Phone: 
The New AI: Humanizing B2B Marketing with Authentic Influence
By Lee Odden In Content Marketing Institute’s 2025 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends Report, 81% of B2B marketers say their teams are using Gen AI tools. In the same report, Ann Handley of MarketingProfs shared that “43% of B2B marketers struggle with differentiating their content from their competitors. We struggle standing out in the sea of same. Yet, at the same time, 56% of B2B marketers are looking to prioritize AI-powered automation in 2025.”
This is the AI compromise many marketers are facing. Efficiency at the cost of quality because GenAI tools aren’t quite advanced enough to easily replicate human level creativity and most humans haven’t mastered prompt engineering and GenAI tools enough to achieve better than average outputs.
Anyone in B2B marketing that consumes information digitally has seen the uptick in AI-generated content from the Midjourney aesthetic of graphics to social media and blog posts littered with em dashes and overenthusiastic use of adjectives. I’ve talked to many marketers over the past month and there’s a consensus that often when content is recognized as AI-created, there’s a reaction to dismiss it, ignore it, and keep on scrolling.
Why? There are quality and trust issues with GenAI created content. CMI’s research shows that only 17% rate GenAI content as excellent or very good and only 4% have a high level of trust for AI outputs. At best, most raw GenAI content output is average. And no B2B brand will win with average.
The thing is, B2B marketers are gaining efficiencies in their workflows with AI and that means they will continue to use it to research, plan and create content.
Without question, the age of artificial intelligence transformation is here and as a result, B2B marketers face the challenge of how to best position their brands in a world that is under greater pressure than ever to perform with fewer resources and also increasingly saturated with AI-generated content. While there are efficiencies and scale readily available with GenAI, the value of humanizing B2B brands has become more important than ever.
In a sea of sameness, how do B2B marketers stand out with credibility and trust, and create more meaningful vs. mechanical content experiences with their customers?
Buyers are hungry for human connection and that connection requires credibility and authenticity. What better way for a brand to achieve those things than by partnering with the most relevant and trusted voices in their industry? Achieving authenticity and influence with business buyers is the signal in a sea of artificial noise that can help B2B brands create the meaningful connections that can maintain and grow revenue, even in uncertain times.
So what can B2B marketers do to achieve this new humanized AI? Here are a few areas to focus on:
1. Build Always-On Influencer Relationships to Navigate Uncertainty
In a climate where political and economic disruptions challenge buyer confidence, human relationships are an important differentiator. Everyone feeling this uncertainty, including business buyers, are seeking information sources and connections that offer credibility, continuity and confidence. B2B brands that develop ongoing relationships with industry experts that …read more
Source:: Top Rank Blog
