The MQL has lost strategic relevance. Account-Based Marketing has replaced it — treating target accounts as markets of one. Here's how the discipline actually works in 2026, from 6sense and Demandbase to the AI buyer layer.
B2B digital marketing spent a decade borrowing tactics from B2C and accepting its reputation as the less creative cousin. The 2026 reset — category creation, founder-led GTM, Citation Share as the metric.
Acquiring a new B2B customer costs 5–25x more than retaining one. Nine compounding strategies. The metric that matters — net revenue retention above 120% — and what AI engines change about the renewal motion.
Buyer personas are insufficient for how mid-market B2B companies sell in 2026. Customer intelligence — account data, intent signal, and AI Discovery across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews — is the replacement.
