Jessica Machalani, Head of LinkedIn Marketing Solutions (LMS), LinkedIn2025 is poised to be a year of bold transformation for B2B marketers – setting them up for a new tech-powered advertising era. We will see brands take big bets in creativity and technology to build efficiencies and stand out.
Marketers are now at a crossroads. They must navigate a rapidly evolving marketing landscape where AI adoption is critical to B2B marketing success. Concurrently, upholding authenticity is becoming more valuable than ever as brands seek to tell humanized stories and retain customer trust.
Success in this landscape will come from finding the right balance between these two elements. Forward thinking B2B CMOs are already driving a strategy for success that roots their campaigns in authenticity and credibility and leverages channels such as video and influencer marketing to communicate with their audiences.
CMOs state of mind in 2025, as told by the data
Our latest C-suite research reveals an interesting picture: 94 per cent of CMOs in the UAE are feeling confident in their company’s growth potential, but they’re also cautious about potential hurdles to business growth. So what’s keeping them up at night?
Return on Investment. Almost every single UAE CMO (96 per cent) feels that helping their business show ROI is important, but demonstrating ROI comes with unique challenges.
Our B2B ROI Impact research shows that measuring impact is the key barrier that these marketers are facing when demonstrating ROI — time and resources required to measure results (38 per cent); integration issues between different data platforms making measuring impact harder (37 per cent); and challenges in organisational alignment between sales and marketing (36 per cent). No wonder 87 per cent of B2B marketers globally are saying that it is getting harder to measure long-term impact of a campaign.
With measurement now top of mind, marketers are turning to AI to build and optimize campaigns. Over the next five years, B2B marketers believe that AI will prove to be the most valuable in measuring ad effectiveness (53 per cent), content creation and personalisation (52 per cent), and predictive analytics (50 per cent).
The good news? UAE CMOs are on board with this thinking – the topmost priority for 43 per cent is leveraging AI to focus on high-value priorities that are key to unlocking greater ROI.
Championing the human element in an AI world
With all the advancements in AI, the human element of B2B marketing is not being lost. People drive the B2B marketing industry. They build relationships, secure customers and forge deeper business bonds.
That is why we are seeing the relationship economy supplant the knowledge economy. Our research finds that 88 per cent of B2B CMOs believe that relationship-building is the key to success in the year ahead. UAE CMOs are prioritising this even when hiring, with the highest percentage (50 per cent) focusing on these skills for leadership positions and 54% for entry-level roles.
However, it is important to recognize that the demand for human skills is soaring hand-in-hand with the focus on AI skills. AI remains one of the most sought-after skills by UAE CMOs: an overwhelming majority (94%) say that they would be more likely to hire someone comfortable with AI tools than someone with more experience but less confident using AI. Leveraging AI will create efficiencies that allow professionals to use their freed-up time to innovate in ways technology cannot.
Moreover, 93 per cent of UAE CMOs say that AI is making more time for customer engagement. They are right. AI is freeing up an additional 11.5 hours a week so marketers can spend more time building strong relationships and developing a deep understanding of their customers and the challenges they are facing – both critical to success and ROI in B2B marketing.
CMOs breaking new ground in B2B marketing
With 81 per cent of B2B ads failing to gain adequate recall, B2B brands are facing an attention and recall crisis that’s forcing B2B marketers to find creative new approaches.
So, what’s the game-changer? Video. The numbers tell the story: total video viewership on LinkedIn is up 36 per cent year-on-year. In B2B marketing specifically, 63 per cent of global B2B buyers say short-form social video helps inform their buying decisions, and 55 per cent of B2B marketers say that short-form social video produces the highest ROI.
B2B brands know that people trust people – and they are bringing together the power of video and expert, influential voices to champion authentic brand storytelling and build trust with audiences. As per LinkedIn’s B2B Marketing Benchmark report, 6 in 10 B2B marketers say they plan to increase the use of video and influencer content in the year ahead to help drive purchases.
CMOs aren’t just talking about this trend – they’re living it. Video posts from CMOs on LinkedIn have increased 13 per cent YoY globally; and engagement on videos posted by CMOs on the platform has seen a 20 per cent increase YoY globally.
Gaining an advantage through credibility
UAE businesses have a real opportunity to lead the way in this new relationship economy. The brands that make authenticity and credibility their top priorities are going to win. They will pull all the right brand levers – video, thought leadership, influencer marketing – to make their communication more human and transform how their brand shows up across different environments.
AI will strengthen the infrastructure and provide an additional boost; in the year ahead, we will see marketing and sales leaders pivot from experimentation to leveraging AI to solve specific business problems. They will use the technology to help drive better decision-making, optimize campaigns, and expose knowledge gaps in understanding customer needs.
In 2025, credibility will be what drives a strong reputation, wins hearts, and ultimately gets your brand chosen over competitors.
By Jessica Machalani, Head of LMS in MENA
