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The world of business marketing (B2B) is undergoing a renaissance as business models, innovation engines and the buyers themselves undergo a dramatic evolution compared to previous decades. While many in the business community cite substantial economic concerns and growing global uncertainty, a new LinkedIn report shows that most B2B marketers are optimistic about the survival of the organizations they work for, and feel confident about fulfilling their role in this important task.
LinkedIn's B2B Marketing Index reveals the trends and methods that fueled this optimism in the first place: marketing budgets are on the rise around the world, excitement among B2B leaders about emerging technologies like generative AI, and growth in adoption of creative and technical skills to help marketers meet the demands of new technologies.
The new report takes a closer look at how enterprise B2B marketers can lead and overcome uncertainty, and reveals what B2B marketers need to do to keep pace with change and thrive.
Increase in marketing budgets for the business sector
The report shows that B2B marketers are optimistic about the coming year and expect to receive larger marketing budgets, as well as backing from their finance counterparts. The business social network surveyed nearly 2,000 marketing and finance leaders from around the world about their plans for next year and found that two-thirds of B2B marketing leaders expect their budgets to grow next year.
Last year, we saw many companies cutting budgets in all areas of marketing due to rising costs and soaring inflation. However, the report shows that most B2B marketers have the backing of their CFOs to increase their marketing budget for business clients. According to the report, 60% of CFOs surveyed said they were optimistic about their marketing team's ability to generate revenue.
Marketers learn the 'language of finance'
Tom Pepper, a senior executive at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, says this embrace from finance departments shows marketers' "financial proficiency" is improving.
"At a time when conditions are tougher and people are looking at the bottom line looking for profitable growth, marketing is often a place for organizations to go to save. One of the biggest challenges for any marketer is proving the value of marketing to business results."
However, he believes marketers have become better at sharing the facts and data that back up the importance of branding and marketing. According to the report, 80% of business marketing executives say they have learned the "language of finance" to help them achieve more marketing budgets, and 88% say strengthening their skills in this area has helped their CEO or CFO understand the value of branding and marketing.
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Branding has risen in importance – but most budgets are still directed to sales
All of this successfully translates into budget allocation, which is split between short-term marketing to drive sales and profits, and long-term branding efforts like awareness campaigns. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of respondents state that brand building has become more important. Pepper believes that the growing importance of branding in the B2B world and the shift away from campaigns focused solely on lead generation are reasons for optimism.
"Branding is going to be critical for B2B companies," he says. "Over the past year, we've started to see marketers point to the importance of a brand and how it drives value for the organization." He says there is a huge amount of untapped opportunities around brand building in the B2B sector, especially at such a challenging time for businesses, and marketers will need to be creative to build a brand in this space, not forgetting that we end up marketing not just to businesses but to people.
Despite the overall increase in business awareness of the importance of branding, the tech industry was highlighted as an exception, with 26% of industry respondents indicating that their budgets have been reduced or allocated to generating new leads, rather than building their brand.
Changes in the job definitions of VPs of Marketing
The report also shows that the use of generative AI tools is on the rise. Three-quarters of respondents said they plan to use AI to create "more content in less time," and 55% said they plan to use it to increase efficiency in their team. However, to date, enthusiasm is greater for actual introductions, and only 2 out of 10 marketers indicated they have a very good understanding of these tools.
At the same time, the role of CMO is evolving and expanding. About 2 in 3 senior CMOs say their role has grown in importance over the past two years, and half say CMO has a more direct role in driving revenue and growth than before. About 8 in 10 CMOs said they tend to involve other VPs in marketing decisions for businesses.
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