B2B marketers are somewhat upbeat about the economy, and are adjusting their budgets accordingly. Most are also hopeful about AI, judging by State Of B2B Digital Marketing, a study released Tuesday by Wpromote and Ascend2.  

Of the companies polled, 70% plan to increase their marketing budgets this year, 19% significantly and 51% moderately. Another 14% will maintain their current level, and 11% foresee decreases, but only 2% expect significant cuts.  

The significant growth outpaces that of 2022, but is behind 2021. 

As for the economy, 24% are extremely positive and 43% are somewhat positive, while 28% are somewhat negative and 4% are extremely negative. A full 80% of the most positive marketers are focused on growth, while 62% of those with a negative view are prioritizing profitability. 

Social seems to dominate in terms of spending growth. Here are the channels receiving the increases:  

• Social Media — 56% 
  
• Paid Search — 40%
  
• Organic Search — 36% 
  
• Email — 40%
  
• Display Advertising — 41%
  
• Content Marketing — 49%
  
• Streaming TV (CTV, OTT) — 34%

Companies with excellent CX are most likely to invest: 

• Social media — 70% 
  
• Organic search—50% 
  
• Email — 50% 
  
• Display advertising — 57%
  
• Content marketing — 68%
  
• Streaming TV (CTV, OTT) — 49%

Social also seems to be most effective at driving revenue:

• Social Media — 60%
  
• Content marketing — 49% 
  
• Email — 45% 
  
• Display advertising — 36%
  
• Paid search — 32%
  
• Organic search — 23% 
  
• Streaming TV (CTV,  OTT) — 23% 

Of course, there are hurdles. Here are the top five marketing challenges in 2023:

• Improving customer experience — 41%
  
• Measuring and proving ROI — 40% 
  
• Delivering quality leads — 37%
  
• Producing quality content — 36% 
  
• Aligning marketing and sales — 36%

That said, 38% rate their digital marketing strategy as best in class. In addition, 22% reported a revenue increase of 20% or more in the last year. And 34% say they are delivering an excellent customer experience.  

Which tactics contribute most to achieving top-of-funnel goals? They are: 

• Social media — 50% 
  
• Email — 43% 
  
• In-person/live events — 34% 
  
• Video — 30% 
  
• Interactive content — 30%
  
• Influencer marketing—30% 
  
• Paid search — 28% 
  
• Site content, including blog — 26%
  
• Direct mail — 24%
  
• Virtual events — 23% 
  
• Account-based marketing (ABM) — 22%
  
• SEO — 19%
  
• Podcasts — 16%
  
• Converged TV — 11%

And in the bottom of the funnel? These tactics contribute most: 

• Social media — 46% 
  
• Email — 40% 
  
• Paid search — 30% 
  
• In-person/Live events — 30%
  
• Direct mail — 28%
  
• Video — 27%
  
• Interactive content — 26%
  
• Influencer marketing — 25% 
  
• Virtual events — 23% 
  
• Account-based marketing (ABM) — 22%
  
• Site content, including blog — 21%
  
• Podcasts — 18% 
  
• SEO — 17% 
  
• Converged TV — 14%

How do B2B marketers feel about AI? They are: 

• Terrified — 5%
  
• Excited — 26%
  
• Hopeful — 34% 
  
• Relieved — 7% 
  
• Apprehensive — 16% 
  
• Indifferent — 12% 

Moreover, they would consider investing in these AI areas over the next two years: 

• Personalizing the customer experience — 41% 
  
• Content generation — 40% 
  
• Automated customer interactions — 36%
  
• Customer service functions — 36%
  
• Building ad creative — 35% 
  
• Campaign automation — 32% 
  
• Programmatic advertising — 31%
  
• Predictive lead scoring — 30% 
  
• Campaign performance measurement — 27%
  
• Media mix modeling — 25% 
  
• Advanced audience segmentation — 21%  

Ascend2 and Wpromote surveyed 348 B2B marketers in U.S. businesses with 50 or more employees in April 2023. 

 

Email is also seeing strong growth and is rated an effective channel, Wpromote and Ascend2 report.