• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, October 12, 2022

B2B marketing budgets are somewhat stagnant this year. And so are expectations, judging by the State of Marketing Budgets, a study released Wednesday by Integrate and Demand Metric. 

Only 12% of firms report that their marketing budgets are significantly higher, while 31% say they are slightly more robust and 33% that they are lower. They are flat for 25%, meaning that over half are flat or lower. 

Moreover, 21% have been hit by mid-year marketing cuts. 

The areas most affected by cuts or freezes are:

—ABM—17% 

—Communications—28%

—Content creation/strategy—34%

—Customer marketing—34%

—Demand Generation—22% 

—Digital—20% 

—Field or event marketing—28%

—Marketing operations/technology—23%

—Product marketing—21% 

—Sales enablement—10% 

Email budgets fall into the demand generation bucket. 

That flatness apparently will continue into 2023. Marketing budgets will be: 

—Slightly higher—33%

—Significantly higher—9%

—Significantly lower—7% 

—Slightly lower—18% 

—Same as 2022—33% 

What forces are driving these budget changes? Marketers are worried about: 

—Longer impact of COVID pandemic—33%

—Inflation—38% 

—Economic recession—32%

—World geopolitical instability—29%

—Supply-chain disruptions—28%

—Rising interest rates—24%

—Competitive forces—24%

—Changing opportunity—20%

—The ‘Great Resignation’—14%

Still, marketing performance expectations remain high. Of those polled, 50% are tasked with achieving more than they did in 2021. Technology marketing teams have the most pressure on them. 

Yet two-thirds of marketers have the same or fewer resources compared to what they had in 2021. 

To the extent possible, marketing teams are investing in the following areas:

• ABM—17% 
• Communications—28%
• Content creation/strategy—42% 
• Customer marketing—37%
• Demand generation—28%
• Digital—37% 
• Field or event marketing—27% 
• Marketing operations/technology—29%
• Product marketing—26%
• Sales enablement—14%

Are they happy with their marketing results? Not everyone:

• Satisfied—37% 
• Very satisfied—11%
• Very dissatisfied—6%
• Dissatisfied—12% 
• Neutral—34% 

Meanwhile, 48% feel their martech stacks are serving them very well, 12% very much so. But 19% claim they are doing poorly, and 33% are neutral. 

This may be because of tech stack redundancies. Marketers say they have them: 

• To some extent—41% 
• To a very great extent—11% 
• To a great extent—27%
• To a little extent—16%
• To no extent—5% 

But 53% say their martech stacks will stay the same size in 2023, 22% that they will be smaller and 25% that they will grow. 

Looking forward, B2B marketers expect the following for their 2023 staffing levels:

• They will be slightly higher—35% 
• They will be the same as in 2022—38%
• They will be significantly higher—8%
• They will be significantly lower—7% 
• They will be slightly lower—12%