Convince the C-suite: how marketing can win the B2B budget battle
It’s no secret: when CEOs and CFOs in B2B companies allocate budgets across R&D, sales, service, and marketing, it’s the last-named that often struggles to secure its share. Sales deliver immediate wins, R&D drives innovation, and service ensures customer loyalty – but marketing? It’s too often dismissed as a “nice-to-have,” one of the first areas to face cuts when the pressure is on.


In B2B, marketing isn’t just a cost centre, it’s a critical growth engine. However, to win its rightful share of the budget, B2B marketers must demonstrate – and not merely claim – that their efforts directly contribute to long-term business success; that they deliver measurable outcomes that fuel competitiveness and growth.
CEOs and CFOs need value-based arguments – B2B marketing must rise to the challenge
In B2B, budget allocation decisions are shaped by strategic priorities such as expected ROI, market dynamics and risk assessments. If a company’s growth depends on entering new markets or targeting new segments, sales and marketing should be prioritised. However, marketing often loses out when leaders focuses on immediate returns, or see marketing as a longer-term investment with unclear results.
To secure funding, B2B marketers must reframe the value of their initiatives in the eyes of the C-suite. It’s not just about branding or boosting awareness. It’s about making marketing a strategic driver of business results, deeply aligned with the company’s goals.
Data drives decisions: prove marketing’s ROI in the B2B pipeline to justify your budget
Numbers matter. You need to show how your marketing team’s efforts directly impact key business metrics, from lead generation to pipeline growth to customer retention. CFOs and CEOs need and want tangible evidence that marketing is delivering measurable ROI.
But now for some good news. B2B marketing has the advantage of being tightly integrated with sales. It’s relatively easy to show the clear path from marketing efforts to revenue. So show how campaigns have generated qualified leads, improved win rates, or shortened the sales cycle.
For example, you could highlight how a recent digital campaign drove an increase in pipeline value. Or how investing in thought leadership content elevated brand perception among key decision-makers. Don’t just plead for budget share based on future potentialities: back your case with proven successes from previous marketing efforts.
CBC client case link: Brüel & Kjær – Generating leads with B2B thought leadership
Forecasting potential growth is equally important. Demonstrate how additional investment in omnichannel strategies, ABM (account-based marketing) or branding can accelerate deal velocity or capture larger opportunities. When backed by solid data, marketing’s contribution to the B2B sales funnel becomes impossible to argue against.
Align with strategy: marketing must support the business vision
B2B marketers need to demonstrate their role as enablers of the company’s strategic ambitions. Whether your business goal is expanding into new markets, increasing wallet share with existing clients, or building loyalty among key accounts, you must positioned marketing as a critical partner in achieving these objectives. For example, we all know B2B sales cycles are often long, complex, and influenced by multiple decision-makers.
But not everyone knows that marketing plays an essential role in warming up pipelines and creating demand well before a sales conversation begins. The bottom line? Link branding to concrete business goals such as entering a new vertical, launching a product, or strengthening customer relationships.
Don’t let sales off the hook: collaboration is essential in B2B
Like most things in life, B2B marketing cannot succeed in isolation. A close alignment with sales is critical to maximising ROI and achieving common goals. As a marketing leader, it’s part of your remit to ensure your team’s efforts integrate seamlessly with sales processes; that they create a unified approach that delivers results.
This means aligning KPIs between marketing and sales, ensuring both teams are committed to delivering value at every stage of the buyer journey. Marketing’s role in generating warm, high-quality leads can only succeed if sales teams act on them effectively. Demonstrating how marketing shortens the sales cycle, improves close rates, and reduces customer acquisition costs is a compelling argument for greater investment.
CBC blog link: Double your strength with sales and marketing alignment
The risk of doing nothing: why B2B companies cannot afford to underinvest in marketing
The risks of underinvesting in marketing are significant. Without consistent marketing efforts, companies risk losing visibility, credibility and market share to competitors who maintain a strong brand presence and customer engagement.
Marketing is not just about acquiring new leads – it’s also about nurturing existing relationships, building trust, and strengthening loyalty. Highlight the negative consequences of neglecting these areas. For instance, show that failing to invest in content marketing or thought leadership could lead to being overlooked by key decision-makers during long sales cycles.
Benchmarking against competitors can also be persuasive. If others in your industry allocate 8% of revenue to marketing while your company spends only 4%, it signals a missed opportunity. Highlight this gap as a strategic disadvantage, and push for parity or even leadership in marketing investment.
Own the spotlight: how B2B marketing can claim its rightful place and part of the budget
If B2B marketing wants to win the budget battle, it’s time to stop waiting for validation and start owning the results. Align your efforts with business-critical metrics such as revenue growth, pipeline value, and customer retention, and prove your impact with undeniable data. In short, show that marketing isn’t a supporting act – it’s a driving force behind the company’s success.
This isn’t the moment to be cautious. Marketing must lead decisively, forging alignment with sales and delivering outcomes that demand recognition. When you step up and prove marketing’s indispensability for growth, the tug-of-war ends. The budget – and the strategic role – becomes yours to own.
If this sounds interesting and you’d like to discuss it in context of your own business and marketing goals, reach out to CBC’s Managing Partner, Ralph Krøyer, at rk@cbc.dk or on +45 35 25 01 60 for a no-obligation coffee and chat.