Forrester B2B Summit North America 2026
Brand & demand, GTM singularities and lots and lots of AI…
As conferences go, the Forrester B2B Marketing Summit North America is one that consistently strikes the right balance by not only focusing on relevant topics but delivering content from authoritative voices which goes beyond basic definitions and provides attendees with actionable takeaways.
This year’s agenda was packed with insights on a variety of fronts, but there were a few major themes that the Fox Agency team in attendance found particularly impactful. Here’s what Jim Sampson, Partner & SVP, and Keith Messer, Head of Growth US, took away with them…
The B2B Accountability Reset
While Zero-Click Search is nothing new, AI search adoption has blown a hole in legacy inbound spoke-and-wheel frameworks that previously fuelled conversions, with brands seeing declines of 50% or higher in traffic to their top-of-funnel site content.
This reality means traditional ways of measuring impact no longer tell the story, and the way by which we quantify marketing’s influence on customer journeys and hold ourselves accountable must shift away from purely engagement metrics, especially considering only 37% of B2B decision-makers trust their measurement and analytics due in part to the visibility gaps that have resulted from 94% of buyers using generative AI within their path to purchase.
The solution from Forrester’s perspective is to shift from accountability as a function of engagement. Instead recalibrating to focus first on business objectives, creating Marketing activity to impact them, and measuring return on those objectives.
Uniting Brand & Demand with Preference Marketing
If you’re starting to see marketing job titles which include “BrandGen” or “Preference Marketing” there’s good reason. When 80% or more of the B2B buyer journey takes place prior to engagement with Sales, the time prospective buyers spend in your pipeline is for them less a process of selection and more a process of confirmation of what they’ve already come to believe about the potential partners within their consideration-set.
Naturally, those who build preference early win in this scenario, and “preference marketing” entails prioritising early affinity and long-term loyalty among ever more decisive buyers, requiring brand and demand marketing to unite to drive impact.
Brands who build strong preference are those who define their narrative, assemble proof points and build those elements into repeatable campaign playbooks which leverage top channels and include clear/measurable goals.
Overcoming the AI Visibility Vacuum
As referenced above, rapid adoption of AI answer engines has further accelerated the zero-click search trendline, leaving B2B marketers with an ever-widening “visibility vacuum” into buyer behaviour, especially where these new tools have further enhanced options for self-directed paths to purchase.
Adoption of AI tools by business buyers has been rapid, with 89% using them in at least some part of the process, but what’s equally important is how these tools are driving a change in expectations. In a world where traditional product/service content trends generic or broad industry focused, buyers can now query LLMs to find more granular information tailored to the impact potential partners will have meeting challenges for a business of their specific size with their specific goals.
In this environment it’s easy to see why LLMs are displacing site traffic, undermining traditional click pathways and leaving “visibility gaps” for what used to be core digital marketing KPIs.
To contend when buyers increasingly experience, learn about and build preference for your brand through the lenses of AI intermediaries requires blending time-tested SEO best practices and emerging GEO tactics to drive hybrid visibility. Even potentially testing ‘bot-first’ site content, while increasing investment in earned media and the other off-site content so ensure you show up where LLMs are trained and tend to place more weight.
In Summary…
In addition to the above headline themes, hearing how AI tools are being deployed internally by B2B marketing teams, such Cox Communications using AI to enable smarter segmentation and Cisco tapping their L&D department to launch internal AI pilot programs, as well as how brands are successfully shifting from MQLs to Buying Group-centric playbooks, were all great indicators of the type of continuous evolution which Fox Agency are proud to facilitate for our clients.