B-to-B Marketers Show Confidence Around AI Adoption

New research from LinkedIn reveals that more business-to-business marketing leaders worldwide are planning to use artificial intelligence as a tool to simplify content creation in the coming year. Almost two-thirds of b-to-b marketing leaders (62%) have “a good understanding” of how to use generative AI within their marketing, the study reveals. Created alongside Ipsos, the LinkedIn study shows there is a growing understanding of the value and skills that marketers in the b-to-b space need. Almost two-thirds (65%) expect to see their marketing budgets grow over the next year, and 81% say their use of generative AI would increase this year—more than any other channel or tactic. The B2B Marketing Benchmark study was conducted with the responses of nearly 2,000 senior b-to-b marketing and finance leaders from international organizations. 50% of those asked are "optimistic" about their marketing team’s ability to drive revenue, while 60% of organizations said the role of the CMO has increased in importance in the eyes of the C-suite to impact revenue. “The strides b-to-b CMOs have made in improving ‘financial fluency’ and proving marketing effectiveness are paying off, and their efforts will be rewarded through driving their company’s next wave of growth," said Tom Pepper, senior director of EMEA and LATAM at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. A growing need Adopting AI tools and habits will create a need for upskilling for all marketers. Almost two-thirds (63%) of study respondents have a "good" understanding, 45% have a "somewhat good" understanding and 17% have an "extremely good" understanding of what's needed to effectively use AI. Other data points: three-quarters (75%) intend to increase their use of AI over the next year. 56% will adopt AI to create more automated content in less time.55% say it will improve efficiency.51% say the tools will create engaging content. More than a third (39%) intend to use the tech to build more creative campaigns and 36% to gain a competitive advantage. Winning the future is rooted in compelling storytelling.—Allyson Hugely, director of customer insights, LinkedIn This supports research released by Forrester in March that found that 67% of b-to-b organizations planned to increase their use of AI in their marketing processes. "AI can become a marketer’s best strategist and thinking companion," added Mailchimp’s CMO, Michelle Taite. "If used correctly, AI can help brainstorm quickly to get rough edits and concepts out," she said. Brand building vs. product selling Another piece of research released by Brand Finance in May found that brand building was becoming a more common practice across b-to-b companies. This research discovered that more than 70% of marketing leaders believed their team understood the importance of brand building and had the right creative skills to support it. However, 62% of campaigns run by respondents were found to still favor product promotion, compared to 37% around brand building. B-to-B Marketers Find Corporate Gifting Wildly Successful—When Infused With Data “Winning the future is rooted in compelling storytelling," added Allyson Hugely, director of customer insights for LinkedIn. "Human interpretation, perspective and refinement, complemented by the speed and scale that technological advances will provide is what will differentiate marketing mediocrity from marketing excellence."

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B-to-B Marketers Show Confidence Around AI Adoption

LinkedIn research has found that 63% of leaders believe they have 'a good understanding' of generative AI

Stephen Lepitak

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Stephen Lepitak