The year is winding down, and like most other professionals, many of us are looking ahead to what’s in store for next year.
In many ways, this is a tough question. There’s some uncertainty, not just about how B2B is shaping up, but how entire sectors are moving into the next decade. AI, automation, and shifting channels and demographics are upending many of the industry’s common truisms.
Here’s what we see coming in 2026.
We’re a little bit overwhelmed by the breathless predictions of what AI can do or will do. Regardless of the debates around the new technology, it’s clear that, while the impact is still being felt out, AI is here. And, in 2026, you’re probably not getting out of using it.
A report from the Content Marketing Institute shows that 45% of marketers plan to increase their use of AI in the following year. Meanwhile, companies like OroCommerce are predicting that our entire marketing stacks must shift to an AI-first mindset, structured and digestible for intelligent systems.
And this is all very compelling. But we’re professionals, and it’s just as vital that we don’t sell our expertise short for the next new platform. As we’ve written in previous articles in this space, it’s not the case that AI is going to sweep in and dictate marketing—skilled B2B is going to involve smart and AI-savvy professionals guiding tech and messaging.
This doesn’t even begin to account for the general reaction people have to AI across the board. A study by Storyboard18 shows that consumers lose trust in a brand when they see an ad labeled “AI-made.” It’s a wild-west landscape where people see a race to the bottom, where either brands use AI to strip creative of its humanity or, worse, make something so uncanny that people can no longer tell if what they are seeing is a person or machine.
So, while 2026 will be a year when AI becomes the foundation of marketing, it will also be a year in which we must root ourselves more deeply in the human and creative side of B2B.
Speaking of “the real…”
The annual 2025 B2B Marketing Trends Report from New Perspective lays it out clearly: customers want trust and transparency from their partners.
There’s an irony to this particular claim, however. According to the report, 84% of B2B marketers see AI as the key to at-scale personalization. And, in some ways, this is true. AI is going to elevate critical, customer-facing interactions and serve as a strong foundation for platforms that field AI SDR agents and implement outreach automation. On the other hand, it’s going to be tough to make this case in the spaces where customers are already saying they want the “authentically human.”
2026 is going to be a year when we, hopefully, untangle some of these challenges.
The B2B sales journey is getting longer, more complex, and grounded in a foundational truth: not all buyers are ready to buy when they encounter your marketing collateral.
And, yes, omnichannel marketing is important. But just as important is understanding the journeys that take place across those channels.
As a long-time LinkedIn content partner, we’re in total agreement with their understanding that roughly 95% of B2B buyers aren’t ready to buy at any given time. That doesn’t mean you don’t reach out to them, understand their needs, and meet them where they are. What it does mean, however, is that how you meet them is going to matter even more.
Focus on industry leadership, insights, and value. With AI helping us optimize some of our content creation, it’s getting easier to push out content that doesn’t live or die on its ROI—which means we’re also not pushing so hard for that conversion at the expense of value.
Speaking of the customer journey… we need to talk about customer experience. According to HubSpot’s 2025 State of Marketing Report, more and more B2B marketers are looking to create unique experiences for their customers—a far cry from our sometimes-overconfident reliance on optimized, mechanical funnels.
Additionally, this writing has been on the wall for a while now, but B2B marketing cannot forego the importance of influencers. Expert opinions in the field are worth their weight in gold, and people are looking for brands with a human face they can trust. According to the report, B2B brands are finding a ton of success with nano and micro influencers (those with less than 10k and 100k followers, respectively.
These experiences, fortunately, aren’t grounded in technological optimization, but in human-driven creativity. While B2C brands might look to push branding and messaging at a massive scale, we B2B professionals have a little more leeway to create meaningful, expert-driven experiences that touch on the customer journey across a multitude of touchpoints. Instead of getting locked into the “eBook-sales sheet-sales call” cycle, we’re seeing a big push in 2026 for individuals to become industry leaders. But more importantly, these will have to move away from the professional sales coaching we’ve seen from thought leaders over the past decade toward something more grounded in shared values and partnership success.
As it’s done in many other industries, AI has upended conventional marketing wisdom. But AI isn’t an infallible genius—it’s a tool that can be used well or poorly. As we explore new possibilities, we can’t lose sight of the human connections that make marketing work. B2C customers and B2B buyers both say they want authentic, genuine connections. The relationship-builders who augment with tech will win the race against those who go all-in on AI.
SCORCH has been building relationships with clients and their customers for nearly 20 years. Follow us on LinkedIn to see how we can help you have a fantastic 2026 and beyond.
Topics:
Scorch Agency collects the following data:
You directly provide Scorch Agency with most of the data we collect. We collect data and process data when you:
Scorch Agency collects your data so that we can:
Process your order, manage your account.
Email you with special offers on other products and services we think you might like.
If you agree, Scorch Agency will share your data with our partner companies so that they may offer you their products and services.
PingPilot
When Scorch Agency processes your order, it may send your data to, and also use the resulting information from, credit reference agencies to prevent fraudulent purchases.
Scorch Agency securely stores your data in Hubspot.
Scorch Agency would like to send you information about products and services of ours that we think you might like, as well as those of our partner companies. If you have agreed to receive marketing, you may always opt out at a later date.
You have the right at any time to stop Scorch Agency from contacting you for marketing purposes or giving your data to other members of the Scorch Agency Group.
Scorch Agency would like to make sure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following:
The right to access – You have the right to request Scorch Agency for copies of your personal data. We may charge you a small fee for this service.
The right to rectification – You have the right to request that Scorch Agency correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request Scorch Agency to complete information you believe is incomplete.
The right to erasure – You have the right to request that Scorch Agency erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
The right to restrict processing – You have the right to request that Scorch Agency restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
The right to object to processing – You have the right to object to Scorch Agency’s processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
The right to data portability – You have the right to request that Scorch Agency transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
When you visit or log in to our website, cookies and similar technologies may be used by our online data partners or vendors to associate these activities with other personal information they or others have about you, including by association with your email or home address. We (or service providers on our behalf) may then send communications and marketing to these email or home addresses. You may opt out of receiving this advertising by visiting https://app.retention.com/optout
There are a number of different types of cookies, however, our website uses:
Functionality – Scorch Agency uses these cookies so that we recognize you on our website and remember your previously selected preferences. These could include what language you prefer and location you are in. A mix of first-party and third-party cookies are used.
Advertising – Scorch Agency uses these cookies to collect information about your visit to our website, the content you viewed, the links you followed and information about your browser, device, and your IP address. Scorch Agency sometimes shares some limited aspects of this data with third parties for advertising purposes. We may also share online data collected through cookies with our advertising partners. This means that when you visit another website, you may be shown advertising based on your browsing patterns on our website.
You can set your browser not to accept cookies, and the above website tells you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, in a few cases, some of our website features may not function as a result.
The Scorch Agency website contains links to other websites. Our privacy policy applies only to our website, so if you click on a link to another website, you should read their privacy policy.
Scorch Agency keeps its privacy policy under regular review and places any updates on this web page. This privacy policy was last updated on January 1st, 2025.
If you have any questions about Scorch Agency’s privacy policy, the data we hold on you, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us.
