Bring on 2025: Our thoughts on what’s ahead in B2B marketing
This is the time of year when clients ask us for perspectives on the next twelve months: What’s likely to be different, where business-to-business (B2B) marketing teams should sharpen their focus, and what it all might mean for their budgets, strategies, and tactics.
In summary, here’s what we see when we look ahead to 2025:
Lead quality will remain top of mind. We do a lot of work in this category and expect it to become even more important in 2025. With the help of AI and pinpoint audience targeting, our clients are driven to ensure every lead has a high probability of converting. We are equally focused on the omnichannel campaigns and ABM programs that make this possible quickly and at scale.
When we notice that 84% of marketers say driving new business is at the top of their to-do list but just 27% consider themselves good at it[1], and that B2B marketers rank growing a high-quality lead pipeline as their number-one priority[2], we keep pressing forward with new creative and channel innovations for our clients, as well as improvements to how high-quality leads are nurtured. Which leads to our next point.
Co-sell momentum will increase. It’s the motivation behind our recent PartnerTap partnership announcement and a trend that’s overdue. We consider co-sell platforms and processes a springboard to tighter sales and marketing alignment, greater vendor-partner profitability, more precise marketing attribution, and faster conversions.
We’re not alone in our co-sell (and co-marketing) expectations. For example, Forrester expects half of B2B companies will increase their spend on technology for partner ecosystems. Among those companies, the primary focus areas will be account mapping, co-marketing, co-sell, and co-innovation[3]. We also see B2B marketing and sales teams investing in probabilistic modeling and customer health scoring[4], each with the goal of increasing their marketing ROI and customer lifetime value.
Buyers will accelerate how they use AI. This will apply not only to how they research and validate B2B software options but also to the software features and partner expertise they demand. Our advice to clients: be prepared. Ensure your content catalog has enough range and depth to reach buyers with the personalized information they need, at the purchase stage and in the format they prefer. When the time comes to land the value prop buyers have researched using AI, you’ll be ready.
Two AI data points pop for us: The first is that as of March 2024, 56% of B2B software buyers surveyed by G2 noted that their organization recently invested in an AI platform, and 34% of those buyers indicated that research is the most time-consuming part of their purchase process[5]. In short, buyers are leveraging AI for multiple aspects of their business, and thanks to AI, they’re more informed than ever before. We’ll be weaving AI into more of our work in 2025 as well.
Marketplaces will expand and gain traction. We’re hearing a familiar refrain from clients: How can we generate more marketplace success in 2025? Answer: Make your best solutions more discoverable, your buyers more informed, and your marketing and sales channels more prepared to leverage marketplace capabilities. Remain aware that for many buyers and sellers, marketplaces represent a behavior shift. As an agency, we’re focused on helping land marketplace marketing for hyperscalers and their partners.
While expectations for the total value of transactions fulfilled via marketplaces may vary, the universal trend is upward and steep. Hyperscalers such as AWS, Microsoft, and Google are leading the way. According to Canalys, hyperscaler marketplace software sales will reach $85BN by 2028, a 48% CAGR from 2023[6]. Of those sales, over 50% are expected to flow through channel partners by 2027. Our clients know this is a wave they’re not going to miss. We share their enthusiasm and are all-in on helping them capitalize on it.
Creative will still differentiate. Because buyers respond to what grabs their attention and speaks to their needs. For as much as we love AI and use it to help make our work smarter, in the near term, AI will remain a creative enabler rather than the definitive source of great creative assets. (In other words, assets that are effective and brand-consistent.)
We know great creative sells. It’s what powers every campaign we execute, every social channel we support, every brand design we deliver, and every partner asset we produce. The data shows the same.
For example, a recent study revealed that LinkedIn ads qualifying as “creative” generated a 40% increase in purchase consideration among business decision-makers when compared with ads that did not qualify as creative. The study also found a 34% increase in research intent, a 23% increase in perception, and a 15% increase in brand connection for creative ads[7]. Over the past ten-plus years of running B2B ads for top brands, the importance of creative excellence has only been reinforced and we expect the same in 2025.
When we look ahead, we also keep in mind the creative resource constraints many B2B brands face, combined with the content and creative alignment needed for success. We’re aware that resourcing impacts the challenges of landing compelling creative throughout the buyers’ journey and across marketing and sales[8]. Our response in 2024 has been to refine our creative and production processes for an even higher level of repeatability and scalability than ever before. The next year will include more of the same—and more win/wins for vendors and partners who combine strategy with systems thinking.
Add it up and we’re bullish on 2025. We’re anticipating a year in which positive sales and marketing momentum will increase. However, as they do, the fastest revenue growth will favor software vendors and partners who are able to compete at scale. Those who can make thousands of meaningful connections with buyers and turn quickly turn them into customers. The benefits of speed and accuracy will be greater than ever before.
Want to talk 2025 strategy? If you’re already working with Knack, drop any of us a line and we’ll follow up ASAP. If you’re new to Knack, send email to info@knackcollective.com. We’ll be thrilled to connect.