Pressure mounts on B2B marketers, but AI could save them: Linkedin research
Pressure is mounting on B2B marketers, as demonstrating a campaign’s ROI is becoming increasingly difficult, according to new research from Linkedin. But, marketers are looking positively to how AI could impact this.
According to Linkedin’s ‘B2B ROI Impact’ report, which surveyed over 1,000 B2B marketers worldwide, nearly half (46%) of the world’s B2B marketers are having to justify their marketing spend to the C-suite every single month.
It found that the length of B2B buying cycles is getting longer, causing difficulties for 87% of marketers in measuring long-term campaign impacts. Despite this, 78% said the importance of demonstrating ROI has grown in the past two years – locally, that percentage goes up to 80%.
Matt Tindale, head of Linkedin marketing solutions, APAC, said: “In 2025, B2B marketers must get one core operating priority right: proving ROI. To help them move away from a monthly reporting cycle that doesn’t reflect the long-term nature of B2B buying, they must work closely with senior leaders to demonstrate which metrics drive the greatest impact.
“Winning trust with the C-suite starts with helping them see why in B2B, revenue does not increase simply because of the number of leads that a marketing team drives, but rather the quality of those leads.”
The research also found that 92% of B2B marketers, globally, agree that AI will have a positive impact on measurement – with the majority predicting AI will be a “top way” to gain a competitive advantage in 2025.
The key growth drivers are upskilling in AI, realising productivity gains because of AI, and speeding up the adoption of AI.
90% agree that when AI is used to build and optimise campaigns, they see improved ROI.
The research found B2B marketers are using AI to enhance audience segmentation and targeting (57%), conduct predictive analysis to improve performance and lead scoring (55%), automate routine tasks (53%), and provide real-time optimisation of ad spend and creative content (53%).
Nine in ten local CMOs agree that AI will open up new possibilities for their business that didn’t exist before. All respondents (100%) said it will help free up more time for customer engagement, while 80% agreed AI will reduce the length of the buying cycle.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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