Unlock the Voice of the Industry:
2025 B2B Marketing Trends & Insights
Inside, you’ll discover:
- Global outlook on B2B marketing optimism — with regional insights from APAC, North America, and Europe.
- The rise of advanced account-based marketing (ABM), AI-driven personalization, sustainability messaging, and short-form video as top-performing tactics.
- How sales and marketing alignment is accelerating pipeline velocity and proving revenue impact.
- The latest AI adoption data, including trust concerns and the personalization gaps slowing progress.
- The top B2B marketing KPIs of 2025 — how high performers track ROI, customer lifetime value, and sales pipeline influence.
Whether you’re refining a demand generation strategy or planning your next ABM initiative, this report delivers data-backed insights, benchmarks, and actionable strategies to future-proof your marketing in a fast-changing landscape.
In 2025 B2B marketers are navigating a landscape marked by rapid technological advancements, evolving buyer behaviors, and heightened expectations for personalized experiences. As decision-makers become more discerning and the purchasing process becomes more complex, executives need better feedback and more accurate insights. There is an increased need for innovation and new strategies that address challenges. Keep reading if you are looking to solve these issues and speed up the sales process.
Probing Optimism
With the global economy somewhat stabilized, ad spend is expected to rise, presenting an opportunity for marketers to reassert their influence. According to the WARC Media forecast, global ad spend will continue at a healthy pace in 2025 (+7.2%) and 2026 (+7.0%). Gartner supports this outlook, noting that CMOs are prioritizing paid media investments over other budget categories — allocating 30.6% to paid media, up from 27.9% in 2024.
The marketing industry also shows reason for optimism, with 65% of marketers surveyed in WARC’s 2024 Voice of the Marketer survey believing the business environment in 2025 will be better than it was this year. This represents the highest level of optimism since the COVID bounce back of 2021.
Notably, optimism varies by region:
APAC:
69% expect conditions to improve, 17% expect them to stay the same, and 13% anticipate a worse year.
North America:
68% expect improvements, 20% foresee no change, and 12% expect conditions to decline.
Europe:
58% expect improvements, 29% expect no change, and 12% anticipate a worse year.
Global average:
65% expect a better year, 23% expect no change, and 12% a worse year.
While optimism is rising, 72% of marketers surveyed acknowledge that economic conditions continue to impact their marketing strategies — a reminder that while recession fears have faded, caution persists in budget allocation and strategic priorities.
Key Trends Shaping B2B
Marketing Strategies in 2025
1. Advanced Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
ABM continues to be a cornerstone strategy, with a focus on personalization at scale. Leveraging intent data and AI-driven insights allows marketers to tailor content and outreach to specific accounts, enhancing engagement and conversion rates.
2. Integration of B2C Strategies into B2B E-Commerce
B2B e-commerce platforms are adopting B2C tactics, such as personalized product recommendations and intuitive user interfaces, to meet rising customer expectations for seamless online experiences.
3. Emphasis on Sustainability and Authenticity
Sustainability has become a pivotal aspect of B2B marketing. Companies are integrating environmental and social responsibility into their branding and operations, recognizing that customers and partners demand measurable and transparent commitments.
4. AI-Powered Personalization
Artificial intelligence is enabling more sophisticated personalization, allowing marketers to deliver relevant content and experiences based on real-time data and customer behavior.
5. Rise of Short-Form Video and Interactive Content
Short-form videos and interactive content, such as quizzes and calculators, are gaining traction as effective tools for engaging B2B audiences, simplifying complex information, and driving conversions.
Campaign Priorities Are Shifting
As marketers navigate an increasingly competitive and fast-evolving landscape, priorities are reshaping around automation adoption, data integration, and deeper customer relationships. AI — generative and predictive — has emerged as the top strategic priority and the leading operational challenge for marketing organizations.
Here are more valuable insights:
AI Adoption Balances Efficiency with Trust Concerns
A growing number of marketers are embedding AI into their operations to enhance personalization at scale and boost efficiency. Gartner’s CMO Journal (3Q25) notes that while adoption is accelerating, CMOs emphasize that AI without customer understanding risks eroding trust rather than strengthening it. The future of personalization depends not just on data volume, but on translating insights into experiences that align with customer motivations.
Personalization Progress Remains Uneven
While personalization remains a critical objective, achieving it consistently across channels continues to challenge marketers. Gartner’s latest findings highlight that maturity is shifting from channel expansion to customer-centric depth — with leading CMOs prioritizing unified insights over fragmented, campaign-driven personalization. The lesson: personalization must move beyond “more touchpoints” toward more relevance.
Loyalty and Account-Based Marketing Take Center Stage
Marketers increasingly prioritize account-based marketing and loyalty programs to strengthen customer acquisition and retention. Yet, fragmented data sources often hinder cohesive execution.
The Quest for Unified, Actionable Analytics
Marketers are increasingly metrics-minded, using data not only to track performance but to demonstrate tangible business value. Yet Gartner’s CMO Journal (3Q25) warns that pipeline metrics alone are no longer enough. Top CMOs are reframing analytics around customer understanding — connecting loyalty, trust, and lifetime value directly to revenue performance.
This shift signals a broader evolution: from proving marketing’s seat at the table to proving marketing’s role as the architect of durable growth.
Marketers Keep Close Tabs on Sales Impact
In today’s revenue-driven environment, marketers are increasingly metrics-minded, using data not only to track campaign performance but to demonstrate tangible business value. The most commonly tracked marketing KPIs closely align with sales, reflecting a clear effort to reduce operational silos and collaborate more seamlessly across the pre-sales process.
At the top of the KPI list, marketers monitor their marketing and sales pipeline performance, and again, the same percentage closely tracks their marketing and sales funnel. These core metrics help marketers stay aligned with sales objectives, optimize lead progression, and ensure a unified customer experience throughout the buying journey.
While acquisition and topline revenue metrics dominate, adoption of more nuanced, longer-term KPIs remains limited. For example, only 42% of marketers can accurately track customer lifetime value — a critical metric for evaluating the ROI of loyalty, retention, and customer experience strategies. This signals a continued need for broader, full-funnel attribution capabilities within many organizations.
High Performers Excel in
Analytics-Led Decision-Making
Analytics is central to performance measurement and strategic iteration. Earlier, more than 80% of marketers reported having a clear sense of their impact on revenue and pipeline, though refining attribution and marketing ROI remains a high priority, second only to AI adoption and technology optimization.
Among high-performing teams, this emphasis on visibility and measurement pays dividends:
93% of high performers report having a clear view into their sales pipeline impact, compared to 71% of underperformers
Nearly all high performers (95%) say their marketing strategy significantly impacts sales, far outpacing underperformers (74%)
94% of top performers have a clear view of marketing’s impact on revenue
Marketers with clear, actionable insights into sales and revenue performance not only outperform peers but are better positioned to secure executive support and increased budget allocations.
Marketers Who Agree With the
Following Statements
STATEMENT
HIGH PERFORMERS
UNDERPERFORMERS
STATEMENT
I have access to all customer insights needed for campaign planning
HIGH PERFORMERS
94%
HIGH PERFORMERS
67%
STATEMENT
We have a clear view into marketing’s impact on the sales pipeline
HIGH PERFORMERS
93%
HIGH PERFORMERS
71%
STATEMENT
Our marketing strategy makes a significant impact on sales
HIGH PERFORMERS
95%
HIGH PERFORMERS
74%