• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 5, 2024

With 72% of B2B marketers expecting budgets to increase this year, per a LinkedIn study, the company said it will release support for lead generation and website visits in Accelerate campaigns, and in beta launched its Wire Program – in-stream video ads – in the LinkedIn Feed.

For Accelerate campaigns, LinkedIn is working to expand support in the platform for a variety of objectives globally after rolling out AI tools in October 2024. The platform aimed to simplify ad creation, as well as make it faster to optimize campaigns in Campaign Manager.

Now the tool offers Microsoft Designer integration for creative customization, enhanced targeting with exclusion lists, and an AI marketing assistant for campaign guidance.

Early adopters have told LinkedIn it gave them the ability to create campaigns 15% more efficiently. Some have seen 52% lower cost per action compared with traditional campaigns, and positive video uploads up to 45% year over year.

Brands are bringing data into Accelerate to enhance targeting and build campaigns with conversational assistance.

Some 66% of B2B marketers said they use generative AI applications in their marketing activities. Forty-percent believe it has helped to improve efficiency and productivity. About 39% said it has accelerated content creation, and 30% said it creates cost efficiencies.

With creativity top of mind, the LinkedIn annual study also found 73% of B2B marketers now focus on developing bolder creatives, and 61% said it improved brand engagement and drive conversion.

LinkedIn's beta launch Wire Program enables media companies to sell 3- to 15-second-long pre-roll ads on their editorial video. Its limited testing includes publishers such as Bloomberg, Business Insider and Dow Jones publications (The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, Forbes, Reuters and Yahoo! Finance). 

The Wire Program, part of LinkedIn’s larger investment into news, will launch internationally without targeting capabilities in the European Union.

Some 72% of B2B CMOs have found it challenging to focus on reaching buyers due to so many competing demands. About 88% believe relationship building is key to success, which is why building “collective confidence” among purchasing decision-makers will be crucial in the year ahead.

LinkedIn previewed some findings from its second-annual 2024 B2B Marketing Benchmark report, but plans to release it in entirety at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

For the 2024 B2B Marketing Benchmark Methodology, LinkedIn commissioned Ipsos to survey 2,000 global B2B leaders including 448 CMOs in the U.S., UK, Germany, France, India, Australia, Singapore, and Brazil, to examine the state of B2B, budgets and outlook, priorities, challenges faced by senior-level B2B marketers globally, what they're doing to drive growth, and how their roles are evolving. The research was conducted online between March 1 and March 29, 2024.