What is B2B Marketing? Strategy Guide for 2026

Qualitative research was conducted through over 39 interviews with B2B software marketers through G2’s AI Custom Research (AICR). The vendors who win in the era of AI-powered search will be the ones who invest in the trust infrastructure that AI depends on. Respondents reported measurable declines in organic search traffic — some significant — while LLM-sourced traffic ticked up.

Anyone in the organization can view past orders and purchase the same inventory again (provided they have the correct permission level), allowing them to validate and approve new purchases quickly. “Due to the nature of the products they sell, B2B businesses often have a smaller pool of potential customers than B2C businesses. Business customers compare several options before choosing a supplier.

Technically, it's a multi-stakeholder, multi-stage decision cycle that blends individual research with group consensus. The way companies buy software, services, and tools has changed more in the last five years than in the previous twenty. Thanks to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, B2B buyers’ behavior is changing rapidly—a problem exacerbated by the growing need for virtual interactions and purchases. Additionally, B2B purchases are often more expensive and involve more significant quantities of goods than B2C purchases, hence is more risk involved. This means many B2B consumers are beginning the buying process based on referrals.

Creating a Shortlist of Vendors

Automate your sequences with Apollo's AI-powered engagement platform. 86% of B2B purchases stall during the buying process. Teams that master this trio close faster and win more. “They will build AI-augmented roles that give sellers more capacity to help customers realize value, advance decisions, and achieve better outcomes.”

About G2G2 is the world's largest and most trusted data source for B2B software, helping businesses reach their peak potential by enabling confident buying and go-to-market decisions. Qualitative research was conducted via 39 interviews with B2B software marketers through G2's AI Custom Research (AICR). Software review sites are the trust layer in AI searchBuyers trust AI chatbot recommendations enough to change their purchasing decisions, but citations from software review sites are the signal that makes them confident enough to act. AI chatbots are deciding which software vendors get consideredIn the answer economy, buyers have moved from reference to inference, leveraging AI to synthesize the research process and return a shortlist.

Understanding the B2B Buying Process

Build demos and agents that turn curious buyers to closed won TrustRadius reports that business buyers highly prefer self-service options, with 100% expressing a strong preference for such options. To complicate matters, these groups are armed with only a limited amount of information, around four to five key pieces, which they must use to navigate an ever-growing range of available options. While this influx of information can improve the buying experience, it also poses a challenge for B2B businesses. Wholeheartedly embracing the hybrid model as the go-to approach has given customers the freedom to choose the hybrid or digital channels that best suit their buying journey. Picture this – sellers using speech analytics to pick up on subtle verbal cues from B2B customers or analyzing video footage to clarify complex queries.

Intent data tools address this by identifying which companies are on your site and what they are researching, even when no individual has identified themselves. The B2B buying process is the series of steps an organization goes through to identify a business problem, research potential solutions, evaluate vendors, and complete a purchase. It has become nearly effortless for buyers to do their research on new solutions independently due to the easy availability of quality information through digital channels.

It's like creating a wish list for your perfect solution, but with a lot more detail and precision. It's your starting lineup, but you can always make trades as you learn more about each vendor's strengths and weaknesses. They might offer more personalized service or innovative solutions. You might think more options are better, but it can lead to analysis paralysis. It's where you narrow down your options and make informed decisions about potential suppliers.

• We help companies implement a systematic approach to grow leads and revenue.
• Your ultimate goal should be to move to an omnichannel approach for customer service and support, which means integrating all of your service and sales teams and channels.
• Instead, aim to identify the option that best addresses your needs and offers the most value for your organization.
• Now that you’ve established the technical specifications for the product, it’s time to identify potential suppliers.
• LinkedIn’s report suggested that vendors can meet these requirements by boosting customer advocacy approaches.

Use domain search to pull every relevant contact at the target company, then prioritize by role. Forrester and Gartner research consistently shows "no decision" is the most common outcome of a stalled B2B cycle. Even though the journey is non-linear, most purchases pass through six recognizable stages. Drake meme showing spray-and-pray outreach rejected in favor of accurate Tomba data

Internal and external triggers play crucial roles in sparking the problem recognition and need identification phase. It's when businesses realize they've got a challenge to solve or an opportunity to seize. By understanding these stages, you can align your sales approach b2b buying process with the client's journey, addressing their specific needs and concerns at each step. Here, the customer evaluates different options, considering factors like supplier capabilities, reputation, warranties, and price.

A customer portal is like the digital front door to your business, a centralized platform that serves as the starting point for a frictionless buying experience, including flexible payment options and rapid credit decisioning. “Technology enables firms across the industry to better innovate and provide more digital and automated solutions.” Our unique insights are grounded in annual surveys of more than 700,000 consumers, business leaders, and technology leaders worldwide; rigorous and objective research methodologies, including Forrester Wave™ evaluations; and the shared wisdom of our clients. Forrester’s Buyer Insights research is designed not just to track changes in buyer behavior but to help teams apply those insights across GTM strategy, messaging, and engagement.

With a detailed map, you can tailor content and interactions to match prospects' journey stages. You can proactively address these obstacles before they cost you potential customers by identifying them early. Journey mapping reveals friction points where prospects might abandon their buying process.

They understand that the decision is never made in a vacuum and build their approach around that reality. An economic outlook — inside their company, their industry, and the broader economy — that colors every conversation about risk. Most sales and marketing models start with a person — a buyer persona, a decision-maker, a champion. While the two approaches intersect on a few levels, you need to think from a different lens to strategize for each approach.

But if you think that’s the whole game, you’re missing where real decisions take shape. Interactive demos reveal which features prospects explored, where they spent time, which stakeholders engaged, and where they dropped off. Dynamic tokens automatically swap prospect information without creating separate versions.