Most B2B organisations, especially SaaS companies, are exiting survival mode (hopefully) but haven’t re-entered full acceleration. The market is stabilising, not surging. Investment is cautiously returning. Growth is returning, but only for the disciplined.

If you’re a CMO, CEO or FD heading into planning season, now is the time to be brutally honest: the old ways of running B2B marketing aren’t going to cut it anymore. The data proves it. From Gartner’s buying journey research to the European SaaS sector’s performance metrics, the writing is on the wall: buyers have changed, expectations have changed, and if your go-to-market approach hasn’t, it’s already lagging.

1. Planning for profitable growth, not just growth

According to the SaaSiest 2025 Benchmark Report, the era of “growth at all costs” is dead. Most SaaS firms are now targeting sustainable growth, with capital efficiency, profitability, and net revenue retention (NRR) leading key metrics. In fact, NRR improved by nearly 6% YoY, while new customer acquisition slowed,  a clear signal that retention, expansion and efficiency are now the core drivers of value.

🔎 Implication: Your marketing plan for the next financial year must explicitly show how marketing contributes to revenue efficiency, not just lead volume. That means tighter funnel alignment, clear MQL-to-revenue conversion tracking, and ruthless focus on quality over quantity.

2. PLG is fading. Sales-led is back, but It needs modernisation

SaaSiest data shows that product-led growth models collapsed from 14% to just 3.9%. The sales-led model has returned as the dominant GTM motion, especially in mid-market and enterprise, yet many marketing teams are still structured around top-funnel inbound tactics that aren’t translating into revenue.

🔎 Implication: Marketing must shift from demand generation to pipeline generation. That means aligning with sales to target ICPs with coordinated outreach, ABM-style tactics, and hybrid buyer journeys that blend digital and human touchpoints.

As Gartner’s B2B Buying Report shows, 75% of buyers prefer a rep-free experience, but rep-assisted digital journeys are 1.8x more likely to result in a high-quality deal. The trick is not choosing digital or human, but designing journeys that combine both at the right moments.

3. Your Go-to-Market Strategy is probably the problem

64% of SaaS leaders named GTM execution as their top concern, not product quality, not competition, not even funding. What this signals is a systemic operational breakdown in how sales and marketing functions work together.

🔎 Implication: As a leadership team, you need to diagnose the GTM engine, not just throw more resources at it. Start with:

• Does your ICP match reality?

• Are your sales cycles getting longer? (Hint: they are, the average increased by two weeks.)

• Are you still investing in top-funnel volume instead of sales-stage acceleration?

• Is your content marketing value-framing or just noise?

4. AI: hype vs. measurable impact

AI usage in marketing is high, nearly 90% of SaaS companies are using it ,but almost 50% see no measurable impact. Meanwhile, early adopters who’ve integrated AI into product and go-to-market processes are quietly gaining efficiency and market share.

🔎 Implication: Don’t throw budget at AI just to “keep up”. Instead, pressure-test any AI implementation with two questions:

• Can we quantify how this improves conversion, cost, or customer experience?

• Are we enhancing our human teams with AI, or replacing them with inefficient automation?

5. Mid-market focus delivers the best return

Mid-market customers show the best blend of ARR per rep and quota attainment, outperforming both SMB and enterprise sales in efficiency. Marketing teams need to revisit customer segmentation and ensure they aren’t chasing logos that won’t convert or retain.

🔎 Implication: Get back to basics, segment by revenue potential, not brand recognition. Build campaigns and messaging around value affirmation (per Gartner) to reduce buyer remorse and improve deal confidence.

6. The metrics that matter to CEOs and FDs

If you’re a CEO or FD, what should you demand from your marketing function this year?

• Pipeline influence and attribution that maps to closed-won revenue, not MQLs.

• Efficiency metrics like CAC payback, marketing contribution to LTV, and marketing-sourced ARR.

• Alignment with commercial goals, not abstract brand awareness.

• A plan that scales without headcount, given that hiring growth has halved (9.3% projected vs. 18.7% in 2024), lean execution matters more than ever.

So, what should Marketers do differently in this planning cycle?

Here’s the short list:

1. Rebuild your GTM playbook: Shift from awareness to conversion. Map value across the full buyer journey and integrate human + digital in your funnel design.

2. Tighten sales alignment: Co-own revenue targets. ABM isn’t optional anymore, it’s how modern teams target, engage and close.

3. Prioritise post-sale growth: Expansion and retention are your fastest paths to revenue. NRR is now a marketing KPI.

4. Run marketing like a P&L: Track efficiency, not activity. Show cost per opportunity, not just cost per lead.

5. Pressure test every initiative against revenue impact: If you can’t trace the output to pipeline, challenge its place in the plan.

Final thought for leadership teams

2025 isn’t about heroics, it’s about maturity, discipline and focus. The winners will be the companies that understand this shift and build marketing engines that are tightly integrated with revenue outcomes, customer value, and operational efficiency.

If your marketing team is still chasing vanity metrics, it’s time to have the hard conversation.