Data, Trends, and What’s Next
2024 has been a year of shifting priorities and emerging trends in B2B marketing. As marketers navigate this evolving landscape, understanding what works—and what doesn’t—has become more crucial than ever.
This report dives into performance data from Metadata’s customers, covering campaigns from January to September 2024, with fresh insights from a market survey to capture where B2B marketing is headed. These findings give you a clear sense of the trends and strategies shaping 2025, helping you stay ahead of the curve.
Paid Channels Comparison
When reviewing the advertising performance across LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Ads, and Instagram, it’s clear that each channel offers distinct advantages depending on your marketing goals.
Insights:
- LinkedIn remains the top performer for B2B marketers looking to convert opportunities.
- Facebook continues to be an excellent choice for driving cost-effective engagement and nurturing leads through the funnel.
- Instagram, while offering the lowest cost per lead, excels in early-stage lead generation and brand awareness.
- Google Ads, with its high CTR, is ideal for driving immediate engagement but comes with higher costs per action.
Audience Types
In B2B marketing, not all audience types are created equal. The right audience can make or break a campaign, especially when you’re looking to move high-value prospects through the pipeline. For marketers, understanding which audiences are worth the investment helps shape smarter strategies, where targeting precision translates to more opportunities and better returns. After all, the right audience means speaking directly to decision-makers who are ready to act.
Salesforce Contacts (Dynamic) and Retargeting deliver strong ROI for both triggered and impacted opportunities, making them valuable for demand generation and nurturing leads. Firmographic and Native Criteria audiences also offer cost-effective CPL and excellent impact on pipeline opportunities.
Ad Formats
When it comes to ad formats, the choice can significantly impact both cost and return on investment. In B2B marketing, each ad format—whether it’s video, image, or carousel—serves a different purpose in how it engages audiences and drives pipeline opportunities. This analysis looks at LinkedIn and Facebook, two powerful platforms for B2B campaigns, and compares how their ad formats stack up in terms of costefficiency and ROI.
LinkedIn Ad Performance Data 
Facebook: The Cost-Effective Contender 
For B2B marketers, LinkedIn’s document ads lead the pack with high ROI, making them ideal for targeting high-value opportunities. Meanwhile, Facebook’s image ads offer a more cost-effective option for driving engagement. The right ad format depends on your goal—whether it’s maximizing lead generation or nurturing valuable prospects through the pipeline.
What about the rest of 2024 & 2025?
As we approach the final months of 2024, the road to 2025 is filled with both challenges and opportunities. To navigate this shifting landscape, we’re using a combination of hard data and real-world insights to shape our strategy.
In addition to the performance metrics outlined in this report, we’ve also gathered survey feedback from marketers on the frontlines of B2B, providing a clear picture of the trends, hurdles, and innovations that will define the year ahead. The insights we’ve gained will help us not only optimize current efforts but also make smarter decisions as we step into uncharted territory in 2025.
What do you want to see more vs less in 2025?
In 2025, marketers want to see more quality content such as thought leadership, attribution, and in-person events, while significantly reducing their reliance on gated content, gift card exchanges, and AI content.
What is one trend you expect to dominate B2B Marketing in 2025?
While marketers are calling for less reliance on AI content, many still expect AI and automation to dominate B2B marketing trends in 2025, indicating its continued importance in driving innovation and efficiency.
Marketers are eager to explore a wide range of new channels in 2025, including TikTok, CTV, AI chatbots, and live events, as they seek to diversify their strategies and reach new audiences.
How will AI fit into your 2025 marketing efforts?
While marketers want to see less reliance on AI-generated content, they plan to use AI primarily for scaling content creation and messaging, as well as improving processes and personalization efforts in 2025.
As we head into 2025, the message is clear: B2B marketing is evolving. Quality content, thoughtful targeting, and the strategic use of automation are critical to staying ahead. Armed with insights from both data and real-world feedback, marketers have the opportunity to shape a more dynamic and effective marketing strategy in the year ahead.
