5 B2B marketing rules you’ll regret ignoring in 2026

Most B2B marketers are still running 2023 plays. Cold blasts, bloated SEO budgets, and "login-and-figure-it-out" SaaS tools.

That playbook is dead.

Here’s what’s replacing it:

1. Quality >volume
Old game: blast 100k cold emails, hope for 100 replies.
New game: hyper-targeted outreach to your exact TAM, with a no-brainer offer.
Example: We sent a $105 Amazon gift card (yes, the odd number gets more attention) + 10,000 free words on ClickFlow. Our leads? Higher quality, half the work.

2. Push-button marketing
People don’t want another dashboard; they want results. Tools like Cursor now recommend changes and implement them for you. The “do it for me” era has arrived.

3. SEO is now SEVO (Search Everywhere Optimization)
Search is no longer one-channel. Google traffic is tanking. AI overviews are stealing 30–40% of clicks. Instead of fighting it, shift your strategy.
Optimize for YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, and App Stores.

4. Speed > strategy
AI is changing the game faster than most companies can react.
If you’re not building AI-powered workflows, someone else is…and they’ll 100x your results. We’re building agentic systems that auto-coach our team and enrich inbound leads with Perplexity. That’s the new baseline.

5. Creator-led B2B is real
LinkedIn posts now build $7M pipelines.
I’ve had public companies pay five figures for one video. Content costs are high—but influencer deals are offsetting them. And the pipeline you build compounds.

Here’s your Monday plan:

• If you’re a $10M+ org: build an AI-forward team to experiment and scale wins fast.

• If you’re a CMO/founder: champion AI from the top—and hire for curiosity.
  Ask: “How much are you spending on AI tools personally?” If the answer is $0, it tells you everything.

B2B marketing just compressed 3 years into 6 months. You have 12 months max before this new meta becomes saturated.

To moving fast in B2B,
Eric Siu

P.S.

1 - If you want to grow faster using the power of AI, my agency Single Grain is offering free marketing plans to Leveling Up newsletter subscribers, check it out here.
2 - We’re hiring AI-forward performance ad creative strategists, AI-forward SEOs and paid media people, AI short form creators, AI automation interns, and more.. If you’re interested, apply at our Careers page.
3 - We launched ClickFlow to help automate and scale SEO. We’re giving away 10,000 words for free - sign up for the waitlist at the link.
4 - Interested in creating 1:1 personalized LinkedIn ads in minutes instead of weeks? Sign up for the Karrot.ai waitlist.
5 - For more in-depth marketing content, check out my Leveling Up YouTube channel
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