• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 4, 2025

You may be forgiven if you are confused by the state of email in B2B marketing. 

On the one hand, email is ranked down the list in a  new study from Demandbase and EMarketer. Asked which tactics work better for B2B than B2C, the respondents cited: 

• Relationship-building and networking — 52.8%
• LinkedIn marketing — 47.6% 
• Long-term marketing with CRM tools — 44.6%
• Partnership and co-marketing — 42%
• Demonstrating expertise with case studies — 41.6%
• Lead nurturing with email marketing — 33.8%
• Emphasis on educational content — 35.1%
• Data-driven insights — 35.1%
• Industry-specific SEO — 30.7%
• Hosting educational events — 29%
• Focus on multi-stakeholder buying processes — 22.3%
• I don’t know — 3.9% 
• Other — 1.2%

Now it is not clear how a B2B specialists would know what works better in B2C. Granted, email lead nurturing and account-based marketing would seem to be more widely used in B2B. 

Here’s one explanation of the difference between B2B and B2C: That 37.7% of the respondents see the extended sales cycle in B2B as a key challenge to maximizing ROI.

Still, email retains its fairly high ranking among widely used tactics. 

“Outside of social, survey respondents identified email (65.4%) and paid search (58.4%) as the top two channels they used most frequently for B2B marketing,” the study states. 

In general, B2B brands have seem to be increasing their ad spend. They list their budgeting changes as follows:

• Increased 0%-10% — 33.3% 
• Increased 11-50% — 27.3%
• Increased 51%-100% — 4.3%
• Stayed the same — 23:4%
• Decreased 0%-10% — 8.7% 
• Decreased 11%-50% — 2.2%
• Decreased 51%-100% — 2.2%
• Decreased 59%-100% — 0.9%

Of course, this survey was conducted before the current wave of economic turmoil. 

How do B2B marketers measure the success of their advertising? They cite:

• Engagement metrics — 63.6% 
• Lead generation — 62.3% 
• Conversion rates — 57.6% 
• Return on investment (ROI) — 52.4% 
• Click-through rates — 45.5%
• Pipeline generation — 33.8% 
• Campaign lift/site activity — 32.5%
• Impressions — 30.7% 
• Journey stage progression — 19.9% 
• Other—3.9% 

Commissioned by Demandbase, the study by EMarketer surveyed 233 B2B marketers and agencies worldwide in January and February 2025.