The recent CMO Survey reveals challenging economic conditions for many businesses. Between 2022 and 2024, surveyed business leaders have given declining scores to their sales and profit performance. One way to improve this situation is to use the best B2B market intelligence.

The B2B Marketing Outlook

Surveyed business leaders also have downgraded their performance scores on customer acquisition and brand value in the past six months.

In seeking a solution to this gloomy outlook, businesses should consider adjusting their marketing strategy. The CMO survey shows that nearly 55% of marketers can quantitatively prove the short-​term impact of their marketing spend.

Market Intelligence

This is great news. But there's always room for improvement.

When sales and customer acquisition rates aren’t where they need to be, B2B market intelligence can help. Your clients need to understand what motivates their target audiences to make a decision. They need to know where the market opportunities are.

With the B2B BuyerSCAN data from AdMall, you can show clients which media formats drive purchases from B2B decision-​makers. For example, 49% of Commercial Landscape/​Mowing Service Customers have responded to a TV ad in the past 30 days. The most common response, for 67% of the audience, was to conduct an online search.

After running a campaign based on the right B2B market intelligence, your clients can measure their success.

Marketing Strategy

In LinkedIn’s 2024 B2B Marketing Benchmark report, survey respondents noted that 60% of their marketing effort goes to attracting new customers. To achieve their goals, they distribute their spending as follows:

• Paid media 23%
• Creative development 21%
• Events/​sponsorships 18%
• Martech tools 15%
• Target marketing (ABM) 14%
• Training/​research 10%

Analysts urge B2B operators to develop creative messaging that stands apart from competitors. If you want to check out what a client’s competitors have been doing recently, run a Digital Audit. This tool, available on AdMall, offer real-​time B2B market intelligence.

Currently B2B marketers say that creative personalization is working for them. They are using the following tools to increase engagement:

• CTV 47%
• AR/​VR 39%
• Gen AI 33%

And while the latest tools deliver results for marketers, they also use traditional media forms:

• Social media 75%
• Email 61%
• Blog 42%

Media Format

The LinkedIn survey did a deep dive on how B2B marketers are using specific media formats and their effectiveness.

Social media continues to be a dominant channel for B2B marketers. For 36% of these marketers, the format is “most effective for meeting their marketing needs.” Only 2% of these marketers foresee a cutback in social media use.

However, 21% plan to cut back on print magazine use next year, and 16% will reduce their use of linear TV. Have you shared data with your clients regarding which audiences respond to specific ad formats?

Content Management

You can also help clients develop the kind of content that interests these buyers. In the B2B universe, buyers take time to review their options. And they research solutions online before they reach out to vendors.

B2B market intelligence from AdMall shows the most effective way to generate leaders. For example, 48% B2B decision-​makers considering a learning management system will share their contact information to get a free trial.

Once your client has attracted a buyer's interest, they need to move the prospect to the middle of the sales funnel. A successful transition at the stage requires engagement. 24% of potential learning management system subscribers will increase consideration if the vendor is mentioned by a social media influencer.

Let your clients knows that 16% B2B operators believe video is their most effective form of content marketing. However, visual content such as infographics (15%) and thought leadership blog posts (14%) are close behind.

The marketing department is under increasing pressure to produce results, especially in the short term. With tools like Gen AI at hand, they can work more efficiently. But effectiveness will come when they use the right B2B market intelligence to target decision-makers.

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