To 2025 we say: goodbye to all that. To the hype, to the flood of half-baked tools, to the cult-like AI mandates. Here’s how some of the sharpest marketers in the biz are cutting through the BS in 2026.
AI integration is a full-time job, not a shared side hustle
They say if something is everybody’s job, it’s nobody’s job. That’s very much true of AI “integration.”
Everyone says they’re doing AI, but most companies are still stuck at scattered usage, with no strategy. No ownership. 2026 is when that bluff gets called. AI integration isn't a side project. It's a comprehensive rebuilding effort that requires dedicated strategy and dedicated staffing. Yes, humans. H-u-m-a-n-s. Not just tool adoption.
The year of the AI architect
“I’m advocating for the role of an AI architect. Everyone’s talking about AI engineers, but you have to start with the architect—one person in charge. Their job is to define the strategy and make sure the solution actually delivers the outcome you’re trying to build.”
— Sydney Sloan, CMO at G2
ABM is an operating system, not a one-off tactic
“ABM stops being a buzzword and becomes the operating system for enterprise marketing in 2026. Not a campaign. Not a program. The OS. Teams have been name-dropping ABM for years without actually doing it—slapping the label on a few targeted ads and calling it strategic. Enterprise buyers tuned out because nothing about the motion actually changed.”
— Sarah Cascone, CMO at Appriss Retail
AEO is table stakes
“CEOs are about to start asking a question they weren’t asking last year: ‘How do we show up inside AI answers?’ As Google tests AI Mode and pushes users directly into Gemini responses, marketers won’t be judged on keywords anymore. They’ll be judged on whether their content is fresh, structured, and authoritative enough to be pulled into those answers.”
— Cassie Wilson Clark, Fractional Content Strategist
AI overviews are prime real estate
“I’m watching one thing closely: how often we show up in AI overviews—ChatGPT, Gemini, and similar tools.”
— Michael Davison, Account Executive at HubSpot
Websites shift from human-first to machine-first
“In the next 2–5 years, websites won’t be designed for humans. Visual polish and traditional UX will matter less as AI agents—not people—become the primary users.”
— Nick Lafferty, Head of Growth Marketing at Profound
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AI source attribution should drive strategy
“A slept-on metric is AI source attribution, how often platforms like Reddit and ChatGPT actually cite you. But the bigger shift is using that signal to refine where you invest: doubling down on the channels that work, improving AI trackability, and proving real cost savings instead of trying to be everywhere at once.”
— Makenzie Robinson, Senior Manager of Marketing + Sales Ops at Gradient
Trust is the new currency in an AI-saturated market
Companies rushed to adopt AI in 2025, and buyers followed. Now they’re restless. After a year of testing tools, switching platforms, and chasing promised efficiencies, buyers know what good AI looks like—and they’re far less patient with vague claims and shiny positioning.
In 2026, trust becomes the differentiator. Trust stops being a brand value and becomes proof: real outcomes, visible adoption, and evidence that your product actually changes behavior.
Influence replaces claims as the real signal of value
“With all the AI noise, trust has never been more fragile or more valuable. The sus-meter is at an all-time high. People aren’t swayed by claims anymore; they’re swayed by community and proven value. CEOs feel that shift too, which is why they’re asking PMMs for real behavior indicators—not outputs. Evidence that we’re driving action and earning trust. My big, bold prediction: influence is the new currency.”
— Elle Grossenbacher, Creator + Host at Product Marketing Adventures Podcast
Word of mouth becomes a system
“Earned media value activates trust that already exists among customers and employees. It’s word of mouth—facilitated and incentivized. Forward-thinking brands are already doing this, and in 2026 it becomes mainstream.”
— Andreas Jonsson, CEO at Shield
Proof beats positioning in a post-hype market
“It won't be a marketing advantage to say you're an AI company or call out your AI capabilities anymore. It's a tired approach for companies to market as ‘We are the AI ERP,’ ‘We are the AI CFO,’ etc. People have spent the last year trying out shiny new AI tools and seeing them come up short, and they'll be a lot more wary in 2026 than they were in 2025.”
— Alex Lieberman, Co-founder at storyarb + Tenex
Your content hub needs to act like a media company
Trust isn’t built through messaging alone. It’s built through presence—where you show up, how consistently you publish, and whether your audience chooses to come back. In 2026, that means owning your distribution instead of relying on rented attention from LinkedIn, Google, or Meta.
Newsletters, podcasts, and owned media aren’t new. What’s changing is how seriously the best teams treat them. Your content strategy either functions like a media company, or it disappears into the noise.
Proprietary content becomes the moat
“The next evolution of content is a human-driven loop: your ICP, customers, community, and influencers are the input; proprietary content is the moat; and those same people become the engine for distribution. The teams that win will move from publishing a single annual benchmark report to rapidly shipping proprietary reports, POVs, and playbooks as soon as real signal appears.”
— Kay-Kay Clapp, Head of Content + Social at Typeform
Annual reports give way to rapid signal shipping
“Influencer marketing is about to look very different. Instead of one-off partnerships, companies will hire a small group of creators to build newsletters, podcasts, shows, and series under their brand—each with a distinct voice. The company owns the asset and the long-term lead flow, while the creators get paid to build something real. That’s the big unlock: brands benefit from the long tail of owned media, not rented attention.”
— Casey Hill, CMO at DoWhatWorks
Always-on content engines replace platform dependence
“Brands won’t be able to rely on Google, Meta, or ChatGPT for clicks, so they’ll finally build always-on content engines across newsletters, podcasts, and YouTube. That shift forces marketers to level up—new channels require new skills, new formats, and new measurement models. B2B has lagged behind B2C, but that gap is closing fast as more practitioners build audiences. Expect brands to move more budget into influencer partnerships—it’s becoming too effective to ignore.”
— Kyle Denhoff, Senior Director of Marketing at HubSpot
Resource centers evolve into destination hubs
“It’s time to upgrade your resource center—the place where blog posts, whitepapers, and reports go to die—into a real destination hub. The era of ‘10 ways to drink your kombucha’ listicles is over (at least for humans; LLMs still love them). Instead of chasing keywords, win attention by creating content people genuinely want and packaging it in a way that’s easy to digest. Become a knowledge source readers check the same way they scan The New York Times every morning.”
— Ziv Gidron, Director of Content at Windward
Attribution either proves pipeline impact or gets out of the way
Attribution has always been marketing’s hardest problem. But 2026 doesn’t solve it by perfecting multi-touch models—it sidesteps them. With AI-powered tracking, account-level intent signals, and de-anonymization tools, teams can now see real momentum without forcing buyers through forms.
The question shifts from “Did this content get clicks?” to “Is this account actually advancing?” And if attribution can’t answer that, it stops mattering.
Broken workflows make every metric meaningless
“One metric teams are sleeping on right now is system reliability—how often your GTM workflows actually fire the way you think they do. When routing, scoring, or nurture paths break, nothing else in the dashboard can be trusted.”
— Mariska Burger, Fractional CMO + Strategist
Automation only works with clean inputs
“CEOs are realizing that AI and automated marketing tools fail without structured databases and clean inputs. The winners in 2026 will be the teams that shorten time to value through automated workflows and structured data. CEOs are already demanding real automation savings and results.”
— Victor Montaño, Founder at Imagination Labs
Vanity metrics finally lose their grip
“Let’s be honest: For years, marketing teams have worshipped multi-touch models, vanity metrics, and ‘full-funnel dashboards’ that don’t actually show whether you’re moving revenue. Most of it is busywork disguised as insight, leaving executives wondering why it isn’t paying off in pipeline. In 2026, attribution either earns its keep or steps aside. The enterprise teams that win will focus on account-level momentum, qualified meetings, and measurable pipeline outcomes—not click counts or form fills.”
— Sarah Cascone, CMO at Appriss Retail
What leadership will start asking for (and why you need to be ready)
As AI accelerates execution, leadership expectations are shifting fast. In 2026, the differentiator won’t be how many tools your team uses—it’ll be how quickly you can turn insight into action, learn from the outcome, and move again.
Executives are done waiting on perfect plans. They want speed with accountability, clarity on what’s driving revenue, and proof that marketing isn’t just busy—it’s effective. Soooo…maybe there’s nothing new here at all… 😆
Velocity becomes a core capability
“The ability to just go. In the era of AI, velocity is critical. Leaders want teams that can take an idea, execute, learn, iterate, and move quickly to the next.”
— Kasey Fleisher Hickey, Head of Content + Brand at Retool
Revenue visibility replaces activity reporting
“What CEOs will start asking for—questions they weren’t asking last year—is real proof that marketing acts as a value driver. They want one view that connects marketing activity, product signals, and sales motion so they can see how the system supports revenue and keeps CAC under control. Buyers arrive later, know more, and expect answers immediately, and their intent shows up in small signals: repeat visits, longer engagement with useful content, and interest in anything that demonstrates real product value.”
— Mariska Burger, Fractional CMO + Strategist
Face-to-face wins when everything else is AI
As AI automates more of the marketing stack, human connection becomes harder to replicate—and more valuable. When dashboards, workflows, and digital touchpoints dominate, the most analog tactic is suddenly the differentiator.
Not anti-tech. Just a recognition that when everything scales, presence stands out.
In-person connection becomes a measurable signal
“Another metric teams are sleeping on is in-person connection with key accounts—how often, where, and when you’re actually spending time face-to-face with customers. In the age of AI, that matters more than ever.”
— Alex Maiersperger, Global Product Marketing Lead, Healthcare, at SAS
IRL moments support long-term growth
"I firmly believe there will (and should!) be an increase in IRL events and relationship-building. There's a growing craving for in-person interactions, and even small touchpoints—an intimate CMO dinner to support ABM strategy, getting 1:1 facetime with your client (off Zoom) to improve retention and communication—will play an important role in supporting long-term company health."
— Abby Murray, Co-founder + CEO at storyarb
IRL experiences work best when spectacle meets system
“In 2026, IRL experiences won’t just be spectacle—they’ll be systems. The smartest brands will combine immersive storytelling with the structure creators need to experience those moments and carry them back to their communities.”
— Trevor Guthrie, Co-founder at Giant Spoon
This nostalgia is actually strategy. When AI saturates every digital channel, showing up in person is how teams cut through, build trust, and create relationships that compound over time. Abby's prediction about IRL events becoming a budget line item? It's already happening.
No silver bullets in 2026
Success won’t come from picking sides—AI vs. human, digital vs. in-person, new channels vs. owned media...it’ll come from integration.
The last few years clarified the arc.
- 2023 introduced AI at scale and kicked off the hype cycle.
- 2024 poured gasoline on it, with an explosion of “AI-powered” tools, funding, and promises.
- By 2025, teams stopped theorizing and started applying—and many discovered the same thing: AI is an accelerant, yes. But it isn’t a shortcut. It’s only as effective as the systems, data, and people supporting it.
All this sets us up for a 2026 where teams get more honest about AI’s actual value. The marketers who pull ahead this year will build durable systems that blend tech with human judgment, earn trust through proof (not promises), and invest in what actually moves the pipeline. Fewer silver bullets. Better basics. Smarter use of the tools we finally understand.
