AI is no longer the flashy new toy in marketing. It’s the blunt, practical tool you either wield or watch your competitors use to beat you senseless. Especially in tech and healthtech sectors, where complexity rules and attention spans are gold dust, AI is reshaping how B2B campaigns are planned, executed and optimised.
Here are some of the smartest ways businesses are using AI right now, the traps they’re falling into, and what I think the future holds in this area.
Quick Wins: How Smart Marketers Are Using AI
Let’s dive straight into some examples of where AI is being used to do more with less, and yes… I might just have used ChatGPT’s rather excellent ‘deep research’ function to speed up the search for these items.
1. Email marketing with AI-generated subject lines and send-time optimisation. Pharma giant Novo Nordisk boosted email open rates by 24% just by letting an AI tool (Phrasee) write and test subject lines. AI models can analyse past campaign data to predict the best send times and tailor messaging to each segment or even individual. In practice, 63% of B2B marketers surveyed by On24 in 2024 are already using AI to develop promotional email/landing page copy.
2. Programmatic advertising that actually works. Real-time AI bidding and creative testing means ads get shown to the right people, without you burning money on imperfect targeting. One example is UK luxury brand Crabtree & Evelyn (while primarily B2C, its approach is instructive): by handing its Facebook ad campaigns to an AI platform (Albert), it saw a 30% increase in ROAS in under two months with the same spend.
3. Smarter content for social and blogs. AI tools like ChatGPT and Jasper help tech and healthtech companies churn technical reports into punchy LinkedIn posts or digestible blog articles. Turning valuable insights into a wider range of content types ensures there’s something for everyone and valuable research stretches further, generating more engagement and leads.
4. Chatbots that do more than irritate. UK-based Artesian used an AI chatbot, “Arti,” to quadruple its prospect pool. The trick? It was genuinely helpful, didn’t pretend to be human, and knew when to hand off to a real person.
5. Account-Based Marketing supercharged. AI platforms like 6sense can sniff out which companies are actually in-market. Ivanti (IT software) used AI-driven ABM and added $263m to their pipeline in a year. Something of a wake up call for the dinosaurs still claiming AI is just another ‘fad’ (yeah, we all know one).
Enabling Factors: Why AI-Powered Campaigns Are a Different Beast
AI is not just making marketing faster; it’s making it fundamentally smarter in ways we couldn’t touch even five years ago. Here are some of the most important changes.
Massive real-time data processing
Campaigns used to rely on a handful of tracked behaviours (opens, clicks). Now AI sifts through thousands of micro-signals — time on site, content scrolled, video watch time, CRM changes, third-party intent data — to personalise outreach down to the individual. That level of dynamic response was simply impossible before.
Predictive rather than reactive marketing
Marketers no longer guess what might work; they ask AI to forecast buyer intent based on behaviour patterns. Tools like 6sense or Demandbase can predict which accounts will move to purchase before they even download your whitepaper.
Automation with creativity
Generative AI doesn’t just spit out text — it adapts to tone, compliance requirements, and campaign context. Bidwells, a UK property consultancy, didn’t just use AI to draft blogs faster — they used it to train a custom AI (‘BenAI’) to think in their brand voice, enabling them to scale content without losing authenticity.
Hyper-personalised buyer journeys
AI now powers websites that morph in real-time based on who’s visiting — showing different case studies, pricing structures, or calls to action depending on role, company, or even stage in the buying journey.
In short: where marketing used to be “blast a list and hope,” AI makes it “converse with each individual” — and that’s a seismic shift.
Deep Dive: How Bidwells’ AI Reinvented Digital Engagement
Bidwells’ AI-driven strategy sets a gold standard for modern marketing campaigns.
Facing a traditionally slow-moving property market, Bidwells reimagined their marketing. They built “BenAI,” a bespoke AI chatbot integrated with content workflows, and partnered it with AI-personalised web experiences via Optimizely.
Key achievements:
Content production sped up by 25%, with quality improvements of over 40%
Website saw a +93% increase in visitor sessions
Lead generation exploded — a 300% lift post-AI integration
Achieved an eye-watering 6,186% ROI from AI investments
Why this matters? Because it shows how even highly specialised, relationship-driven industries can use AI not just to ‘go faster’ but to ‘go smarter’ — creating bespoke experiences for every prospect. This approach has relevance far beyond this specific market. Consider how this approach could work in healthtech, where trust and expertise are critical, an AI system that surfaces the right evidence, case study, or technical spec to the right buyer could transform conversion rates.
A healthtech equivalent might be using AI to:
Personalise site content dynamically based on NHS trust, clinical speciality, or previous interactions
Automate compliant, engaging and high-performing email journeys triggered by audience activity data
Equip sales teams with AI-generated, personalised pitch decks ready before client calls
Where Businesses Are Blowing It
As with any new tool, there are going to be some great examples of use and some… well, not so great. I’m not going to name-and-shame, but some of the biggest problems appear to stem from the following approaches.
1. Thinking AI is a magic wand. AI is brilliant at narrow tasks, and increasingly at some broader tasks – I mentioned ChatGPT Deep Research, right? Perhaps obviously, letting AI tools write unchecked content isn’t going to end well. Don’t get lazy – fact-check, review, edit and refine. AI can be thought of like a super-helpful intern… often impressive, but occasionally flawed. Don’t get caught out!
2. Feeding AI garbage data. If your CRM is full of ghosts and dodgy email addresses, AI will happily optimise campaigns for the wrong people. Clean your data before you unleash AI. Boring? Yes. Essential? Absolutely.
3. Over-automating and losing the human touch. Nobody likes a chatbot that refuses to connect you to a human. Similarly, AI-generated content that’s soulless will make your brand sound like it’s run by Daleks.
4. Ignoring privacy and ethics. Creepily personalised messages without consent? Fastest way to end up as a cautionary tale in Marketing Week. Walk the fine line between “personalisation” and “stalker” very, very carefully.
5. Expecting instant ROI. AI isn’t a microwave — it’s a slow-cooker. Most businesses that win with AI start small, run pilots, and learn before scaling. Manage expectations (yours and your CEO’s).
Big Wins: Who’s Nailing AI in B2B Marketing?
Going beyond the quick wins and Bidwells example outlined earlier, here are some pretty jaw-dropping results from businesses who had really cracked how to use AI for growth.
Artesian (SaaS) used their “Arti” chatbot to expand their prospect pool 4x, answer 5,000+ questions with 99% accuracy, and drive pipeline growth without adding a single new human
Ivanti (global IT software) unified scattered customer data using AI and added $18m in new revenue through smarter ABM targeting
Novo Nordisk (Pharma) used AI to optimise email content and smashed engagement targets, all while staying within the strict confines of regulatory compliance
Moral of the story: AI doesn’t just save time. It builds serious revenue when you apply it properly.
What AI Means for Sales and Customer Service (Hint: It’s Good News for Marketers)
AI is making sales reps smarter. With AI-driven lead scoring and real-time coaching, sales teams know which prospects to call and what to say. This means marketing leads are more likely to get followed up properly and deliver a return faster.
Customer service bots are feeding marketing gold. Every support chat, ticket, and call analysed by AI gives marketing teams priceless insights: what customers are moaning about, what features they want, and what language they use. Use this to create better campaigns, not just pat yourself on the back for “closing tickets faster.”
Better customer experiences = stronger marketing outcomes. Happy customers become your most valuable assets. AI that improves customer service indirectly fuels your lead generation, referrals, and upsells.
The Future: Where AI in B2B Marketing Is Headed (And Who To Watch)
It’s only a couple of years since ChatGPT entered the vernacular and now upwards of 60% (some estimates are as high as 80%) of marketers use this or similar tools on a daily basis. So, where will we be in a couple of years from now?
AI will be baked into everything. Soon, “AI-driven” will be as exciting as “powered by electricity.” It’s not a nice-to-have, it’s table stakes.
Better, not just more, AI content. The future belongs to marketers who use AI to make smarter, more engaging content — not just churn out SEO-stuffed drivel.
Real-time personalisation. AI will predict what your prospects want next, before they even know it themselves. Welcome to the age of the “Segment of One.”
Ethics will matter. Companies that use AI transparently and responsibly will build trust — a precious commodity in B2B.
Trailblazers to watch: Bidwells, Artesian, 6sense, Demandbase, Drift, and yes, OpenAI. Also keep an eye on UK players like Cognism and agencies experimenting cleverly with AI-driven campaigns.
Final Word
If you’re not embedding AI into your B2B marketing yet, you’re falling behind. Fast. But — and it’s a big but — use it wisely. Know where AI shines, where it needs babysitting, and where it can pose real reputational risks if left unchecked.
Start small, bring AI in to supplement the ideation process, or use it to transform a single campaign asset into multiple variants, each tuned to specific audience interests. Measure the impact and look at how this is taking you beyond traditional marketing capabilities for your given budget.
The businesses winning with AI aren’t necessarily the ones throwing the most money at it. They’re the ones blending human creativity with AI’s ability to scale beyond a traditional marketing team. Moreover, the AI campaigns that really hit target are those that deeply engage audiences and close the gap between marketing, sales and customer experience.