This Week in Marketing: Building Influence

By Tequia Burt, Editor in Chief of the LinkedIn for Marketing Blog

No matter how much B2B marketing technologies and methodologies change and expand, the fundamental things apply. In the end, the most successful B2B marketing is all about gaining influence. 

To successfully make the case for their products and services, B2B marketers need to carefully, meticulously build influence with their audience. They need to build and demonstrate a deep understanding of their would-be client’s business model, pain points, and aspirations. The better we can show clients how we can help them on their terms, the more influence we win, and, ultimately, the more loyal we make our customers. 

This week, some of the most prominent B2B marketers working today are discussing how we can build the influence we need more effectively than ever by leveraging influencer marketing, buyer group research, and all the other modern tools at our disposal.

What to Read

How Playable Ads Are Converting Users and Increasing ROI (DigiDay): Berat Oguz discusses how playable ads are giving brands an opportunity to offer a better customer experience, increase loyalty, and drive conversions.

The Cost of Misalignment: Why Sales & Marketing Need to Get on the Same Page (DemandGen Report): Kelly Lindenau addresses the three major problems creating misalignment between sales and marketing teams.

“Poor alignment can cost businesses 10% or more of annual revenue, and 48% of enterprises still struggle with alignment.”—Sara Williams, VP of Sales, DemandBase

We’ve Gotten ‘Start With Why’ Wrong in Content. Here’s How to Fix It (CMI): Robert Rose argues that brands need to sell themselves based on their customer’s “whys” - not their own - and connect them to “whats” and “hows.”

Generative AI in B2B Influencer Marketing: New Data and Trends (TopRank Marketing): Nick Nelson unpacks data from TopRank’s 2025 B2B Influencer Marketing Report to derive new insights on upcoming trends to watch. 

What to Watch

LinkedIn’s recent B2B Benchmark Report recently found that 78% of marketing leaders feel more confident in their measurement abilities compared to previous years.

In this clip, Senior Director, Data Enablement Tech at Salesforce Sonia (Vaidya) Lele starts to explain where this confidence is coming from and why she’s so excited about the future of marketing measurement.

What to Know

B2B Marketers need to build brand awareness with organization’s Hidden Buyers

Recent LinkedIn research found that so-called “Hidden Buyers” – that is, organizational process experts who are not obvious product experts or decision makers – have almost as integral a role in shaping their organization’s decisions to purchase a product or service as Target Buyers (product experts).

This means if B2B marketers want to successfully convince their buyer groups to invest in their products or services, they’ll need to build brand awareness with both groups. And compared to Target Buyers, Hidden Buyers value brand trust and vendor reliability even more than product features and innovations.

Check out the full article How Can B2B Marketers Reach All Key Players in Buying Groups? for more insights.

Keep up with LinkedIn for Marketing blog for daily insights and updates on all things B2B marketing.