A new global study from marketing firm 2X and consultancy Avasant reveals that enterprise B2B marketers are increasingly focusing on financially driven key performance indicators (KPIs) rather than vanity metrics.
Repositioning Marketing as a Growth Driver
According to Lisa Cole, Chief Marketing Officer at 2X, “Marketing is starting to speak the language of the business—adopting financial metrics and aligning more closely with the CFO and CEO. That shift will go a long way in repositioning marketing as a growth engine, not just a service function.”
Marketers Prioritise Efficiency with New KPIs
The study found that net new revenue is the most common KPI for 43.7% of enterprise B2B marketers, followed by return on investment (36.8%), customer lifetime value (33.3%), opportunity-to-sales conversion (29.9%), and cost per acquisition (28.7%).
“The thinking is changing from ‘How many leads did we generate?’ to ‘How efficiently are we driving growth?’ That’s a much more mature, financially accountable posture,” Cole pointed out.
“Marketers are showing up in board meetings ready to speak the language of ROI, margin and payback period. That’s exactly where we need to be.”
AI Adoption Rises, But Labour Costs Remain High
Artificial intelligence is becoming an important tool in B2B marketing strategies, with 72.4% of marketers utilising AI for real-time optimisation and content acceleration. Additionally, 57.5% are implementing intelligent automation tools.
The report found that 55.9% of marketing spend goes to staff, while only 23.9% is allocated to growth programmes and 20.2% to technology.
“You’d expect AI to unlock productivity and reduce the need for as many resources, faster execution and fewer people. But that’s not what the data showed,” Cole explained. “If organisations aren’t reducing operational overhead or accelerating output, we’re just adding cost in a new place, and missing the point of AI entirely.”
Outsourcing Marketing for Greater Efficiency
Outsourcing is also on the rise, with 38.2% of marketing headcount now external. The main reason for outsourcing is cost-effectiveness which is cited by 86.4% of respondents, compared to 59.1% who cited access to expertise. In partner selection, 58.6% prioritised cost-effectiveness, with industry-specific knowledge (42.5%) and proven track record (40.2%) also considered.
Loyalty programmes and web management are the most commonly outsourced tasks (84% each), followed closely by market intelligence (81.6%) and lead management (78.2%). Marketing operations budgets for outsourcing increased by 35% year-over-year.
“The smartest marketing leaders treat their organisation like a high-return investment portfolio,” Cole said. “Outsource it, automate it, or both. That’s how you create an operating model that can adapt and scale.”
Essential Functions Remain In-House
The report indicates that while operational tasks are being outsourced, essential areas like brand management, go-to-market (GTM) strategy, and customer experience are being kept within the organisation.
According to the report, the discipline is maturing rapidly, aligning itself more with business objectives and adopting scalable models to meet them.