B2B marketing is in a strange place with AI.
On one hand, AI in B2B marketing is making work faster and easier - from automating tasks to creating first drafts and speeding up research.
Many are using AI as a friendly, hard-working assistant.
On the other… it’s creating some uncanny, repetitive content, raising compliance eyebrows, and in some cases, quietly pushing strategy to the sidelines.
If you’ve ever asked AI for a polished thought-leadership piece and got something offbeat, you’re not alone. Like the time it wrote a “debate” on the pros and cons of AI in marketing, only to enthusiastically agree with itself in every section!
This episode of The Content 10x Podcast and blog post is your real-world guide to what’s working, what’s failing, and what’s next for AI in B2B marketing based on conversations with 20 B2B content leaders on our sister podcast B2B Content Strategist.
Keep reading or listen to the full episode for more.
How B2B Teams Are Using AI
From “just scratching the surface” to “fully embedded every day,” implementing AI in your workflow is one of the smartest ways to stay ahead, but how can you do it strategically?
Let’s look at three actionable uses for content creation:
1. Brainstorming On Demand
One of AI’s biggest strengths is its ability to create ideas quickly… without judgment and without the dreaded “creative block.”
Stuck for an alternative word? Need five fresh blog title ideas? Want to A/B test some different angles for a Meta ad? AI content creation tools can deliver a buffet of options in seconds.
Content marketing leaders tell us their teams are leaning on AI in B2B marketing as a springboard for creativity. It’s not about replacing human thinking – the best results still come from a skilled marketer refining those ideas – but it’s an invaluable tool for getting unstuck fast.
Quick tip: Keep a running list of your go-to AI prompts for brainstorming sessions to share with your team. For example:
“Give me 10 alternative ways to say [word/phrase].”
“Write 5 blog titles about [topic] that are benefit-led and under 60 characters.”
“Suggest 3 emotional hooks for an ad promoting [product/service].”
2. Snappy Drafting for Formulaic Content
Of course, not all content starts with a blank page. In B2B marketing, plenty of writing follows a tried-and-tested formula. Think case studies, product sheets, or customer success stories.
Shannon Howard, Director of Customer and Content Marketing at Intellum, uses AI marketing tools to speed through these formats:
“I use it more for formulaic things. So, if we're doing a case study – that's challenge, solutions, results. I'll pull in my notes from customer conversations and have it do the first draft, and then I'll edit it from there.”
However, Shannon is also clear about how to humanize AI content. For high-level work, she prefers to write it herself, noting that AI outputs often contain language she wouldn’t use and can slide in “obvious AI” phrasing, even when given strict instructions to avoid certain words. We’ve all been there!
3. Editing and Proofreading
Editing is one of those tasks that can clog up any content workflow. A marketing lead or content manager can easily end up with a queue of drafts to review… and the longer they sit there, the slower campaigns go live.
Katie Morley, former Global Head of Content at Contentsquare, has seen how AI content creation tools can break that bottleneck. She shared how sales and product teams now run their work through AI for editing and proofreading before it even reaches her. The result is cleaner, more polished drafts from the start with stronger structure, fewer errors, and greater clarity.
One simple way to get even more value from AI in digital marketing is to create a prompt library for your marketing team. For example:
“Proofread and improve the clarity of the following update. Keep the tone professional but friendly, and ensure any technical terms are explained for a non-expert audience.”
This approach improves quality, speeds up reviews, and keeps human editors focused on strategy rather than typos.
4. Use-Cases Beyond Content Creation
Many of the experts that we spoke to discussed how AI is proving particularly useful in workflow automation, including:
- Project management automation - PM tools with AI features to streamline tasks.
- Internal knowledge management - Building custom GPTs for sales enablement.
- Reporting automation - Pipeline updates, channel analytics, audience insights.
For more ideas and example of how AI is being used in B2B marketing check out When Should You Use AI in Content Marketing (And When Should You Avoid It)?
The Biggest Concerns About Using AI
AI adoption in marketing is growing fast - but so are the worries and concerns related to AI-usage, many of which are discussed in Dangers of Using AI in Content Marketing.
In Season 3 of B2B Content Strategist we uncovered more about the top AI worries shared by B2B marketing leaders, which include:
- Loss of originality & brand voice - Everything starts to sound “samey.”
- Regulatory risk - Especially in highly regulated industries such as finance, insurance, and healthcare.
- Overreliance - one comment from Martin Malloy stood out:
“AI can be really helpful as an assistant… but it can easily become a crutch.”
- Hallucinations - AI making up names, quotes, or data without warning.
- Time-wasting - Chasing better prompts instead of just doing the work.
There’s a general consensus across the board that AI needs strong editorial oversight. Not just proofreading, but human judgment.
AI Cannot Replace Strategy
One thing you don’t want to do is leave your strategy to AI.
Paul Way, Head of Marketing at Venteur, warned that replacing strategic content roles with AI-powered execution risks an overreliance on volume over quality.
He’s seen it happen – companies churning out thousands of blogs a year only for leadership to question their entire content strategy later on. Without strategists, your output becomes “random acts of content,” that don’t align with long-term sales or product goals.
AI can support:
- Research
- Data crunching
- Operational efficiencies
…but it can’t:
- Build brand positioning
- Create a unique voice
- Understand emotional nuance
- Navigate shifting market dynamics
Jason Widup, Senior Vice President Marketing at Pyxis, built an “AI-native” team – meaning he only wanted to hire people who know what the tools can and can’t do so they can use them with confidence.
But even the most AI-savvy team still needs to create content that feels uniquely human.
Lean Into Human-Centric Content
We may be in an AI-driven world these days but human-centric content marketing is still winning.
As you bring AI into your content creation process, the key is blending AI’s efficiency with human creativity. That balance ensures your content really speaks to your audience with your unique voice intact.
In 10 Ways to Use AI to Create Authentic Content, we shared plenty of ideas on how to strike the perfect balance.
Here’s where B2B marketers should let that unique brand voice shine:
- Customer stories - Real voices, case studies, lived experience.
- Community-driven content - Webinars, panels, and in-person events that build trust.
- Industry-specific nuance - Tailoring tone, format, and delivery to the sector.
- Authentic voices from your own people - Spotlighting SMEs across your business, not just marketing.
To summarize the biggest lessons from our conversations on B2B Content Strategist, these are the best practices you’ll want to take note of:
- Use AI as an accelerator
- Get clear on quality control
- Lean into your unique voice
- Don’t let AI replace strategy
- Keep experimenting with workflow automation
AI’s capabilities are changing all the time, and so should how you use it. Even if you think you’ve perfected the process today, keep experimenting with different tools and ways of working. And most importantly, track the results to get a clear idea of what’s working or not.
Final Thoughts
AI content creation is fast becoming a huge part of marketing teams’ toolkits. Think of it as an always-on colleague who never gets tired of reviewing your draft for the fifth time.
AI in B2B marketing doesn’t have to mean replacing people with machines. Its power lies in making people’s jobs easier, freeing them for creative, strategic work that drives the real results that you want.
Or, as Martin Malloy Head of Marketing at Capstack told us, “It’s like a good assistant… you don’t have to ask someone else on your team, ‘Hey, can you proofread this?’” It might not make you coffee (yet), but when you use it right, it can help you deliver better content, faster.
Thanks for reading. We hope you found this helpful, let us know on LinkedIn.
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