B2B Marketing Spend Analysis: Where Top Companies Invest in 2025 – B2B marketing budget 2025

B2B Marketing Spend Analysis 2025

I’ve reviewed marketing budgets for 40+ B2B companies over the past year. From bootstrapped startups to public companies spending $50M+ annually, I’ve seen what actually gets funded and what gets cut.

The data from 2025 shows something unexpected: budgets are growing, but not because companies are feeling optimistic. They’re growing because AI, data, and competitive pressure are forcing companies to spend more just to maintain their position.

Here’s what the numbers actually say about where top B2B companies are investing their marketing dollars in 2025.

The Big Picture: Budget Growth Stabilizes

After the chaos of 2020-2023, B2B marketing budgets have settled into predictable patterns.

Budget changes in 2025:

• 52% of companies increased budgets
• 39% kept budgets flat
• 9% made cuts

Median budget increase: 5%

That 5% sounds good until you factor in 3-4% inflation. Most companies are barely keeping pace with rising costs.

Budget growth by company size:

• Enterprise (500+ employees): 7-10% increases
• Mid-market (50-500): 3-5% increases
• Small business (<50): 0-3% increases

The gap between enterprise and small business budgets is widening. Larger companies can afford to experiment and invest in new channels. Smaller ones are stuck optimizing what they already do.

What Percentage of Revenue Goes to Marketing?

The classic “what should we spend?” question has real answers now.

Average across all B2B companies: 12.5% of revenue

But that average is misleading. The most common answer (mode) is 10%, meaning lots of companies cluster around that number.

By company type:

• SaaS companies: 15-20% (aggressive growth focus)
• Professional services: 5-9% (relationship-driven)
• Manufacturing: 3-7% (longer sales cycles)
• Technology hardware: 8-12% (competitive markets)

By growth stage:

• Pre-revenue/MVP: 40-60% (mostly founder time)
• Early revenue (<$5M): 20-30%
• Growth stage ($5M-$50M): 12-18%
• Mature ($50M+): 8-12%

By company size:

• Small (<$10M revenue): 15.2% average
• Large ($10M+): 11.8% average

Smaller companies spend more as a percentage because they’re still building brand awareness and fighting for market share.

Where the Money Actually Goes

Let’s break down where B2B marketing dollars flow in 2025.

Budget Split by Category

Personnel: 56% Programs/Campaigns: 24% Technology/Tools: 20%

This 56/24/20 split is remarkably consistent across company sizes. Whether you’re spending $500k or $50M, roughly 56% goes to people.

The Demand Gen Dominance

B2B marketing splits into two broad buckets: demand generation (getting new customers) and brand/retention (keeping current ones).

Current allocation:

• Demand generation: 70%
• Brand building: 30%

This contradicts classic marketing research that recommends 60/40 brand-to-demand. But ROI pressure forces companies to prioritize leads over brand.

Reality check: Companies optimizing for this quarter’s pipeline can’t justify spending 40% on brand building. The CFO wants to see leads, not brand lift studies.

Channel-by-Channel Breakdown

Here’s where the actual money goes by channel, based on aggregated budget data:

Digital Advertising: 22%

• LinkedIn Ads: 35% of digital ad spend
• Google Ads (Search): 30%
• Display/Programmatic: 20%
• Other paid social: 15%

Content & SEO: 18%

• Content creation (writers, designers): 45%
• SEO tools and services: 25%
• Video production: 20%
• Podcasts and audio: 10%

Events & Experiences: 15%

• Trade shows and conferences: 60%
• Webinars and virtual events: 25%
• Executive dinners and hospitality: 15%

Marketing Technology: 14%

• CRM and marketing automation: 35%
• Analytics and attribution: 20%
• ABM platforms: 20%
• Content tools and AI: 15%
• Other martech: 10%

Email Marketing: 8%

• Platform costs: 40%
• Design and development: 35%
• List growth and data: 25%

Account-Based Marketing (ABM): 8%

• ABM platforms: 45%
• Personalized content: 30%
• Sales enablement: 25%

PR & Communications: 7%

• Agency fees: 50%
• Media monitoring: 20%
• Press materials: 30%

Social Media (Organic): 5%

• Social management tools: 30%
• Content creation: 50%
• Community management: 20%

Other: 3%

These percentages vary wildly by industry, but they’re directionally accurate for most B2B companies.

What’s Growing in 2025

The fastest-growing budget categories reveal where companies see opportunity.

AI and Automation: +53% Budget Increase

71% of companies that invested in AI saw budget increases overall. AI is the narrative that unlocks more funding.

Where AI budgets go:

• Content generation tools: $200-500/month per team
• AI-powered ad optimization: Built into platform costs
• Predictive analytics: $1k-10k/month depending on scale
• Chatbots and conversational AI: $500-5k/month
• AI SDR tools (outbound automation): $2k-15k/month

Companies testing AI aggressively saw 15-30% efficiency gains in content production and campaign management. Those gains justified additional budget.

Personalization and ABM: +25% Budget Increase

Account-based marketing shifted from buzzword to standard practice. The median ABM spend is now $50k-150k annually for mid-market companies.

ABM technology stack:

• Core ABM platform (6sense, Demandbase, Terminus): $30k-100k/year
• Intent data: $15k-40k/year
• Personalization tools: $10k-30k/year
• Orchestration and workflows: Built into marketing automation

Events Return: +42% Budget Increase

After going all-virtual during COVID, events roared back. In-person conferences, trade shows, and customer events saw the biggest budget increases.

Event spending breakdown:

• Tier 1 trade show booth: $75k-250k (including travel, materials, staff time)
• Regional conferences: $15k-40k each
• Hosted customer events: $50k-150k for 100-200 attendees
• Executive dinners: $5k-15k for 10-15 attendees

Top companies report events generating 30-40% of their qualified pipeline. That ROI justifies premium spending.

Digital Ads on Trade Publications: +38% Budget Increase

Generic digital advertising is saturated. Trade publications offer targeted, high-intent audiences.

Cost structure:

• Display ads on industry sites: $50-200 CPM
• Sponsored content: $5k-15k per article
• Newsletter sponsorships: $3k-10k per send
• Webinar co-hosting: $10k-30k

The targeting precision justifies premium CPMs. When you can reach 10,000 decision-makers in your exact niche, $150 CPM makes sense.

What’s Declining in 2025

Not everything gets more budget. Here’s what’s shrinking.

Generic Social Media: -15% Budget Decrease

Facebook and Instagram ads for B2B are mostly dead. X (Twitter) holds on for tech companies, but spend is declining elsewhere.

Exception: LinkedIn spend is growing. It’s the only social platform seeing consistent B2B budget increases.

Broad PPC Campaigns: -12% Budget Decrease

Generic Google Ads campaigns with low intent keywords are getting cut. Companies focus spend on bottom-of-funnel, high-intent searches.

What’s being cut:

• Top-of-funnel awareness campaigns
• Broad match keywords
• Display network campaigns with weak targeting

What’s being increased:

• Brand search protection
• Competitor comparison keywords
• Bottom-funnel product searches

Traditional Offline Advertising: -18% Budget Decrease

Print ads, billboards, and TV spots barely exist in B2B anymore. A few enterprise brands maintain presence, but most have killed these entirely.

Conferences and Trade Shows (Smaller Tier 2/3 Events): -20% Budget Decrease

While top-tier events see increased spending, smaller regional conferences are getting cut. Companies focus on 3-5 major events instead of 15-20 smaller ones.

Top 5 Investment Priorities for 2025

When CMOs and VPs of Marketing rank their spending priorities, these five consistently top the list.

1. Marketing Technology and AI

Average spend: 20% of total budget

Companies are consolidating tools but spending more on the platforms they keep.

Typical B2B martech stack (50-500 employees):

• CRM: $5k-50k/year (Salesforce, HubSpot)
• Marketing automation: $10k-60k/year (Marketo, Pardot, HubSpot)
• ABM platform: $30k-100k/year (6sense, Demandbase)
• Analytics: $5k-30k/year (Google Analytics 360, Adobe, Mixpanel)
• SEO tools: $2k-10k/year (Ahrefs, SEMrush)
• Social management: $2k-8k/year (Hootsuite, Sprout)
• Email platform: $1k-20k/year (depending on volume)
• Content tools: $3k-15k/year (various)
• AI assistants: $2k-10k/year (Claude, ChatGPT, specialized tools)

Total: $60k-303k/year in technology

For a company with a $2M marketing budget, that’s 3-15% just on tools.

2. Demand Generation and Lead Gen

Average allocation: 60% of total budget

This is the biggest bucket. It includes:

• Paid advertising
• Content marketing aimed at conversions
• Email campaigns
• Webinars designed to generate leads
• Gated content and downloads

The pressure to show ROI pushes more money into demand gen every year.

3. Content Creation and Thought Leadership

Average spend: 15-20% of total budget

Content remains king, but the format mix is changing.

Content budget allocation 2025:

• Long-form articles and guides: 30%
• Video content: 35% (up from 25% in 2023)
• Podcasts: 10% (growing fast)
• Infographics and visual content: 15%
• Interactive tools and calculators: 10%

Typical costs:

• Blog post (1500-2500 words, quality): $500-2k
• Video (3-5 minutes, professional): $2k-10k
• Podcast episode (including editing): $500-2k
• Infographic: $500-2k
• Interactive calculator/tool: $5k-25k

4. Account-Based Marketing

Average spend: 8-12% of total budget

ABM moved from experiment to core strategy. Most B2B companies now run some form of ABM program.

Components:

• Technology platform
• Intent data
• Personalized content creation
• Sales alignment and enablement
• Targeted advertising to account lists

Companies typically start ABM with 50-500 target accounts. At scale, mature programs track 1,000-5,000 accounts.

5. Customer Marketing and Retention

Average allocation: 30-40% of total budget

Retaining customers costs 5-7x less than acquiring new ones. Smart companies finally invest accordingly.

Customer marketing budget:

• Customer success content and resources: 30%
• Upsell and cross-sell campaigns: 25%
• Customer events and community: 20%
• Advocacy and referral programs: 15%
• Case study and testimonial creation: 10%

Budget Allocation by Company Stage

How you allocate budget changes dramatically based on your growth stage.

Pre-Product-Market Fit ($0-$1M revenue)

Total marketing budget: $100k-300k/year

Allocation:

• Content marketing: 35%
• Founder/exec time on outreach: 30%
• Basic tools: 15%
• Initial website and brand: 10%
• Experimentation budget: 10%

At this stage, you’re still figuring out who buys and why. Most “marketing” is actually founder-led sales and learning.

Early Growth ($1M-10M revenue)

Total marketing budget: $300k-1.5M/year

Allocation:

• Demand generation: 40%
• Content and SEO: 25%
• Marketing team (2-5 people): 20%
• Technology: 10%
• Events: 5%

You’ve found product-market fit. Now you’re scaling what works.

Growth Stage ($10M-50M revenue)

Total marketing budget: $1.5M-8M/year

Allocation:

• Demand generation: 35%
• Brand building: 15%
• Content and SEO: 15%
• Marketing team (10-25 people): 20%
• Events: 8%
• Technology: 7%

You’re building a real marketing organization with specialists. Budget expands across more channels.

Enterprise Scale ($50M+ revenue)

Total marketing budget: $8M-50M+/year

Allocation:

• Demand generation: 30%
• Brand and corporate marketing: 20%
• Content and thought leadership: 12%
• Marketing team (50-200+ people): 25%
• Events and sponsorships: 8%
• Technology: 5%

At this scale, brand matters. You invest in awareness, positioning, and long-term equity building.

Industry-Specific Spending Patterns

Marketing spend varies dramatically by industry.

SaaS and Technology

Marketing as % of revenue: 15-25%

Focus areas:

• Product-led growth initiatives
• Free trial optimization
• In-app marketing
• Developer relations and community
• Technical content and documentation

SaaS companies spend aggressively because customer lifetime value supports high acquisition costs.

Professional Services (Consulting, Legal, Accounting)

Marketing as % of revenue: 5-10%

Focus areas:

• Relationship marketing
• Events and networking
• Thought leadership
• Referral programs
• Client nurturing

Services firms rely heavily on relationships and referrals. Marketing amplifies these, but personal networks drive most growth.

Manufacturing and Industrial

Marketing as % of revenue: 3-8%

Focus areas:

• Trade shows and industry events
• Trade publication advertising
• Technical content and specs
• Distributor/channel marketing
• Direct sales support

Manufacturing sales cycles are long (6-24 months). Marketing supports sales but doesn’t drive velocity like SaaS.

Healthcare and Medical Devices

Marketing as % of revenue: 8-15%

Focus areas:

• Clinical education
• Medical conference sponsorships
• Peer-to-peer programs
• Regulatory-compliant content
• Key opinion leader relationships

Highly regulated industries spend more on compliant content and educational programs.

The AI Budget Question

Every CMO is getting asked: “How much should we spend on AI?”

Here’s what companies are actually doing in 2025:

AI spending as % of marketing budget: 8-15%

But this is tricky to measure because AI is embedded everywhere:

• Ad platforms use AI for optimization (built into costs)
• Content tools use AI (is that AI spend or content spend?)
• Analytics use AI for insights (AI spend or analytics spend?)

Distinct AI investments:

• Generative AI tools for content: $200-2k/month
• AI-powered SDR tools: $2k-15k/month
• Predictive analytics platforms: $1k-10k/month
• AI chatbots and conversational tools: $500-5k/month

ROI expectations: Companies expect AI to deliver 20-30% efficiency gains in:

• Content production speed
• Campaign optimization time
• Data analysis and reporting
• Routine task automation

Most are seeing 10-15% gains so far. Expectations exceeded reality, but the direction is clear.

Common Budget Mistakes

After reviewing dozens of marketing budgets, these mistakes appear repeatedly:

Mistake 1: Spreading Budget Too Thin

Companies try to be everywhere and end up being effective nowhere. Better to dominate 2-3 channels than be mediocre in 10.

Mistake 2: Under-Investing in Measurement

Most companies spend less than 5% of budget on analytics and attribution. Then they can’t prove what works.

Better approach: Allocate 8-12% to measurement, attribution, and analytics. Know what’s working before you scale.

Mistake 3: Not Reserving Experiment Budget

Companies lock 100% of budget into existing programs. When new opportunities emerge, they can’t move.

Better approach: Hold back 10-15% for experiments and emerging channels.

Mistake 4: Paying for Tools Nobody Uses

The average company uses only 60% of the features in their martech stack. They’re paying for functionality their team doesn’t need.

Better approach: Audit tool usage quarterly. Cut anything with less than 70% adoption.

Mistake 5: Ignoring Customer Marketing

Most B2B budgets allocate 70%+ to new customer acquisition and under 30% to retention. The numbers should be closer to 50/50.

How to Build Your 2025 Marketing Budget

Here’s the process I recommend:

Step 1: Determine Total Available Budget

Start with revenue and work backward.

Conservative: 5-8% of revenue Moderate growth: 10-15% of revenue Aggressive growth: 18-25% of revenue

Step 2: Allocate by Category

Use the 56/24/20 framework:

• 56% to people
• 24% to programs/campaigns
• 20% to technology

Step 3: Split Programs by Funnel Stage

Top of funnel (awareness): 30% Middle of funnel (consideration): 40% Bottom of funnel (decision): 30%

Step 4: Map Budget to Channels

Based on historical ROI and strategic priorities, allocate across:

• Paid advertising
• Content and SEO
• Events
• Email
• ABM
• Social

Step 5: Hold Back Reserve

Keep 10-15% unallocated for:

• Unexpected opportunities
• Experiments
• Overage in successful channels

Step 6: Plan Quarterly Reviews

Your budget should flex. Review every quarter:

• What’s working? Fund it more.
• What’s not? Cut it.
• What’s new? Test it with reserve funds.

Key Takeaways

After analyzing budgets and spending patterns across dozens of companies, here’s what matters:

Budget growth is real but modest. Most companies see 3-7% increases. Plan for maintaining purchasing power, not dramatic expansion.

AI is the budget unlock. Projects framed as “AI initiatives” get funded more easily. Smart teams package existing work with AI angles.

Demand generation dominates. The 70/30 split (demand/brand) reflects ROI pressure. CFOs want leads, not brand studies.

Events are back. After COVID, in-person experiences deliver outsized pipeline impact. Expect 15-20% of budgets going to events.

The martech stack is stabilizing. Companies consolidated from 15-20 tools down to 8-12 essential platforms. The core stack costs $60k-300k annually.

Measurement still gets short-changed. Less than 10% of budgets go to analytics and attribution. This limits optimization and makes it hard to prove ROI.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s a realistic marketing budget for a $10M B2B company?

$1M-2M annually (10-20% of revenue). Allocate roughly $560k to team, $240k to programs, and $200k to technology.

Should we increase marketing spend during a recession?

Depends on cash position. If you can afford it, recessions are opportunities. Competitors cut spending, making it cheaper to capture attention. But don’t bet the company.

How much should we spend on AI and automation?

8-15% of total marketing budget on distinct AI tools. But remember, AI is embedded in most platforms now, so actual AI usage is much higher.

Is 70/30 demand/brand split too aggressive?

For most B2B companies, yes. But ROI pressure makes it hard to justify more brand spending. Try to creep toward 60/40 over time.

What percentage should go to tools vs people?

The 56% people, 20% technology split is sustainable. Don’t let tools exceed 25% of budget.

How do we justify marketing budget increases?

Show ROI with clear attribution. Document how previous budget increases drove revenue growth. Frame new requests around proven channels or AI initiatives.

When should we hire marketing people vs agencies?

Hire for core capabilities you’ll need long-term (content, demand gen, marketing ops). Use agencies for specialized work (design, PR, video production) or peak capacity needs.

The Bottom Line

B2B marketing budgets in 2025 are growing but not exploding. Companies invest strategically, prioritizing demand generation, AI, and measurement.

The winners aren’t spending the most. They’re spending smartest—focusing dollars on high-ROI channels, measuring relentlessly, and moving fast when they find what works.

Your budget doesn’t need to be the biggest. It needs to be the most efficient.