B2B marketing budgets are undergoing a meaningful shift heading into 2026. For the first time in years, brand awareness is taking priority over lead generation, and it is happening with measurable momentum.
According to 10Fold’s new 2026 Marketing Budget Blueprint, which surveyed 400 senior marketing leaders across the United States and Europe, the largest share of next year’s budgets is heading into brand awareness and content at a combined 16% of overall marking spend.
That’s a major shift, and it reflects a larger transformation happening across B2B marketing. According to a report from Forrester, AI is rewriting how buyers discover vendors, trust is emerging as the primary differentiator, and traditional demand-generation performance is taking a back seat as buyers conduct most of their research anonymously. In this environment, visibility isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the prerequisite for earning consideration in the first place.
That is why 2026 looks very different from past years. PR, media relations, executive social programs, and content amplification have moved from the sidelines into the center of strategic planning.
Why Brand Awareness Is Now a Top B2B Marketing Priority
Several forces are accelerating the shift toward brand investment, and B2B marketers are experiencing all of them firsthand.
1. Buyers are overwhelmed by noise.
Buyers don’t wake up thinking “What sales calls and emails can I respond to today?”. They wake up to crowded inboxes, repetitive messaging, and endless vendor outreach. What cuts through is familiarity and clarity. Buyers consistently gravitate toward brands they recognize and trust. PR and social programs build this recognition over time by shaping a consistent narrative that stays with buyers throughout the evaluation process.
2. Marketing budget confidence is returning.
In 10Fold’s survey, 69% of senior marketers expect their 2026 marketing budgets to increase. 57% report annual budgets between $1M and $10M, with the largest share, 29%, falling in the $1M to $5M range. Nearly half of respondents, 42%, anticipate budget growth of 5% to 10%, while another 10% expect increases of 11% or more. With more room to invest and higher expectations to stand out, marketers are prioritizing long-term brand equity over short-term lead volume.
3. Competition across B2B categories is intensifying.
B2B technology markets are more crowded than ever. Product features alone are no longer enough to differentiate. Buyers want distinct positioning, clear storytelling, and consistent messaging across every touchpoint. PR and social programs excel in reinforcing brand narratives in places traditional demand generation cannot reach.
How Much to Budget for PR and Social in 2026
The 2026 Marketing Budget Blueprint outlines a clear investment framework for brand visibility. Based on median values, organizations are prioritizing brand awareness spend as follows: advertising at 10.3%, public relations and PR agencies at 14.4%, and corporate, executive, and influencer social media programs at 20.7% to elevate content performance. Together, these channels form the core of modern brand building.
For a mid-sized B2B technology company with a $2.5 million annual marketing budget, which is the most common budget range among survey respondents, this equates to roughly $400,000 invested in brand and content initiatives. These investments typically include PR agency partnerships, content development, and corporate and executive social programs.
This allocation is not about vanity metrics. It reflects the cost of earning visibility in an AI-influenced discovery landscape where buyers encounter brands through large language models, digital communities, peer networks, and evolving search behaviors that no longer resemble traditional SEO-driven discovery.
How PR and Social Drive Long-Term Marketing Performance
When funded and executed consistently, PR and social programs reshape how the market perceives your brand. Strong programs deliver measurable value across the buyer journey by:
- Build long-term visibility and trust. Consistent PR, media relations and thought-leadership content positions you as an authority, not just another vendor.
- Support all stages of the buyer journey. Early-stage buyers rely on brand signals long before they engage with sales.
- Strengthening competitive positioning. Clear messaging and narrative development create differentiation in crowded markets.
- Amplify product launches and campaigns. PR and social help magnify the impact of new product announcements or major launches, turning them into market moments rather than isolated messages.
This is the real multiplier effect that B2B teams have been trying to unlock. You get more leverage from every paid, earned, or owned channel when PR and social are operating consistently.
Why PR and Social Can No Longer Be Treated as Afterthoughts
For years, marketers have been pressured to justify PR and social investments based solely on immediate pipeline impact. However, 2026 validates a long-standing truth. Buyers do not convert if they have never heard of your brand. In an AI-driven discovery environment, invisible brands lose by default.
Effective brand building requires governance, clear measurement, and disciplined execution. It also requires consistency. Organizations that commit to PR and social investment over time will be the brands buyers remember and choose when decisions are made.
Look for part two of this series for a deeper analysis of additional marketing budget categories, and download the full 2026 Marketing Budget Blueprint to explore the complete findings.