Brand building is key to driving “collective confidence”

It's great to hear the high level of confidence among teams regarding their ability to drive revenue in the year ahead! A bullish outlook often reflects optimism and a positive attitude towards business growth and success.
  
After a year of tighter budgets and heightened pressure to prove ROI, B2B marketing leaders in India are showing a renewed sense of optimism. Over 9 in 10 (93%) are bullish on their team’s ability to drive revenue in the year ahead, and more than 8 in 10 (85%) expect budgets to increase, according to new research from LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network and leading B2B advertising platform.
 
LinkedIn’s ‘2024 B2B Marketing Benchmark’ - a study of 2,000+ B2B marketing leaders from across the globe, conducted ahead of the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity - finds that while 76% of B2B CMOs in India have struggled to reach buyers due to competing demands, the majority (94%) agree that relationship building is key to success, which is why building “collective confidence” amongst purchasing decision-makers will be crucial in the year ahead.

 
The report says, brand building is key to driving “collective confidence”
 
B2B buying cycles are long, emotion-driven and typically involve 6 to 10 stakeholders in the buying group. They require on average 17 meaningful interactions with a company before completing a purchase. With success in B2B not just down to one relationship or connection, building collective confidence among the buyer group that is, including decision-makers and brand advocates who influence a purchasing decision – is key.
 
Secondly, Marketing professionals are leading the charge on AI adoption and building AI proficiency as they look to improve ROI. 3 in 4 B2B marketing leaders in India are already using Generative AI applications in their marketing activities, and they say it has helped accelerate content creation (43%), create cost efficiencies (39%), improve productivity (38%).
 
LinkedIn data finds there has been a 142x increase in LinkedIn members globally adding AI literacy skills to their profiles, with marketers topping this list. ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is the fastest-growing digital skill for CMOs globally, based on the skills CMOs have added to their LinkedIn profiles in the past year.
 
The marketing professionals in India are leading the charge on AI adoption. 

Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA