From Spend to Strategy: How Enterprise Tech Vendors Are Reshaping Marketing in 2025

Spencer Bradley, the Vice President of Business Development and Sales at Solutions Review, shares some insights and statistics on how enterprise tech vendors are helping reshape the marketing landscape in 2025 (and beyond).

Enterprise technology vendors in 2025 are navigating a complex marketing environment shaped by AI innovation, economic uncertainty, and increased buyer skepticism. As a result, their marketing budgets are being strategically reallocated toward performance-driven, measurable outcomes. Here’s how they’re spending: 

1) Content That Converts: SEO, Thought Leadership, and Product Education

• Priority Spend: Blogs, whitepapers, product comparison guides, and video explainers.
• Why: B2B buyers are self-educating more than ever before. Content must map directly to intent stages. 
• Format Trends: 
  • AI-generated and human-refined content for scale 
  • Interactive assets (ROI calculators, solution finders) 
  • First-party research reports for media outreach 

2) Account-Based Marketing (ABM) & Personalization 

• Priority Spend: Targeted LinkedIn ads, intent data platforms (e.g., Bombora, G2), and personalized content hubs. 
• Why: Broad-based demand gen is inefficient. ABM targets revenue-qualified accounts, not just MQLs. 
• Emerging Trend: Combining ABM with AI email agents for automated but highly personalized outbound.

3) Influencer and Analyst Engagement

• Priority Spend: Paid analyst relations (Forrester, Gartner alternatives), podcast guest spots, co-branded webinars 
• Why: Buyers trust third-party validation more than vendor content 
• Trend: Rise of “micro-influencers” and niche B2B creators with trusted followings 

4) Performance Marketing with a Hard Pivot to ROI

• Priority Spend: Google Search and Display, LinkedIn Lead Gen, and retargeting.
• Why: Every dollar must prove ROI fast; CMOs are under pressure to tie activity to pipeline.
• Shift: There is a smaller budget for top-of-funnel impressions and more toward bottom-funnel conversion.

5) Event Hybridization and Virtual Briefings

• Priority Spend: Custom virtual events, roundtables, and briefings with strategic accounts.
• Why: Trade show ROI is under scrutiny. Vendors prefer intimate, controlled formats.
• Trend: On-demand replays with gated CTAs for post-event lead capture.

6) AI and Automation-Driven MarTech Investments

• Priority Spend: AI content tools, intent scoring, conversational marketing, and predictive analytics.
• Why: Marketing teams are expected to do more with less. AI unlocks scale. 
• Trend: Consolidating tech stacks around platforms with native AI integration.

7) Community & Owned Media 

• Priority Spend: Branded newsletters, YouTube channels, owned media (like Solutions Review and Insight Jam).
• Why: Trust and audience access are more valuable than traffic spikes.
• Trend: Building media-like properties in-house to control reach and reduce dependency on third-party platforms.

Areas Seeing Reduced Budget: 

• Traditional PR retainers with little attribution.

• High-cost in-person trade shows, unless tied to clear revenue opportunities.

• Overly broad brand campaigns with no measurable impact on the pipeline.

Summary 

In 2025, enterprise tech vendors will be laser-focused on revenue influence, AI-powered efficiency, and content authority. Marketing budgets will be aligned with pipeline velocity, not vanity metrics.