50+ B2B Marketing Statistics, Facts & Trends

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Business-to-business (B2B) marketing has seen significant changes in recent years, thanks to digital transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic behavioral shifts.

These B2B marketing statistics reflect the changes in buyers’ behavior and B2B marketers’ approach to marketing in the modern era.

I will elaborate on B2B marketing statistics related to spending, the most common B2B marketing approaches, including content, social media marketing, and influencer marketing, and adopting B2B martech tools.

Top 6 B2B Marketing Statistics (Editor’s Pick)

  • 49% of B2B marketers expect their content marketing budget to increase in 2023.
  • Gallery posts by businesses performed 2.4 times better than the average post in 2022.
  • 73% of organizations localized their B2B content in July 2021-July 2022.
  • 53% of B2B marketers expect influencer marketing spending to increase in 2023.
  • 49% of B2B marketers utilized in-person events in July 2021-July 2022.
  • Content management systems were used by 50% of B2B marketers in July 2021-July 2022.

Infographic

top 6 b2b marketing statistics
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B2B Marketing Spending & Adoption Statistics & Trends

1. B2B marketing spending in the US reached $3.65 billion in 2022.

That figure amounted to a 4.4% increase from $3.5 billion spent on B2B marketing in the US in 2021. B2B marketing spending in the region is forecast to surpass $3.9 billion by 2024.

2. In 2021, 51% of B2B marketing spending was allocated to website development.

44% of their marketing budget was spent on digital marketing

Content marketing’s spending share was 33%.

3. In 2021-2022, 46% of B2B organizations spent 10-50% of their marketing budget on content marketing.

Only 2% of companies spent their entire marketing budget on content marketing in July 2021-July 2022. For 17% of organizations, the content marketing spending amounted to 5-9% of their overall marketing budget.

4. In 2022, the B2B marketing budget did not increase for 57% of marketers, compared to 2021’s budget.

For 11% of those marketers, the 2022 marketing budget decreased by 15% or more compared to 2021.

5. 28% of B2B marketers were expected to do more with less in 2022.

These marketers had fewer resources in 2022 than in 2021

On average, 38% had to achieve their 2022 goals with the same resources as in 2021.

6. In 2022, B2B content creation and customer marketing were most affected by budget cuts.

34% of organizations made cuts to these areas of B2B marketing.

Organizations with a turnover of $500 million or higher were most affected by budget cuts to customer marketing (46%).

7. 49% of B2B marketers expect their content marketing budget to increase in 2023.

26% of marketers expect their content marketing budget to remain the same in 2023 as in 2022. 19% of marketers expect that budget to decrease.

8. In 2023, 54% of B2B marketers expect to spend more on digital marketing than in 2022.

Here is a breakdown of percentages of B2B marketers and marketing areas where they expect higher or lower spending in 2023:

Marketing area Percentage of marketers expecting to spend more Percentage of marketers expecting to spend less
Digital Marketing 54% 34%
Customer Marketing 54% 28%
Content Strategy 54% 32%
Demand generation 47% 39%
Martech / operations 47% 35%
Product Marketing 46% 35%
Events 46% 41%
Sales enablement 40% 38%
Communications 37% 41%
ABM 29% 53%

9. 57% of B2B marketers are expecting investment in community building in 2023.

Most B2B marketers (78%) expect their company will invest in video content.

10. B2B traditional ad spending is forecast to reach $19.2 billion by 2024.

In 2022, this type of B2B spending reached $17.7 billion

This figure constituted a 5.8% increase from 2021.

11. American B2B digital ad spending is expected to reach $14.57 billion in 2023.

This figure is expected to constitute 48% of all American B2B ad spending in 2023.

B2B Lead Generation & Success Metrics Statistics & Trends

12. In 2021, referrals accounted for 65% of B2B sales and marketing leads.

Email marketing and SEO accounted for 38% and 33% of leads, respectively.

13. In 2022, 48% of B2B marketers preferred webinars as a top-of-the-funnel lead generation tool.

That represents a 3% growth from 2021.

Here is an overview of the percentages of B2B marketers that favored specific engagement tactics for top-of-the-funnel lead generation in 2021 and 2022:

Tactic How many favored in 2021 How many favored in 2022
Webinars 45% 48%
Lead nurturing campaigns 25% 43%
Trade shows/offline events 20% 41%
Case studies 25% 34%
Videos 27% 30%

14. Webinars were the top lead generation tool for the middle-of-the-funnel for 39% of marketers in 2022.

Here is an overview of middle-and-end-of-the-funnel engagement tactics favored by B2B marketers in 2021 and 2022:

Tactic How many favored in 2021 How many favored in 2022
Webinars 36% 43%
Personal events (meals out) 22% 39%
Case studies 33% 43%
Videos 23% 31%

15. Website traffic and email engagement were top metrics used by B2B marketers for content performance in July 2021-July 2022.

Overall, 81% of B2B marketers tracked content performance during that period.

83% of those marketers used website and email engagement to do so.

16. Links to video ads on landing pages were the most effective video lead generation method in 2022.

53% of marketers used this method for generating leads from videos in 2022. 49% of B2B marketers also used the embedded website video content for lead generation.

17. 79% of B2B marketers considered website forms the most effective prospect acquisition tactic.

As of January 2022, over half of the marketers (54%) got the most value from prospect acquisition from downloads of content, such as whitepapers. 

47% preferred trade shows or other in-person marketing events.

18. In Q1-Q3 2022, 15% of American B2B marketers increased their lead generation by over 30% via a chatbot.

26% of B2B marketers benefitted from a chatbot by increasing their lead generation rate by 10-20%.

b2b marketing lead generation
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B2B Social Media Marketing Statistics

19. 95% of B2B marketers used social media to distribute their content in July 2021-July 2022.

64% of marketers also used speaking engagements, and 50% used guest posts and third-party publications to promote their content.

20. 96% of marketers used LinkedIn for B2B marketing from July 2021-July 2022.

Facebook and Twitter were in second and third place by usage, with 76% and 70%, respectively. Pinterest (11%) and TikTok (9%) were the least popular social media platforms among B2B marketers.

21. LinkedIn was the most popular social media platform among B2B marketers from July 2021-July 2022.

39% of B2B marketers found LinkedIn “very effective” and 21% “extremely effective.”

22. Gallery posts by businesses performed 2.4 times better than the average post in 2022.

This carousel-style content shared via gallery posts received 7.2 times more engagement than GIF content and 8.3 times more engagement than URL posts.

B2B Content Marketing Statistics

23. 40% of B2B marketers had a documented content marketing strategy in 2022.

33% of marketers also had an undocumented content marketing strategy

And 27% of marketers did not have a strategy at all.

24. In-person events provided the best content marketing results in July 2021-July 2022 for 48% of B2B marketers.

Virtual events and webinars produced the best content marketing results for 46% of marketers. Print magazines and books only paid off for 18% of them.

25. On average, content creators for B2B blogs spent 4 hours and 38 minutes on a single blog post in 2022.

An average B2B blog post was 1460 words12% longer than a B2C post.

26. Brand awareness was the top goal of B2B content marketing from July 2021-July 2022.

Here is a breakdown of content marketing goals and the percentage of B2B marketers that managed to achieve them in July 2021-July 2022:

Content marketing goal Marketers that achieved it
Brand awareness 83%
Building trust 77%
Educating audiences 72%
Lead generation 67%
Customer retention and loyalty building 63%
Lead/subscriber nurturing 54%
Drive event attendance 49%
Building an audience 44%
New product launch support 42%
Revenue generation 42%

27. 64% of B2B marketers frequently tried to differentiate their content in July 2021-July 2022.

83% of marketers who made their content stand out did so by producing better content than their competitors.

28. 89% of B2B marketers used short-form marketing content in July 2021-July 2022.

75% of marketers used video for content marketing

Long-form content and infographics were each used by 61% of B2B marketers.

29. In 2022, B2B video content was the most useful for 55% of B2B customers worldwide.

Webinars came second, with 54% of global B2B customers considering them the most important B2B content.

most useful content for b2b customers worldwide
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30. B2B videos and webinars were the marketing content most likely to be shared in 2022.

Here is an overview of the percentages of B2B customers around the world that were most likely to share B2B marketing content in 2022:

Type of content Percentage
Videos 53%
Webinars 52%
Interviews 45%
Blog posts 43%
Podcasts 42%
Whitepapers 34%
Infographics 26%
Case studies 20%

31. Funny and interactive video content brought the highest ROI for over 50% of marketers in 2022.

The most lucrative video content was product-centric, bringing the highest ROI for 66% of B2B marketers.

32. 80% of B2B marketing video content produced in 2021 was user-generated.

Two of three user-generated videos were screen recordings or hybrid looms featuring a presenter’s face along the screen recording.

33. 73% of organizations localized their B2B content in July 2021-July 2022.

In most cases (82%), adapting content to suit a target market’s local culture was done in-house by B2B  organizations. 31% engaged freelancers for that purpose.

34. In 2022, 58% of B2B customers consumed 3-5 pieces of B2B content before contacting the company.

33% of French B2B customers consumed seven pieces of content before approaching the company.

35. 47% of B2B marketers believe their employer will hire content producers in 2023.

25% of B2B marketers expect their organizations to hire content marketers in 2023, and 22% expect social media specialists to join their team.

36. Only 10% of B2B organizations monetized their content in July 2021-July 2022.

52% of those organizations used advertising or sponsorships to generate revenue via content monetization. 48% released premium content, and 39% engaged in affiliate marketing partnerships.

B2B Email Marketing Statistics

37. Email marketing was the top-converting channel for the top-of-the-funnel for 49% of marketers.

Social media proved to be an effective lead generator for that segment in 2021 for 34% of B2B marketers.

38. 69% of B2B marketers used email newsletters from July 2021-July 2022.

And 83% of those marketers shared their content and newsletters by email directly through their mailing lists.

39. 35% of B2B marketers worked with partners to promote their content by email in July 2021-July 2022.

These partner emails were the least popular paid content distribution method amongst B2B marketers. The most popular one was social media ads.

b2b marketers partners
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B2B Influencer Marketing Statistics

40. In Q2 2021-Q1 2022, 77% of B2B marketers worked with industry expert influencers.

56% of B2B marketers engaged internal influencers in executive roles in B2B marketing. 42% engaged other employees.

41. 33% of B2B marketers directly attributed revenue to influencer marketing in Q2 2021-Q1 2022.

For 56% of B2B marketers, influencer marketing generated new leads.

It boosted the brand’s reputation for over 70% of organizations that used influencer marketing at that time.

42. Webinars were the most popular B2B influencer marketing content type in Q2 2021-Q 1 2022.

Here is a breakdown of the most favored influencer marketing types of content:

Type of content Percentage of those favoring this content
Webinars 81%
Social media content 74%
Blogs 71%
Recorded video content 67%
Interviews 62%
Podcasts 52%
Live videos 48%
Case studies 38%
Industry-specific content 33%
Interactive content 31%
Infographics 17%

43. 38% of marketers working with internal influencers in Q2 2021-Q1 2022 found them very effective.

For 27% of B2B marketers, the internal C-suite influencers were extremely effective in leveraging the brand’s influence.

44. 53% of B2B marketers expect influencer marketing spending to increase in 2023.

Over 50% of marketers spent under $100k on influencer marketing programs in Q2 2021-Q1 2022.

45. Lack of a documented strategy was the main influencer marketing challenge for 48% of B2B marketers.

25% of organizations did not have any influencer marketing strategy in place in Q2 2021-Q1 2022. Less than 50% had a documented one.

Other B2B Marketing Tools Statistics (Online & Offline)

46. 49% of B2B marketers utilized in-person events in July 2021-July 2022.

That is 30% more organizations than in the previous 12-month period.

And 52% of marketers expect their organization to invest more in in-person marketing events in 2023.

47. 57% of American B2B marketers used chatbots to get to know the audience in 2022.

55% of US B2B marketers who used chatbots saw their main value in generating new leads. For 43% of marketers, chatbots were most useful for educating prospects.

us b2b marketers
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B2B Marketing Service & Martech Providers Market & Revenue Statistics

48. HubSpot was the most popular marketing automation platform in 2021.

40% of marketers were using HubSpot for marketing automation that year

The rest of the market was split between Adobe/Marketo (16%), Pardot by Salesforce (13%), and other tools.

49. Content management systems were used by 50% of B2B marketers in July 2021-July 2022.

51% of B2B marketers used client relationship management (CRM) systems in their content management. Analytics tools were the most popular technology they used, with an 84% usage rate.

50. 95% of B2B organizations had unused martech solutions in their stack in 2022.

Here is a breakdown of percentages of B2B marketers who have redundant or unused martech solutions in their stack to a great or a very great extent across different industries:

Industry Percentage
Average percentage 38%
Insurance 54%
Financial services 48%
Telcos 40%
Manufacturing 38%
Technology 36%
Healthcare 35%

51. From July 2021-July 2022, only 28% of B2B marketers had the right content management technology in their company.

While 31% of the rest of B2B marketers did have the right technology, they were not making the most of it. And 30% of marketers did not have the right stack of tech tools at all.

What Are the Key Takeaways About B2B Marketing in 2023?

It is clear that B2B marketing is evolving and encompasses online and offline marketing. In many cases, B2B marketers are forced to do more with less, but they also are not making the most of the available martech solutions and technology.

LinkedIn is the most popular social media tool for B2B marketing. 

And in terms of content, webinars, and video content seem to be the favorites, although in-person events are recovering popularity after the pandemic.

One more emerging B2B marketing trend is influencer marketing. 

It is also gaining momentum, although not many B2B organizations have a proper strategy for working with influencers. For more insights, check out our influencer marketing statistics and trends article!

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