and enhancing photographs, movies, and visible supplies (53%)
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website positioning instruments for analyzing search patterns, recommending key phrases, optimizing content material for search engines like google, and predicting rating enhancements (41%)
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Social media instruments for content material scheduling, evaluation, and automatic posting (38%)
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E mail advertising and marketing instruments for marketing campaign optimization and customized e mail content material (36%)
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Market analysis/insights instruments for analyzing tendencies, client conduct, and buyer sentiment (35%)
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Promoting optimization instruments for marketing campaign efficiency evaluation/advert spend (16%)
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Personalization instruments for customizing experiences based mostly on particular person preferences (14%)
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Predictive analytics/focusing on instruments for forecasting buyer conduct/optimizing focusing on (12%)
Among the many entrepreneurs utilizing AI for content material creation:
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87% say productiveness has improved, 6% say there’s been no change, 3% say it’s decreased, 1% are not sure, and three% say it’s too quickly to inform.
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80% say operational effectivity has improved, 11% say there’s been no change, 2% say it’s decreased, 2% are not sure, and 5% say it’s too quickly to inform.
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65% say artistic capabilities have improved, 22% say there’s been no change, 5% say they’ve decreased, 3% are not sure, and 5% say it’s too quickly to inform.
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58% say content material high quality has improved, 21% say there’s been no change, 12% say it’s decreased, 2% are not sure, and seven% say it’s too quickly to inform.
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39% say content material efficiency has improved, 34% say there’s been no change, 5% say it’s decreased, 7% are not sure, and 15% say it’s too quickly to inform.
These outcomes are telling. Whereas 68% of entrepreneurs say they’re exploring or creating their AI method, virtually 9 in 10 already use AI to crank out written content material, and half use it to develop or edit artistic property, like photographs, movies, and visible supplies.
In different phrases, entrepreneurs experiment with AI technique whereas barreling forward with AI manufacturing. The impression tracks with that cut up. The large wins? Productiveness and operational effectivity. You’re sooner. You’re leaner. You’re producing extra.
However trying on the deeper measures — creativity, content material high quality, and efficiency — the numbers drop. Actually, 12% say the standard of their content material decreased with AI.
As well as:
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A couple of fifth of customers do not see AI shifting the needle on creativity (22%) or content material high quality (21%), hinting that AI is perhaps useful, however not but a game-changer in these areas.
Content material efficiency exhibits the very best mixed uncertainty — 22% scratch their heads or say “ask me later” — suggesting they want extra time to see how AI impacts content material effectiveness.
As AI implementation matures, we may even see enhancements in these deeper metrics, however because it stands, for essentially the most half, AI helps entrepreneurs sort sooner, not assume higher.
Effectivity is simply the primary chapter of the AI advertising and marketing story — not the ending. Truly, perhaps it is the prologue. AI is like giving each marketer a turbo-charged typewriter. Hooray! We will all crank out phrases sooner. However the greater prize is what we do with the time saved: the slower, deeper work of pondering. The daring concepts. The real human that no machine can automate. This analysis suggests … the selection is yours.
— Ann Handley, chief content material officer, MarketingProfs
Agentic AI is on the rise
Whereas content material creation is the low-hanging AI fruit, sensible groups look past phrases on a web page. Greater than 1 / 4 (28%) of B2B entrepreneurs say they experiment with AI agents. Pacesetters (established, superior, and main entrepreneurs within the class) are extra possible to make use of them, with 43% saying they experiment with AI brokers.
A small however rising slice (3% of B2B entrepreneurs total and 6% of pacesetters) say brokers are core to their methods.
What outcomes do these experimenting with AI brokers see?
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52% report improved operational effectivity.
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21% see higher buyer engagement.
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19% cite elevated marketing campaign efficiency and ROI.
After all, it’s not all clean crusing. Among the many challenges:
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19% flag knowledge high quality or compliance points.
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14% level to price, integration, or workforce adaptation.
Proper now, AI is oxygen. Each marketer is respiratory it. However pacesetters flip that oxygen into endurance — constructing programs the place brokers, predictive instruments, and content material creation aren’t simply sooner however smarter.
4. Everybody creates thought management, however few handle it at scale
Almost each B2B marketer (96%) says their group creates thought management content material. However not all thought management is created equal. Right here’s how entrepreneurs price the standing of their packages:
And worker participation?
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37% say minimal (lower than 5% of workers with specialised data or experience actively contribute).
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30% say restricted (5 to fifteen% contribute).
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15% say average (16 to 30% contribute).
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8% say substantial (31 to 50% contribute).
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10% say widespread (better than 50% contribute).
The place do entrepreneurs publish their thought management? They are saying the three best channels are:
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Talking occasions/webinars (52%)
How do entrepreneurs measure the success of their thought management?
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Viewers engagement — views, downloads, shares (80%)
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Enterprise impression — leads, pipeline affect (63%)
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Viewers suggestions — consumer/prospect suggestions, sentiment evaluation (40%)
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Model authority — talking/media alternatives, publication citations (38%)
These numbers inform a well-known story: Everybody does thought management, however few do it at scale or with depth. Minimal worker participation is the giveaway. If fewer than 5% of your workers with specialised data or experience are concerned, you don’t have a thought management program; you have got a content material workforce attempting to look sensible on LinkedIn.
What separates the pacesetters in thought management is how they deal with it as a strategic asset, not a content material bucket. They:
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Contain extra of the group’s experience: 24% report substantial or widespread participation vs. 18% total.
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Measure extra than simply clicks: 75% of pacesetters monitor enterprise impression (vs. 63% total), and 51% monitor model authority (vs. 38% total).
Thought leadership is evolving from a advertising and marketing tactic to a enterprise differentiator. In crowded B2B markets, your capability to create a novel standpoint, put your individuals out entrance, and construct communities retains you from sounding like all people else.
The irony? The extra private thought management feels, the extra scalable it turns into. When leaders within the firm empower workers to have a voice, it’s not simply advertising and marketing talking; it’s the enterprise pondering out loud.
If thought management is how manufacturers distinguish themselves in noisy markets, then knowledge is the gasoline that makes that differentiation significant. You possibly can’t personalize, section, and even inform the proper story with out figuring out who you’re speaking to.
The manufacturers that win are these courageous sufficient to problem typical knowledge with research-backed insights leaders can belief and act on. The best thought management helps decision-making with memorable psychological fashions and frameworks. Every high-quality, actionable piece of thought management earns you compound belief and compound credibility. Everybody’s attempting to get their concepts observed and remembered, so it is about profitable the thoughts to win the market. On this context, LinkedIn’s 76% effectiveness ranking turns into much more important. It is the proper platform for constructing compound credibility over time, turning concepts into lasting aggressive benefit.
— Ty Heath, director, market engagement, The B2B Institute @ LinkedIn
5. First-party knowledge assortment is widespread; knowledge governance and technique not a lot
Earlier than I delve into first-party knowledge use, too many entrepreneurs overlook its basis: governance.
Greater than half (52%) of B2B entrepreneurs put themselves within the pacesetter class, which means their governance technique is established (29%), superior (17%), or main (6%).
The opposite 48%? They’re nonetheless within the exploratory (26%) or creating (22%) phases.
Why does governance matter? In case your governance is shaky, your first-party knowledge technique is constructed on sand. Amassing extra knowledge with out clear standards for high quality, entry, and compliance isn’t simply the absence of a technique; it’s a legal responsibility.
Entrepreneurs love shiny ways like personalization and predictive analytics. However with out governance, all that knowledge finally ends up siloed, inconsistent, or noncompliant. It’s like racing to construct a sensible house on high of defective wiring. Your app would possibly flip the lights on, however you don’t wish to check the circuit breaker.
Sure, first-party knowledge is the gasoline for differentiation, however governance is the tank. Get that fallacious, and also you’ll spill greater than you retailer.
First-party knowledge throughout, however the place’s the technique?
With that stated, 91% of B2B entrepreneurs report amassing first-party knowledge, however half admit their technique continues to be within the exploratory (19%) or creating (31%) levels. The opposite half have reached established (37%), superior (10%), or main (3%) maturity.
How are they amassing knowledge?
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Direct buyer engagement — subscriptions, loyalty packages, communities (77%)
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Content material-driven assortment — gated property, webinars, interactive instruments (68%)
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CRM and gross sales interactions — customer support information, conversations (63%)
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Behavioral insights — website exercise, utilization historical past (52%)
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Incremental assortment — progressive varieties, incentives (23%)
Among the many reported payoffs from first-party knowledge assortment:
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Improved focusing on and personalization (52%)
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Enhanced buyer insights and understanding (44%)
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Strengthened buyer belief and relationships (28%)
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Elevated conversion charges or ROI (26%)
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Improved privateness compliance (12%)
And the complications:
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Knowledge high quality or compliance points (24%)
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Knowledge administration complexity challenges (21%)
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Useful resource constraints for assortment/upkeep (13%)
Put all of that collectively, and you may see that entrepreneurs don’t have an issue doing the factor.
With content material, the factor is creation, and entrepreneurs are awash in it. With first-party knowledge, the factor is assortment, and practically everybody does that, too.
On each fronts, the true wrestle occurs when their enterprise worth plateaus. Content material turns into significant solely when it drives efficiency and differentiation. Knowledge turns into useful solely when it builds belief and ROI.
Discover that the most typical constructive final result — higher focusing on and personalization — is the one which makes most prospects cautious as a result of it may really feel creepy or careless. Having first-party knowledge isn’t the aggressive benefit; utilizing that knowledge creatively and responsibly is.
Pacesetters perceive that. They aren’t doing extra issues; they’re making the issues they do matter. They’re not gating extra PDFs; they’re increasing how they gather and join knowledge, similar to deeper CRM use, extra behavioral alerts, and smarter incremental assortment. They’re additionally admitting that complexity will increase with maturity. It’s not a bug, it’s a characteristic. Complexity means you take care of actual knowledge, not self-importance spreadsheets.
Profitable manufacturers received’t have the most important databases. They’ve prospects who belief them to deal with their knowledge and switch it into significant experiences, not better-targeted adverts.
To construct an efficient personalization technique, it’s essential to first have a robust advertising and marketing knowledge technique. It’s essential to have the flexibility to seize the proper knowledge to inform you who your finest prospects are, what they care about, and what touchpoints assist them convert and/or change into model loyal. Many organizations assume that knowledge is a given in right now’s digital-first age. However the reality is that, with no deliberate technique, most organizations do not have the proper individuals, instruments, and hypotheses in place to change into good at amassing useful knowledge and turning that knowledge into customized experiences that transfer the needle.
— Zontee Hou, writer of Knowledge Pushed Personalization, president and chief strategist, Media Volery
6. Experiential advertising and marketing roars again
After years of digital-first all the things, entrepreneurs are rediscovering the facility of displaying up. Whether or not it’s occasions, workshops, demos, or onboarding experiences, manufacturers that present up in individual (even nearly) can earn extra belief and construct deeper loyalty.
Greater than two-thirds (78%) of B2B entrepreneurs report allocating finances to experiential advertising and marketing. However lower than a 3rd (30%) price their efforts as established (20%), superior (6%), or main (4%). The remainder are caught in exploratory (35%) or creating (35%) levels.
When requested what proportion of their advertising and marketing finances they allocate to experiential actions in 2025, B2B entrepreneurs say:
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40% finances 1 to 10% of spend.
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26% allocate 11 to 30% of the finances.
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13% finances 31 to 50% of spend.
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4% allocate greater than half the finances.
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17% aren’t certain how a lot is budgeted.
How are they measuring the impression of these experiences?
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Engagement — attendance, participation, digital interplay (70%)
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Buyer suggestions — surveys, internet promoter rating, qualitative enter (46%)
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Income — ROI calculation, cost-to-revenue (46%)
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Content material efficiency — consumption, sharing (39%)
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Model impression — consciousness, sentiment, social engagement (34%)
The takeaway? Experiential advertising and marketing is difficult. It takes extra planning, extra finances, and extra danger than the publication of one other weblog article or an AI-driven marketing campaign.
That will clarify why so many packages are caught within the early levels. It’s simpler and safer to churn out extra content material than to design an expertise individuals will bear in mind. However that’s the entice. In chasing effectivity, entrepreneurs let a few of the fundamentals slip.
Differentiation occurs within the moments the place manufacturers present up — in individual, in actual time, with actual stakes. That’s why the entrepreneurs who win shall be courageous sufficient to create experiences price displaying up for.
What about gross sales timelines and experiences?
We additionally requested entrepreneurs to check offers with and with out experiential touchpoints. Many punted: 27% haven’t measured it, and one other 27% are not sure. However amongst those that have measured experiential touchpoints:
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16% say the gross sales course of is considerably shorter.
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35% say it’s considerably shorter.
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16% say they see no constant variations.
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5% say it’s considerably longer.
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1% say it’s considerably longer.
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27% say timeline patterns fluctuate by state of affairs.
Pacesetters inform a clearer story. Eighty-nine % (in comparison with 73% total) measure the experiential impression on gross sales timelines. Whereas half of each teams say the gross sales course of is shorter with experiential touchpoints (53% of pacesetters and 51% total), pacesetters allocate greater budgets, deal with experiences like merchandise, and maintain them accountable to outcomes, not simply did-people-show-up metrics.
However most organizations nonetheless dabble in experiential advertising and marketing. Budgets keep small, maturity is low, and practically half don’t measure past attendance. That’s occasion planning with fancier lanyards. Concern possible creeps in as a result of experiences are tougher to design, riskier to execute, and simpler to postpone.
Nonetheless, the motion in experiences isn’t about going again to occasions. It’s about recognizing experiences because the connective tissue between digital and bodily — the moments that construct belief and loyalty.
The perfect personalization algorithm on the planet can’t substitute shaking somebody’s hand or not less than trying them within the eye on a display.
7. Expensive [first name], let’s get private
Personalization isn’t new, nevertheless it’s nonetheless extra aspirational than actuality in B2B advertising and marketing. Most (89%) say their organizations personalize content, however they don’t go far with it:
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59% describe their use of personalization as primary (easy personalization in a single to 2 channels, minimal integration).
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35% say it is average (multi-channel, partial automation, some behavioral knowledge).
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5% label it intensive (superior personalization throughout most touchpoints, AI, and real-time options).
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1% say it’s complete (full journey personalization with AI-driven experiences throughout all channels).
The place do B2B entrepreneurs use personalization?
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Social media content material (34%)
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Web sites/touchdown pages (33%)
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Digital promoting (31%)
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Content material advertising and marketing (blogs, white papers, and so on.) (28%)
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Experiential/occasion advertising and marketing (23%)
Personalization is desk stakes, however most entrepreneurs are barely taking part in the sport.
Almost 60% personalize in just one or two channels, aka they add the recipient’s title on an e mail and name it personalization.
In the meantime, the pacesetters (those that describe their personalization as average, intensive, or complete) unfold it throughout extra channels. They weave it into social media, web sites, adverts, and content material advertising and marketing.
Right here’s the rub: Personalization isn’t about what number of channels you contact; it’s about how constantly and contextually you do it.
Prospects can sniff out shallow personalization a mile away. A topic line that claims, “Hello Robert,” and serves me irrelevant content material isn’t personalization — it’s spam with a mail merge. The chance isn’t to chase real-time, AI-powered all the things. It’s to ensure the personalization you already use feels private.
8. ABM and ABX create private experiences for the win
If primary personalization makes content material really feel related to somebody, account-based advertising and marketing (ABM) and its newer cousin, account-based expertise (ABX), make it really feel indispensable to the proper ones. ABM is personalization’s grown-up and B2B-specific sibling. However most packages are nonetheless in kindergarten.
For this survey, we outlined:
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ABM as a focused technique that aligns advertising and marketing and gross sales to create customized experiences for particular high-value accounts reasonably than broader market segments.
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ABX as a focused technique that goes after a smaller set of these accounts — ones spiking with intent or curiosity — and personalizes engagement at each touchpoint of their journey.
Based on the analysis:
With practically three-quarters of ABM-only customers nonetheless exploring (24%) or creating (49%) its use, most efforts default to the focused function or business. Helpful? Positive. Differentiated? Not likely.
Lower than one-third of ABM-only customers skew to mature levels: established (21%), superior (5%), and main (1%).
So how do ABM entrepreneurs personalize?
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70% use primary personalization (business/vertical, firm dimension, location).
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65% use role-based particulars (title, seniority, division).
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40% deal with account specifics (customized content material for precedence accounts).
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33% make it journey particular (shopping for stage, engagement stage).
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26% use behavioral alerts (web site exercise, engagement).
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5% use superior personalization (particular person preferences, tech stack).
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2% use AI-driven personalization (dynamic content material, real-time).
And the way does ABM examine to conventional campaigns? Among the many ABM customers who’ve measured:
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18% say ABM considerably outperforms conventional advertising and marketing.
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47% say it considerably outperforms.
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16% say it performs about the identical.
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3% say it considerably underperforms.
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3% say it considerably underperforms.
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13% say efficiency varies by account sort/business.
Efficiency is the place ABM’s relevance magic is available in. If you’ve created a cluster of accounts based mostly on the issue the client is attempting to resolve, you possibly can create content material that demonstrates your surpassing understanding of their wants, alongside along with your health as a associate to resolve that downside. It’s no thriller why this sort of content material outperforms conventional advertising and marketing.
— Stephanie Losee, director, govt editor, Salesforce
Right here’s the upside: Even within the early levels, ABM provides elevate: Sixty-five % of ABM customers say their campaigns outperform conventional advertising and marketing.
However right here’s the entice: If entrepreneurs deal with ABM as a costlier approach to blast content material at smaller lists, it received’t work. True ABM (or ABX) orchestrates the expertise throughout each touchpoint; it doesn’t simply slap an business title on a white paper.
The promise of ABM isn’t scale. It’s focus. When performed proper, ABM forces advertising and marketing and gross sales to align on who issues most after which create experiences for them that really feel much less like campaigns and extra like conversations.
9. AI investments high the 2026 advertising and marketing finances precedence record
I can’t shut this report with out coming again to the oxygen within the room. The place are entrepreneurs placing their budgets to construct their lungs in 2026?
When requested which high three areas they plan to extend funding in throughout 2026, B2B entrepreneurs included AI most frequently. Right here’s the whole record:
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45% on AI-powered advertising and marketing instruments (generative AI, predictive analytics)
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33% on occasions and experiential advertising and marketing
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32% on owned media (content material property, web site, weblog, e mail)
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24% on content material personalization
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21% on tech infrastructure (martech stack, analytics, CRM)
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20% on social/earned media
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19% on company/outsourcing
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15% on analysis and insights
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12% on first-party knowledge capabilities
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9% on human assets (salaries, coaching, improvement)
The funding story for 2026 is telling. AI instruments lead at 45%, however occasions and experiential advertising and marketing (33%) and owned media (32%) are proper behind.
That’s excellent news: After years of underinvestment, entrepreneurs are lastly placing weight behind the channels they management — the occasions, communities, and content material platforms that construct long-term belief.
However right here’s the disheartening half: Human assets (salaries, coaching, and improvement) sit final at 9%.
So, organizations pour cash into extra buttons to push, extra algorithms to serve, and extra content material to churn, however hesitate to invest in the people who make the technique actual. It is a mistake.
Higher expertise received’t save mediocre groups. With out expert, empowered entrepreneurs, all AI can do is make mediocrity sooner, louder, and extra environment friendly. If B2B entrepreneurs don’t combat for funding in groups, they’ll find yourself with sharper instruments however duller methods.
If AI is oxygen, then persons are the lungs. You possibly can make investments on the planet’s most interesting air air purifier, however with out the flexibility to breathe deeply and steadily, it received’t do you a lot good.
Mushy abilities, which we name important capabilities, are important for employment and organizational success — particularly as we glance towards AI and automation instruments. Human abilities can’t get replaced. So, whenever you’re excited about skilling up your workforce … these important capabilities like creativity, important pondering, communication, and presentation abilities are extra vital than the laborious abilities shifting ahead.
— Molly Soat, vice chairman, skilled improvement, American Advertising and marketing Affiliation
What modifications does the analysis recommend?
With all these numbers and tendencies, the temptation is to seek for one large reply. Resist that intuition.
Advertising and marketing has by no means been about one device, one expertise, or one channel. It’s all the time been a combination. In 1948, James Culliton, who coined the time period “advertising and marketing combine,” likened entrepreneurs to bartenders. The job isn’t to pour a single excellent ingredient; it’s to mix them into one thing stronger, extra balanced, and much more attention-grabbing than any component by itself. The benefit is within the combine.
What must you do with all this? A number of locations to begin:
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Rebalance the combo. Fund the belongings you management (owned media and experiences) and handle them like merchandise. Give them charters, roadmaps, and final result metrics past “did individuals present up?”
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Put money into individuals. Be the zig to everybody else’s zag. Upskill the workforce, make clear roles, and align with gross sales. Instruments amplify expertise; they don’t substitute it. If the finances is tight, prioritize coaching and measurement chops over another software program license.
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Make AI deliberate, not ornamental. Transfer past sooner drafts. Choose a couple of high-value use circumstances (e.g., predictive insights, smarter routing, agent automation), set guardrails, and measure elevate in efficiency, not quantity.
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Give attention to first-party knowledge. Governance first, then use circumstances. Kill self-importance gates, join the alerts you have already got (CRM + conduct), and use them to energy trust-building personalization — not creepiness.
The final phrase
AI often is the oxygen within the room, nevertheless it’s your individuals, your processes, and your portfolio of experiences that kind the lungs. Train these properly, and also you received’t simply trip the development — you’ll have the endurance to outlast it.
Methodology
The 16th annual content material advertising and marketing survey was carried out by Content material Advertising and marketing Institute and MarketingProfs. The survey was fielded between June 24 and August 14, 2025, and was sponsored by Storyblok. The survey drew 1,229 world responses. This text studies on the 1,015 B2B entrepreneurs, largely from North America.
The industries represented embody:
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Healthcare/med/pharma/life sciences (7%)
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Skilled providers (4%)
The B2B entrepreneurs surveyed work in these organizational sizes:
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Micro – one to 9 workers (22%)
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Small – 10 to 99 workers (24%)
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Medium – 100 to 999 workers (30%)
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Massive – 1,000-plus workers (24%)
Due to:
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Survey contributors who made this analysis doable
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Business specialists who contributed their ideas in regards to the findings
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Our many buddies who assist disseminate these findings all through the business
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About Content material Advertising and marketing Institute
Content material Advertising and marketing Institute (CMI) exists to advance the follow of content material advertising and marketing by on-line schooling and occasions. We create and curate content material experiences that educate entrepreneurs and creators from enterprise manufacturers, small companies, and companies how you can entice and retain prospects by compelling, multichannel storytelling.
International manufacturers flip to CMI for strategic session, coaching, and analysis. Organizations from world wide ship groups to Content material Advertising and marketing World, the biggest content material marketing-focused occasion, and CMI digital occasions. Our neighborhood of 215,000+ content material entrepreneurs shares camaraderie and dialog. CMI is organized by Informa.
To study extra, go to contentmarketinginstitute.com.
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About MarketingProfs
Greater than 600,000 advertising and marketing professionals worldwide depend on MarketingProfs for B2B Advertising and marketing coaching and schooling backed by knowledge science, psychology, and real-world expertise. Entry free B2B advertising and marketing publications, digital conferences, podcasts, each day newsletters (and extra), and take a look at the MarketingProfs B2B Discussion board — the flagship in-person occasion for B2B Advertising and marketing coaching and schooling at MarketingProfs.com.
About Storyblok
Storyblok is a headless CMS that permits entrepreneurs and builders to create with pleasure and succeed within the AI-driven content material period. It empowers you to ship structured and constant content material all over the place: web sites, apps, AI search, and past. Entrepreneurs get a visible editor with reusable parts, in-context preview, and workflows to launch quick and keep on model. Builders have the liberty to make use of their favourite frameworks and combine with something by the API-first platform. Manufacturers get one supply of reality for content material that’s correct, versatile, and measurable. Legendary manufacturers like Virgin Media O2, Oatly, and TomTom use Storyblok to make an even bigger, sooner market impression. It’s Joyful Headless™, and it modifications all the things. To study extra, go to storyblok.com.
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