B2B Brand And Comms Leaders Still Rely On Agencies, But Budget Growth Is Slowing

B2B marketers have long relied on agencies for scale, specialized expertise, and execution support across brand and communications. In fact, 93% of respondents to Forrester’s 2026 B2B Brand And Communications Survey use agencies in some capacity. What is changing is the relationship itself, as AI-driven efficiencies enable teams to bring more work in-house.

Marketers Are Becoming More Selective With Agency Investments

B2B brand and communications marketers continue to invest in agencies across every major category we track. Yet investment growth has slowed significantly compared with last year. The share of marketers expecting overall agency budget increases fell 13 percentage points from 2025 to 2026, while nearly half now expect spending to remain flat.

 

The slowdown is even more pronounced in categories that previously led investment growth. Those expecting to increase agency spend for digital marketing fell from 51% to 31% year over year. And for content creation and development, the percentage expecting to increase agency spend dropped from 41% to 26%. Those planning to increase social media management and operations agency spend also declined along with brand strategy and management.

AI Is Reshaping The Agency Value Proposition

These investment changes don’t mean agencies are becoming less important. It means marketers are becoming more disciplined about where agencies add value. As organizations operationalize AI, they are reassessing work that can be automated, accelerated, or brought in-house, reducing the need to expand agency relationships as budgets grow.

At the same time, marketers are absolutely looking to agencies for help with one of their biggest challenges: operationalizing AI. Many organizations face internal skills gaps and growing pressure from leadership to adopt AI use cases, often without sufficient guidance, resources, or expertise.

AI Agency Satisfaction Gaps Persist

Our research reveals a significant disconnect. More than half of B2B marketing leaders now say data strategy and AI readiness are important criteria when selecting an agency, but only a small percentage are satisfied with agencies’ ability to deliver. Similar double-digit gaps exist across AI-powered analytics, workflow automation, personalization, content creation, and AI upskilling.

Marketers are not waiting for agencies to catch up. They are moving ahead with AI adoption under mandates to improve productivity and efficiency. Agencies that fail to support those efforts risk becoming less relevant to future investment decisions.

Agencies Have A Window To Differentiate

These findings should be viewed less as a warning and more as an opportunity. The agencies most likely to thrive will move beyond AI positioning and develop expertise that helps clients solve real operational challenges.

Areas of opportunity include:

  • AI strategy and readiness. Agencies can help clients build roadmaps, establish governance models, and develop implementation plans that accelerate adoption.
  • Analytics and measurement. Agencies can apply AI to improve insight generation, reporting, and decision-making.
  • Workflow transformation. Agencies can redesign marketing processes and operating models to increase efficiency, productivity, and speed to market.
  • Training and upskilling. Agencies can provide the training and enablement needed for teams to confidently adopt AI tools.

As B2B marketers become more discerning about agency investments, broad “agency services” positioning will become less compelling than specialized capabilities with measurable outcomes and real-world proof points. Agencies that can demonstrate expertise, accelerate adoption, and help clients generate business value from AI will be best positioned to grow their clients’ investment budgets.

Expertise Will Determine Future Growth

The pressure on agencies mirrors the pressure facing marketers. Both are being asked to deliver greater productivity through AI while also driving greater business impact.

Agency investment growth may be slowing, but the need for strategic partners is not. Agencies that can close the gap between AI importance and AI delivery will earn a larger share of future marketing spend. As marketers continue to evolve their operating models, expertise will become the defining differentiator.

Forrester clients can access the full report, The State Of B2B Brand And Communications Agency Investments, 2026, and schedule a guidance session with Karen Tran to explore the findings and recommendations.

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