What Will Lead Spending Priorities for Marketers in The Near Future?
Marketing leaders in 2024 project growth and expect it to continue through 2025, citing increased budgets and robust strategies as drivers for the coming year.
With a new year comes a new marketing budget. Spending too little is a constant concern, while it is a bigger worry to spend a lot and see no returns on the investment. For marketing technology professionals, the future equals adoption of AI and automation for increasing operational efficiency and enhancing business growth. In fact, as per research by 10Fold, 80% of marketers from across Canada, the US, the UK, France, Germany, and Italy say that AI has impacted their strategy in 2024.
The report titled The Marketing Spend Strategy: How Marketing Executives are Funding the Future to Hit KPIs by 10Fold, a B2B deep-tech communications and content agency, reveals how marketing leaders are strategically adapting to the economy with marketing programs, AI, and automation.
As per the study, despite continued economic uncertainty and stringent budgets across industries, a majority of B2B tech marketers (65%) saw budget increases in 2024 and expect even larger allocations in 2025.
Interestingly, while funding rose, only half of the marketing teams (49%) faced more ambitious KPI demands. This is a significant reversal from 2023 figures, where bigger budgets meant more aggressive KPIs. The report details how these B2B marketers have allocated resources to deliver maximum ROI across every channel by country, by company size and by industry.
“Given the economic conditions, the resilience and optimism among marketing leaders in B2B tech is both surprising and encouraging,” said Susan Thomas, CEO of 10Fold. “Our findings highlight a pragmatic approach to budget management and a shift towards data-driven growth strategies. Marketing leaders are leveraging AI and other automation tools to boost productivity and gain efficiencies, showing that tech marketers are more prepared than ever to adapt and succeed.”
AI, Automation To Spike Budgets
Over half (53%) of marketers who saw budget increases attributed the increases to AI and automation investments, with 71% of respondents who embraced AI strategies reporting a moderate to significant rise in budget allocations.
While marketers in France received the most significant increases in budget (20% increase or more), UK marketers received the most increases (including moderate and significant) overall. Respondents from the AI, Fintech, Networking, and IoT industry domains all agreed AI had impacted their 2024 strategy (~80%).
War for Talent Amidst Layoffs
A notable 54% of marketing executives reported expanding their workforce, compared to only 15% reporting a decrease in 2024, with the balance holding the staff levels steady. This highlights the ongoing “war for talent,” even amidst global tech sector layoffs. Only companies in the smallest size segment ($1 million to $10 million) reported smaller expansion of staff, in which only 37% increased staff, the majority stayed flat (49%) and 15% decreased staff.
When it comes to agency budgets and outside contractors, even more marketing leaders, 61%, increased these budgets. This was the case even in the smallest companies with revenues of $1 million to $10 million, in which 48% reported increases and only 13% reported decreases.
Proven Marketing Tactics Top The Priority List
Top spending areas for lead generation remained consistent: marketing tools (33%), websites (30%), and digital ads in national publications (20%). Social media continues to rise in importance, with X (formerly Twitter) taking the lead as the preferred platform (57%), followed by LinkedIn (41%). Interestingly, companies in the $10 million to $100 million revenue range tend to favour media-related strategies more than other sized companies.
Looking to 2025, the report highlights that B2B marketing executives anticipate a steady continuation of 2024’s successful tactics, with a notable increase in digital trade publication advertising and a strong focus on high-performing, AI-enhanced campaigns. An overwhelming 77% of marketing leaders in 2024 project growth and expect it to continue through 2025, citing increased budgets and robust strategies as drivers for the coming year.
