Global | Edelman

I was stunned by historian Andrew Roberts’s essay in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, titled “Why the Far Right Hates Churchill.” Since I was named after the former UK Prime Minister by my father, a proud WWII veteran, I thought it was important to expose the absurd claims of those who seek to rewrite history, most notably Darryl Cooper, a podcaster.

Claim One—Hitler wanted a limited war when he invaded Poland in 1939. The truth is that Hitler wanted Lebensraum for his people, which included all Eastern Europe and Russia. The UK and France had a treaty with Poland signed after WWI that mandated mutual protection in the event of an invasion.

Claim Two—A poll on X asks who the biggest villain of WWII is. Forty percent replied Churchill, with Stalin at 26 percent and Hitler at 25 percent, Hitler was the aggressor in the war, with twenty million dead in the former Soviet Union. The Nazis murdered six million Jews and five million non-Jews in the Holocaust.

Claim Three—The UK would be better off if it had accepted Hitler’s offer of neutrality in 1940. The UK had just lost half of its army in the battle for France and desperately withdrew the remaining troops from Dunkirk. According to revisionist Cooper, Churchill kept the war going when he had no way of winning, just bombers which is rank terrorism. Maybe Cooper should read about the six-month Battle of Britain when young fighter pilots heroically stood off armadas of German bombers seeking to destroy factories, cities and the British will to resist.

Claim Four—The UK would be in a better state if it had looked after its own people instead of adopting weird notions of international morality. This isolationism is a better policy than Churchill’s leadership of the Western alliance, according to Ian Gribbin, a candidate for Parliament from the far-right Reform party in the UK. Does he endorse the views of Oswald Mosley, the infamous British Fascist, who provoked the Battle of Cable Street in 1936 when his group of rowdies provoked trade unionists in the East End of London?

Maybe all the revisionists should read a new book by German literary critic and author Uwe Wittstock, Marseille 1940. It is the story of Varian Fry, a thirty-year-old sent to Vichy France to attempt the rescue of 500 notable artists and writers from the Nazi onslaught. He runs the Emergency Rescue Committee office that succeeds against all odds (bureaucracy, anti-Semitism, Nazi encroachment) in evacuating important figures such as Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, and Wifredo Lam.

The loudest voices making the most outrageous claims must be confronted with facts and compelling stories that give the young generation a chance to learn why Winston Churchill was a hero, not just for his country but for the civilized world. As Churchill declared in the depths of Britain’s despair: “We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall never surrender.” That spirit must guide us now; we must never surrender in the face of lies and disinformation.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

Renee has been my confidante and wingwoman for my whole life. Born in Chicago a year after me, she built an outstanding academic record at Phillips Exeter Academy, Yale, and Columbia Journalism School. She followed our father into the media world, working as a reporter at the Home News in New Jersey and then at Women’s Wear Daily. Eventually, she joined the family business—first at Edelman, then as one of the founders of our sister agency, PR 21 (now Zeno Group).

Here are some of my favorite Renee stories:

Courage — Renee contracted rheumatic fever at age seven and was confined to her room for an entire year. Only my parents and a tutor from the Chicago Latin School were allowed in—not her germ-carrying brothers or friends. Every day, she met me at the closed door for updates about her friends and the outside world. Renee was incredibly strong and resilient, and she went on to play JV tennis at Yale.

Soccer Goalie Extraordinaire — We played soccer in the alley next to our apartment building in Chicago. Renee was a stalwart in the net, blocking hard shots and kicking the ball downfield. That same alley was also the scene of a comic act of revenge on the bullies from Bateman, a reform school down the street from Chicago Latin. These kids routinely put stones in their snowballs. Renee lured them into the alley by calling to them from my bedroom window. I dumped a bucket of hot water on our unsuspecting tormentors. That’ll teach you to mess with Renee.

Entrepreneur — My father was bored within minutes of ceding the CEO role at Edelman to me. He wanted to start another agency. He spoke with Renee, and together they launched PR 21—Public Relations for the 21st Century. Renee was deeply embedded in tech circles, working with founders like Marc Pincus. The agency took off in the late ’90s and quickly became a veritable hot shop, with offices in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. She later worked for Larry Ellison at Oracle for nearly a decade. Today, Zeno ranks among the top independent firms in the world.

Custodian of the Family Legacy — Renee oversaw the creation of the Edelman Museum in our Chicago office—a true labor of love. She sifted through endless boxes of Dan Edelman memorabilia (he was a true pack rat), finding his WWII uniform and memos to General Bradley. She compiled case histories ranging from the Toni Twins to Sara Lee to Morris the 9Lives Cat. My father’s desk is lovingly restored, with his “Dan-o-grams” featured in a flying exhibit above it. Renee also keeps in touch with all the cousins on both Dan’s and Ruth’s sides of the family.

Devoted Sister — When I’ve had a rough time at work or in my personal life, Renee has been a constant presence—making sure my apartment was in order and that I had food in the refrigerator. We always swap gossip, which she calls “Info.” Renee offers the same level of support to our brother John, too.

When I’ve had to make hard decisions about Edelman, she has always been there to support me, encourage me, and remind me that Dan would have approved.

Renee still keeps us connected, organizing video calls for herself, John, and me—what we affectionately call “The Gashouse Gang.” She’s also become especially close to my wife, Claudia—explaining her brother, reveling in Sunday Chinese food, and celebrating every Jewish holiday.

Best Daughter — Renee gave up two years of her life to be in Chicago with our parents in their final years. She moved back into her childhood room and went to the hospital daily with my mother to visit Dan, who was in the ER for six months before passing in January. Then my mother was diagnosed with leukemia. Renee accompanied her to blood infusions and doctor’s appointments. She also oversaw the at-home care, ensuring the nurses were attentive. She was a selfless saint.

Committed Jew — Renee is a regular at Congregation Habonim, founded in the mid-1930s by refugees from Germany. One of her closest friends is Ellen Mendel, whose stories of Kristallnacht are simply stunning. It is Renee’s fondest wish to learn enough Hebrew to become Bat Mitzvah. She was extraordinary in her advocacy for the parents of the hostages taken on October 7, working with New York Times journalist Bret Stephens on an important article about the American families whose children were in captivity.

This year, we are gathering as a family on Friday in Charlevoix, Michigan, for five days to celebrate Renee’s birthday.

She is the best of us.

Richard Edelman is CEO of Edelman.

I woke up this morning to urgent texts from friends notifying me of the passing of Dr. David Nabarro. I met David through my wife, Claudia, who worked with him at the United Nations. He was a singular force in public health, an advocate for developing nations and a passionate believer in quality information as the fundamental force in behavior change.

David served in the UK Department for International Development in Iraq, Nepal, and Kenya. He taught at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the University of Liverpool School of Medicine. He served as the first Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, was the UK Special Envoy on Ebola, led the UN response to a cholera outbreak in Haiti and helped to launch the Sustainable Development Goals for the UN.

He worked closely with Edelman during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our firm hosted monthly calls for employees and clients featuring Dr. Nabarro. He provided important updates on the progress of the disease, best treatment options for sick parents, opined on the safety of the novel vaccines, gave us comfort in the lockdown that this was indeed the best approach to prevent the spread of the disease. He campaigned for sharing of early vaccine production with all nations, so that the elderly were universally protected. He was knighted by King Charles for his work during this terrible period.

He was a partner in our health Trust research which started during the pandemic. He was fascinated by the rise of a Person Like Me and local pharmacist as important sources of health information. He pushed for regulation of social media, which had become the primary source of advice for many consumers. He was appalled by the politicization of health during the pandemic, the loss of trust in national health figures such as Dr. Fauci and institutions from WHO to the CDC. He understood the unique role of the Employer in provision of consistent and objective health advice.

We also worked closely on COP28. He was in Dubai for the entire two weeks of negotiations. He was deeply concerned about the health effects of climate change. He believed that Africa would have permanent deterioration of its agricultural assets and that its people would be doomed to a perpetual state of poverty. He gave dimension to our PR teams seeking a higher mission for the carbon mitigation commitments.

He was a true friend of our family. Claudia was his director of communications and advocacy for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development goals. He was a tough boss; a daily 9 a.m. meeting meant that doors were closed at that exact time, with laggards locked out. He was full of ideas, based on idealism and his unique experience in the developing world. He was so happy with his new partner, Florence, who was his right hand on health and sustainability issues.

I say this of very few people; I loved David Nabarro. I cannot believe I will no longer be able to pick up the phone and reach him at any time of day or night to get his advice and counsel. I will carry on his mission of truth and fairness in the world.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

The incredible rise of Generative AI search (GEO), supplanting traditional search (SEO) has been identified by the Gartner Group. As I noted in May, the global research firm predicts brands' organic search traffic will fall 50 percent within three years as consumers shift to Large Language Models. The GEO search results are heavily weighted to stories in the media (85 percent). This has led Edelman to declare this decade as the Golden Age of Earned. GEO search is also Darwinian; when you ask for answers, you get one or two options, not a list of 20 on a search page. Therefore, PR has become an essential partner in generating sales; we have proven this for several clients.

Google’s announcement last week that it will now include creator content in its GEO search discovery process is a further endorsement of PR. The essential role of creators is their ability to channel culture as media. Our role is to find trusted creators who are genuine and credible. They will generate attention and loyalty without political risk or controversy. The reality of today’s media scene was perfectly captured at a press conference we did for a client last week, where two-thirds of attendees were creators and influencers.

I asked Tyler Vaught, our Global Head of Creator Marketing, to co-author this blog post. His comments follow.

The reach and impact of Creator-led content is about to grow exponentially now that Google has announced it will begin indexing public posts, photos, videos, carousels, and Reels from professional Instagram (and other Meta) accounts—making them appear directly in search results alongside websites, news articles, and YouTube videos.

This update lands just as AI-driven search—Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)—is rewriting the rules of discovery into what we have coined as “The Golden Age of Earned”. Chatbots and virtual assistants are pulling answers from independent, authentic sources—news outlets, user reviews, forums… and now, Creator posts. Paid ads and branded landing pages alone won’t cut it. To get picked up by AI summaries, you need earned signals—real, organic buzz that AI trusts and showcases.

Creators sit at the perfect crossroads of trust and reach:

Genuine Connection
A candid TikTok tutorial or an in-depth YouTube review feels more trustworthy than a polished advert. Every like, comment, or share is a data point that GEO systems interpret as “this matters.”

Built-In Discoverability
With your posts now indexed, thoughtful hashtags, keyword-rich captions, and even well-crafted alt text become mini-GEO wins. Your content can rank for queries like “easy weeknight dinners” or “home office setup tips.”

Multi-Platform Engine
Imagine a Pinterest board inspiring someone, an Instagram Reel reinforcing that spark, and then Google confirming your expertise—all in one seamless journey. That’s the power of Creator-driven discovery today.

Best Practices for Creator-Led Earned Media:

Blend GEO & Creative Briefs
Get your GEO and Creator strategies in sync. Map high-value conversational queries to Creator content ideas—so every script, caption, and on-screen graphic directly answers real user questions.

Optimize for AI Crawlers
Encourage detailed alt text, keyword-focused hashtags, and clear, punchy captions. These small touches help GEO systems understand and index your visuals and videos.

Match Format to Intent
Know where people go for what: quick hacks on TikTok, deep dives on YouTube, inspiration on Pinterest. Tailor your Creator partnerships to each platform’s search behavior.

Fuel the Earned-Paid Loop
Boost standout Creator posts with modest ad spends to spark extra engagement and organic mentions—then watch those earned signals compound in AI results.

The Takeaway

By indexing Creator content, Google has signaled that creator voices are Central to the future of AI-driven discovery. For brands, this is a pivotal moment: lean into trusted storytelling, optimize for GEO, not SEO, and let your earned media drive discovery. When AI assistants start pointing straight to your Reels and posts, you’ll know you’ve struck the perfect balance between creativity and visibility.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

Laura Loomer’s post last week was a bridge too far for decent and middle of the road Americans. To celebrate the opening of a new maximum-security jail in the Florida Everglades, she wrote, “Alligator Lives Matter. The Good news is alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals if we get started now.” I have seen hate speech in my life. This is at the far end of the spectrum, a vicious and bigoted statement designed to destabilize America’s burgeoning Latino population.

I am married to a Latina who works 12 hours a day on her NGO We Are All Human to change the narrative of her community. Latinos are responsible for four of five new small businesses in the U.S. CPG companies are relying on the Latino consumer for as much as 75 percent of their growth in the next decade. Latinos are the hardest-working Americans; I went to a grocery store for last minute shopping on July 4 and the entire floor staff was Latino. This is evidence of Latinos embracing the opportunity agenda of President Trump.

As a proud Jewish American, my immediate thought on seeing Loomer’s foul post was to think about Nazi Germany and the famous quote of German theologian and pastor Martin Niemöller:

“First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”

I am not making that mistake; I am speaking out. My wife Claudia and I are going to pursue an alliance between Latinos and Jews because we have a mutual set of values (Family, Hard Work, Religion, Charity) and interests (Tolerance, Diversity, Getting Ahead). The time for putting your head down and accepting bigotry as the price of being American is over.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

One of the most critical components of a successful B2B content strategy is understanding your audience. Not just who they are, but how they think, what drives their decisions, and how they navigate the buying journey.

As a content strategist, I spend a lot of time translating those insights into compelling content that addresses audiences’ specific challenges and delivering it through the channels they trust most.

This kind of targeted approach works. It drives awareness, sparks engagement, and captures leads. But here's the catch: In today’s B2B landscape, it’s no longer just about reaching individual buyers. Because B2B decisions are rarely made alone.

Buying is a Team Sport, With More Players Than Ever

B2B buying has always required consensus. But the team of decision-makers is growing larger and gaining alignment is getting harder. On average, 13 stakeholders are now involved in a single B2B purchasing decision, and more than 40% of deals stall due to internal misalignment within buyer groups.

These groups include not only target buyers — the primary users of the product or service being purchased — but also internal stakeholders, or “hidden buyers,” who operate behind the scenes in functions like procurement, legal, and HR. They might not be the ones using the product or service day-to-day, but they have a seat at the decision-making table, and they can make or break a deal.

These stakeholders are often labeled “box-checkers,” focused solely on risk, compliance, cost, and contracts. But that’s a misconception. The reality? Hidden buyers behave more like target buyers than most marketers assume.

Thought Leadership’s Hidden Advantage

For the past seven years, Edelman and LinkedIn have partnered on the annual B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, uncovering the power of thought leadership — content that offers expertise, guidance, or a distinct point of view — in reaching and engaging B2B buyers. This year’s report puts the spotlight on hidden buyers and uncovers a game-changing insight: Thought leadership is just as powerful at influencing these often-overlooked decision-makers as it is with target buyers. In fact:

91% of hidden buyers say strong thought leadership makes them more receptive to a company’s sales and marketing outreach.
71% of hidden buyers say thought leadership is more effective than traditional sales and marketing materials at demonstrating a company’s potential — even higher than the 64% of target buyers who say the same.
79% of hidden buyers say they’re more likely to advocate internally for a company that consistently produces high-quality thought leadership.

In other words, thought leadership isn’t just a brand awareness play. It’s a strategic tool for aligning the full decision-making ecosystem and turning hidden buyers into internal champions.

Unlocking Hidden Buyer Advocacy

This year’s report also cracks the code on what works — and what doesn’t — when it comes to thought leadership that engages hidden buyers. Three principles stood out:

Don’t speak corporate. Do keep it human.
65% of hidden buyers prefer content with a more conversational, less formal tone. This means you should skip the jargon, ditch the acronyms, and write like a real person.
Don’t play it safe. Do bring fresh perspective.
86% of hidden buyers say they want content that challenges their assumptions, not just echoes what they already know. Be bold, leverage your unique expertise, and say something new.
Don’t get too in the weeds. Do make it snackable.
57% of hidden buyers favor quick, high-level takeaways over deep dives. That research report might work for your target buyer. But a short, insight-packed blog post or video is more likely to land with a hidden buyer.

Content Strategy that Considers Every Buyer

Hidden buyers may not be the obvious voices in the room, but they often have a critical say in the final decision. Overlooking them means overlooking influence that could make or break a deal.

So the next time you're mapping your content strategy, ask yourself: Who’s not in the brief but has a seat at the table? Then make sure your strategy speaks to them too. Because when done well, thought leadership is a critical lever that builds trust, inspires advocacy, drives alignment, and helps move decisions forward.

EXPLORE THE REPORT

Kristin Schmotzer is VP, Content Strategy of Edelman Business Marketing.

In B2B marketing, there’s a lingering myth that legacy always wins: that the company with the biggest name, deepest pockets, and longest history is automatically the best choice. But that’s not always the case.

According to the 2025 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, more than half of B2B decision-makers (53%) say that when a company’s thought leadership is strong, brand recognition matters less. In other words: sharp, well-crafted insights can help a lesser-known brand outshine the market leader.

That’s both a wake-up call and a window of opportunity. For challenger brands — newer or lesser-known brands within a category — high-quality thought leadership can level the playing field. It can earn them a spot in the consideration set, even without broad brand awareness. But getting into the conversation is only the first hurdle.

Why Hidden Buyers Matter

Adding complexity to this equation: B2B purchase decisions aren’t made by individuals. They’re made by buying groups composed not only of expected “target buyers” for a product or service, but also “hidden buyers” — stakeholders from finance, operations, legal, compliance and procurement — who wield just as much influence in the decision process and veto up to half of shortlisted vendors.¹

Though often overlooked by traditional sales and marketing efforts, hidden buyers are just as hungry for smart content as the core audience: 63% of hidden buyers spend over an hour each week consuming thought leadership, on par with 64% of target buyers.

Even more telling:

95% of hidden buyers say compelling thought leadership makes them more open to sales and marketing outreach.
79% are more likely to champion a vendor during the RFP process if that vendor consistently publishes quality thought leadership.

For challenger brands, this presents a clear opportunity: smart insights can break through and reach deeper into the buyer group than traditional marketing and sales tactics alone.

What Really Drives the Final Decision

Once a vendor makes the RFP shortlist, they’ve likely cleared the baseline criteria: compliance, capability, cost. At that moment, being the “safest choice,” often the legacy provider, matters less considering only 41% of hidden buyers cite being the “safest choice” as a top factor when finalizing a decision.

What matters more are:

Cultural (56%) and strategic (68%) fit with their organization
Recognition as a leading expert in the field (74%)
Understanding of trends affecting their industry (76%)
Demonstrated understanding of their business’s specific challenges and needs (85%)

These buyers are seeking real partners — those who understand their business and bring value beyond the obvious. Thought leadership can demonstrate that a challenger offers these key ingredients, even if they’re not the biggest name in the mix.

How Bold Content Gives Challengers an Edge

The strongest challenger content doesn’t imitate the market leader. It brings original thinking and a fresh perspective. That’s exactly what hidden buyers are looking for:

86% favor perspectives that challenge their assumptions, not just validate their thinking on a topic.
91% want insights that uncover unseen risks or opportunities for their industry or business.
60% prefer unique formats or styles that stand out from the crowd.

In this context, boldness isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a business strategy. A smart, provocative article can become a conversation starter and spark internal discussion. When you’re not the incumbent, your content signals your credentials.

Turning Insights into Influence

To win over hidden buyers, challengers should:

Prioritize them: Treat hidden buyers as a core audience from day one.
Earn trust through insights: If your name and logo aren’t familiar, let the strength of your ideas build credibility and influence.
Equip hidden buyers to advocate for you: Deliver insights that helps buyers build consensus and make your case internally.

In a crowded market, authority isn’t granted by legacy alone. It’s earned with relevance, originality, and clarity. Done right, thought leadership can open doors, elevate your brand, and give even the hardest-to-reach voices in the room a reason to speak up on your behalf.

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Annie Dunleavy is EVP, U.S. Head of Content Strategy of Edelman Business Marketing.

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu wrote: “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and seek to win.” A 5th century strategist may seem an unlikely reference for today’s B2B buying cycle, but in fast-paced, competitive markets where technology enables competitors to quickly gain an advantage, and buyers are overwhelmed with information, the ancient strategist had a point.

A new joint study by Edelman and LinkedIn proves that thought leadership is a powerful tool for shaping the battlefield, influencing target audiences before they even realize they are looking for potential service partners.

Most deals are not won or lost in the boardroom. They are defined by corridor chats, Teams conversations, Slack threads, AI-driven search, word-of-mouth, and quiet vetoes you never saw coming. With much of the B2B buying journey increasingly self-guided, the people you meet in sales conversations or in the pitch room have already decided what they think about your company and its capabilities.

Hidden buyers have more power than you think

The B2B Institute reports that 40% of B2B deals are abandoned because the buying group cannot reach a consensus. This is often due to “hidden buyers,” stakeholders who significantly influence business purchases in areas such as procurement, finance, compliance or IT operations, who, while not end users, play a pivotal role in shaping purchasing decisions. These hidden buyers are hard to identify and often overlooked in favour of decision makers who are easier to define, such as CEOs, CIOs, or departmental leaders, but they are a critical lever for earning trust, creating differentiation, and winning deals.

In fact, nearly three-quarters (71%) of hidden buyers say they have relatively little interaction with sales and so thought leadership is the Trojan Horse which gets you inside an organization to shape perceptions before the buying process starts.

Hidden buyers view thought leadership as more effective than conventional marketing or sales materials in demonstrating a vendor’s potential value. As this group is less likely to be directly marketed to, they are more focused on:

The quality of thinking demonstrated on a company’s website.
The expertise and opinions demonstrated by a potential partner’s executives and experts.
The content they see shared by people in their professional network.
Trusted, respected sources of information like media, analysts, and industry bodies.

The rise of generative AI adds urgency to this shift. The use of Generative AI is growing faster than the adoption of the computer or internet, with Gartner predicting that brands’ organic search traffic will plummet by 50% by 2028 as B2B decision makers switch to Large Language Models (LLMs) to help them evaluate companies and potential service providers. All of the decision makers on a project are likely to be influenced by the results which come up on ChatGPT, Copilot and Claude when they ask about a brand. But this is especially important for hidden buyers, who may be less familiar with a potential service provider and more likely to rely on AI search and AI summaries on search engines.

Thought leadership is particularly effective here as LLMs prioritise trusted sources, quality backlinks, domain authority, as well as original thinking and creative, which earns attention and consistency across diverse content types. It is important that thought leadership is not an isolated activity focused solely on awareness but one which is aligned through all sales, marketing, and business development activities. This ensures your company is showing up consistently with your target audiences directly as well as in AI search.

Generative AI engines such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Claude also tend to have a ‘recency bias,’ trying to find the answer needed as quickly as possible. This means companies need to invest in ongoing, quality thought leadership content to keep relevant, topical, and visible in search.

Help your customers uncover challenges they did not know existed

While many assume hidden buyers, especially in procurement, legal, finance or compliance, will only be interested in a specific technical or functional aspect of a buying decision, Edelman research shows this group is actually more interested in original thinking and fresh perspectives than the main target decision makers. Almost all (91%) of hidden buyers say that a hallmark of quality thought leadership is that it helps uncover challenges or needs a company has not recognized, compared to 81% of more visible decision makers.

Hidden buyers can also become powerful advocates. Over three-quarters of hidden buyers say that during the ‘request for proposal’ process, they are more likely to actively champion submissions from companies that consistently produce high-quality thought leadership (versus those who do not). Half of hidden buyers say that quality thought leadership helps them convince C-level executives and other members of a buying group to support their choice of vendor.

Over seven years of research from the Edelman-LinkedIn Thought Leadership Impact report have identified the attributes which enable ‘Generals’ (or marketers and communicators) to plan the most effective campaigns:

White space thinking: Tell bold stories with unexpected angles
Relevance: Align with timely, societal and cultural topics
Vision: Define a unique role for your brand
Trust: Showcase expertise, partner with credible voices, and in drive tangible, meaningful action with the target audience

Rise to the top of the shortlist

Marketers and communicators should consider thought leadership as the forward reconnaissance advance team, ensuring current customers already understand the value and expertise of a company and have trust and confidence in the service provider. It is a key driver of future pipelines, priming the market for when customers are ready to buy.

As the B2B Institute articulated in its Better, Bolder Business Brands study, the strongest B2B brands outperform because they’re remembered when the shortlist is formed. They’ve already shaped perceptions, demonstrated the quality of their people and thinking and shown they can bring new perspectives so that a company is top of mind amongst all the decision makers (even the hidden ones you may not know about!) before a pitch is called.

They have won the war before their rivals even realize the battle for business is underway.

EXPLORE THE REPORT

Andrew Mildren is Managing Director of Edelman Business Marketing EMEA.

Sources:
The Edelman Thought Leadership Impact Report 2025 is based on research with 1,934 US business decision makers across a range of industries and company sizes. Data was collected online through the LinkedIn platform in March and April 2025. To view the latest report, click here.

The B2B Institute, Better, Bolder B2B Branding’

Gartner, ‘How Marketing Can Capitalise on AI Disruption’

What if the biggest threat to your next customer win isn't the competition, but the people in the room you never even knew were there?

In high-value B2B deals, we're conditioned to focus on the visible decision-makers: product owners, functional leads, and budget holders. But as buying groups grow more complex, success often hinges on a different type of influencer that marketers and communicators rarely think about.

In the 2025 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, Edelman and LinkedIn uncovered new insights about these hidden buyers to help sales, marketing, and communications teams more effectively engage them and, improve their odds of winning over buyer groups.

Meet the Hidden Buyer

These are the unseen stakeholders in finance, legal, compliance, procurement, or operations who may not use your product or sign the contract but still hold real power over whether you win the business. More than 40% of B2B deals stall due to internal misalignment,¹ often driven by this overlooked group.

Hidden buyers are far from passive "box-checkers." In fact, 63% spend more than an hour per week consuming thought leadership, nearly equal to “target” buyers. They're looking for insights, not pitches — content that challenges assumptions and reframes thinking. And 81% percent say high-quality thought leadership helps them understand previously unrecognized challenges or opportunities.

They're Not in the Meeting, But They're Shaping the Outcome

Hidden buyers are hard to reach directly: 71% say they have little or no interaction with sales teams. Still, they wield influence driving internal consensus, or in some cases, derail deals entirely.

Here's where thought leadership comes in: 95% of hidden buyers say strong thought leadership makes them more receptive to sales and marketing outreach. It earns trust and creates credibility before a salesperson ever gets in the door.

Why Thought Leadership Works When Other Tactics Don't

Hidden buyers actively seek substance, not sizzle. They're drawn to content that speaks to their priorities and business challenges. That's why:
71% of hidden buyers say thought leadership is more effective than traditional marketing or sales materials at demonstrating a vendor's potential value

64% trust thought leadership more than product sheets or brochures when assessing capabilities

And it's not just about changing minds; it's about arming internal advocates:
51% of hidden decision-influencers say high-quality thought leadership helps them convince C-level executives

And 52% say it helps them persuade other members of the buying group.

The "Safest Choice" Isn't Always the Winning One

Conventional wisdom says no one gets fired for choosing the most well-known vendor. But the data tells a more nuanced story.

All things being equal, only 41% of hidden buyers say "the safest choice" is what matters most at the moment of purchase. Far more prioritize:
Understanding of their business challenges (85%)
Understanding of industry trends (76%)
Domain expertise (74%)

Strategic and cultural fit (68% and 56%, respectively)

Thought Leadership Converts Skeptics into Advocates

The path to winning complex deals isn't just about persuading one buyer, it's about enabling the buying group. And thought leadership helps you do that.
79% of hidden buyers say they're more likely to advocate for a proposal during the RFP process if the vendor consistently produces high-quality thought leadership.
And 53% say strong content can outweigh brand recognition alone.

Even C-suite engagement can help build top-down momentum with the buyer group. 35% percent of hidden buyers say a senior executive has encouraged them to consider a vendor based on their thought leadership.

What High-Impact Thought Leadership Looks Like

To reach hidden buyers, your content needs to be:

Stylish and distinctive: 60% associate unique format and design with higher quality
Bite-sized and accessible: 57% prefer quick takeaways over dense reports
Empowering: Thought leadership must help internal influencers sell your value inside the room, even when you're not there

Rethink How Your Team Collaborates

Marketing and communications can't go alone. Hidden buyers shape decisions behind closed doors, and sales teams often sense it first. Align with your sales force to understand who's influencing the deal behind the scenes and what those decision-makers need to hear to move forward.

If you want to close more business, stop focusing solely on the names in your CRM. Develop thought leadership that reaches the quiet influencers: the ones reading, thinking, and shaping outcomes behind the scenes.

Because in today's distributed buying environment, the real key to winning isn't always walking through the front door. Sometimes, it's knowing who's watching from the sidelines and giving them a reason to speak up on your behalf.

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Joe Kingsbury is Global Chair of Edelman Business Marketing.

25 Years of Trust

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