Amidst 76% Budget Growth, Marketers Allocating Spend Toward Data Quality, AI & Authenticity

More than three-fourths (76%) of marketers expect budget increases this year, with 31% of those respondents anticipating significant increases to invest toward data quality, artificial intelligence and more, new research revealed.

“The 2024 B2B Marketing Outlook: The Data Confidence Divide,” released by full-funnel marketing solutions provider Anteriad and personalized research services provider Ascend2, uncovered that:

• 59% of marketers ranked authenticity among their most important brand attributes, usurping customer-centricity, transparency, consistency and innovation;
• 49% believe it’s possible to strike the right balance between AI and authenticity;
• 66% indicated that improving data quality was their top priority, while 60% said it’s their top challenge; and
• 46% of marketers who were confident in their data strategies anticipated significant revenue increases, compared to just 15% of their less confident counterparts.

Intent & Personalization Powering Pipeline Growth

Additionally, marketers who were extremely confident in their personalization strategy were 3.5X more likely to expect significant increases in pipeline growth. Shifting toward intent data’s role in effective personalization, 57% of marketers who leverage intent data are extremely confident in targeting the right personas and ideal customer profiles compared to 48% who don’t use intent data.

Generational Preferences Influencing AI Sentiment

Confidence also varies across generations of marketers. Regarding the ability to balance AI and brand authenticity, 56% of Millennial and Gen Z marketers believe that it is possible to strike the perfect balance between authenticity and using AI, compared to 42% of Gen X marketers and just 29% of Boomers.

“We expanded our scope this year to include marketers around the globe, and found that while there are common priorities, especially around the importance of balancing AI with authenticity and prioritizing data quality, there are variations in strategies and tactics in use today,” said Lynn Tornabene, CMO at Anteriad, in a statement. “For example, while 38% of North American marketers use intent data for personalization, only 29% of marketers in APAC and EMEA do. We also found that marketers with high confidence in their approach tended to have experienced better results and expect higher growth. At Anteriad, we know that many elements can contribute to high confidence, including measurable success, access to quality data and implementation of proven best practices — all things that we work closely with our customers to deliver.”