What the Era of Less Means for B2B Tech Marketing and How to Respond

19th June 2025

In today’s B2B landscape, frozen budgets, stretched teams and ambitious targets are often the norm. What was once a short-term reaction to economic pressure is now an enduring challenge – what Gartner has aptly called the Era of Less. 

But what does this look like on the ground for PR, marketing, and sales teams? And how can internal teams partner with agencies to use resources more efficiently? 

In our latest on-demand webinar, Break Down the Silos, we brought together four leaders from Coupa, Eviden, HUT 3 and Tyto to discuss and unpack how B2B tech teams are tackling the challenge and making a bigger impact by working smarter.  

Here’s a taste of what they shared. 

Budgets are squeezed but expectations haven’t followed suit  

For Anthony Tate, Senior Director of Segment Marketing and Communications at Coupa, the Era of Less isn’t a dramatic shift, it’s simply the way things have been heading for a while. 

“Budgets have shrunk probably over the last five years,” he explained. “However, we’ve still got to create that marketing plan. None of us can turn around and say, hey, we can’t do it.” 

So, what works? Anthony says the key is to innovate and take a more critical look at where money is being spent and what’s shifting the needle. 

At Coupa, Anthony breaks his budget into three distinct areas: tried-and-tested tactics, innovative concepts, and high-risk moonshots. That mix allows the team to reliably drive results while carving out space to experiment with new approaches. 

Efficiency is about more than spend – it’s about intentionality 

Carmen Overton, Global Head of Growth Marketing at Eviden, part of the Atos Group, echoed the need for focus but emphasised the importance of intentionality over simply doing more with less. 

“Our audiences have a real intolerance for fluff,” she said. “They want less noise, but they want more relevant content. I think this is a perfect opportunity for organisations to really stand out.” 

But what does that look like in practice? Carmen shared a recent example where she made the decision to move away from running multiple campaigns. Instead choosing to combine them into a single integrated campaign around a major piece of content.  

That central asset was used and repurposed across multiple channels as part of an 18-month programmatic ABM and integrated campaign, driving engagement with target accounts and helping to grow revenue across the whole of the organisation.  

PR content is gold dust for sales – don’t waste it!  

Tyto’s Awareness2Demand partner, Andy Johnson of HUT 3, sees enormous value in what many teams are already creating but often underutilising: PR content. 

Andy says that “Some of the best content, some of the most investment in time, effort and energy is in the PR play because it’s got to be earned,” but all too often this content is underutilised and is shelved shortly after the PR campaign ends.  

However, there’s so much more value that can be squeezed out of it through demand generation and account-based marketing programmes.   

With some careful planning and a joined-up strategy, a single piece of earned media can make for than tomorrow’s fish and chips wrapper – it can help fuel demand, drive engagement, and reinforce key messages throughout the buyer journey. 

His advice? Find ways to bring PR-led content into your ABM, sales enablement and demand campaigns. With carefully planning and some creativity, a quality piece of PR thought leadership content can support demand generation activity for months. 

Brand awareness makes demand more effective   

Tyto’s Awareness2Demand lead, Beth Sissons, emphasised the importance of connecting brand and demand efforts to maximise impact.  

While there’s often pressure to focus on lead generation, Beth says it’s a mistake to skip over the brand-building stage as this can limit results. She points outs that most B2B tech buyers and decision makers buy from brands they know and trust, “You need to have brand awareness for demand to be effective.”  

In short, don’t treat brand and demand as separate workstreams. When PR, sales, and marketing align, the result is greater efficiency, stronger outcomes and more ROI from content and campaigns –all without needing to increase spend. 

Curious to hear more? Watch the full webinar now  

You can watch the webinar on demand to hear more insights, including: 

  • How to adapt to the Era of Less and still hit growth goals  
  • Ways to align PR, marketing, and sales for greater impact  
  • How to break down silos and get teams working as one  
  • Smarter strategies to repurpose content and reduce waste  
  • Where AI fits in to boost efficiency without cutting corners 

8891What the Era of Less Means for B2B Tech Marketing and How to Respond
About the author

Siân Gaskell is Managing Partner at Tyto and leads the Content Studio. She was worked with countless brands including BlackBerry, Zendesk, Outbrain, and First Utility.

Category: Insights