Thought Leadership Influences Buyers You Can't See

Snapshot:
A new report from Edelman and LinkedIn is flipping the B2B marketing playbook on its head. The 2025 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report reveals that nearly half of stalled B2B deals are derailed not by price or product—but by overlooked internal influencers.

These “hidden buyers” may never appear on sales calls, yet they wield as much sway as visible decision-makers. Unlike the hands-on users of a product or service, hidden buyers often represent departments like finance, legal, or operations, and they tend to think more strategically than marketers assume. What grabs their attention? Not slick sales pitches, but provocative thought leadership that reframes problems and offers new perspectives.

Here are some key findings from the report:

• 71% of hidden buyers trust thought leadership over product marketing when evaluating a vendor’s competence.

• 95% say strong content makes them more receptive to sales outreach, despite rarely taking meetings.

• 79% are more likely to champion an RFP for vendors with consistent high-quality content.

• 86% want thought leadership that challenges their assumptions, not just validates them.

• 60% say unique formats and human tone signal quality, and prefer short, digestible content over academic depth.

The findings are a wake-up call to marketers: treat hidden buyers as a primary audience, not a fringe one. Thought leadership gives brands a rare opportunity to infiltrate the silent consensus-driving layer of the buying group. With trust harder to earn and decisions made by committee, bold content can be the wedge that turns a ‘maybe’ into a ‘yes.’ The report also points out that challenger brands can thrive here—because when the ideas are strong, brand recognition matters less. In short, content that educates and inspires doesn’t just build awareness. It builds influence.

Get the report: EDELMAN