B2B Marketers: Budgets Up, Expectations Down

It’s not exactly that simple, but a new 10fold report on the budgets of B2B marketers does indicate that even as B2B marketers are increasing their marketing budgets for 2025, they are lowering expectations by setting less lofty KPIs.

According to the just-released “The Marketing Spend Strategy: How B2B Tech Execs are Funding the Future to Hit 2025 KPIs” (online survey of 450 [primarily] senior management B2B marketers), 65% of B2B marketers in the U.S., as well as across Europe, saw budget increases in 2024, and 75% are optimistic that they will grow again in 2025. More than half (51%) set “less ambitious” KPI demands.

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According to 10Fold, this is a reversal from 2023 when “bigger budgets meant more aggressive KPIs.” What’s behind the reversal? The strong push to continue to improve efficiency, which has resulted in larger budgets intended to do just that.

Indeed, more than half (53%) of marketers who saw budget increases attributed those increases to AI and automation investments. AI is being used to fine-tune campaigns, analyze data more effectively, and automate routine tasks. Nearly half (47%) of respondents said they were using AI to fund more productive campaigns.

We Still Need People

Is this shrinking the size of B2B companies’ marketing teams? Actually, the opposite is true. The report found that, among the companies surveyed, marketing staff (internal, contractors, and agencies) increased by 54%. (The increase was small—less than 10%—but it was still an increase!) The reason is that more efficiency and better results mean bigger budgets and more people needed to implement the strategies those budgets drive.

Where are B2B marketers spending their lead generation dollars?

• Marketing tools (33%, rising to 44% in 2025)
• Websites (30%, rising to 37% in 2025)
• Digital ads in national publications (20%, rising to 29% in 2025)

The latter was notable, according the report, since it shows a shift away from broader B2B marketing techniques and an increased focus on narrower, more niche audiences.

Social Media Influencers Win Again

We see a similar trend on social media. Among those investing in social media, the two preferred platforms were X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn (41%). But more important than these? Social media influencers, which provide out-sized influence in niche markets. Sixteen percent of marketers cited influencers as priorities for their 2024 marketing spend, and 15% plan to invest in paid social influencer programs.

What’s dropping in influence? Sales enablement consultants, digital ads on social media platforms, and regional conferences.

In the end, everything—it seems—comes back to AI. This report is no exception. It concludes: “The use of AI was not surprising…We thought that AI might replace the need for additional funding. However, when you add the second reason marketers got more budget (to fund high-performing campaigns), it made more sense. In other words, AI was likely to improve the performance of campaigns and thereby increase the likelihood that they would get more funding.”

To read the full report, click here.