Five ways B2B marketers can thrive when asked to do more with less
Across APAC, marketing teams are feeling the pressure. Tighter budgets, smaller teams, and increasing centralisation have made local impact harder to achieve.
According to new research, revealed in our CMO Playbook 2025/26, while autonomy has declined in key areas, like budget allocation, campaign strategy, and martech decision-making. Yet accountability has remained constant, creating an unprecedented local-global disconnect.
But as our panel of senior marketing experts shared, the most successful marketers aren’t waiting for conditions to change; they’re changing the way they think and operate.
Today’s marketers are more than doers, they’re influencers for their region, developing innovative strategies to make local growth happen.
Here are five practical ways to thrive when you’re asked to do more with less.
1. Make friends with commercial leaders
It’s no secret that networking matters. But connecting with the right people matters even more. Influence becomes more likely when marketing gets closer to revenue.
The strongest marketing leaders are those who build genuine partnerships with their commercial counterparts and learn to speak their language.
Specifically, pipeline, win rates, and revenue contribution should all form part of the conversation, with more than 75 per cent of CMOs being measured on such metrics. That makes commercial alignment a must.
As one panellist put it: “When sales and marketing act as one team, collaboration flows across the pipeline — from brand to engagement, deal acceleration to revenue generation.”
More marketer tips:
- Build joint scorecards and shared dashboards with sales.
- Agree on what “good” looks like for pipeline quality, not just lead volume.
- Bring marketing data into revenue meetings, not as a separate update, but as part of the growth conversation.
2. Visibility is power
In the world of marketing, sometimes you need to say something more than once before leadership takes notice. And sometimes, you need to say it loudly.
In an increasingly centralised global marketing model where APAC often represents less than 10 per cent of total revenue, visibility is power.
Marketers who successfully influence global decisions are those who consistently show up and make noise. They’re the ones on late-night calls, in global forums, and proactively telling stories about what’s working in their markets.
As one regional leader advised: “Make APAC visible. Join the calls, challenge the thinking, and help HQ fall in love with the region.”
More marketer tips:
- Share quarterly success stories internally, not just campaign results, but business impact.
- Invite global leaders to experience your market firsthand or through customer voices.
- Back your advocacy with data: customer insight, campaign performance, and proof of what local relevance really delivers.
3. Become fluent with data and business metrics
Proving campaign performance is no longer enough. Today’s CMOs must demonstrate business impact — understanding how marketing activities influence pipeline velocity, deal size, conversion rates, and customer lifetime value.
“Regions own the revenue. We understand our markets best,” says one panellist.
Data fluency gives marketers the credibility to influence budget decisions, defend brand investment, and push back when global metrics don’t reflect local reality.
More marketer tips:
- Link your marketing dashboards to sales metrics to show how campaigns influence opportunities, not just clicks.
- Translate marketing results into commercial terms: growth, retention, cost-per-revenue-dollar.
- Use insight to challenge assumptions, not just report them.
4. Harness your creativity.
Centralisation has created frustration for APAC teams, from limited autonomy and globalised content to slow approval cycles.
But those constraints have also highlighted the regional strengths that global teams rely on most: adaptability, cultural intelligence, and creativity.
While HQ may have control of the budget and overall messaging, local teams control relevance, and that’s what drives impact.
From navigating cultural nuances to ensuring global assets resonate locally, APAC marketers are the bridge between global strategy and customer connection.
One leader sums it up this way: “We’re still accountable for the same KPIs, even when decisions are made elsewhere. That’s where creativity has to step in.”
More marketer tips:
- Localise context, not just content.
- Protect brand storytelling, even in small ways.
- Use relationships and insight to influence global teams rather than wait for approval.
5. Multiply your capacity with AI and partners
Doing more with less doesn’t have to mean doing everything yourself.
Our research revealed 91 per cent of marketing leaders are experimenting with AI. Most are using it to save time on content creation, resizing, and reporting.
The opportunity goes beyond productivity, creating capacity for higher-value work. But as one panellist put it: “AI can drive efficiency, but effectiveness still comes from human insight, creativity, and connection.”
Smart partnerships are also helping lean teams do more with less. Whether through agency collaboration, outsourced execution, or shared martech infrastructure, many CMOs are using partners to extend their capabilities.
More marketer tips:
- Use AI to clear repetitive tasks, freeing your team for strategy and storytelling.
- Set clear governance and tone-of-voice guidelines so AI supports, not dilutes, your brand.
- Partner with specialists who add both capacity and capability, then give them the autonomy to deliver.
It’s the new normal
Doing more with less isn’t a temporary phase for APAC CMOs. Marketers as influencers and advocates must become the new normal, with centralisation and metric-based KPIs only likely to increase.
By connecting with commercial leaders, make themselves heard and becoming fluent in business metrics, local marketers are in a unique position to redefine what effective marketing looks like.
