2026 State of Marketing Survey

[u/JonODonovan]

In 2023, less than half of marketers were using AI in their day-to-day work.

Today? 7 in 10.

That's one of the biggest shifts we've tracked across 3 years of the State of Marketing Survey with responses from real marketers across r/marketing, r/advertising, and beyond. No PR firm, no paid panel, just people answering honestly.

A few more things that changed since 2023:

• Remote work climbed from 39% to 48% of respondents, while "return to office" made headlines everywhere else
• AI use specifically for content/copywriting jumped from 43% to 62%
• Lead generation is eating every other marketing priority (32% → 42% B2B and B2C naming it their top focus)
• Survey participation grew as well from 289 people in 2023, 428 last year (+48%) meaning more data, more confidence in the numbers

We're gearing up for the 2026 edition, and this time we're going deeper on AI: which tools, which workflows, how deep it really goes.

Want your team's reality reflected in this year's benchmark data? The survey takes about 10-20 minutes. https://lookingformarketing.com/survey

What's one question you wish we asked that we haven't?

Previous year's survey data can be found here: 2025, 2024, and 2023.

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[u/alone_in_the_light]

It seems to be very focused on some form of Promotion (advertising, content, copywriting, social media). At least for me, it would be interesting to see a broader picture of marketing like product marketing, international marketing, marketing strategy, and marketing analytics. But it's much harder to get that type of information.

[u/JonODonovan → u/alone_in_the_light]

Marketing strategy and analytics is there! But yes, product marketing should be added.

[u/alone_in_the_light → u/JonODonovan]

Maybe it's there somewhere that I can't see. Like I said, a lot seems to be about Promotion. Not to segmentation, targeting, positioning, statistical software, models and measurements, and other elements I expect from strategy and analytics. I don't do copywriting, advertising, content creation, social media, lead generation, etc.

Marketing research can be another one, as I see many marketers reducing research to search using AI.

[u/ExtremeAmount1579]

It's interesting to see how much AI adoption has surged among marketers. I'd love to know more about how many of those using AI for lead generation are seeing actual results, like booked calls or sales conversions. A question about ROI from AI tools could really highlight what's working and what's not.

[u/JonODonovan]

Few more trends:

B2B:

• AI adoption is outpacing B2C: 52% → 77% since 2023, vs. 36% → 57% for B2C. B2B is now the more AI-forward group, not just tech/software specifically.
• ABM usage more than tripled from a small base: 30% → 38% (already meaningful in 2023) and account-based marketing keeps gaining ground as a real budget line, not a buzzword.
• LinkedIn dominance isn't just strong, it's a lock: ~66% of B2B marketers list it as a platform they use, holding steady across all 3 years while everything else stays in single digits.
• Lead gen focus intensified more than any other priority: 36% → 47% naming it their top priority, B2B pipeline pressure is real and growing.

B2C:

• AI adoption still rising, just from a lower base and slower climb: 36% → 57% since 2023 — B2C hasn't caught up to B2B's pace yet.
• ABM went from almost nonexistent to a real signal: 5% → 16%, worth watching if it keeps climbing into 2026.
• The platform story is a genuine shakeup: Instagram (33%→29%) and Facebook (35%→23%) both declined while TikTok nearly doubled (7.7%→14.5%), Meta's grip on B2C social is loosening.
• Social ads usage stayed consistently higher than B2B the whole time (71%→76% vs. B2B's 57%→66%), paid social is just more central to the B2C playbook, and the gap hasn't closed.

[u/Extension-Travel-244 → u/JonODonovan]

Interesting that lead gen's growing. Everyone saying how MQLs are dead, blablabla dark social.... Then they get back to work driving more traffic to their gated webinar/ebook lead machines

[u/polygraph-net]

Interesting, thank you Jon.

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