Most Marketers Have Intent Data. Data Heroes Know If It's Working.

Ask a room full of B2B marketers if they're using intent data, and almost every hand goes up. Ask how many can prove it's working, that the data they're paying for is actually showing up in closed revenue, and the room gets a lot quieter.

That's the real finding from this year's B2B Marketing Edge report. It's not that top-performing marketers have access to better data. In 2026, the data landscape has levelled out considerably. Most marketers are running with intent signals, buying group data, and a growing stack of audience inputs. The gap isn't in the data they have. It's in what they can prove.

What Is a Data Hero in B2B Marketing, and Why Does It Matter?

The report identifies a group called Data Heroes: marketers who say they're using the right data to convert their audiences, and who can back that up with pipeline performance. This year, 40% of B2B marketers surveyed made the cut. That's down slightly from 44% in 2025, which suggests that as data access democratizes, the bar for what "proven in pipeline" actually means is rising.

The performance gap is significant. Data Heroes are 43% more likely to have significantly exceeded their primary marketing goals. By comparison, only 18% of non-Data Hero marketers can say the same. That's not a marginal difference. That's a completely different business outcome.

Why Intent Data Alone No Longer Separates Top B2B Marketers

It's not about having more data. It's about knowing what works.

In previous years, Data Heroes stood out because they used a broader range of data types. That's no longer the differentiator. In 2026, both Data Heroes and other marketers have embraced emerging data types including buying group signals and intent data. The gap in data variety has narrowed considerably.

What hasn't narrowed is the measurement gap.

Data Heroes are significantly more likely to have full visibility into how their marketing activity connects to closed revenue. 74% have complete attribution models, compared to 51% of other marketers. That's the difference between knowing your data is working and crossing your fingers.

Measurement builds confidence. Confidence shows up in performance. Data Heroes are more likely to be aligned with revenue goals, more likely to have the credibility to push for better data budgets, and more likely to have sales and leadership reading from the same page about what good marketing actually looks like.

The data proves its own value because there's a model in place to show it.

Why Do Nearly Half of B2B Marketers Struggle With Data Quality?

Nearly half of all B2B marketers surveyed (48%) report challenges with data quality and reliability. That figure sits alongside findings on fragmented insights, siloed data, and limited visibility into buyer behavior and engagement. Data problems aren't a niche concern. They're one of the most consistent challenges across the entire report.

The report's pro tips for aspiring Data Heroes are direct on this point: more data isn't always more, and cheap data isn't always a bargain. With the proliferation of AI and scraping in the market, sourcing ethical, traceable data matters. The right data is the data that delivers the best return on investment and that means being able to audit each data partner and each data type against actual outcomes.

This is something we see firsthand. The clients who come to us frustrated with their data aren't always working with bad data. Often they're working with data that was never connected to anything that matters. We built our data foundation to solve exactly that. Our audience data is Neutronian-certified Top 1%, the highest standard for quality and transparency in B2B, and we hold it to that standard because our clients need to be able to prove what's working, not just report on activity. When OpenText needed to close the gap between data investment and pipeline performance, our team built an attribution-connected strategy that delivered a 25% inquiry-to-MQL lift, 30% MQL-to-SQL lift, and 6x ROI. The data was right. The measurement was in place to prove it. That's what it looks like when data stops being a line item and starts being a competitive advantage.

How to Become a Data Hero: Three Steps B2B Marketers Can Take Now

The report's recommendations come down to three things in practice:

• Audit what you actually have. More data isn't always better, and cheap data isn't always a bargain. Do a value-based audit of each data partner and each data type: what it costs, what it's driving, and whether you can trace it to outcomes. If you can't, that's not a data problem. It's a measurement problem.
• Build the attribution model. The single thing that most reliably separates Data Heroes from everyone else is the ability to connect revenue directly to data investments. Start with one audience, one campaign, one product. Build the model. Show it working. Then expand it.
• Get sales and leadership on the same page. Data Heroes work closely with revenue and commercial leaders. They set up campaigns to deliver against shared goals, not marketing-specific metrics that mean nothing in a board conversation. That alignment isn't a nice-to-have. It's what makes the data provable in terms that matter.

Intent Data Is Table Stakes. Proof Is the Advantage.

In 2026, having intent data isn't a competitive advantage. Everyone has intent data. The advantage belongs to the marketers who know what their data is delivering and can prove it to the people who control the budget.

Want to know if your data is actually earning its keep? Talk to our data team. We'll help you find out.

Demand more from your data. Let's talk.