For the 1st issue, we send the subject of the 2026 marketing plan, an exercise that some of you have already started, in a complex context where the marketing departments can no longer rely on traditional diagrams. To discuss significance trends and share best practices, I receive two expert personalities: Virginie Le Lievre (ex-Samsung, HubSpot, and today founder of the Point Barre) and Sébastien Imbert (ex-CMO Microsoft, Septeo, and founder of Modern Selling))
An unstable and saturated context
The customer journey into B2B has been deeply transformed. From now on, 80 % of the purchasing process is done independently, far from salespeople. The new generation of decision -makers, mainly Millennials, imposes its digital uses: research of information on Reddit, communities, social networks. This mutation puts under pressure the marketing teams, which must guide without constraining and generating growth in a more vuca environment than ever.
From the inbound to the increased outbound
After a decade marked by Inbound, companies rediscover the Outbound. But it is no longer a matter of gross prospecting: AI enrich contacts, detect weak signals and orient efforts to the most conducive accounts. Inbound-outbound complementarity becomes essential, as is the use of social selling and intentionist data.
Align dirty and marketing: a growth condition
The account-based marketing (ABM) remains a deceptive promise when it is reduced to simple personalized campaigns. Its effectiveness depends on a real alignment between salespeople and marketers, capable of defining together priority accounts and building differentiated experiences by third parties. Companies that succeed in this alignment record up to 30 % additional growth.
Confidence is no longer bought, it deserves
In a saturated market, authenticity and recommendation become central. Employee Advocacy’s programs, ambassador customers, communities and physical events structure this new logic of influence. Especially since the impact is measured: a good advocacy program can generate between X3 and X6 in media equivalent, while strengthening the commitment of employees and customer loyalty.
From the punctual campaign to permanent contextualization
The AI accelerates the passage of marketing based on campaigns limited to continuous contextualization. The key: solid, unified and governed data architecture. Without a reliable foundation, personalization fails. The metrics are also evolving: CAC/CLTV, Marketing-Sourced Revenue, SQL/MQL, Marketing Commitment Index or Brand Index supplant the simple volumes of leads.
Budget and Comex: speak the language of the CFO
Convincing to invest involves adopting the vocabulary of risk and opportunities, building quantified business boxes, or demonstrating by pilots the value of new approaches. The budgetary discussion is not limited to costs but is conceived as an investment aligned with the overall strategy of the company.
Bousson 2026: AI, data and singularity
Three priorities emerge: Build a robust data infrastructure, continuously train teams with new tools, constantly experiment to detect future levers. But a risk is watching for: standardization induced by AI. Faced with standardized content, the singularity of the brand (embodied in its values, speeches and events) becomes a decisive competitive advantage.
