Business / Marketing
2026 Marketing Spend Strategies
Many marketing teams misallocate resources by experimenting rather than focusing on effective strategies. A significant number of B2B and B2C marketers are increasing their spending, yet they are also cutting specific channels, raising concerns about their effectiveness. This trend contradicts conventional wisdom about budget allocation in marketing.
Source material: The Simple Test for Your 2026 Marketing Spend
Summary
Many marketing teams misallocate resources by experimenting rather than focusing on effective strategies. A significant number of B2B and B2C marketers are increasing their spending, yet they are also cutting specific channels, raising concerns about their effectiveness. This trend contradicts conventional wisdom about budget allocation in marketing.
The phrase 'follow the money' emphasizes the need to observe where confident, high-performing teams are consolidating their budgets. High-performing teams are moving funds away from low-signal channels and into high-intent environments. This shift indicates a strategic reevaluation of marketing channels based on performance metrics.
Before allocating budgets, marketers should assess whether channels provide clearer intent signals than in previous years. If channels do not demonstrate improved intent signals, they should be considered for cuts. Conversely, channels that show positive intent signals should receive concentrated investment.
Perspectives
short
Proponents of Strategic Budget Allocation
- Warns against misallocating resources through experimentation
- Highlights the need for focusing on effective strategies
- Claims that many marketers are increasing spending while cutting specific channels
- Argues that high-performing teams are reallocating budgets to high-intent environments
- Proposes assessing channels for clear intent signals before budget allocation
Critics of Current Marketing Strategies
- Questions the effectiveness of increasing budgets without strategic focus
- Rejects the notion that all channels are equally valuable
- Denies that conventional wisdom about budget allocation is still valid
Metrics
spending
61%
B2B marketers increasing their overall spend this year
Indicates a trend of investment in marketing despite uncertainties.
We found that 61% of B2B marketers are increasing their overall spend this year.
spending
57%
B2C marketers increasing their overall spend this year
Reflects a similar trend in B2C marketing investment.
B2C markers, 57% are increasing.
Key entities
Timeline highlights
00:00–05:00
Many marketing teams are currently misallocating resources by experimenting rather than focusing on effective strategies. A significant number of B2B and B2C marketers are increasing their spending, yet they are also cutting specific channels, raising concerns about their effectiveness.
- The gap between using AI and achieving results indicates that many marketing efforts are currently being wasted, as teams are experimenting rather than focusing on strategies that yield compounding returns. This suggests a misalignment in resource allocation and strategy effectiveness among marketing teams
- A significant portion of B2B and B2C marketers are increasing their overall spending this year, with 61% and 57% respectively. However, even those with growing budgets are cutting specific channels, which raises questions about the effectiveness of those channels and the rationale behind budget reallocations
- The phrase follow the money implies that marketers should not only observe where budgets are increasing but also where high-performing teams are consolidating their spending. This raises the question of whether channels that provided clear intent signals last year will continue to do so, and if not, they may be candidates for budget cuts