Generative AI in B2B Marketing Automation: Current Features and Future Plans

Generative AI (GenAI) has long been integrated into multiple platforms my team works with. Still, it was not until HubSpot's latest AI updates in late September 2024 that I confidently released AI without a human handler to interact directly with our prospects and clients.

The world of B2B marketing automation is shifting fast, with GenAI leading the charge. If you’ve been following this space—even just a little—you’ve probably seen GenAI's big splash across multiple platforms. And it's not just hype; real, practical applications are already out there, and even more ambitious plans are in the pipeline. Let’s dive into what’s happening now and what’s coming soon in the B2B Marketing Automation Platform (MAP) market.

Currently Available Features

Content Creation Made Easy

Gone are the days of staring at a blank screen waiting for inspiration to hit. Today’s B2B MAP vendors are rolling out GenAI-powered tools that make content creation easier than ever. For instance, Act-On Software now offers a GenAI email development tool. Just tell it your marketing goal, the tone you want, and how long the email should be—it’ll handle the rest. No more agonising over the right words; just tweak and go.

HubSpot has taken it a step further with its Content Agent. It can generate and edit copy, suggest images, and even adjust the tone across various content formats like blog posts, social media, or web chat.

Zoho’s jumped into the game, too, with a GenAI-driven social media module that crafts posts and predicts how far they’ll reach.

Sharper Data Analysis

Of course, creating content is only half the battle. Do you know if it's working? That's where GenAI’s data capabilities come into play.

HubSpot's advanced analytics package lets marketers dive into data with natural language queries—meaning you don’t need to be a data scientist to pull meaningful insights.

BUSINESSNEXT, a smaller vendor in the space, has integrated GPT technology to provide a conversational interface for digging into campaign analytics. Instead of scrolling through endless data tables, you can just ask for performance highlights or opportunities for improvement, and it’ll do the heavy lifting.

Future Roadmap Plans

Intelligent Workflows

What's next? Well, B2B Marketing Automation Platform vendors are eyeing the entire marketing workflow. The goal is to automate more, with GenAI running things in the background.

HubSpot launched Breeze Intelligence in September 2024, Breeze Intelligence enriches contacts in the CRM using a combination of AI and other data sources. Enriched leads can be better segmented in hyper-targeted lists and automatically move between different "intelligent workflows" for streamlined hyper-personalised marketing operations.

LeadSquared is working on using GenAI to prequalify leads directly on landing pages and in customer portals. Imagine a dynamic form that not only captures info but evaluates it on the spot.

Salesforce has an equally ambitious plan: end-to-end campaign creation triggered by a single prompt. One command, and your campaign—content, targeting, tracking—is set up.

Today, these prompts are limited to prompts like the one demonstrated below to create an audience segment.

Personalised Customer Engagement

Personalisation has always been a buzzword, but GenAI is turning it into a reality. LeadSquared is investing in GenAI to make their chatbots more human-like, enabling deeper and more meaningful interactions with prospects.

Meanwhile, HubSpot has developed four separate AI agents: Content Agent, Social Agent, Customer Agent (AI-led customer support) and a Prospecting Agent (for the sales team). They are designed to take over repetitive marketing tasks and offer smart recommendations on customer fit and engagement.

With Salesforce's Marketing GPT, marketers can automatically generate personalised emails, smarter audience segments, and marketing journeys.

Journey Orchestration

Managing B2B buying journeys is complicated, and vendors are eager to simplify this with GenAI. Oracle, for instance, is integrating AI for more accurate audience segmentation and smarter content suggestions. While they've got a solid plan, they're trailing behind some competitors who are working on natural language customer journey builders—tools that would let you map out a complex customer journey by simply describing it in words. Think HubSpot and Salesforce.

Challenges and Considerations

Balancing Innovation with Usability

AI is incredible—until it's too complicated to use. There's a real challenge here for vendors to keep these advanced features accessible for everyone on a marketing team, regardless of technical expertise. The best tools won't just be powerful; they'll be intuitive.

Fitting GenAI into Existing Martech

A GenAI feature is only as good as its ability to play nicely with your existing marketing tech stack. That's why seamless integration with platforms like CRM systems and Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) is crucial. If your tools don't communicate well, the value of GenAI can get lost in translation.

Maturity and Roadmap Transparency

Let's not forget that GenAI is still new tech. It's not fully mature, and there are bound to be growing pains. Marketing leaders need to keep an eye on what vendors are promising and what they can actually deliver. Setting realistic expectations for implementation will be key to avoiding disappointments down the road.

The Road Ahead

GenAI is more than a passing trend. As the technology matures, we're likely to see even more intelligent, automated, and personalised marketing experiences. But the path to successful adoption isn't without its bumps. Marketers will need to weigh the benefits against the complexities and choose the solutions that align with their unique business needs.

About me

I own MO Agency , a 35-employee firm at the Elite level of HubSpot CRM global implementers. We specialise in building marketing and sales CRM systems. Whether businesses aim to enter new markets, enhance market share, boost ROI, or align their digital presence with sales teams, MO Agency equips them to achieve these goals.

I live in Johannesburg, South Africa and spend weekends with my wife and two children. My hobbies include hi-fi, the outdoors, and kitesurfing.