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A Year of Growth and Expanded Responsibilities
B2B marketers in the UK had a strong year: 83% reported revenue growth, and 89% met or exceeded pipeline or growth goals. Most notably, 70% said they contributed directly to that growth through marketing initiatives, a clear sign that marketing is taking a front seat in business performance. This momentum is also reflected in mindset, with 97% having a positive outlook on the success of their current marketing efforts.
Growth brought bigger roles too, as nearly three-quarters of UK B2B marketers took on new responsibilities in the past year. While role expansion is sometimes associated with cost-cutting, this trend appears more aligned with growth enablement. Marketers today aren’t just taking on more, they’re focusing on what moves the needle. They’re fueling revenue growth and expanding their influence across the organization.
Even with this strong foundation, our research revealed five key areas where UK marketers could go even further in 2026.
5 Opportunities for B2B Growth in 2026
1. Balancing Short-Term Goals and Long-Term Growth
Despite strong growth, B2B marketers and their organizations still face meaningful challenges. When asked about the biggest obstacles to balancing brand-building with demand generation, the top response was “pressure to deliver short-term results over long-term growth,” cited by 39% of UK marketers.
Many marketers face pressure from near-term revenue targets, quarterly board expectations, and other short-cycle demands. This pressure hits hardest where long-term thinking matters most. For marketers at companies with low brand awareness, lengthy sales cycles, or that need to generate more net-new logos with high lifetime value (and low churn), short-term focus can push them toward quick-hit tactics that can undermine long-term growth.
Depending on the challenge, consider these data-driven approaches:
- Low brand awareness?
Try to get data to better understand where your awareness is weakest so you can create a brand-building plan that is targeted and aligned with your demand goals. For example, you can use search data (including Gen AI search) and intent data to see where your competitors are winning in awareness and purchase intent. Then plan to use channels like programmatic, CTV, and social to make an impact. - Long sales cycles?
Audit the sales process to identify sticking points, then calculate potential revenue opportunities from shortening the cycle with investments in tactics like content syndication, social advertising, ROI calculators, and BDRs that help buyers move forward. - Need net-new customers with a high lifetime value?
Work with data partners to model your best customers and then identify prospects with higher potential LTV, and estimate the long-term lift of a strategy designed to acquire and retain them. Then create your integrated plan, using the same data to reach your target prospects across media to have a bigger impact.
With the right marketing insights and partners to support these strategies, you can paint the full picture of how marketing can drive both short and long-term value. Data-driven marketers will have a stronger case, and their executive team will have more confidence.
2. Leveraging better quality data
UK B2B marketers are most likely to cite “lack of high-quality data” when asked what their most critical challenges are in leveraging data effectively. This challenge is even more common than challenges related to meeting data privacy and compliance requirements, which are known to be more rigorous in the UK and Europe compared to other regions.
Top challenges in leveraging data effectively
(Respondents selected up to three)
Additionally, only 39% of UK B2B marketers responded “Yes, and it’s proven in market” when asked if they feel they are using the right data to convert their audiences. More are likely to respond, “Mostly, it’s driving impact in our marketing programs.”
Only 39% of UK marketers say the data they are using is proven in market to convert audiences. There’s work to do, and opportunity to gain.
The good news is that UK B2B marketers are aware that they need higher-quality data. One area they are focusing on is gaining access to more first-party data, which was by far the most popular response, at 63%, to the question, “Which of the following are you increasing the use of in the coming year?”
While increasing the scale of your first-party data is valuable, it has its limitations. Focusing only on first-party data makes it difficult to reach net-new prospects, limiting your ability to reach more of your total addressable market. Since first-party data is collected on company-owned properties, such as a website, it generally has fewer data elements available than second- or third-party data, limiting opportunities for analytics and personalization. It is also likely to be skewed more to current customers, and thus not a complete solution for market expansion strategies like new breaking into new countries or industries.
As you expand the collection of first-party data, you can add two more strategies to gain access to the quality data you need:
- Enrich your first party data:
Make the most of your owned data by enriching it with more data elements, resolving identities across multiple internal systems, and connecting activity that might otherwise remain anonymous. Partners like Anteriad support this process by helping marketers unify, segment, and activate their first-party data and combine it with high-quality third-party data to expand reach. This creates a more complete picture of your audience, unlocking smarter activation and more precise campaign execution. - Expand with second- and third-party data:
Use quality second- and third-party data to reach net-new prospects and more of the total addressable market. Test second- and third-party data partners that deliver net-new insights across known and new audiences to find the best fit.
Many marketers are still unsure of how to use intent data, psychographic data, and even firmographic data. With only 40% of UK B2B marketers using intent data, there is still an opportunity for most to test this valuable data to reach in-market buyers. Make sure you work with partners that offer a wide range of privacy-compliant data types that can improve personalization, increase the likelihood of response, and lead to more efficient campaign spend.
Data types used to target audiences
(Respondents could select all that apply.)
3. Strategic use of AI
In the UK, 40% of B2B marketers say AI helps them meet the expectations of their evolving role, while 48% credit it with helping them grow professionally. Many also point to efficiency gains as they explore AI’s potential in their day-to-day work.
The ways that AI is reshaping the daily role for marketers
(Respondents could select all that apply.)
Ideally, AI will be integrated into B2B marketing in ways that increase each marketer’s ability to get work done effectively and gain insights. Looking ahead, B2B marketers in the UK cite “leveraging AI and emerging technologies” as the biggest opportunity to grow or improve in their role as marketers.
Where marketers see the biggest growth opportunities in their role
(Respondents selected up to three)
Unicorn budgeting... If given extra budget this year, B2B marketers are most excited to invest in AI and other innovative technologies. By embracing these innovations, marketers will be able to stay ahead of expectations even as they continue to expand. For example, as AI tools gain further traction, marketers will get new insights from their data, optimize campaigns more seamlessly, and measure outcomes more effectively.
The real path to success is to adopt a test-and-learn culture that allows you and your team to reap both efficiency and strategic AI benefits. AI is advancing very quickly, and even the most innovative marketers will find that they are constantly faced with new ways to use it, from data analysis and performance analytics to content creation and personalization. Teams need to have a process for evaluating, testing, and either embracing, changing, or moving on from any technology investments. Not every tool or advanced feature will be a fit for every team, but you should be open to exploration and growth, constantly comparing new options to what’s currently in place.
Having a strong testing culture ensures you can move quickly, adapt confidently, and stay ahead of the competition. As AI evolves, so must your team’s ability to evaluate, experiment, and optimize with speed.
4. Increasing use of personalization
After AI, UK B2B marketers say delivering seamless personalized experiences is the area they’d be most excited to invest in with additional budget this year. One place that budget could be directed is by hiring personalization partners. While 43% of UK marketers say website and landing page personalization is one of the most effective channels for achieving their goals—just behind email and search—only 29% currently work with third-party personalization specialists, compared to 32% in the US and 42% in APAC.
Here’s what marketers chose as the channels most important to goal achievement:
(Respondents selected up to three)
As B2B marketers focus on collecting higher-quality data, increasing their use of first-party data, and incorporating intent data, they can create greater opportunities to scale personalization across multiple channels with or without a partner. For example, you could combine intent signals, firmographic data, and buying group role to create a targeted LinkedIn campaign with case studies featuring companies with similar market, budget, and requirements. Personalization could also be used to craft a custom email series that answers questions that similar prospects have asked.
5. Forge strategic partnerships
The best outsource or partner relationships aren’t transactions—they’re collaborations that fuel innovation, accelerate growth, and help you get in front of your next customer.
Globally, B2B marketers at growing companies are more likely to work with agencies and other partners than those at non-growth companies. These marketers outsource a broad variety of marketing activities, including search engine marketing, social media, programmatic advertising, ABM campaigns, and content syndication. Bringing in a partner can deliver both tactical and strategic value: as more marketers take on new responsibilities, adding external resources can help ease the burden of additional manual work while also supercharging growth.
B2B marketers can not only get access to additional people, but also to new data, technologies, and strategic approaches. Partners can help marketers skip some of the “learning curve” by suggesting tried-and-true approaches that can deliver value much more quickly than if the team had to find the best path through trial and error.
Whether for strategic growth, tactical efficiency, or both, the best relationships are true partnerships. From a team that delivers and optimizes multi-channel campaigns to a partner that uses AI to deliver critical audience analysis, partners work best with marketers who are transparent, available for collaboration, and interested in changing and growing.
