In an increasingly digital, metrics-driven B2B world, Indian marketing managers often face systemic hurdles that slow adaptation. Here’s how—and what it looks like in practice.
Digital Adoption Still Trails
Low e-commerce penetration is one key indicator of digital lag: in India, only about 1% of B2B commerce happened online in 2022, expected to rise to just under 5% by 2030. That’s far behind more digitally mature markets, where B2B buyers are modern, online-savvy stakeholders. Marketing teams working without end-to-end digital infrastructure—like CRM-driven funnels, web analytics, or digital campaigns—are essentially operating blind.
On digital maturity overall, reports (e.g., Prophet’s digital maturity framework) show that even globally, many B2B orgs still have gaps—India may be even further behind in sophistication
Cultural preference for legacy channels persists. Academic research suggests B2B marketers globally often distrust social media’s value, seeing it as weaker for relationship-building. Yet in India, marketers’ hesitation is compounded by lack of training or resources to test newer formats like video or webinars effectively.
Data Quality and Strategic Alignment Are Weak
Even top-tier firms struggle with one of the basics: usable data. A Forrester 2024 survey finds persistent challenges in data quality, accessibility, and alignment of marketing to business goals. In India, where data structures are often fragmented—multiple tools, manual spreadsheets, poor integration—such inefficiencies slow planning cycles and inhibit performance analysis.
Sales-marketing misalignment is another common problem. Without clear ICP definitions, lead scoring, or dashboard metrics (e.g., MQL → SQL → pipeline influence), marketers often default to vanity numbers—web traffic, impressions—rather than linking work to business growth.
Overemphasis on Going viral and vanity metrics
A Recurring issue: marketers chasing trends and having to go viral—frequent brainstroming on LinkedIn ideas, non-strategic decision making and spending budget on low ROI based work. This is more prevalent where internal metrics are weak. When promotions and recognition come from “talk volume,” not outcomes, it incentivizes flash over function.
Likewise, vanity metrics—reach, likes, followers—are easier to track than sales-qualified pipeline or revenue-influenced numbers. Many managers lock in on these low-bar metrics, because they’re safe, visible in dashboards, and feed ego—not business value.
Too Technical — or Too Shallow
Indian marketing roles often suffer from a paradox: managers are stuck in execution mode—experimenting with basic tools—but lack strategic marketing thinking. Conversely, some rely too heavily on technical complexity without clarity. Imagine a Marketing manager who is handling the marketing department. They focus on technical things like the Product features instead of creative marketing. or adopting new ways of marketing
A more pervasive symptom: not executing any function end-to-end, instead relying on agencies for all activations. That deprives marketers of marketing—they never own deliverables, so they can’t learn outcomes, optimizations, or ROI cycle.
Examples from my field experience
Example A: A Mid‑Sized Manufacturing Firm
The marketing lead heavily invested in paid search and LinkedIn ads but lacked CRM integration.
Result: high click-through rates, but no MQL tracking, no SQL hand-off—so sales reps flagged leads as “zero quality,” and campaigns fizzled.
Root cause: digital know-how was superficial, focusing on ad mechanics without funnel execution.
Example B: A B2B SaaS Startup
CEO pushed staff to build personal thought leadership on LinkedIn.
The marketing manager posted weekly thought pieces.
Metrics: high engagement (500+ comments per post), but pipeline contribution was just 5%, and no net new clients resulted.
Outcome: time-lag, distraction, and misaligned internal incentives.
Example C: An Industrial Equipment Player
Internal marketing was technical-heavy, running website updates, product specs, brochures.
No storytelling or case studies; zero digital content like success videos.
Leads still came via trade shows and cold calls; digital contribution under 10%.
Leadership blamed B2B buyers for being “offline,” but data (94% of Indian B2B buyers want “digital content and more digital interaction”) shows modern buyers expect digital experiences
Context: Opportunity gaps (Some realistic data)
Despite challenges, the future payoff is massive.
CEO confidence in GenAI transforming marketing is rising—70% of Indian CEOs expect serious impact from generative AI for personalization, market intelligence, and customer experience in the next 3 years
“AIdea of India 2025” projects 41–45% productivity gains in content and marketing functions thanks to GenAI, with 71% of Indian retailers planning to adopt it within a year.
In the Indian B2B SaaS space, 99% of companies have adopted DeepTech (AI/ML, big data) and the most inventive firms are seeing 30–50% ARR CAGR—showing what’s possible when marketing teams embrace advanced tech.
What Needs to Change — Practical Steps
Build end-to-end ownership
Assign each marketer one full-funnel channel (e.g., e‑mail nurture, paid LinkedIn, SEO). Most of the manufacturing companies in India don’t have a functional CRM. Even if some companies do, either they dont use it fully or they dont have the marketing or sales module built in/configured. Without reporting and CRM analytics, the marketing is a total waste acivity.
Require proof of concept: “Plan → Execute → Measure → Optimize → Report ROI.”
Prioritize technology stack
Fix foundational gaps: ensure CRM capture, campaign tracking, and lead scoring. It is very important for all the medium-sized to small sized companies to allocate certain budget to building a technology stack. I had done this video on “Building a Technology Stack”. Watch this:
Define and use meaningful metrics to measure the ROI on your campaigns like pipeline influenced, lead velocity, CAC payback.
Sales-Aligned Thinking
Aligns with the sales cycle, understands ICPs, buyer journeys, and can create campaigns that support sales enablement.
Has worked with sales to generate qualified leads, not just traffic.
Content and Messaging Sense
Being creative is very important in this AI marketing world.
Be Creative to get attention
Can shape industrial content that is clear, precise, and non-jargony.
Understands how to turn case studies, webinars, whitepapers, and SME knowledge into lead-generating content.
Performance Measurement Savvy
Knows which metrics truly matter (e.g., pipeline influenced, MQL → SQL conversion, CAC, payback period).
Comfortable with basic dashboards but doesn’t get lost in vanity metrics.
Strategic Mindset with Tactical Ability
Balances strategic planning with the ability to “get their hands dirty”.
Can prioritize based on business goals, not just what’s trending.
Adaptable to Industrial Contexts
Doesn’t over-engineer “creative” campaigns in conservative B2B sectors.
Understands technical products at a high level but doesn’t try to be the engineer.
Conclusion
Indian B2B marketing managers often lag due to digital under-investment, poor data foundations, misaligned incentives, and a lack of strategic ownership. But with a practical playbook—end-to-end ownership, better metrics, alignment to business outcomes, and smarter use of AI technologies—they can close the gap rapidly.
As EY and PwC data shows, those who get digital, data, and AI right now stand to gain 30–50% sustained growth in some cases, plus 40% productivity gains. That’s not tomorrow’s payoff—it’s today’s opportunity.
