In a landscape where sales calls go unanswered and CRM dashboards only tell part of the story, a new report from Edelman and LinkedIn has uncovered a vital truth for B2B marketers: the people who matter most in purchasing decisions often aren’t who you think they are.
The 2025 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report identifies a powerful but largely invisible group – so-called hidden buyers – who may never engage directly with your sales reps but wield considerable influence within procurement processes. And the best way to reach them? High-quality, provocative thought leadership.
The rise of the unseen decision-maker
Based on a survey of nearly 2,000 senior professionals, the Edelman-LinkedIn report highlights that 79% of these hidden buyers are more likely to support proposals from vendors that regularly publish strong thought leadership. These buyers often sit in functions like finance, legal, compliance or operations. They don’t attend your webinars, download your white papers, or reply to outreach—but they can veto a deal, and their support can push it across the line.
Importantly, more than 40% of B2B deals stall due to misalignment across the buying group. Often, that misalignment stems from failing to win over these influential stakeholders.
Thought leadership as a Trojan horse
Unlike traditional buyers, hidden decision-makers are more receptive to big ideas than to product features. The report found that:
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95% say thought leadership makes them more open to future outreach
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71% view it as more effective than product marketing at communicating value
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86% want content that challenges their assumptions
In short, smart thought leadership can bypass gatekeepers, build trust, and create internal advocates—especially in organisations where brand recognition alone won’t win the pitch.
Challenger brands take note
What makes this insight especially important for smaller or less established B2B companies is its levelling effect. The report found that compelling thought leadership helps hidden buyers persuade C-suite stakeholders during vendor selection. For challenger brands, this can mean leapfrogging bigger, better-known rivals at the critical moment of decision-making.
What hidden buyers actually want
Gone are the days when dense white papers were the gold standard. Hidden influencers are looking for:
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Clear, actionable insights that are quick to consume
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A human, conversational tone instead of corporate language
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Content formats that feel fresh and stand out in the feed
That means rethinking not just what you say, but how you say it—and where you say it.
A call for B2B marketers to shift focus
The report urges B2B marketers to treat these hidden buyers as a primary audience. That means crafting strategic content that aligns with business priorities, equipping internal advocates with material they can use to build support, and publishing where these professionals already spend their time—particularly on platforms like LinkedIn.
Ultimately, it’s not just about generating leads anymore. It’s about creating influence in the right places.
Why it matters to you and your brand
For B2B marketers, the takeaway is very clear: if you’re only targeting the most visible members of the buying group, you may well be missing the stakeholders who can make or break a deal. As consensus-based purchasing continues to grow, the ability to influence across functions will become a defining trait of high-performing marketing teams.
In the race to close the next deal, it’s not always the buyer who holds the keys – it’s the colleague standing next to them. Thought leadership may be your best way to reach them.
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