Enterprise B2B marketers are moving away from traditional lead-generation metrics in favour of financially accountable KPIs, according to new research from marketing consultancy 2X and management firm Avasant. The shift reflects a wider trend of aligning marketing more closely with business outcomes – and executive leadership.
The report, Rethinking B2B Marketing Execution, found that 43.7% of surveyed B2B enterprises now prioritise net new revenue as their primary KPI. Other top metrics included ROI (36.8%), customer lifetime value (33.3%), opportunity-to-sales conversion (29.9%) and cost per acquisition (28.7%).
“Marketing is starting to speak the language of the business — adopting financial metrics and aligning more closely with the CFO and CEO,” said Lisa Cole, chief marketing officer at 2X. “That shift will go a long way in repositioning marketing as a growth engine, not just a service function.”
Rethinking B2B Marketing Execution suggests marketers are under growing pressure to prove their contribution to growth, particularly in environments where budget scrutiny remains high. The median marketing budget across respondents stood at 3.7% of revenue — a level typically associated with sales-led business models. In contrast, budgets of 8%–10% are more common in marketing-led organisations focused on demand generation and brand building.
AI adoption rises — but budgets stay people-heavy
AI-led campaigns and intelligent automation were among the biggest drivers of marketing strategy in 2024, with 72.4% of respondents investing in AI for campaign optimisation and content creation, and 57.5% implementing automation. Yet despite this enthusiasm, personnel still account for the largest share of marketing spend at 55.9%.
Only 23.9% of budgets were allocated to growth initiatives and 20.2% to technology — a discrepancy Cole sees as a warning sign. “You’d expect AI to unlock productivity and reduce the need for as many resources. But that’s not what the data showed,” she said. “If organisations aren’t reducing overhead or accelerating output, we’re just adding cost in a new place and missing the point of AI entirely.”
Rather than reducing headcount, businesses are reallocating funds from programmes and campaign execution to fund tech investments — potentially undercutting the very activities designed to drive pipeline.
Outsourcing grows for marketing ops and research
Rethinking B2B Marketing Execution also revealed continued reliance on outsourced support for execution-heavy functions. Around 38.2% of all full-time equivalent marketing activity is handled externally, with cost efficiency the dominant driver (cited by 86.4% of respondents), followed by access to specialist expertise (59.1%).
Executional areas such as loyalty programmes (84%), web management (84%) and lead management (78.2%) are among the most frequently outsourced. Spend on outsourced market research and competitive intelligence grew 34% year-on-year.
“Smart marketing leaders treat their organisation like a high-return investment portfolio,” said Cole. “They’re keeping strategic functions in-house — brand, go-to-market strategy, customer experience — and outsourcing or automating the rest. That’s how you build an operating model that can scale.”
As marketing teams seek to do more with less, Rethinking B2B Marketing Execution concludes that success will depend on rebalancing in-house talent, tech investment, and outsourcing — and proving marketing’s value in terms that resonate with the boardroom.
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