I don’t think there’s any question that our world in B2B is moving faster than it has ever before. Buyer behavior is shifting, AI is reshaping how people find and evaluate solutions, and the playbooks that worked for us for years are falling short. We are seeing something common among the businesses that are continuing to push ahead and it’s all around protecting space for experimentation. The messy, will-this-work, no immediate payoff type of experimentation.
What’s it cost to play it safe?
We love a proven playbook in B2B. We love the metrics that make the CFO nod. And listen, I get it. There’s comfort in investing in what’s measurable and cutting the rest when budgets tighten.
But that instinct is exactly what gets us stuck.
McKinsey studied over 2,000 companies during the 2008 recession and found that those who kept investing in innovation through the downturn saw growth rates 30%+ higher than those who pulled back, and the gap only compounded from there. And it all came down to the fact that they kept making bets when everyone else froze.
This is why we use a 3-part investment framework that includes R&D as a marketing investment category. Unfortunately, a lot of B2B budgets have zero dollars earmarked for experimentation. And zero dollars in R&D means you’re always adopting after the market has already moved.
What experimentation actually looks like
I think people hear “experimentation” and picture throwing spaghetti at the wall or chasing every shiny new tool or trend that pops up on their feed. Thanks, Morgan, for this gem: marketing without strategy. And real talk for a second, that’s what most of the AI adoption we’re seeing looks like right now. It’s FOMO. It’s herd mentality. It’s everyone rushing to “do AI” without a method behind it.
That’s not what I’m talking about.
Real experimentation is bullets before cannonballs; it’s disciplined. Small bets. Measure what happens. Then kill it, continue it, or double down on it.
We’ve lived this at Syrup. We tested AI chatbots early on because the data said they’d improve conversion. They didn’t, at least not for us. And the training required leadership-level time that didn’t match our model. So we killed it fast. (Though Drippy still hangs out on our site and is a great help if you ever need it.)
But we also bet on AEO before most agencies even knew the acronym. We tested it on ourselves first, R&D mentality, no client risk if it flopped. It worked. It became a real service line. And our clients are now recouping their AEO investment with a single closed deal because the traffic converting from AI referrals is that high-intent.
One of those experiments failed. The other one continues to drive the economic engine of our business. And honestly? Both were worth running.
Why “wait and see” is the most expensive strategy
The default stance is to “wait and see,” but here’s what’s actually happening while you watch:
Your competitors are getting reps in. They’re figuring out what works in their market, for their buyers, with their team. And by the time you decide to move, they’ve got a 12-to-18-month head start on you. You can’t just throw budget at that gap and close it.
This is true for AI visibility. It’s true for how you staff and operate. It’s true for every channel that eventually becomes table stakes. The companies that got into LinkedIn ads early, content marketing early, and intent data early enjoyed years of low-cost results before the rest of the market caught up and drove costs through the roof.
The window is always more open than you think it is. But man, does it close fast.
Experimentation is a leadership decision, not a marketing tactic
Protecting space for experimentation isn’t a marketing department decision. It’s a leadership decision. And it’s on us.
It means telling your team that not every dollar has to trace to a closed deal in 90 days. It means creating a culture where killing something that didn’t work is a win, not a failure. It means carving out that 10-15% of the budget for R&D and protecting it because the alternative is reacting to every market shift six months too late.
The companies we’ve watched thrive through all of the ups and downs of the market and the insane pace of change in the industry? It’s the ones who decided to experiment, make big bets, and learn faster than everyone else and actually did.
If you’re rethinking how your marketing budget is structured, our guide to managing B2B marketing investments breaks down a full framework, including why R&D marketing deserves its own line item.
