B2B Marketing Trends, Tactics, and Predictions for 2025
It’s the first month of the new year, and like us, you’re probably trying to second-guess what your winning play will look like this year. Will there be more AI? A new channel? New approaches?
Well what better way to satisfy that curiosity than by hearing what other marketing leaders are thinking?
That’s why we brought together a panel of marketing leaders on the Attributed Podcast, to discuss what they consider as the most important trends shaping B2B marketing this year.
Brad Diamandis (VP of Global Marketing at Configit), Brian Austgen (Director of Demand Generation at Maxio), and Liam Collins (VP of Paid Acquisition at Cognism) shared their insights on what’s working, what’s not, and where marketing teams should prioritize their efforts in the year ahead.
Here’s everything you need to know about their B2B predictions and approaches for 2025.
Listen to the entire conversation here.
Trend 1: AI Will Play a Bigger Role in 2025
We’re all up to our teeth with AI, and it’s still not going anywhere according to our panelists.
How our panel is using AI for B2B marketing in 2025:
Automate content creation to scale
Brian and his team are using AI to automate repetitive tasks like slicing webinars into short, captioned clips, allowing more time to focus on strategic initiatives while maintaining an active content pipeline.
He emphasized that AI when properly applied, is a game-changer for maintaining a high content output without overwhelming the team.
Ensure visual consistency
For Brad at Cognism, AI’s role is in the behind-the-scenes operations, such as ensuring brand consistency across creative assets.
AI tools are used to integrate creative assets with a consistent visual identity across platforms, ensuring efficiency in design updates while maintaining brand integrity. By focusing on efficiency, Configit’s marketing team has leveraged AI to maintain high standards without compromising creativity.
Don’t compromise on authenticity
Liam highlighted the growing need for balance in AI use, cautioning against over-reliance at the growing risk of losing authenticity and trust.
He and his team pair AI efficiencies with influencer content and human-driven storytelling to maintain credibility, ensuring that final outputs remain authentic. He also described how his team uses AI for smarter collaboration, such as automating ad creation and sharing actionable insights across departments.
Trend 2: People still matter (a lot)
Despite AI’s growing popularity, a real person’s opinion resonates more with an audience. Establishing authority through thought leadership will become increasingly important for standing out in 2025.
How our panel is resonating with their audience through thought leadership
Make use of your C-Suite
Brad shared how Configit’s leadership team has become central to their brand’s credibility.
Using tools like Oktopost, the marketing team crafts and schedules posts on behalf of busy executives. This has allowed Configit to position its executives as trusted industry voices without requiring constant hands-on involvement.
Collab with influencers
For Brian, thought leadership includes partnering with external influencers. He shared how webinars featuring prominent voices in their industry have become one of their most effective tactics.
It was unexpected how well they'd work and how long lasting the impact of this would be, because we had one specific webinar we did in February that people were still referencing eight, ten months later.
Foster internal and external expertise
Liam and his team build thought leadership both internally and externally.
While their leadership frequently posts on social media to establish expertise, the company also collaborates with other trusted brands and voices. He also highlighted the importance of value-driven content that aligns with customer needs and priorities.
Trend 3: Get comfortable with intent data
In 2025, intent data is no longer optional. B2B marketers are now quickly moving beyond surface-level targeting to understand exactly when and how to engage their audiences.
How our panel is making the most out of B2B intent data
Combine multiple intent data sources
Brad described combining data from intent tools like 6Sense or ZoomInfo with Dreamdata Reveal and LinkedIn to identify companies in-market. He pointed out that layering multiple intent data sources creates a more nuanced picture of potential buyers, enabling more accurate targeting.
This data-driven approach has significantly boosted demo requests and pipeline activity
Refine ABM with personalization
For Liam, intent data plays a critical role in refining ABM strategies.
His team tailors campaigns to address specific regional and industry pain points, creating hyper-personalized messaging.
He also mentioned that collaboration with sales teams helps validate the data and ensures campaigns align with real-world buyer behaviors.
For example, using Gong to build out a revised, buying committee for their accounts by segment. After quantifying the job personas and titles and of all the different departments, they took this recommendation to sales and asked them for feedback where they made sense.
Start attributing your intent data
Brian highlighted how Maxio uses Dreamdata and tools like Gong to bridge qualitative and quantitative insights. By combining intent data with attribution tools, his team transforms self-reported feedback into actionable strategies.
To not just collect but also aggregate and figure out how you should be categorizing your self-reported attribution.
This approach ensures marketing efforts are rooted in both anecdotal and data-driven insights, enabling more informed decision-making and impactful results.
Trend 4: Say Goodbye to Paid Search in 2025
As paid search becomes increasingly expensive and competitive, marketers are reassessing its value and exploring alternative strategies.
How our panel is approaching paid search
Reallocating paid budget to better-return activities
Brian shared he is gradually reallocating paid search budget toward more impactful initiatives like webinars and partnerships.
However, he stressed the importance of strategic testing to ensure a smooth transition.
For instance, focusing on audience engagement through webinars and strategic content pieces, which not only drive leads but also reinforce brand authority.
Optimizing campaigns to very specific audiences
Brad suggested that we shouldn’t abandon paid search entirely, instead, it must be optimized for highly targeted efforts that are continuously monitored and refined.
Trend 5: Keep on Experimenting
Marketers have been preaching about testing and learning for as long as campaigns have existed. What makes 2025 different is how our marketers are using advanced tools and pushing experimentation to new levels of speed, precision, and strategy.
How the panel is experimenting in 2025
Treating failure as feedback
Liam encouraged marketers to embrace failure as a learning opportunity.
His team regularly tests new campaign structures and messaging strategies, using results to refine their approach.
Experimenting across teams
Meanwhile, Brian highlighted the role of cross-functional collaboration in driving successful experimentation.
He encouraged marketers to involve sales teams early in the process to ensure alignment and gain valuable insights from the front lines.
For example, analyzing misaligned messaging between marketing and sales can lead to adjustments that significantly improve campaign outcomes in future iterations.
He noted that even failed experiments often reveal critical learnings that inform future strategies.
Getting creative with account-based selling
Brad shared how his team is embracing experimentation through what he calls "account-based selling."
In the traditionally conservative B2B manufacturing industry, Configit has found success by pushing boundaries with highly targeted, personalized campaigns.
Brad described campaigns tailored for individual companies, leveraging data to hit multiple functions within a single organization with precise, pain-point-driven messaging.
Giving experiments enough time
Additionally, Brad shared a word of caution for those actively experimenting: don’t be too quick to abandon tactics.
I think it's really important to look at that and figure out if your approach is wrong or if there's another angle that you haven't seen.
Taking the time to validate assumptions and iterate on ideas has turned struggling campaigns into significant successes.
Conclusion
From leveraging AI for efficiency and personalization to building trust through thought leadership, the speakers outlined crucial B2B marketing strategies to drive meaningful results in 2025.
The overarching theme is to stay adaptable, focus on authenticity, and embrace bold experimentation.
With these principles in place, marketers can confidently tackle the challenges and opportunities that lie in the year ahead.
About the speakers
As the Vice President of Global Marketing at Configit, Brad Diamandis is a seasoned leader in B2B marketing with a focus on helping manufacturers solve complex product configuration challenges.
Brian Austgen serves as the Director of Demand Generation at Maxio, where he combines his background in web development and digital marketing to build scalable and efficient marketing systems.
Liam Collins is the Vice President of Paid Acquisition at Cognism, a leading sales intelligence platform. Liam specializes in creating personalized, value-driven campaigns that resonate with audiences across regions and industries.
