The 2 Roles Content Plays in the New World of B2B Marketing and Sales

Last week I opened with Turner's Fighting Temeraire, the grand old warship being towed off to be scrapped by a steam tug. The old giving way to the new. 

Then over the weekend I came across LinkedIn's "The Trust Advantage" report, based on 900 B2B buyers, and it basically proved the point. B2B sales is changing — in a world where information is now free and everywhere, trust has become the only real differentiator. 

Everyone has the same information now. 94% of buyers use AI somewhere in their process — same tools, same research, same ability to fact-check claims. When the same facts, comparisons and research are a prompt away for everyone, information stops being the thing that sets you apart. 

So what's left? Trust. 86% of buyers say expertise is what earns it. Everyone can find the facts now, so facts aren't the point — what buyers want is someone who knows their world well enough to say "here's what matters, and here's where this usually comes unstuck." Expertise is the judgement. But only 45% actually find the sellers they meet trustworthy. 

That gap is the opportunity for you through high-quality LinkedIn content. Building trust at scale with new audiences, your prospects and wider network through expertise-led content. 

Also, the first impression now happens without you. By the time a buyer speaks to a human, they've already had the conversation — with ChatGPT, with search, with peers, and checked out your profile. AI is one of the top two sources buyers turn to at every stage. So the AI version of you speaks first. The only question that matters is what it finds when it goes looking — if it’s just a pull from your website, or months & years of you sharing your ideas & insights about your industry. 

LinkedIn “The Trust Advantage” Report… (if you want the full report, just reply to this email and I’ll share it over.) 

Now LinkedIn thought leadership content has 2 purposes: 

1. ‍It builds trust and shows why you're different — the expertise buyers say they want but rarely find. ‍
2. It makes you visible to AI — so when a buyer's first "conversation" is with ChatGPT, you're in the answer. 

BUT… this isn’t about posting more, as buyers are buried in content. You want to become a known and trusted thought leader who has a clear point of view. 

LinkedIn are really focusing on LLM visibility — and exec/employee-led content is a great way to show up in AI search around the problem you solve, your expertise and your market positioning. This has been our focus for the last quarter. We've been creating content for clients that surfaces in Google's AI overview — and from our tracking, ranks highly in Claude and ChatGPT too.