What next?
Economic uncertainty, a tumultuous global business environment and pressure to deliver across a variety of timelines - life for a B2B marketer in 2025 is filled with challenges and opportunities.
Marketers are increasingly under pressure to deliver against challenging targets with fewer resources and reduced budgets. With burnout on the rise, brands have to ask if this level of pressure is sustainable – or fair.
Education is needed to help businesses understand the potential of marketing beyond simply driving leads for sales. Part of this education is demonstrating to senior leaders how the sales cycle is becoming longer and more complex, with a growing number of people involved in the buying decision.
Brands need to wean themselves off the notion that the bigger the pipeline the better. Moving from chasing lead quantity to lead quality can be a frustrating process that requires patience but is worth it in the long run.
Brand marketing is gaining more attention within B2B, but the key is getting businesses to buy into longer-term campaigns even when the pressure is on to deliver quarter to quarter. Finding the balance that works for your brand between short-term sales driving activity and long-term brand building is key. The years of either/or are over.
The data and analytics skills gap often cited within B2C marketing teams is also prevalent in B2B. Rather than seeing this as an issue, businesses should take the opportunity to upskill their teams and redefine their approach to data.
With AI racing up the list of must-have skills for B2B marketers, it is important for brands to look beyond the hype and define the best use cases for their business. Go into experimentation mode and share insights with the wider organisation, so everyone is invested in getting it right.
The relationship with sales might carry with it inherent tensions, but marketing should always be seen as an equal, strategic partner – casting aside any outdated suggestions of being a ‘servant to sales’.
Nurturing a good relationship with the sales team might be the priority for most B2B marketers, closely followed by the CEO, but don’t let building bridges with finance become a blindspot. Marketers need to foster a strong bond with the finance team to help ease those difficult conversations around securing investment. Investing in improving your financial fluency makes sense, especially as it helps marketers easily adopt the language of finance.
While there are many challenges, the good news is businesses are increasingly relying on the strategic insight marketers provide, as the impact of their work grows and their influence is felt to a greater extent by the wider organisation.
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