Budget Planning Guide 2026: B2B Marketing Executives

B2B marketing decision-makers are showing surprising optimism about their budgets looking ahead to 2026, even though the first half of 2025 has proven economic and geopolitical change can come quickly. Forrester recommends that marketing executives focus their investments on segments that can withstand change with careful extraction from riskier, less stable segments. Expect stressful times with pressure for hard results and a redirection of resources into demand generation activities in safer markets. In this year’s budget planning guide, we share our advice on where to invest, divest, and experiment as B2B marketing executives navigate their path to growth.