• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 8, 2022

B2B marketers are coping with limited resources as they enter 2023, according to a new study by RollWorks. 

Of those polled, 52% have marketing budgets of $9 million or less, and 36% say theirs are under $1 million. Only 10% say they have the resources to be successful next year. 

They want higher budgets (39%) more than they do additional staff (29%). 

Email is among the activities that offer the most potential gains in 2023. They are high on content (16%) email (14%) and partner marketing (13%).  

In contrast, content syndication, webinars and virtual events and event marketing are at the bottom. 

In addition, 63% rank stronger brand awareness as their top measure of success. Lowering customer churn is cited by only 8%.

Marketing programs were very successful for 42%, and moderately so for 55%. And, 45% were able to tie the ROI of their marketing strategies to revenue, 19% being always able to do so. 

Moreover, 74% say their marketing is more targeted and personalized that it was last year.

"Organizations are increasingly prioritizing customer acquisition over growing their pipeline, and they're turning to marketing to generate these strategies to impact revenue,” concludes Jodi Cerretani, VP of Revenue Marketing at RollWorks. 

Cerretani adds, “High-value channels like content, partner, and email marketing are proving to be effective drivers of ROI for successful marketing programs."

Despite budgetary restrictions, marketers remain positive about the coming year, with 90% saying they are moderately to extremely optimistic. One reason may be that  52% are retaining more customers than last year, while another 38% are retaining the same amount.

These findings “certainly indicate hope and buoyancy in the year ahead, even in the midst of a contracting economy with restricted resources,” Cerretani concludes. 

RollWorks surveyed 1,007 B2B” marketing and sales professionals in October through November, 2022.