Why 2026 is About Discipline, Not Disruption, for B2B Marketers in EMEA

As ever, before diving in, it’s helpful to get a feel for the lay of the land. If we look across Europe, growth stagnated in 2025 and forecasts suggest only modest recovery during the year ahead. (We’re dealing with global trade tensions, persistent inflation, high financing costs and countless geo-political issues.) Given the circumstances, business trading conditions are challenging, CFOs are concerned by controlling costs, marketing budgets are generally flat, and outcome-orientation is the order of the day. At present, the real purchasing power of marketing spend is declining so, clichéd as it is to say, we’re going to need to continue doing more with less. But humans are resourceful when backed against a wall, and scarcity can be great for sharpening focus.

ABX is the Central Operating System for Revenue

This is where ABX comes in. Tasked with driving pipeline this year, I’d be placing all my chips on an account-based go-to-market strategy, funnelling precious time and resources towards high-propensity, best-fit brands. I’d be building a list of existing customers with the most headroom for cross and upsell, while calibrating net new acquisition towards growth verticals where we have the most compelling proof points. If you’ve already got a track record for driving value for a particular company, then it stands to reason you can do likewise for other firms in their domain.

There’s also an important distinction between ABM and ABX. The former, fair or not, creates a perception of being the preserve of marketing, and can elicit scepticism from other areas of the business, whereas the latter provides the foundation for a proper cross-functional operating system that gets marketing, sales and customer success onto the same page. A famous Lyndon Johnson quote (about J. Edgar Hoover) feels apt here: “Better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in.” True alignment requires commitment from CMOs and CROs to institute a robust ‘one team’ culture, demanding that codified internal engagement processes and a joint success measurement framework are non-negotiables. This’ll also help keep your feet dry.

Brand is More Vital Than Ever – But You Need to Measure it for Internal Credibility 

More broadly, if we think about the anatomy of a sale spanning ‘brand’, ‘demand’ and ‘revenue’ activities, then much greater attention must be given towards meaningfully balancing and connecting these stages. It’s generally accepted that long-term brand activity creates mental availability for buyers, placing your offering top of mind when they explore options to soothe a pain point, thus driving long-term pipeline. The challenge has always been measuring this in a way that your finance overlords find credible. Marketing teams need to build top of funnel measurement muscle to position brand initiatives as value-adding as opposed to cost centres, by running regular brand lift studies, measuring share of voice and correlating brand engagement with things like pipeline velocity and conversion rate.

Powering Through the ‘Messy Middle’

It’s Not Over Once a Sale is Made

Once a deal is over the line, marketing should also be thinking about post-sale. This relates to questions like, what can we do to help support smooth onboarding, what does a longer term account expansion plan look like, and how can we leverage existing customer advocacy to drive future growth? We often talk about alignment between marketing and sales, but much less about our relationship with the customer success function. Industry estimates suggest that customer acquisition costs for net new logos can be as much as seven times higher than expanding footprint with existing customers. Win rates tend to be considerably higher in this context too, especially since buying committees are generally known, while friction is reduced thanks to legal and compliance issues having already been ironed out. There’s also a lot to be said about establishing a regular dialogue with customer champions and arming them with collateral about how you’re adding value for their business, and getting them to do your bidding within their wider organization. As per Michael LeBoeuf, noted business author: “A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.” The funny thing is, you might need to spend some time helping them understand why they should be satisfied.

Data is the New Oil and Refining it is More Critical Than Ever

I’m over a thousand words into this piece and have yet to touch on the disruptive and transformative impact of AI. This is probably the most heavily debated topic on the planet today, and a movable feast that’s profoundly reshaping how data capture works in B2B marketing. The ongoing decline in website visits is driving a reduction in direct form fills and gated conversions, along with less behavioral tracking data being available. This is compounded by third-party cookie deprecation, limiting cross-site tracking and retargeting, amplified by privacy-first browsers and GDPR regulations across EMEA. This shift isn’t a bad thing in my mind because it’s forcing the marketing community to get back to basics and abandon several lazy habits we’ve fallen into. For instance, gated content was never actually a direct proxy for intent or buyer readiness. Sometimes, people just want to casually read the content without being instantaneously pounced upon by an excitable sales rep. Many analysts now talk about needing to pivot towards a first-party data strategy, but this has always been the gold standard. We just deprioritized it in favor of cheaper and easier approaches.

“What’s in it for me?”

Moving forward, value-exchange experiences are going to be vital. Sure, you can have my details, but not for a re-hashed PDF. Give me immediate utility through an ROI calculator, maturity assessment, or solution configurator. People also expect friction-free experiences online, so think about progressive profiling, which means asking for an absolute minimum level of information – such as an email address – and then adding fields over time. Community and event engagement are also valuable weapons in a marketer’s arsenal. People in our industry are inquisitive, always on the lookout for valuable information, with a desire to engage with like-minded peers. Owned communities, round tables and events, combined with insightful subject matter experts and trusted influencers will act as a magnet and help establish your brand as authoritative and differentiated.

To Recap…

As we step into 2026, let’s resist the temptation to rip up the playbook and instead double down on what works, while sharpening for what’s next. ABX is the operating system that unites marketing, sales, and customer success around outcomes that matter. Brand still matters, but it needs measurement muscle. Demand needs to evolve beyond vanity metrics and navigate through the messy middle. Post-sale isn’t an afterthought; it’s the growth engine. AI and privacy shifts are rewriting the rules, but that’s not a crisis, it’s a catalyst to abandon lazy habits and get back to fundamentals – earning trust, creating value, and capturing data the right way.

I feel less grumpy now I’ve got all that off my chest. Larry, get back in your box.