This morning I was outside playing catch with my son.
One bad bounce, one bobbled catch, and suddenly I was walking back inside with a swollen lip.
Not exactly how I planned to start the day.
It struck me later that it feels a lot like running B2B demand generation in 2026.
You take your hits. You adjust. And then you get back in the game.
Demand generation has never been easy, but it feels like we’ve entered a fundamentally different environment.
The channels that worked five years ago are producing diminishing returns. The channels that worked last year are becoming less predictable. And new AI-powered technologies are changing how buyers discover information—and how they avoid marketers.
Why demand generation feels harder than ever
It’s not just one thing.
It’s several major shifts happening simultaneously.
Markets are saturated. Buyers have more vendors, more content, and more noise competing for their attention than ever before.
Search behavior is changing. Buyers are increasingly asking ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and AI Overviews for answers instead of clicking through traditional search results. If your content isn’t optimized for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), you’re becoming less discoverable every month.
AI is screening outreach. Email assistants summarize messages before people read them. Spam filtering continues to improve. AI-powered call screening means more cold calls never reach a human. Buyers have more tools than ever to protect their attention.
None of this means demand generation is broken.
It just means the playbook has changed.
So what should marketers do?
The answer isn’t to panic or chase every shiny new tactic.
It’s to become more adaptable.
Keep testing.
Double down on measurement.
Accept that yesterday’s best practice may become tomorrow’s average performance.
And don’t abandon tactics simply because they’re “old.”
Some of the most effective demand generation programs we’re seeing today involve highly human experiences:
- Executive dinners
- Peer roundtables
- Customer communities
- Industry events
- Workshops
- Small-group conversations
Why?
Because AI is making digital interactions more automated—and authentic human conversations more valuable.
At the same time, invest in making your digital presence AI-discoverable.
That means creating content that clearly answers buyer questions, demonstrates expertise, and is structured in ways AI systems can easily understand and reference.
AEO isn’t replacing SEO.
It’s becoming another requirement alongside it.
The marketers who win won’t have perfect campaigns.
They’ll have resilient ones.
The organizations that succeed over the next several years won’t be the ones waiting for the market to stabilize.
They’ll be the ones constantly learning, testing, adapting, and combining new AI-era tactics with timeless relationship-building.
Because demand generation today feels a bit like taking a baseball to the face.
It stings.
But the game isn’t over.
You dust yourself off, make the adjustment, and get ready for the next pitch.
