Jon Miller’s Predictions for B2B Go-To-Market in 2026
Admin-FVYH1 on 26 January, 2026 | No Comments
# Jon Miller’s Predictions for B2B Go-To-Market in 2026
As we step into 2026, the landscape of B2B go-to-market strategies is poised for significant transformation, driven primarily by the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across various marketing and sales operations. Jon Miller, a renowned figure in the industry and co-founder of Marketo, shares his insights on what the future holds for B2B marketing, emphasizing the role of AI in shaping marketing strategies, technological advancements, and the evolving nature of work.
## Marketing to Agents, Not Just Humans
A key prediction for 2026 is the shift towards marketing to AI agents, in addition to human stakeholders. As buying journeys become increasingly mediated by AI, marketers will need to deliver structured information that AI systems can process, while also focusing on human experiences and relationships. This approach, termed “from martech to marketing to tech,” involves treating AI agents as integral parts of the buying committee.
## AI Transformation of Legacy SaaS Martech
While AI is expected to revolutionize marketing technology, this transformation won’t happen overnight. The prediction is that AI will reshape martech over the next 2-5 years, with 2026 being a year of hybrid experimentation rather than wholesale transformation. Enterprises will likely adopt AI-powered solutions incrementally, with SaaS platforms coexisting with agentic AI and human oversight remaining crucial.
## Composable Stacks Becoming Mainstream
By 2030, composable martech stacks, which are built from modular layers rather than a single vendor suite, are expected to become mainstream. However, in 2026, fewer than 20% of B2B teams will adopt fully composable architectures. The transition will be gradual, with teams likely adopting a “composable lite” approach, where data warehouses serve as a source of truth, and core platforms are surrounded by bespoke mini-apps.
## Context Engineering Emerging as a Recognized Practice
Given the importance of operational context for AI systems to be useful, “context engineering” will emerge as a recognized practice across GTM operations teams. This involves systematically capturing and structuring knowledge that makes AI useful, rather than generic, and connecting AI to the same data and knowledge sources that human teams rely on.
## Reasoning AI Replacing Rules-Based Automation
Reasoning models, which can reason through problems, understand context, and test hypotheses, will begin replacing rules-based logic in marketing and revenue operations. This shift will start with data management, lead scoring, and journey orchestration, enabling more adaptive and resilient automations.
## Journey Orchestration Shifting from Rules to AI Playlists
The promise of 1:1 personalization will finally start to be fulfilled through AI-powered journey orchestration. This approach dynamically sequences actions based on real-time signals, helping AI drive more effectiveness, not just efficiency. The concept of “playlists” will replace traditional rules-based personalization, with AI curating personalized sequences of actions to move each buyer forward.
## AI Inbox Gatekeepers Turning Email Marketing into Earned Media
As AI gatekeepers enforce relevance and value in email inboxes, email marketing will shift from “owned” media to earned media. Marketers will need to focus on sending fewer, more valuable emails, optimizing for AI readers, and measuring what truly matters—actions that indicate real engagement.
## Taste, Trust, and Accountability Becoming Antidotes to AI Slop
With AI making content creation nearly free, the result is often “AI slop”—content that offers nothing despite being superficially personalized. Buyers will use the source as a proxy to decide what’s worth their time, whitelisting voices they trust and ignoring the rest. Three attributes will separate signal from noise: taste (knowing what’s worthwhile), trust (the relationship built with the audience), and accountability (the willingness to stake one’s reputation on what is shared).
## Public Intent Signals Becoming Commoditized
Generic signals based on public data will become commoditized within the next 24 months, with competitive advantage shifting to proprietary signals, signal combinations, and timing precision. First-party signals, signal combination, and timing precision will be key to generating “alpha” or the extra return that comes from information others don’t have.
## Where Martech is Heading Beyond 2026
The future of marketing platforms is signal-based orchestration, where platforms ingest signals from across the data ecosystem, decide the optimal sequence of actions for each account, person, and agent, and orchestrate execution across channels. This will involve three layers: Data, Decisioning, and Delivery, with much of B2B buying happening while buyers are researching anonymously, requiring the architecture to handle account-level signals and actions.
## Rapid-Fire Mini-Predictions
Several mini-predictions highlight the evolving landscape:
– Executives will realize pipeline problems are often positioning problems.
– Attribution modeling will decline due to the complexity of buying journeys.
– AI experimentation budgets will drive a boom in AI pilots.
– AI agents will take over many customer support interactions.
– Complete photoshoots and videos will be generated by AI.
## AI-Driven Uncertainty and Preparation
AI-driven disruption and global uncertainty will intensify through 2026. Leaders should focus on building resilience through efficiency, enabling people by teaching them to use AI effectively, using AI for upskilling, and rethinking team structure and management roles. The goal is to navigate the uncertainty by being prepared and adaptable, rather than trying to predict every outcome.
In conclusion, 2026 will be a year of significant change in the B2B go-to-market landscape, with AI at the forefront of this transformation. By understanding these predictions and trends, marketers and leaders can better navigate the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, positioning their organizations for success in a rapidly evolving world.