Elizabeth Maxson Martinet is Chief Advertising Officer at headless content material administration platform Contentful – and somebody with a wealth of ideas on the B2B advertising and marketing area.
We spoke to her in regards to the expertise that B2B entrepreneurs will must be efficient in 2026, why it will likely be essential to personalise all the end-to-end buyer journey, and why she believes that the true hazard shouldn’t be AI misuse, however AI overuse.
Econsultancy: What’s the elephant within the room in the intervening time on the planet of B2B advertising and marketing?
Elizabeth Maxson Martinet: Proper now, the trade is fixated on one unsettling query: Will AI exchange entrepreneurs? And recurrent headlines about sweeping layoffs solely gasoline that nervousness. However the actual story isn’t about displacement, it’s about transformation. We’re coming into a second the place AI isn’t eliminating the marketer; it’s increasing what advertising and marketing can do.
AI is creating the situations for entrepreneurs to raise their position, giving them the area to steer with technique, creativity, and measurable enterprise affect somewhat than getting caught in execution.
In 2026, the simplest entrepreneurs shall be “full-stack”: professionals who mix creativity, technical fluency, and AI literacy to maneuver concepts to idea sooner. They’ll know how you can join workflows, write smarter prompts, and iterate with AI to refine concepts till they honestly resonate with their audiences.
How are budgets and methods of working altering – particularly with each entrepreneurs and shoppers feeling the squeeze economically?
Budgets are being stretched, however with higher intention. 2025 was the yr of testing and experimentation: advertising and marketing groups poured money and time into AI to know its potential … Now, 2026 is the yr of proof, not promise.
Entrepreneurs shall be anticipated to indicate tangible ROI—sharper personalisation, sooner content material creation, and measurable progress. Success will come to those that outline what AI ought to clear up [and] construct robust knowledge foundations … transferring past experimentation into actual affect.
2025 was the yr of testing and experimentation … Now, 2026 is the yr of proof, not promise.
What expertise are most in demand – and which do you discover are almost certainly to be lacking?
[A]s this wave of “full-stack” entrepreneurs I alluded to rises, artistic instincts alone gained’t be sufficient, and knowledge with out creativeness will fall flat. Too usually, efficiency knowledge is reviewed solely after a marketing campaign ends; with AI, insights can be found in actual time, enabling entrepreneurs to make use of knowledge to form technique and refine artistic concepts all through execution.
In 2026, probably the most sought-after ability shall be evidence-based creativity—the fusion of AI-driven insights with human instinct. The very best entrepreneurs will harness AI on the outset to information technique, inform artistic path, and establish alternatives earlier than campaigns launch.
They’ll additionally deliver a set of uniquely human gentle expertise that AI can’t replicate, like empathy, lived expertise, sound judgment, and cultural understanding – qualities that permit them to interpret knowledge in context, make nuanced selections, and create work that genuinely resonates. Those that can seamlessly mix perception and creativeness from day one to drive significant connection, engagement, and conversion will lead the pack.
Which content material codecs do you see bringing the perfect outcomes in the intervening time? Which ought to entrepreneurs be paying extra consideration to?
Personalised content material is a should. For years, entrepreneurs have talked about it, and e mail has been the one channel that constantly delivered on that promise—tailor-made presents, well timed nudges, and a way that “this model truly is aware of me.” However the remainder of the shopper journey hasn’t stored tempo. The 1:1 expertise prospects get of their inbox disappears the second they land on an internet site, open an app, or have interaction with assist.
That hole is now closing. 2026 would be the yr entrepreneurs deliver true personalisation to each touchpoint—web site, app, chat, service—turning what was once a lofty ambition into an on a regular basis expectation.
…It doesn’t require an internet site overhaul or an enormous replatform. It requires a “assume large, begin small” method. For instance, on our personal web site, returning prospects who come to log in shouldn’t be greeted with “Study Contentful” content material—they’re already purchased in. That second is a chance to floor new options, useful sources, or coaching tailor-made to the place they’re of their journey.
That is the work AI is engineered for: creating the suitable variants, scaling them intelligently, and releasing groups to focus much less on manufacturing and extra on the strategic pondering that strikes the enterprise ahead.
Do you have got an outrageous prediction, or a secure guess, to share?
In 2026, the largest advertising and marketing disaster gained’t be AI misuse, it’ll be AI overuse. … [T]he pursuit of high-volume output has confirmed that extra content material doesn’t equal higher content material.
This “AI workslop”—generic, low-value messaging—dilutes model id and viewers belief. Even personalised campaigns danger falling flat if AI is used with out intent, treating folks as knowledge factors somewhat than actual prospects. Advertising groups needs to be clear about what position AI performs of their workflows.
For some, AI will deal with mundane duties like translation. For others, AI will function a place to begin for artistic improvement. The hot button is understanding the place the machines ought to cease and the place the people ought to take over. Manufacturers that fail to be disciplined on roles and tasks will spend extra time undoing AI workslop than creating enterprise affect.
In 2026, the largest advertising and marketing disaster gained’t be AI misuse, it’ll be AI overuse.
What’s the one development you would like everybody would cease speaking about? And what needs to be a key space of focus for organisations subsequent yr?
I’d love for the dialog to maneuver past AI as a menace to human relationships. The true worth of AI lies in strengthening human connection, not changing it. Organisations which might be leveraging AI needs to be maintaining people on the centre of each interplay—whether or not with prospects or workers—and nurturing these relationships thoughtfully.
And creativity itself isn’t going away. AI lacks lived expertise, context, and instinct. Advertising is about assembly the second with the suitable story, and I like to consider it not as B2C or B2B, however B2H—Enterprise to Human.
The essential query for subsequent yr isn’t what AI can do, however how we mix it with human instinct to create connections that really feel genuine, private, and constant throughout each touchpoint.
