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:
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
Strategy
I have access to all customer insights needed for campaign planning
Value Offered
94%
Communication Example
67%
Strategy
We have a clear view into marketing’s impact on the sales pipeline
Value Offered
93%
Communication Example
71%
Strategy
Our marketing strategy makes a significant impact on sales
Value Offered
95%
Communication Example
74%
Strategy
We have a clear view into marketing’s impact on revenue
Value Offered
95%
Communication Example
73%
Key Challenges in B2B
Demand Commerce for 2025
As B2B marketing evolves in 2025, companies face several critical challenges, including shifting buyer behavior, resource constraints, and the need for strong sales alignment.
Shifting Buyer Behavior
Buyers are now conducting most of their research independently, making it essential for marketers to focus on building trust and brand awareness early in the buying journey. Strategies like product-led growth, transparent pricing, and accessible demos are crucial to engaging prospects before direct sales interaction.
Resource Constraintss
With smaller teams handling more tasks, prioritization becomes key. Focusing on high-impact campaigns ensures better quality and return on investment. Effective time management helps teams maximize their limited resources.
Talent Retention
Attracting and retaining skilled talent remains a challenge. Marketers must foster a culture of innovation and provide growth opportunities to retain top talent in an increasingly competitive job market.
Measuring ROI
B2B marketers are under pressure to prove return on investment. Demand generation strategies and advanced analytics help track marketing’s impact on sales and revenue, providing clearer insights into performance.
Channel Prioritization
Identifying the right channels is critical. Platforms like LinkedIn dominate, but adapting to audience preferences across SEO, content marketing, and events is essential. Continuous testing and optimization keep strategies effective.
Differentiation in a Saturated Market
With many similar offerings, standing out requires more than just competitive pricing. Companies must focus on unique value propositions, expert-driven content, and strong storytelling to differentiate in a crowded market.
Data Privacy and Compliance
Adhering to data privacy regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act is essential. B2B marketers must ensure transparency and protect customer data to maintain trust and avoid costly breaches.
Lead Generation
Marketers must focus on lead nurturing to capture high-quality leads and align efforts with the buyer’s journey. Shifting focus from bottom-of-the-funnel tactics to a holistic approach increases conversion rates and drives growth.
Navigating Sales Pressure
and Go-To-Market Challenges
The increasing focus of organizations on boosting sales presents a major challenge for Go-To-Market strategies in 2025. Marketers are pressured to meet revenue targets by catering to urgent sales demands. At the same time, sales teams must adapt to the changing preferences of B2B buyers, who are now spending less time on direct sales interactions and more time on self-serve research and engaging with content.
Most marketers are now being evaluated based on their impact on revenue and pipeline, rather than using arbitrary marketing activities and vanity metrics as measures of success. This shift represents a departure from previous years’ focus on lead quality, conversion rates, and lead volume and instead emphasizes a broader commitment to revenue attribution and pipeline metrics. The main indicators of success are the creation of pipeline opportunities and the generation of revenue, aligning with overall revenue goals.
The main obstacle identified in this transformation is the generation of sales-ready leads, indicating a significant shift towards prioritizing tactics that drive sales engagement. This highlights the need to align marketing efforts with tangible business outcomes. Still, it also suggests a strong focus on boosting sales, possibly at the expense of maintaining effective marketing strategies.
The challenges mentioned indicate a systemic misalignment within go-to-market models. In the current environment, these pressures have led marketers to treat their sales teams as clients instead of prioritizing the buyers as the primary clients. This imbalance in the GTM strategy significantly impacts the experience that teams can provide to buyers, consequently affecting the outcomes they can expect.
Media Moves: Budgets, AI, and the Demand Shift
In today’s dynamic market landscape, vendors are reevaluating their resource allocation, recognizing the crucial distinction between merely capturing existing demand and actively generating it.
Strategic planning is one of the top three priorities for marketers, following content marketing (77%) and lead generation (57%). Marketers’ strategies align with their preferences, with email marketing being the most common method for nurturing leads. Other popular tactics include organic social media (64%), search engine marketing (60%), and event marketing (55%).
In 2025, B2B marketers are navigating a media landscape dominated by performance — 42% of media budgets are being shifted toward performance-driven channels, especially retail media and data‑rich digital formats. Many cite the pressure to measure outcomes and prove near‑term ROI as the chief driver of this allocation.
Despite global headwinds, 50% of brands plan to increase their media budgets this year—with stronger confidence in EMEA and relatively cautious outlooks in North America.
For B2B marketers, this media expansion comes alongside rising investments in short‑form video, content marketing, and platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. However, brand-building remains essential: data shows that over-reliance on performance can erode ROI, while a balanced allocation (40–60% toward brand) can deliver a near-doubling in returns.
With rising media price inflation and evolving buyer expectations (e.g., more digital touchpoints, longer cycles), B2B marketers must align both short-term performance needs and long-term brand health within their strategies.
Generative AI is set to streamline media operations in 2025, with larger organizations leading the way on adoption best practices. Over half (52%) of companies with $500 million or more in annual revenue have established dedicated teams to drive AI adoption, while 42% maintain regular internal communications about the value created by cognitive computing solutions. As smart automation technologies reshape areas like creative generation, pricing, and campaign optimization, brand leaders must follow suit — actively embedding AI into business processes, establishing clear roadmaps, and fostering trust among employees to capture value and manage risk effectively.
This progress shows stakeholders realize the importance of human capital and effective marketing programs in their overall success. Brands aim to achieve a harmonious balance between the individuals steering their marketing efforts and the platforms facilitating reaching their target audiences.
The Essential Role of BDRs in Revenue Alignment
Some leads are more valuable than others. Business development representatives often deal with bad data and are caught between marketing and sales. This can affect their success and impact downstream processes. If there are issues with how leads are handed off, it can affect their success. Downstream, problems can become even more amplified, impacting the chances of closing deals for account executives and the ability of customer success to nurture valuable customer relationships. Unfortunately, many enterprises don’t fully understand the following challenges faced by your sales development representatives, which can hinder their success:
Companies that excel at lead nurturing create 50% more sales-ready leads (Forrester Research) and are most effective at generating demand. This is crucial for deciding how leads are managed, ranked, and qualified. Aligning business development representatives with marketing teams naturally addresses these three areas.
On average, about 60% marketers use marketing automation to nurture leads. This shows that a third of companies are still missing an opportunity to use Business Development Representatives (BDRs) as an extra way to create better buyer journeys and build relationships with potential clients.
Empower BDR Success with RevOps
Operations functions increasingly consolidate around revenue, giving birth to RevOps. With this consolidation, RevOps becomes the tactical owner of the customer journey.
RevOps builds the go-to-market (GTM) engine and determines the best way to scale for growth. A key area of focus is empowering the BDR team. Their priority is to collaborate with marketing and sales experts to prioritize GTM campaigns and motions and, subsequently, prioritize the leads acquired through those channels.
Prioritizing Leads
Many marketers think they need to improve their lead-nurturing strategies. Only 8% consider their methods to be ‘excellent’. Most marketers struggle to create relevant content, don’t have insights into what works, or find it difficult to set up efficient workflows. They may need better ways to nurture cold leads, create multi-touch attribution models, or segment customers for more focused efforts.
Prioritizing leads helps to get a clear view of the organization’s lead flow and plan capacity. It also helps to decide if the business development team needs to grow to handle the lead load or if they are not getting enough high-priority leads. Here are two lead stacks that could help you organize prospect data:
The first type of leads comes from actions like requesting a demo, downloading an asset, or filling out a contact form. These prospects are self-qualified and require quick attention. Make sure to assign them to the right representatives as soon as possible for a swift response.
The second type of lead is from people who attended a live event or watched a webinar on demand. They are put into sequences/cadences, and representatives have time to personalize their messages to make their outreach more engaging.
Prioritizing leads is important for the business development teams at every buyer journey stage. Personalized content is essential. In fact, 56% of marketers say it’s the key to nurturing leads. A shared CRM helps align sales and marketing, ensuring leads get the right content at the right time. This leads to better outcomes. A good CRM can increase sales by up to 29%. It also makes creating campaigns, evaluating leads, and following up easier, resulting in faster and smarter conversions.
Client-Centric Focus: Rethinking Content Priorities in 2025
Content marketing is shifting its focus from lead quality and conversion rates to a more understanding-driven and educational approach. As Gartner’s CMO Journal (3Q25) stresses, content priorities must evolve from volume to resonance — ensuring that every asset reflects deep audience insight. Formats like short-form video, webcasts, and thought-leadership guides remain effective, but the differentiator is whether content delivers meaningful value aligned with customer needs.
This evolution is reinforced by the rise of video in B2B marketing: 78% of marketers already use video, 56% plan to increase usage in the next year, and 20% are just getting started. It’s no surprise then that 21% of marketers identify short-form video as delivering the best ROI in 2025, positioning it as one of the highest-performing formats.
The momentum aligns with broader market growth, with global content marketing revenue projected to reach $107.5 billion by 2026. LinkedIn data underscores this trend — video is no longer just an optional tactic, but a core driver of engagement and resonance in B2B strategies.
The takeaway? Content marketing isn’t slowing down — it’s evolving. With rising budgets, growing demand for creators, and video leading ROI conversations, brands that prioritize quality, agility, and tech-savvy strategies will stay ahead. Now’s the time to sharpen your content game and invest where it counts.
The most effective content formats:
Video:
An effective content format, despite its higher production costs. Video continues to be one of the most utilized formats for audience engagement.
The data is clear: 41% of marketers rank short-form social video as delivering the highest ROI, thanks to its quick, credible, and snackable nature. Close behind are brand storytelling (38%), which connects through narrative and emotion, and testimonials and demos (34%), which provide social proof in action.
This shift confirms that video is no longer just a high-investment tactic — it’s a top-performing format for driving ROI, sparking connection, and strengthening trust with audiences.
Short Articles or Long Blog Posts:
These formats continue to be among the best-performing types of content.
Webcasts:
Marketers use webcasts to offer detailed overviews, industry insights, and current trends, maintaining their popularity as a content format.
Whitepapers:
Whitepapers still effective in delivering in-depth coverage on various industry topics and trends.
The Role of Technology Insights in Customer Engagement
The gap between delivering better technology-driven customer experiences and maintaining trust is delicate but critical to bridge. In 2025, 85% of B2B buyers report frustration with online purchasing experiences, often leading to abandoned transactions. While customers may not consciously seek out brands with superior technology, they immediately notice outdated, frustrating, or insecure digital interactions. Brands that invest in seamless, intuitive platforms and tools can proactively meet customer needs, resolve issues efficiently, and strengthen loyalty over time.
Technology improves customer experience by allowing for personalization, boosting security and compliance, and offering various support options that are easy to access. Personalization goes beyond just using a customer’s name in emails. It includes relevant recommendations, smart incentives, and smooth transactions, all backed by reliable data. Businesses must also focus on protecting customer privacy and ensuring compliance while making digital experiences secure, inclusive, and convenient.
Customer support has changed with technology as well. Tools like chatbots, automated feedback systems, and smart routing help businesses solve problems quickly and reduce customer frustration. These tools give support agents access to customers’ histories, helping them provide more personal and empathetic service. By analyzing feedback and trends, brands can spot issues, improve their processes, and create better customer experiences that build trust and loyalty.
Conclusion
The story of 2025 B2B marketing is one of cautious optimism colliding with relentless pressure. Budgets are recovering, but scrutiny has never been higher. Buyer behavior is shifting faster than organizations can adapt. AI promises efficiency, but without strategy and trust, it risks becoming another distraction.
What separates high performers from the rest is clear:
- They treat ROI as the north star and prove marketing’s impact on revenue, not vanity metrics.
- They embrace AI and automation not as shortcuts, but as enablers of more relevant, human-centered experiences.
- They close the gap between sales and marketing, aligning around pipeline and customer lifetime value.
- They double down on content resonance — video, storytelling, and education that buyers actually want to consume.
- They make trust a competitive advantage, balancing personalization with data compliance, sustainability, and authenticity.
The Path Forward
B2B marketers stand at a defining moment: optimism is rising, but so are expectations. Success will come to those who can innovate with focus, measure with rigor, and engage with empathy.
The mandate for 2025 is simple, but not easy:
Prove your value. Protect your brand. Deliver experiences that resonate.
Do this, and marketing won’t just have a seat at the table — it will become the architect of durable growth in an era of constant change.