October 21, 2025
B2B isn’t boring. It’s brave, human and moving fast
We had a proper conversation about B2B when the amazing Luan Wise, invited Nishma Patel Robb, Jake Potter and me to a panel. No grandstanding. Just the reality of modern marketing when your buyers are thoughtful, the stakes are high, and answers are everywhere.
What struck me most was the shared optimism. B2B has shifted from nice-to-have to mission-critical. Not because someone said so in a deck, but because buying has changed. People want to learn on their own terms, in places they trust, and they want proof that calms a decision. When you respect that, B2B sings.
Trust is practical
Trust came up again and again. Not as a slogan, as a decision tool. Good thought leadership still moves shortlists. Weak content still gets you quietly removed. You feel it in pipeline quality and in calmer meetings. The pattern is consistent across sectors. When teams lead with evidence and empathy, deals progress. When they lead with adjectives, nothing lands.
My take is simple. Treat trust like a working system. Clear claims. Named sources. Human voices who know the job your buyer is trying to do. It’s astonishing how often that combination turns into momentum.
Answers live beyond your website
We also talked about where proof sits now. It’s no longer just a tidy page on your site. Buyers graze for answers. LinkedIn posts. YouTube explainers. Forum threads. Increasingly, AI summaries. If your best explanation only exists as a dense PDF, it’s effectively hidden.
The smart move is to write like a decent teacher. Short, sourced explanations in the open. The same clarity mirrored on your site so answer engines can reference you. Not “writing for robots.” Writing so clearly that robots and humans can quote you without twisting the meaning. Distinctive brand cues matter here too. If your voice is interchangeable, your value becomes interchangeable.
Creativity that helps people breathe
There’s a myth that B2B must be dry to be taken seriously. The opposite is true. These are big, career-shaping decisions. Emotion is already in the room. The work is to honour that and make complexity feel graspable.
The best campaigns we discussed were disarmingly clear. A single chart that shows before and after. A one-minute explainer from an engineer who knows where the bodies are buried. Distinctive assets that make you recognisable with the logo covered. None of this is decoration. It’s memory, reassurance and speed.
People carry more weight than logos
Company pages have their place, but people change minds. Employees collectively reach further and feel more credible. When a practitioner explains the implication of a change, peers listen. When a respected creator asks a fair question and you respond with grace and proof, the right audience leans in.
The trick is to make it easy, not scripted. Give experts a few talkable insights with sources and let them use their voice. Recognition over rigid rules. It works.
Buyers want control and support
We all like the freedom of self-serve. Most buyers do too. They research, compare, and shortlist without booking a call. But the moment the decision gets knotty, people still want a calm human who can talk trade-offs without pressure. The strongest journeys respect both truths. Clear digital paths. Helpful people at the sticky moments. That’s not a compromise. That’s grown-up service design.
Measure intent, not applause
The poll results mentioned were telling. Leaders still shout “leads” and “sales”. Many bosses don’t ask about social at all. That’s not cynicism. It’s a gap we can close.
If we want leaders to care, we have to show signals that mean something. Saves and sends. Lift in branded search. Qualified replies from the right people. Invite-to-demo from genuinely helpful content. Share of search as a quick proxy for demand direction. These are not vanity numbers. They indicate confidence and curiosity, which is precisely what moves B2B decisions along.
Where this is going
I’m hopeful. Answer engines are nudging us toward clarity. Communities are rewarding honesty. Video is giving quiet experts a stage. AI is tidying the admin so we can think. Budgets will still be tight and targets will still climb, but the craft is better and the audience is wiser. That’s a good place to be.
Come continue this conversation in person
In just under a month, the SocialDay B2B Forum 2025 lands at Bounce, Shoreditch on 12 November. It brings together bright, practical minds from platform and brand who are shaping what’s next.
Why you’ll want to be there
- Hear directly from LinkedIn and leading B2B brands on how buyer behaviour is changing
- Get clear strategies on brand building, communities, influencers and how to measure impact leaders believe
- Connect with peers across agency, in-house and freelance who are generous with what works
A line from last year sums it up
“If ever there were a day that reaffirmed why I love and chose B2B marketing, this was it. It was one of the most valuable days spent out of my business, for my business, in the past 6 years.”
If B2B is your world, make a day for it. Bring your questions, your thorny problems, and your appetite for honest answers.
book your place here:
And if you want to watch the webinar yourself, you can do so here