AI, storytelling or speed: What’s the new B2B marketing edge?
Today’s B2B marketers wear many hats: strategist, technologist, and storyteller.
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B2B marketers today face a paradox: AI is giving them more powerful tools than ever, yet buyers are demanding more authenticity and trust. Success now depends not only on mastering data and code but also on the speed and storytelling that turn technology into meaningful business outcomes.
In the latest episode of CNBC-TV18 Storyboard18’s special series "Decoding B2B: Marketing That Means Business", Sachin Sharma, Head of LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, India, and Abhishek GP., VP – Growth at Atlan, explored how this paradox is reshaping the playbook for businesses of all sizes - enabling a new kind of B2B marketing – one that scales trust, drives outcomes, and remains human at its core.
From Brand Custodian to Business Driver: The Modern B2B Marketer Does it All
Today’s B2B marketers wear many hats: strategist, technologist, and storyteller. Abhishek G.P. explained, “The modern marketer must blend narrative, numbers, and code.” Sharma, reflecting on the pressures in B2B marketing, emphasised the increased focus on innovation, scale, and resilience as the cause of this transformation across SMBs and large enterprises. He noted a fundamental shift in the metrics of marketing success. “Earlier, brand love was the true north for marketers. Today, it is about measurable business outcomes,” he said.
According to Abhishek, AI is leveling the playing field in Account-based Marketing (ABM), especially for smaller firms. “The winners and losers are now separated not by resources, but by speed,” he said. He shared that at Atlan, AI is used to scale trust and ensure consistent relevance across buyer touchpoints – a crucial differentiator in competitive B2B markets. However, both experts agreed that AI alone isn't enough. Marketers must build a strong data foundation and pair it with human creativity to drive authentic engagement.
B2B Visibility Strategies: What Startups and Enterprises can Learn from Each Other
For enterprises, employee advocacy is a key driver of visibility. Abhishek explained that large enterprises should leverage employee advocacy programs, converting their workforce into trusted brand ambassadors. For startups, authenticity is the edge. “Your buyers and customers would love to hear from someone who has built your brand – the human behind the brand,” he said.
“At LinkedIn, we say that you have to show up with purpose and with consistency, and that is what drives visibility in today’s age,” Sharma said. He shared how LinkedIn’s AI-powered marketing tools help smaller businesses scale efficiently — automating creative generation, optimisation, and audience targeting, without needing large teams or budgets.
According to Sharma, influencers are becoming a very hot property in B2B marketing. “It’s different from B2C,” he said. “B2B influencers are often early adopters and actual users of your product. That gives their voice authenticity and trust.”
Data, personalisation, and consistency: The key to authentic B2B storytelling
In the AI era, personalised storytelling rooted in data is essential. “One of the key parameters to drive personalisation is data. Large organisations have access to both volume and quality of data but smaller brands need to go with authenticity – leveraging their first few employees and founders to ensure their true voice is heard in the market,” Abishek said.
Sharma put emphasis on the need for balance, sharing how small businesses and large enterprises can learn from each other to tell humane stories. “Small enterprises have the advantage of community – they are very close to their users. At the same time, large enterprises have the rigor, scale, a structured approach, and the budgets.” The sweet spot lies in strategic consistency combined with emotionally resonant storytelling.
Tune in for the final episode of Decoding B2B: Marketing that Means Business on CNBC TV18’s Storyboard18, at 8am on Saturday, and 11:30am and 2pm on Sunday.
