If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re already ahead of the pack.
You’re not slogging through another list of marketing trends just to fill a slide. You’re here because you’re trying to crack a harder nut: how do you make sure your brand is the one buyers whisper about before they even think about taking a demo?
Because let’s be honest — in 2020, “content was king.” Everyone cranked up the content machine, gated a thousand PDFs, and hoped buyers would magically trust them.
In 2026? That world’s gone. The leaders at the top of your category aren’t pumping out more ebooks. They’re embedding their message inside conversations buyers already care about, long before intent ever spikes in Salesforce.
That’s why the best CEOs, CMOs, CROs, demand gen heads, product marketers, and CS leaders are changing the way they think about brand, trust, and what actually moves deals. And that’s exactly where we’re headed.
When Your Dashboard’s Green But Your Pipeline Feels... Meh
Let’s start with something you’ve probably felt.
Your marketing dashboards look great. LinkedIn engagement is up 35%. Newsletter subs just jumped another 15,000. That new video campaign? Won an award. The agency sent champagne, the team dropped emojis in Slack, everyone took a victory lap.
Meanwhile... your big whale accounts? Still circling.
Pipeline velocity? Kind of flat. Your team’s deals keep getting delayed. CFOs keep asking for bigger discounts. The CRO’s pacing on forecast calls because that Q2 enterprise logo you all thought was locked? Quiet.
If this hits close to home, you’re not alone. In fact, according to fresh 2025 data, 57–70% of B2B buyers are deep into their journey before they ever call your sales team. That means by the time your SDRs chase them, most of the shortlist is already decided.
The sharpest demand gen and revenue leaders know this is where the real leverage is: not when buyers raise their hand, but way earlier... when they’re shaping who feels safe to trust.
Why Vanity Metrics Still Matter (Just Not The Way You’d Think)
Now, don’t get it twisted. This isn’t some hit piece on engagement or impressions. Those metrics still matter. You need reach. You need awareness. No CMO wants a brand that’s invisible.
But the difference in 2026 is how the best growth teams treat those numbers.
They’re not just bragging about viral posts or new subscribers. They’re asking:
- Did these campaigns actually warm up the CFO at our target account so they didn’t flinch at pricing?
- Are we seeing more multi-threaded intros from mid-level buyers who feel smart sharing our content up the chain?
- Is pipeline moving faster after this brand surge, or just making us feel busy?
A similar topic was discussed on our Marketing Trends Podcast episode with Abhay Parasnis (CEO of Typeface) where he talked about “Watermelon Metrics” (YouTube episode here) — everything looks green on your deck, but slice it open and the inside tells a different story.
What separates category leaders from everyone else is they dig under the surface. They’re obsessed with questions like:
“Is our brand creating air cover so our AEs walk into warmer rooms?”
“Are our competitors shaping trust before we even show up?”
You’re already thinking that way. That alone puts you in a tiny group of execs who don’t just stare at MQL charts — you’re actually connecting brand investments to deal velocity.
Why Your Buyers Aren’t Starving for More Lame Content
If you run demand gen or growth, you’ve probably wondered why your campaigns aren’t moving named accounts like they used to. You’ve sent the case studies, the nurture streams, the slick retargeting ads.
But here’s the brutal truth: your buyers are drowning.
Their Slack channels are blowing up with vendor screenshots. LinkedIn is a parade of the same templated “5 ways AI will disrupt your industry” posts. Their inbox is a graveyard of gated content they’ll never open.
80% of B2B buyers in 2025 said they’re more likely to engage with personalized, trust-based experiences. Which means that anygeneric content isn’t just neutral, it’s actively training them to tune out.
This is where smart CMOs, CROs, and product marketers flip the game. They don’t flood channels hoping something sticks. They zero in on the exact conversations buyers are already having — sometimes in dark social, sometimes in analyst roundtables, sometimes on niche podcasts — and they drop in insights and brand association that feels custom-built for that moment.
Because it’s not about adding more noise. It’s about showing up where trust already lives.
The Secret Sauce: Access, Context, Trust
Here’s the simplest framework top GTM leaders are rallying around.
If you’re the CMO trying to protect premium pricing, or the CRO trying to skip discount hell, or the CEO gunning for a higher brand multiple on your next raise... this is your playbook:
- Access: Get your message into the places your buyers already hang out. It could be sponsoring top industry podcasts like Marketing Trends or IT Visionaries, sliding into a private Slack AMA group, or showing up in the newsletters that land in their inbox at 7am.
- Context: Make sure what you’re saying fits exactly where they are in their journey. Not some generic “look at our ROI!” brag. If they’re early, give them clarity. If they’re stuck, de-risk the next step. If they’re comparing you, help them justify the choice.
- Trust: This is the whole game. Buyers will pay a premium for the vendor they think is the safest bet. That means your story can’t just come from you. It needs to come through peers, advisors, even your own customers telling it on a podcast instead of a formal customer story.
When you get these three right, you don’t just build pipeline. You build momentum- the kind that shortens sales cycles, lowers discount rates, and makes competitors look like risky options.
How The Best Are Measuring It Now
If you’re leading demand gen or product marketing, you’re probably haunted by this question:
“How do we prove brand is driving revenue, not just reach?”
Turns out, 2025 forced a shift. According to emarketer, 40% of B2B brands increased brand budgets — but 62.7% admitted they still struggle to prove ROI.
That’s why top CMOs and CROs are moving past MQL volume. They’re tracking:
- Stage velocity: Is deal progression accelerating after these trust plays?
- Champion lift: Are mid-level buyers introducing us higher and faster?
- Dark social echoes: Are prospects dropping references from podcasts or customer episodes we sponsored, even before outreach?
This is how the best boards get convinced. Because it’s not just brand equity. It’s brand equity that speeds deals and protects ACVs. That’s exactly what the CEO wants to defend your valuation.
Avoid These Classic Mistakes
Even world-class GTM teams trip here. The biggest pitfalls?
- Defaulting to more content. It’s comforting to fill a calendar, but content that doesn’t ride on trust is just expensive noise.
- Keeping it siloed. In 2026, the sharpest CEOs, CROs, even CS leaders are becoming the face of the brand. Not in a forced “executive thought leadership” way, but by stepping into podcasts, analyst calls, or LinkedIn threads that buyers are already watching. That makes your brand human. And buyers buy from humans.
Because You’re Still Here, You’re Already Different
If you’re still reading, you’re not like most. You’re not chasing surface wins. You’re architecting the next era of your category. That’s why you’re curious about how to embed trust so deep it shortens cycles, protects pricing, and builds a moat no competitor’s ad budget can breach.
So keep asking:
- Where are my buyers already learning and comparing notes?
- Who do they trust to shape those conversations?
- How do we make sure our brand is there first, whispering the right story before an RFP even drops?
Get this right, and you won’t just be the loudest brand. You’ll be the safest, most trusted choice — the one they bring to the CFO with confidence. That’s how you protect your market multiple, accelerate expansions, and sleep easier at night.
Want to see exactly how leading $250M+ B2B brands are embedding their trust stories inside the podcasts, circles, and dark social threads that shape your biggest deals?
Let’s talk. Because going forward, trust isn’t just the new content. It’s the entire growth engine.
Email me - stephanie@mission.org
