According to a new report by B2B research firm Ascend2 in association with digital agency Wpromote, 70% of marketing executives are confident that their digital marketing budgets will grow this year. Of these, 24% expect a significant increase, while 19% anticipate a slight growth. The survey interviewed 348 marketing professionals in the US in April.
AI is seen as a major driver of B2B digital marketing, with 79% of respondents expecting to utilize AI tools in their marketing strategies. Despite this, 16% of marketers remain apprehensive about the impact of AI, while 12% are indifferent. The main use cases for AI are personalization and content generation.
The top challenges that marketers face this year are improving customer experience, proving ROI, generating quality leads, creating quality content, and aligning marketing and sales. While the challenges may be perennial, the report is noteworthy as it predicts a positive outlook in terms of digital marketing budgets, despite economic headwinds.
In contrast to the findings of the report, Gartner's 2023 CMO Spend and Strategy Survey of similar-sized sample revealed that between 12% and 26% of those interviewed expected to decrease spending in specific digital channels. The differences between the two surveys are that the Gartner sample was split evenly between B2B and B2C marketers, and incorporated findings from Canada and Europe.
Overall, the report indicates that B2B digital marketing budgets will grow in 2023, despite the current economic headwinds. Marketers need to be aware of the various challenges they face this year and be able to utilize AI tools to overcome them.
Originally reported by Martech: https://martech.org/b2b-digital-marketing-budgets-should-grow-in-2023/
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