Launching Impact Makers 2026
We’re delighted to have launched our latest research study, Impact Makers: 6 bold moves driving success against the odds in B2B marketing.
To mark the launch, we hosted an evening at Kettner’s in Soho and invited 20 senior marketers, the Impact Makers themselves, to join us. We were over the moon that Joel Harrison, founder of B2B Marketing, hosted a panel discussion on the findings and interviewed senior marketers, Judit Szabo Emma Downing. Thank you to everyone who came along and shared their stories so openly.
Why we ran the study
The pressures on business-to-business (B2B) marketers are well known. Budgets are shrinking. Leadership expects marketing to be a profit centre, Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the role and the pressure is on!
We surveyed 150 senior B2B marketers across 17 countries, from Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) to Heads of account-based marketing (ABM), and interviewed 20 leading marketers to understand who is thriving despite all this, and how.
Meet the Impact Makers
Around a fifth of respondents stood out. They feel valued by senior management and confident they are contributing to commercial success. 90% of them feel their role is secure for the next 12 months, compared with 38% of the wider group.
The 6 Bold Moves driving success
They aren’t the marketers with the easiest jobs. They’re the ones making six bold moves.
1. They Choose to challenge.
90% of Impact Makers are comfortable putting forward plans that go against current thinking, compared with 30% of their peers. They don’t wait for permission; they test something bold, prove it works, then scale.
2. They Get on the hook with sales.
77% work with sales on account strategy (versus 31%), and 74% see themselves as responsible for revenue outcomes (versus 36%). They share both the blame and the credit.
3. They Set the rules.
58% have two-way service-level agreements (SLAs) with sales (versus 27%), and 77% are effective at getting feedback on campaign performance (versus 30%). Support for sales is a two-way deal.
4. They Re-brand brand.
Impact Makers spend about the same on brand as everyone else, but 68% can attribute sales to marketing campaigns (versus 31%). They present brand as future revenue, not a cost.
5. They Put revenue over ego.
81% say marketing success in their organisation is judged mainly on revenue (versus 32%). Activity metrics stay inside the marketing team; leadership hears about pipeline, revenue and profit.
6. They Embrace disruption.
91% expect the skills they need to change significantly within three years (versus 41%), yet 74% feel in control of their career progression (versus 27%). They’re moving their value from outputs to judgement.
Go bold or go home
None of these moves is the easy option. Each means being accountable for numbers you don’t fully control and making the case for your work again and again. But the marketers who make them feel more secure, more valued and more fulfilled than those who don’t.
The choice facing every B2B marketer is the one the Impact Makers have already made: wait for permission and stay safe, or make the bold moves and make an impact.
About Grounded
Grounded is a specialist agency that helps marketing make a sales impact. Through marketing led, sales enabled playbooks.
Media Contact: Julieta Hollevoet julieta.hollevoet@thinkgrounded.com