Is your marketing brain spinning?
Mine is. I recently put together a brief talk on five top B2B marketing trends for a SmartBrief B2B webinar, and during the couple of weeks or so I spent pulling the trends together, I had to adjust and/or add notes and nuances to nearly all of them.
So, before this piece becomes outdated, let’s take a look at five B2B marketing trends.
AI makes campaigns better, faster
While AI has been around for some time, it became a household name in marketing with OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, focusing on generative AI. The technology was OK for writing copy – drafts of social and blog posts, outlines and strategies – but it wasn’t so hot for graphics creation. There were plenty of examples of poor representation of history and just weird, even creepy images and videos (like that backyard cookout Ars Technica shared).
Where AI has had the greatest impact in marketing is on the back end, doing what computer programs do best: analyzing data, looking for trends and insights and making data-based decisions.
Brands have begun to take advantage of AI agents, which are systems or programs designed to perform specific tasks and make decisions based on preset parameters.
The results?
With the use of AI agents, Jellyfish says campaign launch times dropped 65%, performance is up 30% and infrastructure (labor, time, etc.) is down 22%.
Through custom AI ad targeting, Lenovo says campaign ROI is up 270% and Sargento says non-category purchases are up 6.6%. (See Ad Age for details.)
What does this mean?
With the ability to create effective campaigns faster, brands (and their agencies) can pivot more quickly to address changing marketing conditions, major geopolitical events or simply tweak campaigns when initial messaging or audiences are off.
In the meantime … graphic generative AI got better
Today, images and video from generative AI are notably more realistic and are being used for storyboards, mockups and other early graphic work. As Coca-Cola showed us in November, video created from generative AI can be ready for public consumption. Though the video wasn’t used as an ad, it’s a good example of the possibilities.
Beyond organic SEO
Organic SEO will always be vital. It’s a foundational part of marketing (until websites get replaced).
However, AI has generated a new type of SEO to be aware of: AI-generated summaries for search queries. These summaries gather information from across the web based on your search term(s) and provide detailed information, not information from your site’s meta info, with results ranked by an algorithm.
To rank within these summaries, you need to provide content on expected follow-up questions to the search queries. You need to provide deeper content — still following SEO best practices (i.e., quality content, don’t overuse keywords, etc.) – while ensuring your technical SEO (site speeds, responsive pages, etc.).
For help answering these follow-up questions, try tools like Neil Patel’s Answer The Public and tools like those from SEMRush and BrightEdge that assist with ranking within Google’s People Also Ask.
Influence of Generation Z
The merging of B2C and B2B marketing tactics has been no surprise. We’ve all seen it, such as the rise of influencer B2B marketing, such as using platforms like LinkedIn.
The growing presence of Generation Z (those born from 1997 through 2012) in the workforce is simply accelerating that movement.
Gen Z is about:
- Personalization: They want some level of connection and to know that you know them. (This just makes first-party marketing all the more important.)
- Value beyond economics: Price will always be a factor, but Gen Z wants to know more about the value you and your company offer. Is the buying experience seamless and easy? Is there an environmental benefit to working with your company? Is there any level of status value or sense of community?
- Changing search: 46% of Gen Z prefers using social media for brand discovery and to find information about products and services.
- Changing social media: Facebook use among Gen Z is dropping. For customer service, Instagram and TikTok are their go-to social platforms.
Members of Gen Z may not be those you’re directly dealing with or those currently making the purchasing decisions. But, they are involved in helping decision-makers research vendors and make recommendations.
And, soon enough, Gen Z will be in charge.
Don’t ignore them.
Performance > Brand building
In times of economic uncertainty, marketers feel the pressure to do more. Give me that ROI!
Performance marketing (i.e., paid social, affiliate marketing, a selling focus in email marketing, etc.) takes precedence over long-term brand building. In late April, Lions’ 2025 State of Creativity report indicated that 63% of marketers are focused on short-term tactics, up from 53% in 2023.
Of course, that short-term focus also calls for flexibility. Your vendors are seeking flexibility in contract terms and conditions and, likely, you’re seeking the same for those you deal with up the supply chain (like advertisers wanting flexibility from publishers on commitments).
Now, this shift doesn’t mean you forget about brand building. As I mentioned earlier, through AI, you can pivot ad campaigns quickly to adjust your copy and graphics to focus on short-term goals. That gives you more time and money to still pay attention to showing the value of your brand and nurturing relationships with your audiences, including Gen Z.
Smartly incorporating AI agents and other tools into your martech essentially commoditizes your performance marketing, enabling you to spend your valuable time on strategy and long-term marketing goals.
Summary? Learn how to work with AI tools and agents and incorporate them into your martech, and then use the time you save to get to know – really get to know – your audiences.
As mentioned earlier, the above five B2B marketing trends are based on a SmartBrief B2B webinar I participated in. Check out the webinar on demand to see what other marketing nuggets were offered (Hint: three marketing predictions).
If you want to stay on top of the latest marketing news, trends and ad campaigns, explore and subscribe to the partner SmartBrief newsletters we offer.