Highlights
- AI-washing fades away as teams demand proof of real machine learning
- The forced push for “authenticity” loses power and originality becomes the differentiator
- Static personas decline as real-time behavioral intelligence becomes standard
- Vanity personalization drops and intent-based adaptability takes over
- The obsession with perfect attribution slows as blended insights guide decisions
- Third-party cookie dependence ends as trust and first-party data fuel growth
- Quick AI shortcuts and volume-driven content fade as quality and credibility win
Introduction
Let’s be honest, B2B marketing feels a bit chaotic right now. AI is flipping
our workflows upside down, data is getting smarter (but also messier), and
buyers are doing their homework long before they ever talk to us.
With the ground constantly shifting, you have to ask: Which of today’s
‘must-do’ trends are actually just passing fads?
We didn’t want to guess, so we asked the people in the trenches, product
marketers, revenue leaders, and GTM experts. They told us what’s fading out
and what will actually matter in 2026. The verdict? Less hype, more
substance. It’s time to cut the noise and focus on real connection.
Here’s Our Expert Panel
- Erik Mansur
- Aaron Leeder
- Mike Kolman
- Nicole Quick
- Everett Kimball
- Jean Fajardo Pires
- Brice Myers
- Michelle Campanella
- Amanda Verdino
- Chloe Schnur
- Edie Shimel
#1 Erik Mansur
Teams buying
AI-powered tools without looking under the hood first. Lots of SaaS
solutions saw serious growth in 2025 by claiming AI bonafides. In 2026,
marketing leaders will start asking more detailed questions of these tools
to suss out if it’s “real” machine learning, or just a whitelabeled set of
ChatGPT prompts.
Author Bio
Erik Mansur is the Head of Product Marketing at Ziflow, where he leads
content, customer, social/influencer, and product marketing. With 20+ years
of experience across product, marketing, and global operations, he helps
agencies and brands streamline creative collaboration. You can find Erik
over
LinkedIn</a >.
#2 Aaron Leeder
Probably the
LinkedIn posting obsession with “authenticity.”Not because it doesn’t
matter, but because it’s been overused into meaninglessness.Everyone’s
“authentic” now. Every brand is “human.” Every post is “real talk.”The real
differentiator next year won’t be authenticity. It’ll be originality. The
courage to say something true that no one else is saying, not just something
that sounds relatable.
Author Bio
Aaron Leeder is the VP of Partnerships & Alliances at Pavilion, where he
leads strategic partner relationships and alliance growth initiatives.Get in
touch with Aaron over
LinkedIn</a >.
#3 Mike Kolman
The new GTM trend: It’s no longer about breaking silos – it’s about
breaking assumptions.</b >
Static, assumption-based personas had a good run… back when buyers followed a neatly drawn funnel and lived happily inside the CRM. Today? Their signals are scattered across ads, websites, product usage, social, community. Bringing together structured and unstructured data to truly understand your customers and prospects is the next step in the evolution that is “Personas”. As marketing and AI collide, personas are becoming living, breathing profiles that update in real time based on what customers actually do, want, and need – and not what we “guesstimated” in a workshop months ago. And when you market to real behavior instead of hypothetical humans, you get higher conversions, faster sales cycles, and GTM strategies powered by data, not opinions. As a GTM Leader and Product Marketer, this unlocks the ability to deliver hyper-personalized messaging and relevant event experiences far beyond Tier 1 markets, bringing that same precision to a truly global stage.
Author Bio
Mike Kolman is Senior Manager – Product Marketing, Commerce Cloud EMEA at Salesforce, driving GTM strategy and thought leadership across EMEA. Public speaker with 7+ years’ SaaS experience, mentoring teams globally. You can follow Mike over
LinkedIn</a >.
#4 Nicole Quick
The “AI Washing” phase fades and is replaced with measurable, embedded intelligence. And Vanity Personalization fades and it’s not about names or locations anymore, it’s about real-time adaptability driven by data and intent.
Author Bio
Nicole Quick is Director of Product Marketing at Contentstack, leading GTM
strategy, customer marketing, and analyst relations. An award-winning SaaS
marketing leader, she scales PMM organizations that drive ARR growth,
adoption, and industry recognition.You can find Nicole over
LinkedIn</a >.
#5 Everett Kimball
I think
attribution obsession will fade next year. Every marketer wants to prove
ROI, but the quest for perfect attribution will fade due to diminishing
returns. It will shift from perfect attribution to reliable insights using
blended measurements as the evolving digital landscape is a team sport.
(edited)
Author Bio
Everett Kimball is the VP of Global Revenue Operations at SailPoint, leading
strategy and execution across the full GTM engine from lead to renewal. He
drives operational alignment, data integrity, and scalable, predictable
growth. Follow Everett over
LinkedIn</a >.
#6 Jean Fajardo Pires
Third-Party Cookies
With third-party cookies going away, relationships become the new currency
of marketing. Privacy should not be viewed as an obstacle to overcome but
the new beginning of the future. The difficult part will be building direct
relationships through trust and actual value instead of by tracking
invisibly. The brands that build authentic experiences based on first-party
data will dominate.
Author Bio
Jean Fajardo Pires is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at TOTVS,
contributing to strategic product positioning and market impact.Connect with
Jean over
LinkedIn</a >.
#7 Brice Myers
Last-Click Attribution Obsession:
For years, marketers have lived and died by last-click attribution giving
all the credit for a sale to the very last ad someone clicked before buying.
With privacy updates, cookie deprecation, and more fragmented customer
journeys, last-click data just doesn’t tell the full story anymore. In 2026,
the smartest brands will shift toward incrementality testing, modeled
attribution, and media mix modeling to understand what truly drives
conversions rather than what’s just visible. It’s less about tracking every
click and more about proving real influence across the funnel.
Author Bio
Brice Myers is Sr. Manager of Customer Marketing at Wunderkind, bringing 15
years of digital marketing experience to elevate customer engagement and
brand performance. Follow Brice over
LinkedIn</a >.
#8 Michelle Campanella
“I think (and
hope) that the era of ‘look what our product can do’ ins finally dying next
year. With AI making all product information super accessible and easily
comprehensive, marketers will only win if they speak directly to customer
priorities, not customer features.
Author Bio
Michelle Campanella is Sr. Director of Global Revenue Enablement at
Azul, where she drives high-impact learning programs that elevate
performance and accelerate business outcomes.Get in touch with Michelle over
LinkedIn</a >.
#9 Amanda Verdino
A B2B marketing
trend that’s poised to fade next year is treating customer marketing and
advocacy as a side quest.
Go-to-market</a >
teams are increasingly prioritizing this work, and the marketers who are
skilled at customer relationship-building, storytelling, and campaign
orchestration are going to prove once and for all that customer marketing is
central — not peripheral — to GTM success.
Author Bio
Amanda Verdino is Director of Content Marketing at Forma, leveraging 15+
years of B2B expertise to craft audience-centric content strategies and
narratives that drive pipeline and elevate brand reputation. Follow Amanda
over
LinkedIn.
#10 Chloe Schnur
The shortcut era is going to start fading. AI isn’t going away, but blasting
out content or chasing quick hits isn’t a strategy. Companies and brands
that pair thoughtful AI use with authentic storytelling and audience trust
will lead the way in 2026.
Author Bio
Chloe Schnur is Content Marketing Manager at Fastbreak AI, leveraging her
background in sports, digital marketing, and social media to drive
engagement and strategic growth. Connect with Chloe over
LinkedIn</a >.
#11 Edie Shimel
The biggest trend
fading next year is treating PLG and sales-led as separate universes. From
what I’m seeing in the GTM systems we’re building at Sybill, the teams that
win fastest are the ones unifying user signals, outbound timing, and ops
into one integrated motion.
Author Bio
Edie Shimel is Growth Ops Lead at Sybill, where she drives systems and
strategy across GTM operations, CRM, analytics and lifecycle frameworks.
Connect with Edie over
LinkedIn.
Conclusion
The trends fading in 2026 all have one thing in common: They were easy but not effective. Marketing leaders are demanding more and more proof behind AI, more relevance in personalization, more reality in measurement, and more genuine value for customers. B2B programs that win next year will:- Understand real buyer behavior
- Bridge product and marketing intelligence
- Prioritize customers over channels
- Create content people actually trust
- Build growth on relationships, not shortcuts.
UnboundB2B
8 December 2025
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