The economic uncertainty doesn’t stop B2B marketers in the Asia Pacific (APAC) from pursuing their market strategy in building brands in the next six months. This is one of the key findings in LinkedIn’s latest study.

LinkedIn, a professional network and leading B2B advertising platform, commissioned YouGov to conduct an online survey to 1,703 senior B2B marketing decision-makers from Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States for the period of Sept. 13-30, 2022.

The survey found that about 8 in 10 or 85% of the respondents are optimistic that their marketing strategy will create an impact over the next six months. In fact, 34% of marketers in APAC recognize this time as an opportunity to prove their relevancy and rethink while 30% are strengthening relationships and trust with customers.

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In the face of the looming recession, 20% of the respondents are planning to increase their marketing investment citing that having a strong brand is the foundation for supporting sales. The survey also saw that 59% of respondents said they will stick to their current budget and have no plans of reducing it.

“Given the interconnectedness of the global economy, it is inevitable that B2B marketers will feel the pinch from today’s uncertain macroeconomic conditions,” said Prue Cox, director enterprise SEA & ANZ, Marketing Solutions at LinkedIn. “However, it is refreshing to see that marketers are positive about their future and making intelligent investments. Savvy operators will use this moment to their advantage and harness the power of creativity during these challenging times and show how they are adding value to customers. By doing so, they can continue to drive growth and a strong return on investment for their organizations in the long run.”

Buying decisions

These marketers believe that a strong brand presence will keep them in the minds of consumers.

However, the survey found about half of B2B marketing leaders across APAC who had budget adjustments claimed that the marketing function is not perceived as a priority investment in uncertain times.

With buying decisions in the B2B world often relationship-heavy, group-based, and realized over a long sales cycle, marketing effectiveness is set to be even more important for many B2B marketers in 2023. In the months to come, the key challenges that marketers face involve balancing prudence with innovation.

In particular, doing more with less budget (23%) is cited by APAC B2B marketers as their biggest challenge in the next six months, followed by proving the return on investment (ROI) of their marketing spend (20%). Marketers are also looking at new technologies to drive those results but have not figured out a good way to do it. Specifically, 1 in 5 (20%) across APAC are keen on effectively unlocking the potential of new technologies, such as the metaverse and artificial intelligence.