Do you know who your hidden buyers and decision makers are? Do you know how to reach them? Do you know what to say to them? Do you understand why your B2B marketing must speak to hidden buyers? Edelman has compiled an amazing report on it: Edelman 2025 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report. The report is free to download on the Edelman website. After reading it, I got to thinking, and here’s what I ended up with.
In B2B tech marketing, we love to talk about buyer personas, target audiences, and account-based everything. But even the most robust targeting strategies can miss a powerful force that shapes the fate of your deals: the hidden buyer.
According to Edelman’s 2025 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, more than 40% of B2B deals stall due to internal misalignment. And a major culprit? Hidden buyers, the finance lead, the legal voice, the compliance officer, and stakeholders who hold influence but are rarely in the direct line of marketing fire.
The reasons why your B2B Marketing Must Speak to Hidden Buyers
These buyers aren’t on your radar, but they should be.
Unlike your target buyers, who are typically technical experts or end-users evaluating product fit and functionality, hidden buyers represent adjacent functions. They may not use your product, but they often approve it or quietly stop it.
Here’s the kicker: they consume and evaluate thought leadership at the same pace as your visible buyers. Over 60% of hidden decision-makers spend more than an hour per week on thought leadership. In other words, they’re paying attention. The question is: are you speaking to them?
Reaching the Invisible: What Hidden Buyers Want
If you’re still producing product-centric content, gated webinars, or feature comparisons as your primary tools of influence, it’s time to rethink your playbook.
The Edelman report shows that hidden buyers:
- Value strategic thinking over specs.
- Gravitate toward bold, perspective-shifting ideas.
- Trust thought leadership more than traditional marketing materials.
- Want content that is stylish, straightforward, and human.
This isn’t about rehashing product messaging in a nicer font. It’s about producing content that helps uncover challenges, provoke new thinking, and inspire internal conversations. Done right, thought leadership becomes your Trojan horse. It gets past the gatekeepers and into the minds of those shaping the final decision.
So What Should B2B Marketers Do?
To win over hidden buyers and avoid getting blindsided by internal blockers, your thought leadership strategy needs a recalibration. Here’s how to make it count:
1. Create Strategic, Not Just Tactical, Content
Hidden buyers are looking at the big picture: risk, ROI, long-term impact. Create content that speaks their language, so think ROI models, compliance impact, change enablement, and operational efficiency.
2. Challenge, Don’t Just Confirm
The report makes it clear: bold ideas win attention. Hidden buyers want their assumptions challenged. Avoid playing it safe. Publish contrarian takes, explore under-discussed risks, or propose new frameworks that shake up the status quo.
3. Design for Influence, Not Just Visibility
Hidden buyers don’t want to be sold to; they want to learn. Make your thought leadership credible, independent, and educational. Prioritize formats that invite exploration: long-form articles, research-backed white papers, thought-provoking videos, or bite-sized executive insights.
4. Style Matters
Even the best insights won’t land if the content is hard to read or looks outdated. Design, tone, and storytelling must be on point. Hidden buyers favor clarity over jargon and want content that respects their time and intelligence.
5. Equip Advocates Within the Buying Group
Great thought leadership gives your internal champions the ammunition they need. Especially if you’re a challenger brand, compelling insights can elevate you from outsider to credible contender with hidden buyers acting as advocates on your behalf.
The Hidden Buyer is an Opportunity
In a tech landscape defined by complexity, consensus, and cautious procurement, marketers need to think beyond direct buyers. Hidden buyers have influence, and thought leadership is your gateway to earning their trust.
If you want to move deals forward, stop marketing only to the people you can see. Start creating for those you can’t. And in case you need help, I’m here for you.
I’ve also written more about the buyer committees and the buyer journey:
- Create Content That Speaks to Every C-Level Decision-Maker in B2B Tech
- The Content Journey: What to Create for Every Stage in B2B Tech Buying
- Building B2B Tech Company Marketing Strategy: From Startup to Scale-Up to Established Enterprise
- Create the B2B Customer Journey: A Strategic Guide to CRM and Marketing Automation Integration
Sources and links:
Core Report Referenced in Your Article
Edelman: 2025 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report
Buying Group & Hidden Stakeholder Influence
Gartner: The B2B Buying Journey (Buying Groups Research)
Thought Leadership Impact & Trust
LinkedIn & Edelman: B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study (previous editions)
Content Marketing Institute: B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends
ROI, Risk & Executive-Level Decision Drivers
McKinsey & Company: The New B2B Growth Equation
Harvard Business Review: The B2B Elements of Value
Misalignment & Deal Stalling
HubSpot: Sales Enablement & B2B Buying Research
Content Style, Influence & Bold Thinking
Demand Gen Report: Content Preferences Survey
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