[Research Round-Up] B2B Marketing Benchmarks, a CMO Outlook, and How Humans Decide

Why It Matters

The findings reveal a strategic crossroads for B2B marketers: reallocating spend toward brand can boost long‑term pipeline, yet measurement and executive buy‑in remain weak, limiting ROI visibility.

Key Takeaways

• B2B marketers allocate 70% demand, desire 50% demand.
• Ideal split: 40% brand, 50% demand generation.
• Only 28% can tie brand spend to pipeline.
• CEO/CFO belief in long‑term brand falls to 69%.
• Owned, earned media three times more effective than paid.

Pulse Analysis

Recent Benchmarkit data reveal that B2B technology marketers still pour the majority of their spend into demand‑generation activities, with a median 70 % of budgets earmarked for short‑term pipeline. Yet the same respondents envision a more balanced future, preferring a 50/40 split between demand and brand building. This tension highlights a growing recognition that brand equity can amplify demand efficiency, even as firms grapple with limited resources. For CMOs, the shift signals a strategic pivot toward long‑term positioning without abandoning the immediate revenue pressures that dominate most tech‑centric go‑to‑market plans.

The NielsenIQ CMO Outlook underscores that senior executives are tempering their enthusiasm for brand investment: belief in long‑term brand value among CEOs and CFOs dropped to 69 %, down from 80 % a year earlier. Still, more than half of surveyed marketers allocate at least 60 % of budgets to brand initiatives, indicating a disconnect between leadership confidence and budgetary reality. Compounding the challenge, only 28 % of firms can directly attribute brand spend to pipeline, while marketers juggle up to fifteen measurement tools. This measurement gap forces leaders to rely heavily on attribution models and mix‑modeling, which may not capture the full impact of brand equity.

WPP Media’s analysis of 1.2 million purchase journeys adds a human dimension to the budgeting debate. The study finds that 84 % of shoppers start with a pre‑existing brand bias, and only about a quarter of consumers are receptive to new messaging. Crucially, owned, shared and earned touchpoints outperform paid media by nearly three‑fold in converting bias into purchase. For B2B marketers, the implication is clear: investing in brand experiences that nurture bias—through thought leadership, customer advocacy and community building—delivers higher conversion efficiency than scaling paid campaigns alone. Aligning budget allocations with these behavioral insights can bridge the gap between brand spend and measurable pipeline growth.