Thought leadership and B2B buying: 2026 statistics

• 95%

  of hidden buyers say strong thought leadership makes them more receptive to sales and marketing outreach

  Edelman, June 2025Copy citationEmbed

• 71%

  of hidden buyers say they have little or no interaction with sales teams

  Edelman, June 2025Copy citationEmbed

• 71%

  of hidden buyers say thought leadership is more effective than traditional marketing or sales materials

  Edelman, June 2025Copy citationEmbed

• 64%

  of hidden buyers trust thought leadership more than product sheets or brochures when assessing a supplier's capabilities

  Edelman, June 2025Copy citationEmbed

• 63%

  of hidden buyers spend more than an hour per week consuming thought leadership

  Edelman, June 2025Copy citationEmbed

• 79%

  of hidden buyers say they are more likely to advocate for a proposal during an RFP if the vendor publishes quality thought leadership

  Edelman, June 2025Copy citationEmbed

• 35%

  of hidden buyers say a senior executive has encouraged them to consider a vendor

  Edelman, June 2025Copy citationEmbed

• 73%

  of decision-makers say an organization's thought leadership is a more trustworthy basis for judging its capabilities than its marketing materials

  Edelman-LinkedIn, February 2024Copy citationEmbed

• 86%

  of decision-makers say they are moderately or very likely to invite a firm that produces consistently high-quality thought leadership into an RFP process

  Edelman-LinkedIn, February 2024Copy citationEmbed

• 60%

  say good thought leadership makes them willing to pay a premium to work with that organization

  Edelman-LinkedIn, February 2024Copy citationEmbed

These figures come from Founder-Led Marketing Statistics 2026: Trust and Buyer Data, which puts them in context.