With a global financial recession looming (already here?), 2023 looks like a tough year for marketing budgets. However, the outlook varies considerably by industry and company size.

Overall, 58% of marketers project flat or reduced budgets for 2023, up from just 26% in 2022. Midsized companies (those with 500 to 5,000 employees) are most likely to cut spending. But very small companies (11-50 workers) were actually most likely to increase marketing budgets this year.

Those are just a few of the findings from the Marketing Manager Mindset Report 2023, recently published by Livestorm, Mention, and Jotform. This 65-page report is packed with facts, stats, and insights marketers can use to inform adjustments to their planning and strategy as the year goes on.

Here are seven findings from the report worth highlighting.

1) B2B marketers are faring (a little) better than B2C.

Per the report, “B2B teams had the largest marketing budgets.” B2B marketers were also slightly more likely (68% vs. 63%) to say that their budget will stay the same or increase this year.

2) The budget outlook varies a lot by industry.

At least 40% of respondents said their budgets will increase this year in the financial services, business services, energy, engineering, healthcare, media & publishing, real estate, telecom, and transportation sectors.

Conversely, marketers are most likely to see cuts in the ecommerce/retail & fashion, manufacturing, government, logistics, and science/technology & space sectors.

3) Marketing has more responsibility for revenue.

Looking at marketing studies over the past several decades, the objectives topping the list for B2B marketing professionals have consistently been lead generation and brand awareness. But the #2 goal for all marketers (#3 for B2B) in this survey was “increase sales.”

It’s not surprising that increasing sales revenue was the top goal (at 67%) among B2C marketers, where marketing is responsible for driving in-store and online traffic, and sales professionals (other than for big-ticket items) generally play a smaller role.

It is surprising, however, that increasing sales is now prioritized almost as highly as the more traditional goals of brand awareness and lead generation.

This is likely explained partly by the growth in B2B ecommerce (where sales reps play a smaller role) and the fact today’s B2B buyers are typically 57%-70% of the way through their buying process before engaging with a sales person. B2B marketers now need to carry more of the sales lift, as well as producing mid-funnel and bottom-of-the-funnel content to assist their sales teams.

Interestingly, increasing customer retention (generally a more cost-effective way to drive sales than through new customer acquisition) and improving audience engagement (a clear and easily measurable responsibility of marketing teams) were far lower on the list of goals.

4) The top marketing KPIs are (too?) short-term focused.

Revenue is, by a significant margin, the top marketing goal / KPI this year. That is followed by leads / MQLs, and website traffic (which was #1 in 2022).

Customer LTV is way down on the list, and media reach—a vital KPI for brand awareness and image over the long term—is at the very bottom.

As the report notes:

While these conversion-focused metrics of course matter, top-of-funnel metrics are important to long-term growth. We’d urge marketers to make sure they’re working towards a healthy, ongoing stream of revenue, not just closing sales today and tomorrow.”

5) Social media is most popular, but search is most important.

Sometimes the answer you get depends on how you ask the question. Organic social media was ranked as the most popular channel among survey respondents, and social media engagement and reach were among the top marketing goals / KPIs.

But organic search (SEO) was identified as the most important channel; not surprising, given that search typically drives 10X the traffic and leads as social media for B2B companies. As noted here all the way back in 2015 (and reinforced in 2022), social media may be sexy but search pays the bills.

Content marketing, a vital component of both search and social engagement strategies, was #2 in terms of both popularity and importance. And finally, despite the hype they get, video marketing and ABM were both near the bottom of the list for importance.

6) Event marketing is bouncing back for B2B.

Event marketing was among the top six channels in terms of active use and importance for B2B marketers. Per the report, “Events also jumped a lot, from 39% to 57%. This could represent a
final bounce back from the lingering effects of COVID.”

Respondent rated events as more important than paid social, display ads, media relations, or influencer marketing.

7) Training and communication are top challenges.

B2B marketers named training & continuous learning (43%) and communications with other teams / functions (41%) as their top challenges. Given the critical importance of training to business performance, it’s clear companies need to invest more here.

The next two top challenges,  not surprisingly, are challenges related to remote work (29%) and attracting talent (28%). All of these challenges are connected: training helps attract and retain talented workers, as well as helping them communicate more effectively.

Remote work can present obstacles to communication, but if employees are engaged and see the business investing in them, they’ll be more collaborative and productive.

Download the report to get the full story.

There’s much more in this extensive study, from how budget and strategy trends vary across B2B, B2C, and agency marketing, to deep dives into content and social media strategy for the coming year. Download Marketing Manager Mindset Report 2023 to get all the details.

 

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