How tech is damaging confidence among APAC marketers

Confidence is low among APAC marketers. That isn’t surprising, given the current macroeconomic backdrop. But if anything, trade-related uncertainty is amplifying longer-standing challenges facing the region: alignment issues, data concerns, limited tech stacks, and difficulty engaging with diverse audiences.

High-performing marketers have managed to overcome these issues however. They’re using data-driven insights to tailor messaging, personalise content and adapt marketing strategies from country to country. And they’re nurturing leads more effectively by combining brand awareness with demand generation.

Confidence shrinks as tech frustrations simmer

Research on the 2025 State of B2B Pipeline Growth reveals that while 16% of US B2B marketers rate their strategies as “exceptional,” only 8% of their peers in APAC do. This can partly be explained by the challenges facing the region. Although 39% of marketers in APAC are seeing budget increases in 2025, slightly more than in the US, they are affected by the ongoing trade tensions impacting trade patterns and the global economy. Half cited economic uncertainty as a primary concern, more than in any other region.

This is compounded by misalignment between sales and marketing, creating critical bottom-of-funnel friction, which makes it harder to close deals and qualify and nurture leads. APAC marketers were the least likely of any region to say that sales and marketing teams are aligned. Longer sales cycles are also not helping. Nearly three-quarters of APAC marketers cite this as a challenge, driven by larger buying groups, new stakeholders - especially from finance - entering the buying process late, and a short-term focus on costs, which delays investments.

Yet these challenges aren’t unique to APAC. To an extent, they’re felt by marketers in all regions. Where APAC marketers begin to diverge from the global norm is in their frustration with technology. While just 46% of US respondents to the survey described their tech stacks as “limited” or “disorganised,” the figure rises to 61% in APAC. 

Too often, marketing teams are saddled with a multitude of siloed point solutions for content creation, data targeting, strategy, execution, and activities across other stages of the funnel. According to the latest estimates, there are now over 15,300 marketing solutions out there - a figure growing all the time thanks to new AI-powered tools. If these individual capabilities aren’t combined in a unified, turnkey service, they can end up causing more problems than they solve. 

Why data is king

Another difference between APAC and the rest of the world is data. Companies in the region are most likely to cite data concerns as a top challenge (31% versus 25% in the US). This partly explains their problems with audience engagement, lead nurturing, and identifying individuals in buying groups. Confidence in all of these areas is far lower than in other regions. Although APAC teams are leading the way in exploiting internal sources of intelligence such as CRM data and sales team insights, only a third claim to feel effective in this area. 

That’s why as many as half of APAC marketers admit they need to improve data collection going forward. But how? It’s clear that using one or two methods alone isn’t enough to identify individual buyers effectively, especially in a region as diverse as APAC. Instead, they should focus on harnessing multiple sources of intelligence, including manual research, outside data enrichment platforms, and ABX/ABM tools.

The next step: personalisation

Improving data collection will help APAC marketers better understand the challenges and needs of their varied customers. And with that insight, they can tailor content to those specific audiences, in order to nurture leads and drive conversions more effectively. Globally, over half of marketers see data-driven personalisation as the top way to improve lead nurturing. And 57% of APAC marketers cite content personalisation as a means to enhance lead nurturing, versus just 47% in the US. 

This is where generative AI (GenAI) offers new opportunities to improve performance. Over a third of marketers believe it will be valuable for content creation. When used correctly, it can help stretched marketing teams to overcome skills shortages and create personalised content at scale - everything from blog posts and social media updates to email campaigns and longer form pieces. AI-driven insight into customer data can also help marketers to refine this content to ensure it resonates with different targeted audiences.

However, caution is needed. GenAI can be guilty of creating rather bland, emotionless copy at times. It still has a tendency to hallucinate. And sometimes it struggles with cultural nuances and tonal inconsistencies. To navigate this “uncanny valley,” marketing teams must feed GenAI with good data and ensure there’s always a human in the loop.

Tying it all together with branded demand

Branded demand offers a fantastic opportunity to ensure that data-driven, personalised content like this delivers results. It’s a new approach to lead nurturing that brings together brand awareness and demand generation through targeted display ad campaigns and syndicated content. By building brand recognition at the same time as creating demand and generating leads, marketers can increase the effectiveness of campaigns, nurturing engaged, brand-aware leads that are more likely to buy.

APAC marketers face challenges on several fronts. But they are not insurmountable. As high performers in the region know, data-derived insight, AI-powered personalised content, and novel approaches such as branded demand can drive higher ROI at scale. It’s time to deliver. 

The article was written by Joseph McCarthy, senior account director for APAC, Pipeline360.